MWC19: The Four Keys to Intelligent Connectivity Posted on : Feb 15 - 2019

The scope of digital transformation sweeping across the globe is reflected in this year’s MWC19 Barcelona (formerly Mobile World Congress) theme of Intelligent Connectivity – a term covering a range of topics such as Connectivity, AI, Industry 4.0, Immersive Content, Disruptive Innovation, Digital Wellness, Digital Trust and The Future. Taking place in Barcelona, February 25-28, 2019, this massive conference attracts over one hundred thousand attendees annually. Rather than be overwhelmed by the numerous new products on display, as well as the myriad presentations and promotional exhibits, here are four key pillars of intelligent connectivity that attendees can focus on to better grasp the big picture and overall implications of this year’s conference.

1. Connectivity – greater connected data becomes key organizational asset

Connectivity will largely focus on the deployment of 5G technology. This much hailed new wireless technology will increase digital density, or the percentage of connected data that is used in a unit of activity, i.e., a unit of activity a country, a region, an industry, an organization or a business unit. As digital density intensifies, the once sharply defined lines between the digital and the physical worlds begin to fade, forging a new, blended environment, in other words, more people and things get more and more connected.  This new scenario where the physical and digital worlds are indistinguishable is the underlying driving force of digital transformation in which connected data becomes one of the main assets of organizations. Rapidly advancing new technologies like social media, mobile, cloud computing, big data or the Internet of Things (IoT) are drivers of this environment of high digital density, in which exploding deposits of data lead to new, expanding and highly valuable organizational assets.  This impacts the advancement of artificial intelligence.

2. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI), with the recent convergence of certain factors, is finally a viable technology. One key factor is the exponential increase of digital density due to a surge in the quantity of data being produced by organizations, people and objects through the internet of things. Such big data is very useful in training machine learning systems. Other key factors include the drastic cost reduction of computation together with improvements in machine learning algorithms and the democratization access to AI applications, driven by large user communities. These have made AI a general-purpose technology with the potential to redefine many industries.  We could almost compare it in the same way as how electricity redefined industries at the beginning of the 20th century or more recently the Internet changed the way many companies compete.

As digital density increases, the data layer better represents the physical world. Again, the data becomes the main asset of the organization, since data has become the raw material for creating new business models. Metaphorically speaking, if data is considered the "new oil" of the economy, then AI becomes one of the “engines” which transforms this data into new value propositions and brings about disrupted innovation. View More