CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials...

46
SUPPLÉMENT GRATUIT AU #22643 DU QUOTIDIEN ”LES ÉCHOS” DU 26 FÉVRIER 2018 NE PEUT ÊTRE VENDU SÉPARÉMENT #5 – February 2018 - Mobile World Congress/4YFN Distributed in Barcelona and in Les Echos # 22643 CHINA RACES AHEAD WHY HIGH-SPEED WIRELESS IS A HIGH-PRIORITY NATIONAL STRATEGY PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK BUSINESSES ARE PROVING TO BE FAST ADOPTERS A $1 TRILLION TELECOMS OPPORTUNITY? Q&A WITH MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS SPEAKER BRIAN BEHLENDORF HOW 5G WILL IMPACT COUNTRIES CITIES AND COMPANIES

Transcript of CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials...

Page 1: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

SUPPLÉMENT GRATUIT AU #22643 DU QUOTIDIEN”LES ÉCHOS” DU 26 FÉVRIER 2018NE PEUT ÊTRE VENDU SÉPARÉMENT

#5 – February 2018 - Mobile World Congress/4YFNDistributed in Barcelona and in Les Echos # 22643

CHINA RACES AHEADWHY HIGH-SPEEDWIRELESS ISA HIGH-PRIORITYNATIONAL STRATEGY

PUTTING AR/VR TO WORKBUSINESSESARE PROVING TO BEFAST ADOPTERS

A $1 TRILLION TELECOMSOPPORTUNITY?Q&A WITH MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS SPEAKERBRIAN BEHLENDORF

HOW5GWILLIMPACTCOUNTRIESCITIESANDCOMPANIES

Page 2: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,
Page 3: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

Anything is possiblewhen peoplework together.Workplace by Facebook connects people in organisations so they can work smarter, better and faster together.Not only does it integrate with popular business tools, it uses features that are known and loved by two billionpeople around the world.

Share the company news thatmattersKeep connected to your team and organisation with your personalised News Feed.

Have important conversations yourwayBreak the email chain withWorkplace Chat for crystal clear voice or HD video calls.

Put your heads togetherCreate a project Group for effortless teamwork and enjoy secure file sharing with unlimited storage.

Take control of your dataAtWorkplace we take security seriously and we’re proud to be ISO 27001 certified.

More than just another toolMakeWorkplace the heart of your organisation with direct access to files and informationin the business tools you already use.

Page 4: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

Businesses like yours are already benefitting fromWorkplace transformationWhenmultinational cheesemaker Groupe Bel wanted to transform its culture and encourage collaboration,it turned toWorkplace. Groups,Workplace Chat andNews Feed all help the company’s workforce share ideasand stay connected to each other.

• 91%of people at Groupe Bel collaborate onWorkplace

• 68% sayWorkplace helps thembe better informed

“We have chosenWorkplace to accompany our transformation towards amore digital future. It showshowmuch collaboration and innovation are key for us. And it really contributes tomake the difference.”

Antoine Fiévet,

CEO, Groupe Bel

You’re in good companyJoin over 30,000 organisations already usingWorkplace to transform their business and embracethe future of work.

Page 5: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

EuropeshouldtreatChina’s5Gambitionsasawake-upcall.Thecountry is determined to gain dominance not just in high-speed wireless technologybut in the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. Dominance in all three of thesekey technologies would potentially make China a tech powerhouse and benefit its in-dustries over those in other countries.It will be tough for Europe to compete. But it is not impossible. In the 1980s the Frenchand Italian governments took a step back and decided that computer chipswere crucialto everything and resolved to merge their respective national semiconductor compa-nies.Many scoffed at themerger of Italy’s SGSMicroelettronica and France’s Thomson-CSF’s semiconductor operations. Neither company had succeeded in imposing itself onthe global semiconductor market, by then dominated by the United States and Japan.SGSMicroelettronica, although profitable, was crippled by a heavy debt load,while theThomson-CSF business had long been losingmoney. Neither company had been able tokeep pacewith the rapid technological developments of the era, as semiconductorma-nufacturers began investing heavily in new random-access memory chip technologies.Yet both companieswere strongly backed by their respective governments, whichwereeager tomaintain their own – and Europe’s – presence among theworld’s semiconduc-tor industry. Merging the two, in 1987, created a global chip company, which –thanksto smart investments and goodmanagement— rose to as high as the number three po-sition among theglobal top10 chipmakers. (Thomson soldoff its shares inSGSThomsonin 1998, and the company then changed its name to STMicroelectronics).If AI is, as Google’s CEO says, more important than the invention of fire and electricityand 5G is truly a general-purpose technology that will bring about changes as sweepingas thosebroughtby the inventionof thesteamengineor the Internet, thensimilarmeasuresare necessary. By 20355G is poised to create 22million new jobs globally, generate $3.5trillion in economic activity and fuel sustainable long-term growth to global real GDP. Itwillunderpin thedevelopmentof the Industrial InternetofThingsandartificial intelligence,two technologies that will be crucial for economic development. It is time for countriesand companies to once again step up. Europe can’t afford tomiss out.

ByJenniferL.SchenkerEditor-in-Chief, The Innovator

CLOSING THE DIGITALSKILLS GAP

THE BRIEF

COVER STORY5G’S IMPACT ON COUNTRIES,CITIES AND COMPANIES

WHY CHINA WANTS TO LEADTHE 5G CHARGE

WHY THE U.S. AND EUROPENEED TO WIN IN WIRELESS

BARCELONA’S BID TO BECOMEA GLOBAL 5G HUB

TELEFÓNICA IS USINGMOON SHOTS TO REINVENT ITSELF

HOW BLOCKCHAINCOULD TRANSFORMTHE TELECOM INDUSTRYAND MORE

THE 25 STARTUPS TO MEETAT 4YFN

CYBERCRIME IS GOING MOBILE

NEW WAYS OF COLLABORATINGIN THE WORKPLACE

PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK

WHY GRAPHENE SHOULD BEON EVERY EXECUTIVE’S RADAR

HOW UNILEVER FOUNDRYALLOWS STARTUPS TO CONNECTTO ITS 400 BRANDS

5G AND NEW REGULATIONSARE EXPECTEDTO HELP DRONES TAKEOFF

P.05

P.06

P.08

P.11

P.14

P.16

P.20

P.22

P.24

P.26

P.30

P.32

P.34

P.38

P. 40

TABLEOF CONTENTS

— P.03

Page 6: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

THE IOTA FOUNDATIONIOTA is overseen by the IOTA Foun-dation, a non-profit organisationdedicated to building sustainableecosystems around IOTA, develo-ping the DLT technology for reallife applications and maintainingit license-free for all developers towork with. The Foundation gathers

a team of world leading experts inthe respective fields and sets up de-dicated working groups with com-panies and research institutions inthose sectors to share know-how,initiate experimentation and proac-tively engage the startup communi-ty, innovators and developers.

THE BACKBONE OF THE IOT

IOTA is a revolutionary new transac-tional settlement and data transferlayer for the Internet of Things. It’sbased on a new distributed ledger,the Tangle, which overcomes theinefficiencies of current Blockchaindesigns.IOTA is also the missing puzzle pie-ce for the Machine Economy to fullyemerge and reach its desired poten-tial. It is envisioned to be the pub-lic, permissionless backbone for theInternet of Things, that enables trueinteroperability between all devices.

ZERO FEES - INFINITELY SCALABLE

Unlike blockchains, which are inhe-rently limited by the bottleneck ofblock size and rigid chain, whichleads to congestion and high feeswhen usage goes up, IOTA’s Tanglegetsmore efficient themore activityoccurs on the ledger. Perhaps moreimportantly, because the Tangle eli-minates the requirement of minersand stakers, newly mined units ofcurrency and transaction fees donot need to be extracted from thesystem to pay validation fees. Theresult is that IOTA has zero fees.

DATA INTEGRITY

IOTA’s main features (in its currentform) are feeless micropayments,secure data transfer and data an-choring. Combined with IOTA’s sca-lability and partition tolerance, the-se two features allow a plethora ofuse cases to be derived which areonly possible with IOTA.

The main focus of IOTA is the Inter-net of Things, with machines pay-ing each other autonomously forresources, services and/or access.

INTRODUCING IOTAINTRODUCING IOTA

Tangle

Txs

Net

wor

kCa

paci

ty

Blockchain

www.iota.org / [email protected]

Page 7: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

DIGITAL SKILLS

At press time “thousands of people” from 66 countries had already pre-re-gistered for the free courses, which are aimed at both white collar andblue collar workers, says Adam Sherman, The forum’s community leadfor the Information technology industry.“We have identified eight specific skill sets that we think all industries willneed in the future,” says Sherman, a former president of the HighlandPark, New Jersey, Board of Education. “While the platform is industryagnostic one of the sectors we want to zero in on is the manufacturingsector, which impacts a lot of workers globally. But we will also target sec-tors that will experience an equally significant impact from workforcechanges, such as financial and legal services,”

A CALL TO ACTIONThe initiative, which is committed to reaching one million people withresources and training opportunities on the SkillSET portal by January2021, will be discussed as part of the ministerial agenda at the MobileWorld Congress in Barcelona, Feb. 28-March 1.“The Forum is great at catalyzing action around specific topics,” saysSherman. “We are hoping to grow the SkillSET platform which will besingularly focused on enabling new opportunities for individuals. Fundingwill ensure the platform’s rapid adoption, scalability and wide reach. Weare trying to form partnerships with organizations that can really pushthis product to people who will most benefit from it. We really believethat this product can only be as powerful as the number of people whojoin and so we are actively looking to partner with businesses, govern-ments and NGOs.”SkillSET was conceived by the Forum’s IT Governors community underthe chairmanship of Chuck Robbins, the chief executive officer of CiscoSystems. In addition to Cisco the founding partners are Accenture, CATechnologies, Cognizant, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Infosys, Pegasystems,PwC, Salesforce, SAP and Tata Consultancy Services.The Forum plans to target an additional nine million people for retrainingby 2020 through another program called Closing the Skills Gap 2020, acall for top global businesses to lead training, reskilling and upskilling ini-tiatives between 2018 and 2020.To date, 26 global founding partners have signed up for Closing the SkillsGap and have collectively committed to providing training opportunitiesto over 8.1 million people by 2020. The program will be supported by adedicated online platform, closingtheskillsgap.org (developed by TataConsultancy Services), that aims to help businesses share insights andbest practices around retraining their workforces.The goal of both programs, says Sherman, is to make sure that peoplewith jobs in every industry are given the means to learn new skills so theycan continue to be productive members of the global workforce.J.L.S.

Roughly 50% of workers’ current activities – the equivalent of$15 trillion in global wages – could be automated by adopting currenttechnologies, according to a briefing for corporate leaders compiled bythe World Economic Forum.That said, new research quoted by the Forum suggests that 96% of allworkers whose jobs are threatened by technology could find similar orbetter work with adequate training. The briefing, entitled “EnablingEmployees to Thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” urges execu-tives to start preparing their workforce for the jobs of the future.The Forum is planning to offer a concrete way for companies to do justthat. It is launching an app in April that will teach the basic skills it saysany person will need in the digital economy. Users will have access free-of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by globalIT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’s head of technology, mediaand digital industries. The courses range from general business skills tointroductory digital literacy to more advanced topics such as cybersecu-rity, Big Data or the Internet of Things. The portal – which will be calledSkillSET and be accessible through a mobile app – will offer a tailoredskills assessment to help users determine which coursework is the best fit.

— P.05

ClosingtheDigitalSkillsGap— Soon there will be an app for that.

Page 8: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

P.06 — THE INNOVATOR

THE BRIEF

The Olympic Games in Pyeongchang –thebackdrop forwhat Intel claimedwas the largestreal-world demonstration of a high-speedwirelessnetworking technology called 5G – offered aglimpse of what’s to come.Attendees were able to watch live feeds frombobsledders’ helmet-mounted cameras or switchbetweenmultiple cameras placed along the cross-country skiing route to follow racesusingSamsung5G-equipped tablets. Some 100 cameras set uparound Gangeung Ice Arena allowed for a 360ºlook at an ice skater performing a pirouette andselected guestswere able to ride in a 5G-poweredself-driving bus.At 10 gigabits a second, 5G won’t just be usedfor sports and entertainment. It will power smartfactories, surgeries at a distance and autonomousvehicles. Rival Qualcommwas quick to point outthat Intel’s gear was not “real 5G” as it does notconformtoatechnical standardpassedinDecember.

Fon, a global WiFi sharing network, plans toannounce deals with carriers during MobileWorld Congress that – if they work aspromised – will help solve uneven WiFicoverage inside consumer homes. FontechHome WiFi combines next-gen software, asimple application for end users andadvanced WiFi extenders, to enableoperators to improve and manage coverageand experience for users at home, reducingoperator help desk costs and homemaintenance calls.

BREAKING SPEEDRECORDS

VoicingAPreference WiFiReboot

In any case 5G handsets are not expected to beavailable for another year. But that is not stoppingvendors– includingQualcommitself – frommakingannouncements of their own and showing off 5Ggear atMobileWorld Congress. The show themethis year will be” 5G, 5G and 5G,” say industryanalysts. Qualcomm planned demonstrations atMWC will showcase the Snapdragon X50 5Gmodem, which will be used in live, over-the-airmobile 5G trials with multiple global wirelessnetwork operators in different spectrum bandswhile everyone waits for 5G handsets to go onthemarket. Finland’s Nokia, China’s Huawei andSweden’sEricssonwill also showoff5Gnetworkingequipment at MWC while carriers like Orangewill talk up their upcoming 5G trials.

Visitors atMobileWorldCongresswill beable toexperience the integrationofAmazon’svoiceactivated assistant Alexa in the SEAT Ateca model(SEAT is the first carmaker in Europe to integratethis feature incars.)AmazonAlexawillenableSEATdrivers, using voice commands, to optimize theirtimewhile intheircarbydoingthings likemanagingtheir personal schedule, finding songs, locatingpoints of interest, real-time news or the nearestdealership, among many other functions. Whatwill take-up of voice-activated assistants- which isprojected tomore than double this year globally –mean for the telecoms industry? Consumers mayrely less on their mobile phones while on the goandathome.Thosewhoown in-homedigital voiceassistants use their mobile phones less often forentertainment and online purchasing, accordingto one recent study.

Amazon’s voice-activated assistantAlexa can be accessed frm a SEAT Atecaat the push of a button

The winter gamesin Pyeongchangare being used to showcase 5G

Page 9: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

THE BRIEF

The telecom industry is poised toseize the greatest share of value from theimplementation of blockchain technology, saysthe global consultancy Accenture in a reportscheduled to be released at Mobile WorldCongress. It is recommendingthatcommunicationservice providers “build upon their existingability to quickly and effectively exchange dataacross their collectivefive-billion-personnetwork”to construct a massive asset exchange networkbased on blockchain.The inherent strengths of telecom operators,which Accenture lists as “their large user base,

To get technology news in context every week, subscribe to our newsletter : http://innovator.news

— P.07

40%

SHOULD OPERATORSPUT THEIRNETWORKSON THE BLOCK?

high speed, high fidelity, low latency networks,multi-layer security architecture, existinginternetwork data exchangemodels, and rapidproduct offerings,” make telecommunicationsthe perfect industry to harness blockchain’sfull potential at scale, says the consultancy.By using the scaled existing capabilities, andcollective assets of telecom operators at boththe regional and global levels, “a coordinated,interoperable transfer network could feasiblybe built upon blockchain,” Accenture says inits report. In addition to enormous disruptivepotential, a coordinated blockchain could also

ease operators’ internal operations and drivedown costs, it says.In its report Accenture discusses a consortiumthat has already been formed by TBCASoft, aU.S.-based blockchain technology startup; andJapan’s Softbank, theU.S.’s Sprint, andTaiwan’sFarEasTone. The three carriers have alreadydemonstrated a cross-carrier payment platformsystemusingTBCASoft’s blockchain technology.Other telecom operators are expected to join.

$1Trillion

Percentage of 3,600 large, global companies facing seriouschallenges from new entrants, according

to a Disruptability Index scheduled to be released at MobileWorld Congress by the consultancy Accenture.

The Index positions 20 industries – includingtelecommunications, consumer technology, automotive,

and retail – in four different states of disruption.It will also highlight how susceptible each industry

is to future disruption.

Size of the opportunity for telecom operatorsif they use blockchain to construct a massive asset

exchange network that would covertheir collective five-billion customers, according

to a report that Accenture is scheduled to release atMobile World Congress.

Page 10: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

HOW5GWILLIMPACTCOUNTRIES,CITIESANDCOMPANIES

P.08 — THE INNOVATOR

Every five to ten years the telecoms industry introducesa new generation of wireless technology that it promises will changeeverything. This time it just might be true. If pundits are right, the emergingnew high-speedwireless standard known as 5G could have the same impactas the printing press, electricity, the steam engine, the telegraph and theInternet. Each of these discoveries or inventions are known as GeneralPurpose Technologies (GPTs) that have served as catalysts for transformativechanges, redefining work processes and rewriting the rules of competitiveeconomic advantage. And 5G is expected to pack the same kind of punch.“The emergence of 5G is a fulcrum in the evolution of mobile technologyfrom a technology that had transformative impact on personalcommunications to a true GPT that promises to transform entire industriesand economies,” says a report by IHSMarkit and Berkeley Research Groupthat assesses the importance of 5G technology to the global economy.Indeed, the report predicts that by 2035 5Gwill create 22million new jobsglobally, directlygenerate$3.5 trillion ineconomicactivity and fuel sustainablelong-termgrowth toglobal realGDP.From2020 to2035, the total contributionof 5G to real global GDPwill be equivalent to an economy the size of India,says the report. “5G is expected to impact the competiveness of nations,”says SamPaltridge, an analyst in the Paris-basedOrganization for EconomicCooperation’sDirectorateofScienceTechnologyand Industry,who is currentlyworking on a study on the topic. China views 5G as key to helping it becomea tech leader not just in wireless but in The Internet of Things and artificialintelligence while at the same time boosting its own industries over thoseof others. (See the story on pages 11-13.) The U.S., which is projected toinitially lead in the number of 5G subscribers, is expected to be quickly

surpassed by China, as is Europe, which has high ambitions of its own forthe rollout of the technology. (See the story on pages 14 and 15.) TheUnited States and China are expected to dominate 5G R&D and capitalexpenditure, investing a total of $1.2 trillion and $1.1 trillion respectively,says the IHSMarkit andBerkeley ResearchGroup report.Major investmentswill be made in 5G in Europe as well, and these are expected to have“trickle-down” impacts across thewholeof theEuropeaneconomy,potentiallygenerating €141.8 billion in new revenues across the EU and creating2.39million jobs,according toareportprepared for theEuropeanCommission’sDirectorateGeneral for CommunicationsNetworks, Content andTechnologyby Trinity College Dublin, the wireless advisory firm realwireless, themobile technology research firm InterDigital and the research consultancytech4i2.So why will 5G be so different? (See the box.) Unlikemobile technologiesadopted to date, 5G is expected to radically transform the public andindustrial sectors of economies.5G could enable about 4.6%of global real output in 2035, though its uptakeby industry is expected to vary. (See the chart on page 10.) Most notable,says the IHS Markit and Berkeley Research Group report, is that 5G couldenable 6.5% of public service and 6.4% of agricultural output by 2035,transforming other sectors of the economy.

Autonomous Cars and DronesAccording to the report to the European Commission, 5G will have a bigimpact on the auto industry. It will enhance connectivity and improve datamanagement and sharing betweenautomotivemanufacturers andmotorists,

COVER STORY

— 5G is expected to create 22 million new jobs, generate trillions of dollars in economic activity andfuel sustainable long-term growth to global real GDP.

By Jennifer L. Schenker

Page 11: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

— P.09

andprovide opportunities for next-generation serviceswithin the automotiveindustry and the supply chain, allowing further improvement in vehicledesign, vehicle production and performance. 5G networks will have theability to support a large number of connected cars, provide always-onconnections, focus on optimizing energy efficiency, provide real-timemaintenance and enhance safety, the report says.5G is alsoexpected tohelpusher inautonomouscarsand themorewidespreaduse–andcontrol –of drones.Theavailability of driverless cars andunmannedaerial vehicles will do more than stimulate sales to consumers, says thereport. They will also be deployed in agricultural and mining applicationsranging from surveillance of remote natural resources to autonomoustransport ofmetals or valuableminerals to self-driving tractors. Autonomousvehicles will also be widely used in the transportation sector for driverlesstransport and for delivery of commercial and consumer goods. Municipalitieswill integrate autonomous vehicles into their transit systems while usingdrones for monitoring functions. In manufacturing, autonomous vehicleswill also be used in intra-plant stocking and retrieval systems. And theyare expected to positively affect the insurance industry as vehicle accidentrates decrease.

Factories5G will aid industrial automation by enabling and enhancing the criticalcontrol of production-line robotics, including tethered or untethered robotsthat can be controlled, monitored and reconfigured remotely, makingmanufacturing more efficient.

WHAT IS 5G?5G is short for fifth generational wireless broadband technolo-gy. It has three main distinguishing characteristics that willhelp enable mission-critical applications such as autonomousvehicles, management of drones, industrial automation, smartgrids and remote surgeries and patient monitoring.

Speed: 5G will be approximately 10 times faster than existingwireless networks.

Better Response Times: The technology’s ultra-low latencyallows things in the virtual world to sync with the real world,leading to a new paradigm known as Synchronized Reality. Itwill enable the transfer of expertise over great distances inreal-time using robotics and haptic feedback.

More Capacity: Lower power requirements, the ability tooperate in licensed and unlicensed spectrum and lower costswill enable a greater number of devices to connect using highervolumes of data, ushering in the age of the so-called MassiveInternet of Things.

5G is expected to aid industrialautomation.

Page 12: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

P.10— THE INNOVATOR

Healthcare5G is expected to enhance connectivity and improve data managementand sharing between healthcare providers, medical device manufactures,patients, medical and life insurers, the pharmaceutical industry and otherstakeholders. Reducing the cost of health monitors, expanding their reachand their reliability also has the potential to unleash many innovations inthe sector, according to the report to the European Commission.

UtilitiesBy 2020 utilities are expected to account for two-thirds of the 30 billionwireless connected devices in houses and industry worldwide. Strategicbenefits of installing smartmeters with embedded 5G capabilities will arisefrom increased access to data and real-time information provision, saysthe report to the European Commission. This will support efficient energygeneration, enabling savings in generation capacity, particularly duringperiods of high demand. When supply loads are shifted from peak to off-peak periods, electricity providers observe savings in short-term marginalcosts due to lower generation costs. The load shifting between peak andoff-peak periods reduces the size of capacity investment in electricity. Thereport found that 5Gdata capabilities in smartmeterswill provideoperationalbenefits in the European utilities industry of €2.7 billion in 2025 and €3.1billion in 2030.

Smart CitiesEnhanced access to information fromnumerous sensors located throughoutsmart cities in households, workplaces, from transport routes, citizens andplatforms will provide policymakers with better real-time data about theircities. For example 5G is expected to improve transportation in cities inmultiple ways. Greater access to real-time information by travelers shouldenable faster journey times within and between cities. Greater access toreal-time information by transport providers should enable better co-ordination between different transport modes. And enhanced informationabout traffic flows and journeys should help traffic controllers bettermanagetraffic, says the report for the European Commission. 5G data capabilitiesare projected to provide €8.1 billion in congestion, accident and pollutionreduction benefits to smart cities in Europe by 2025, according to the reportto the European Commission.

A Step Change for the Mobile SectorAmong the industries that look set to be changed by 5G is themobile sector

itself. Internet giants don’t rebuild the network from scratch every five toten years but the telecom industry has been doing just that, an expensiveand long process that requires spectrumallocation, licensing fees, regulatorypermissions to install equipment and the purchasing and maintenance ofproprietary gear.Europeanmobile phone companies spent $129billion on3Gmobile licensesalone in 2000 only to shell out billionsmore a few years later for 4G licensesandequipment. Thecostofbuildingout5Gnetworks inEuropeisconservativelyestimated to be around $56.6 billion, according to the report prepared forthe European Commission.The good news is that 5G is software-based and will run on commodityhardware. “Since it is now software driven the next generations will notbe advanced on a system but on a feature basis,” says Mischa Dohler, headof the Centre for Telecoms Research at King’s College in London and aformer employee at the global telecoms operator Orange. “Therefore itwill be much quicker to upgrade. I predict we will not have a 6G.”In any case 5G looks poised to be the wireless broadband standard for theforeseeable future, and if analysts are right, embracing it will be necessaryfor any country, city or company that wants to gain the speed, scope andscale to take part in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

COVER STORY

INDUSTRY

Ag.,forestry & fishingArts & entertainmentConstructionEducationFinancial & insuranceHealth & social workHospitalityInfo & communicationsManufacturingMining & quarryingProfessional servicesPublic serviceReal estate activitiesTransport & storageUtilitiesWholesale & retailAll industry sectors

EnhancedMobile

BroadbandMassive

Internet ofThings

MissionCritical

Services5G -enabled

output( 2016$, M)

Percent ofindustryoutput

$51065

742277676119562

1,4213,364249623

1,066400659273

1,295$12,300$4,300$3,600$4,400

6,4%3,5%4,7%3,5%4,6%2,3%4,8%

11,5%4,2%4,1%3,7%6,5%2,4%5,6%4,5%3,4%4,6%

5G WILL ENABLE $12 TRILLION OF DIRECT ANDINDIRECT GLOBAL ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IN 2035

No impact High impact Source IHS

Page 13: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

train computers and develop artificial intelligence (AI), a field China hasvowed to lead. Serving the world’s largest population and a vast domesticmarket, China’s tech companies can potentially collect data on a muchgreater scale than their counterparts elsewhere.The rewards could be huge. Accenture, the global consultancy, estimatesthat the IoT could deliver gains of up to $1.8 trillion in cumulative GDPfor China by 2030 through the transformation of manufacturing,transportation, resources and utilities.Eric Schmidt, a former CEO of Google and former chairman of Alphabet,is among the business leaders who believe China will fulfil its AI ambitions.“By 2020, they will have caught up. By 2025, they will be better than us.By 2030, they will dominate the industries,” Schmidt said at the ArtificialIntelligence and Global Security Summit in Washington in November.

A Boost to Self-Driving CarsOne of the most profound applications of AI and the IoT is likely to be self-driving cars, which could transform economies around the world. “Themain difference that 5G will make is the realization of the Internet of

China is undeterred by worries that consumers andcompanies won’t pay more for faster, more responsive connectivity: Thecountry’s leaders see 5G as an important stepping stone on the road tobecoming a global tech powerhouse to rival the United States.“China will be a global leader in terms of scale and investment in 5Gbecause it is a high-priority national strategy,” says Edison Lee, head oftelecom research at Jefferies in Hong Kong. “In other countries, 5G is beingdriven by operators looking to gain a competitive advantage; in China itis part of its national goal to become a leading digital country.” The logicgoes like this: 5G is designed to support a massive expansion in the Internetof Things (IoT) – a shorthand term for connecting all kinds of machines,devices and vehicles to each other and to the Internet. All this connectivitywill generate vast amounts of data about the world, which can be used to

— P.11

— Rolling out the technology is part of a“high-priority national strategy” to become a globaltech powerhouse

By David Pringle

WhyChinaWantstoLeadthe5GCharge

Page 14: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

P.12 — THE INNOVATOR

COVER STORY

Things,” says Markus Seidel, head of BMWGroup Technology Office China.“For the auto industry, it will greatly boost the development of autonomousdriving.” Having launched its ConnectedDrive service in China as early asAugust 2012, BMW is using 4G cellular connectivity to provide its Chinesecustomers with concierge services, automated emergency calls and real-time traffic information, along with remote-control functionality.The next step for BMW is to trial 5G connectivity, but Seidel says the timingwill depend on how fast telecoms operators deploy the new technology.China Mobile, in particular, is making a big bet on the IoT. It has said itwill pay out 2 billion yuan ($303 million) as subsidies to IoT devicemakers. China Mobile plans to add another 120 million IoT connectionsin 2018, taking its total to about 320 million, as it scrambles to connect allkinds of products to the internet, including home appliances, vehicles, andwater and gas meters.

Made in China 2025As the world’s workshop, China is naturally looking to use 5G and the IoTto transform its manufacturing sector. The Chinese government’s “Madein China 2025” initiative has echoes of Germany’s “Industrie 4.0” programto transform manufacturing through automation.Connected robots and assembly lines can exchange information in real-time, giving each other early notice of potential faults, changes in productionschedules and supply shortages. “5G can enable and enhance critical controlof production line robotics,” says Zhiwei Zhang, head of marketing forEricsson North East Asia. “This includes tethered or untethered robots thatare controlled, monitored, and can be reconfigured remotely. Thistechnology could be used in factory floor production, reconfiguration and

layout changes, real-time analysis and even to steer a robot’s movementfrom a remote location.” “China has a vision to be a world leader inprecision manufacturing,” says Sylwia Kechiche, lead analyst at GSMAIntelligence, “China is pushing hard to automate factories.” She points tothe rapid rollout of 4G as an example of how fast China can deploy newtechnologies when the government plays a coordinating role. China’soperators have implemented 4G much faster and more comprehensivelythan their European counterparts. One of the biggest changes between 4Gand 5Gwill be the responsiveness and density of IoT connectivity, says Lowlatency connections will enable the so-called tactile Internet in which peoplewill be able to remotely control machines as if they had them in their hands.Remote-controlledmachines could be used to carry out otherwise hazardousinspection and maintenance of infrastructure, as well as enable humans tostay out of clean-room environments.

The Internet of Everything, Including CamelsAs well as making its cities smarter and greener, China is using the IoT tohelp rural areas develop and become more prosperous. In Alxa League, aremote part of InnerMongolia known as the “Hometown of Camels,” ChinaMobile is enabling local people to track the location of their camels usingcellular connectivity. The animals wear solar-powered necklets, equippedwith a GPS chip and a cellular connection, which can transmit theirwhereabouts to their owners’ cellphones. If the system detects a camelmoving at an abnormal speed or the herd goes beyond the grazing range,it will send an alert. China Mobile estimates this “intelligent grazingsystem” can save each family nearly 50,000 yuan by reducing losses andimproving grazing. With the arrival of 5G, agriculture will be transformed

CHINA — FORECAST FOR 5G CONNECTIONS

Source: The GSMA

5G connections (million)

4

44

117

227

354

428

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Page 15: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

— P.13

country’s largest mobile operator, has said it will deploy 10,000 5G basestations by 2020. Edison Lee at Jefferies expects major cities in China tohave 5G coverage by the end of 2020, with capital spending on 5Gnetworks peaking in the country in 2021 and 2022. For China, Lee saysthe benefits of deploying the technology fast are twofold: China will beable to claim many of the patents underpinning 5G technologies, whilescaling up will reduce the unit cost of the equipment and encourage therest of the world to adopt 5G earlier than would have been the case.Indeed, China is hoping that its equipment makers, such as Huawei andZTE, will be leading suppliers of 5G technologies to other countries. TheChina Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT)has estimated that 5G-related revenue for network equipment andhandset manufacturers will reach a total of around 17.5 trillion yuan($2.8 trillion) between 2020 and 2030, according to a report byTelegeography. CAICT believes the network operators themselves willsee total revenue from 5G reach roughly 7.9 trillion yuan between 2020and 2030.To be sure, China is cooperating, as well as competing, with the West onAI and 5G. For example, researchers at Edinburgh University and expertsat the Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei are working togetheron the development of robots supported by 5G. Teams from Huawei’sWireless X Labs and the University’s new Bayes Centre are “investigatinghow AI systems can use wireless 5G networks to provide optimumsupport for connected robotics and autonomous systems,” according toa press release.Such research highlights the interdependence of 5G, the IoT and AI. ForChina, the strategic aim is nothing less than global leadership in all threetechnologies, a goal it looks poised to achieve.

further still, making it possible for connected drones to stream live footageof animals to their owners, while also surveying the surrounding landscape.At a ChinaMobile event in Shenzhen in November, ZTE demonstrated howa 5G-enabled drone can transmit high-definition images to the cloud andgenerate topographic maps in just a few seconds.

Huge Investment NeededBut this kind of high-tech wizardry won’t be cheap. The research arm ofChina’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology expects China’sthree mobile operators – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom– to invest a total of 2.8 trillion yuan ($411 billion) in 5G technologiesbetween 2020 and 2030, with annual spending peaking at 313.3 billionyuan in 2023, according to the South China Morning Post.Why is 5G so expensive? Early commercial rollouts are likely to requireinvestment in small cells and transmission upgrades, with fiber backhaulproviding transmission speeds of 10 Gbps and sub-10 millisecondresponsiveness, according to a report by GSMA Intelligence. Moreover, ifthey are to serve mission-critical applications, such as remote surgery, 5Gnetworks will need to be ultra-reliable. They will have to deliver a “veryhigh quality of service and uptime burden when the stakes are life anddeath, rather than just a great service,” the report notes.

Ahead of ScheduleIn November 2017, China started the third phase of its 5G technologyresearch and development tests, ahead of schedule. China Mobile, the

5G will make it easier for peoplein Inner Mongolia to track their camels with drones.

Page 16: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

P.14 — THE INNOVATOR

Therehasalwaysbeenafiercerivalryamongstwirelessoperatorsand equipment makers to be first to market with a new technology.Butwhenit comes to 5G the stakes could be considerably higher. Racing ahead in 5GcouldhelpChinadominate in the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence– boosting its GDP and industries over those in other countries and regions.(See the story on pages 11-13.) Operators in North America and East Asiaare leading the race to deploy 5G. Europe is expected to lag behind by atleast a year, with some analysts predicting that EU 5G coverage may belimited to a few city centers and airports until 2022-2023. “There are somechallenges that Europe clearly faces,” says Kester Mann, a principal analystat CCS Insight, a UK-based research firm focused on the global wirelesssector. “It won’t be among the leading regions.”

U.S. RolloutLike China, the U.S. will be a leading adopter of 5G. But the rollout willbe less systematic andmore ad-hoc. The largest U.S. telecoms companies,AT&T and Verizon, are planning to launch 5G services as early as thisyear. However, these early deployments are focused primarily on servingfixed connections – linking to a 5G receiver in a customer’s home or office,rather than to a mobile device.Sprint announced it would launch a nationwide 5G network in the firsthalf of 2019 in the U.S. While that could leave the operator behind rivalsAT&T and Verizon Wireless in terms of deployment, Sprint says it willoffer more extensive coverage, rather than just a few cities. It would alsobe ahead of T-Mobile, which plans its rollout for 2020.

TheRaceIsOn— Why the U.S. and Europe need to win in wireless.

By Jennifer L. Schenker and David Pringle

COVER STORY

Europe’s Operators Take Cautious ApproachEurope also has big ambitions. In addition to a number of pan-EU trials,it is planning extensive smart-city trials and European operators are alreadyannouncing plans. Orange, for example, says it will launch France’s first-ever end-to-end test in the northern cities of Lille and Douai betweenmid-2018 and mid-2019 as soon it has the necessary authorizations. And theUEFA EURO 2020 soccer championship games, which will be played in13 different cities in Europe, will be used to showcase 5G.But mobile operators are taking a cautious approach to network rollouts.They complain that the EU isn’t creating the right regulatory environmentto attract sufficient investment. In particular, they are unhappy that morein-market consolidation has been blocked and there isn’t greater pan-EUcoordination of spectrumpolicy. Some countries are likely tomake spectrumavailable much later than others, making it tough for the industry to gaineconomies of scale. This was one of the reasons 4G was rolled out moreslowly in Europe than in the U.S. and East Asia.

Local Projects With Big AmbitionsWhile it seems almost certain that the region will not be an internationalfrontrunner in the next generation of wireless technology, that is notstopping some European countries and cities from vying to become global5G leaders in their own right.For example, Barcelona aims to harness the city’s scientific and technologystartup strengths as well as its ties to the annual Mobile World Congressto become an international 5G hub. (See the story on pages 16-18.)

Page 17: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

Research centers located in Barcelona are focusing on 22 of the 37European5G research areas. While they and others involved in what is known asthe 5GBarcelona initiative are participating in EU programs, they alsowant to create their own independent initiatives in order to attractinternational companies to test 5G technology in the city, says CarlosGrau, director of Mobile World Capital, the Barcelona-based nonprofitorganization that helps organize Mobile World Congress and 4YFN, asister conference focused on startups and innovation taking place at thesame time. The goal is to boost the local economy and create jobs inBarcelona.Meanwhile, in the UK, three British universities – King’s College London,Bristol University and the University of Surrey – are being linked up via5G test beds thanks to a £16million investment from the UK governmentto fund the first trials of end-to-end 5G systems.The University of Surrey’s 5G Innovation Centre, which is leading theproject, is developing 5G radio technologies and a fully virtualizedmobilecore network; Bristol University is charged with deploying 5G capabilityin extensive “Smart City” and “Smart Campus” test beds, targeting full5G and fiber infrastructure convergence; while King’s College London isdriving ultra-low latency 5G tactile Internet developments with so-called“Internet of Skills” applications, which enable the transfer of expertiseover great distances in real-time using robotics and haptic feedback.Ultra-low latency allows things in the virtual world to sync with the real-world, enabling a new paradigm known as Synchronized Reality. Usesinclude remotely controlling or repairingmachines or conducting surgeryon a patient from a distance. Through the King’s College London 5Ginitiative, the university is also co-designing 5G approaches with varioussectors, including smart cities, smart transport, performing arts and health.The focus on specific industry vertical use cases is key, says Mischa Dohler,head of the Centre for Telecoms Research at King’s College and a formeremployee at the global telecoms operator Orange. “We have been outthere talking to cultural spaces, big airports like Heathrow and hospitals,”he says. “There is a lot of appetite for low latency. Synchronized realitywill permit manipulation of mission-critical applications at a distance.By creating demand we are ensuring that industry will understand what

is the value and will not question the cost.” In December the globalmobile operator Vodafone, Ericsson and King’s College performed whatthey saidwere the first successful 5G tests in theUK thatwork independentlyof 4G technology. King’s College was one of only a few applicants chosenby the global telecoms gear-maker Ericsson to test its 5G equipment. “Thatis important because King’s College is among the first to have an end-to-end coordinated system thanks to Ericsson and our in-house developments,”Dohler says.Rolling out such end-to-end systems nationwidewill require the installationof 5G-specific antennas, a costly, time-consuming process for mobileoperators. Dohler, a member of the spectrum board of Ofcom, the UKtelecoms regulatory agency, says the countrymay have found away aroundthisproblem. “What Ihaveproposed to theNational InfrastructureCommissionin the UK is a framework that would allow operators to negotiate a licenseto roll out antennas to all public street furniture in the country rather thanhaving to do this on a regional or city scale,” says Dohler. “This would bea major game-changer and make rollout much faster and economical.”

Reasons for OptimismWhile all 5G frequencies will not be available in the UK until 2020 due tospectrum availability issues, Dohler believes it is possible to build whathe calls “100% of perceived coverage” by creating hotspots that wouldallow the pre-buffering of bandwidth-hogging applications while in acoverage zone. “The regulatory issues are not easy but they are notimpossible,” he says.There are also some other reasons for optimism. In the past wirelessstandards have been reliant on the development of hardware that had tobe designed, installed andmaintained by engineers. But 5G can run overcommodity hardware, widening the field to new entrants. “5G is now asoftware industry and Europe is good at software – particularly B2Bsoftware,” says Dohler. 5G represents “an exciting opportunity” both forthe UK and for Europe as a whole, he says, with the power to transformnot just the tech sector, but all industries, for those countries, cities andcompanies that move fast enough to reap the advantages.

— P.15

5G subscribers, millions (year end)Source: CCS Insight

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

North America 2.084024 13.69929 68.21391 136.9507 220.3113 301.3545Western Europe 0 2.594615 15.83894 53.05347 116.8971 188.1054China 1.970739 13.23471 93.8094 432.3648 736.6089 897.1792

5G FORECAST

Page 18: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

P.16 — THE INNOVATOR

Barcelona’sBidtoBecomeaGlobal5GHub— The city aims to turn its wireless technologyprowess into a local economic advantage.

Barcelona doesn’t want to be known simply as the host cityofMobileWorldCongress, an annual international exhibition and conferencethat attracts over a 100,000 attendees. It aims to be at the center of thewireless industry all year long.“We want to position Barcelona as a leading global 5G hub,” says SergiFiguerola Fernandez, chief technology and innovation officer at i2CAT, aCatalonian nonprofit research and innovation center that promotes R&Dactivities in information and communication technologies and futureInternet.To that end, new local 5G projects in Barcelona focusing on four verticals– connected cars, healthcare, industrial applications and entertainment– will be announced during this year’s Mobile World Congress.The projects will include the participation of large international companiesand telecom operators, says Carlos Grau, the head ofMobileWorld Capital,a nonprofit organization based in Barcelona that is behind Mobile WorldCongress and Four Years From Now (4YFN), a sister conference focusedon digital disruption. Both conferences will take place in the city betweenFebruary 26 andMarch 1. 5G, a big focus at MobileWorld Congress 2018,

The Torre Glòries, formerly known as Torre Agbar,in the 22@district, the heart of Barcelona’s startup sector,which is ranked fifth in Europe.The city hopes to leverage its tech strengthsto become an international 5G hub.

Page 19: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

promises to open the way for the generation of new services in areas suchas autonomous and connected vehicles, drone-based services, access toremote health services and smart manufacturing, the use of advances inrobotics, artificial intelligence, material science, 3D printing and theInternet of Things to allow every object in a factory to communicate withthe others.

An International TestbedCities, countries and companies that move fast to adopt 5G are expectedto gain a significant economic boost. (See the story on pages 8-10.)With that goal in mind i2CAT, Mobile World Capital, the government ofCatalonia, the Barcelona City Council, the Telecommunications TechnologyCentre of Catalonia (CTTC), the Polytechnical University of Catalonia(UPC) and the research lab of Atos, a European IT services company,signed an agreement in January in support what is being called the5GBarcelona initiative.During the course of 2018, as part of the next phase of the European

— P.17

COVER STORY

Union’s 5G-Public Private Partnership program, the European Commissionwill select a small number of projects for 5G testing and validation.5GBarcelona aspires to be one of those projects. Barcelona is also alreadyacting as a public test bed for 5G through the European Commission’s5GCity project. But Barcelona’s ambitions are larger than just being partof pan-European projects, stresses Grau. It wants to translate its 5Gprowess into a local economic advantage.Major investment in 5G is expected to have “trickle-down” impacts acrossthe whole of the European economy, potentially generating €141.8 billionin new revenues across the EU and creating 2.39 million jobs, accordingto a 2016 report prepared for the European Commission’s DirectorateGeneral for Communications Networks, Content and Technology by TrinityCollegeDublin, thewireless advisoryfirmrealwireless, themobile technologyresearch firm InterDigital and the research consultancy tech4i2.The aim is to attract up to 12% of that revenue by “turning Barcelona intoa global 5G testbed and attracting the digital units of large corporationsto relocate here,” says Grau. “We don’t want to just be experts in antennas

Carlos Grau,MobileWorldCapitalDirector

“We wanttodifferentiateourselvesfromtechhubs likeLondonandBerlinbyanalyzingthescenarios inwhich5Gcouldbeusedandanticipatingtheeconomicimpactofnewusesandnewservices.”

BARCELONA’S STRENGTHS— It is the headquarters of Mobile World Capital, the organizer

of Mobile World Congress. Founding partners are Spain’sMinistry of Industry, Energy and Tourism; the government ofCatalonia; the Barcelona City Council and the GSMA, an industrytrade body that represents the interest of operatorsworldwide. Private sector partners include the telecomoperators Telefonica, Vodafone and Orange.

— Four scientific research centers focused on 22 of the EU’s 375G programs are based there as is i2CAT, the Cataloniagovernment’s communications research center.

— Barcelona is ranked fifth in Europe when it comes to numberof startups and their size, quality and investment rounds.

— It is home to large corporations that have decided to embrace5G, such as the carmaker SEAT, a unit of the Volkswagen group.

— The city is experimenting with 5G technologies as part ofwhat it calls an “open living lab” to gauge the technology’simpact on its future.

— Barcelona’s Football Club has agreed to test 5G gear in the city’sstadium

— The Spanish government just agreed to headquartera new ”5G Observatory” to analyze use cases for 5G and theirprojected economic impact on Spain in the city.

Page 20: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

P.18 — THE INNOVATOR

COVER STORY

and chips. We want to differentiate ourselves from tech hubs like Londonand Berlin by analyzing the scenarios in which 5G could be used andanticipating the economic impact of new uses and new services.”

Involving Barcelona’s ResidentsOneof 5GBarcelona’s goals is to establish anopenexperimental infrastructurein themetropolitanarea,whichwill serveasanurban, citizen-led technologicallaboratory for validating 5G technologies and services, says Francesca Bria,the city’s chief technology and innovation officer, an advisor for theEuropeanCommission on Future Internet and Smart Cities policy, amemberof the EC Expert Group on Open Innovation (OISPG) and a member ofthe European Research Cluster on the Internet of Things (IERC).To that end, in the run-up to Mobile World Congress, the city organizedwhat it calls “MobileWeek Barcelona” from February 15 to 24. During theweek-long event, Barcelona’s districts were converted into “places for opendebate, creativity and learning as a means of reflecting on how digitaltransformation will change everyday life.”MobileWeek fits inwith existing initiatives launched by the city of Barcelonathat allow for “new forms of policy-making that are open, experimentaland able to build in the collective intelligence of citizens” according to thecity’s website.“This needs to happen from the bottom up,” says Bria. “By putting citizensat the center, we also aim to increase their digital sovereignty, enablingthem to fully exercise their freedom and digital rights, including their rightto data protection, privacy and information self-determination.”The city has launched a democracy platform called Decidim.Barcelona toexperiment with new types of participatory democracy. It is also startingtraining programs to help people hone digital skills and it is attemptingto show people that the addition of new types of technologies can lead to

improvements in everyday life through programs that can be then scaledthroughout the city. One example is the “Superblocks,” a participatoryurban planning intervention that targets CO2 emission, closing off entiredistricts of the city to traffic and applying all the technological andenvironmental advances at the city council’s disposal to createmore greenspaces and improve air quality and the environment.As the technology evolves “it is important that the city itself can experiencethe changes that will be brought about by 5G,” says Bria. “We want toavoid a digital divide andwewant to let the people see how this technologycan be put towork for them. «At the same timewewant our local industrialsector and SMEs in particular to be at the center of this technologicalrevolution.”J.L.S.

“It is important that the cityitself can experience the changesthat will be brought about by 5G.We want to avoid a digitaldivide and we want to letthe people see how thistechnology can be put to workfor them.”Francesca Bria,Barcelona’s Chief Technology and DigitalInnovation Officer

Page 21: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

WE NEED

Y U“If youwant to be a startup billionaire, you have to solve a billion peoples‘ problems”Thimo V. Schmitt-Lord MBE, Head of Bayer Foundations

We believe in the game changing power of innovation – we support pioneers who apply tech innovations to humanity’sbiggest challenges around heath and food.

In 2018 we are scouting for Startups, Innovators, and Impact Innovations particularly focused on agriculture and foodproduction for our seed funding programs and new book "The Beauty of Impact - Food". We are searching for innovationsthat solve the food crisis and other global grand health-related challenges that we can promote and fund to bring to therising billions in need around the world.

The next opportunity to meet the the Foundations CEO Thimo V. Schmitt-Lord and Open Innovation Hub Director andSpeaker Marc Buckley is at 4YFN in Barcelona, Spain on Feb. 26-28 and at Skyberries in Vienna, Austria on Feb. 28-March 2.

Seeking funding yourself for a crazy “innovation-4-good” idea?Get in touch with us at [email protected]. More Info: www.bayer-foundations.com

Page 22: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

P.20 — THE INNOVATOR

Fearing that their core business will become a commodity,turning them into little more than “dumb pipes,” telecom operators havespent the last 30 years trying to reinvent themselves as everything fromcontent providers to banks, with limited success.So now Telefónica is sending people trekking all the way to the Amazonjungle and Peruvian Andes to try and find radically different paths forward.One idea being explored by the global telecom operator is to become anenergy service provider that will “redefine power generation for the 21stcentury.” To that end, it is exploring ways it could serve the three billionpeople globallywhohave no access to electricity or are stuckwith unreliableservice. It is also looking at how to apply advances in artificial intelligenceand behavioral science to monitor and improve peoples’ health. These arejust two of the “moon shots” being pursued by Telefónica’s Alpha, whichis billed as Europe’s first moon shot factory.Telefónica has three well-established startup investment arms – Wayra,TelefónicaVentures andAmérigo–and, likeother big corporates, is constantlydeveloping newways of approaching innovation internally. These effortsare primarily aimed at keeping the current business running and takingincremental steps in new directions.Alpha is a radically different program. It is completely separate from thecore company, staffed primarily by outsiders and its goal is to help Telefónicabranch into entirely new high-impact business lines in the future. “By our

SeekingAlpha— Telefónica is attempting to define its future revenueand profitability through moon shots.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

definition of a moon shot, there are only two moon-shot factories in theworld: X [launched by Alphabet, Google’s parent company] and Alpha,”says Maurice Conti, Alpha’s chief innovation officer. Conti previouslyworked as Director of Applied Research & Innovation at the U.S. softwaregiant Autodesk. He has expertise in applied machine learning, advancedrobotics, augmented and virtual realities, and the future of work, citiesandmobility and is a member of the faculty of future/io, a new Europeaneducation and research institute focused on exponential technologies anddesirable futures.

Emulating a Scrappy StartupConti and his team are responsible for coming up with ideas, prototypesand proofs of concepts that will go on to become full-blown moon shots,i.e. things that have not been tried before that will affect a 100 millionpeople ormore and grow into impactful businesses. The team is comprisedof people who are not your typical phone company employee.“If you polled most of the people who work at Alpha I don’t think theywould say they work for a big telephone company, but rather for a small,fast, scrappy startup that is exciting to be a part of,” says Conti. “This ispartly due to the fact that Telefónica has come up with a very cleverbusiness model. Alpha is not an in-house center of innovation excellence– which we have all seen ad nauseam. They don’t work. We have thebenefit of Telefónica’s support (without which wewouldn’t exist), but ouridentity is Alpha. It’s what we live and breathe every day. That’s part ofwhat helps us attract a whole different kind of talent.”As an exampleConti recalls howAlpha recently contacted a “crazymusician/artist /hacker type and asked him to build a prototype – a VR thing. Hewas wary of working with Alpha. We were almost too corporate for him.”But, says Conti, “we talked him into it by showing him we’re not justcorporate types, we have plenty of eccentric brilliant weirdos doing reallygroundbreaking stuff. So he came in and after four, five days he built thistruly awesome prototype that incorporated some off-the-wall ideas whichmight have never occurred to us.” To Conti this is an example of howAlpha can attract brilliant people who are not interested in a big-namebrand or big paycheck. “Most of the folks here are motivated by theopportunity to make a big difference in the world,” he says. The Alphaideation team’smission is to deliver newmoon-shot ideas for board approval.The board is comprised of Telefónica CEO JoséMaría Álvarez-Pallete López(Alpha was his brainchild) and a group of Telefónica executives, scientistsand Silicon Valley innovators.“If a moon shot is approved, Telefonica knows they may take up to adecade to become viable businesses,whichmeanswe can pursue challengesthat are out of the reach of startups fueled by venture capital,” says Conti.

Page 23: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

“The ideation process is like a linear funnel,” he adds. “In the beginning,there are a lot of concepts, very rough ideas and a lot of assumptions. Weuse different methodologies like science fiction futures and Worldbuildingto come up with several dozen candidates.At the end of this phase we reduce it down to between five and ten anddouble down on them with more resources and prototyping – not justdeveloping gizmos but prototyping business plans, thinking about potentialcollaborations and partnerships, exploring the bleeding edge of the relevanttechnologies, and generally envisioning what the world with this thing init would look like.” During the process, the Alpha team start decreasing theamount of risk or number of leaps of faith. “We get down to three ideas andwe go heavy and serious on all three, developing a robust business plan,market analysis and technology,” says Conti. “If the moon shot is intendedfor a certain part of theworld, we go there andmeet the peoplewho intendto use this technology and do ethnographic research. We also seek to getexternal validation from the world’s top experts. We look for the top twoor three people on the subject to get their feedback. Usually the projectsare so interesting that even these folks – the best in the world at what theydo – arewilling to give their time and energy. Then, at the end of the process,we go from three to the one candidate that is going to be presented to theboard and we do two things: we do everything we can to prove it is a solidmoon shot and then we do everything we can to kill it.” The team tries to

comeupwith a dozen questions designed to question themoon shot. “We’reactually super motivated to kill the moonshot before presenting it to theboard,” says Conti. “No onewants to be working on something for the nextdecade that isn’t the very best idea we can come up with.”

Shooting for the MoonSo far two moon shots have been approved. Offering access to electricityto people who have no access or are underserved “could be both a veryinteresting large business and at the same time a net force for a good,”says Conti. “We believe there is a significant healthy long-term market inthis space but I can’t share too much publicly. All I can tell you is we aresending people into the Amazon jungle and Andean mountain villages toworkwith these folks aroundwhat energy couldmean.” Alpha is releasingfew details about the health initiative.So what kind of other moon shots can we expect to see from Alpha? “Weare not tasked with developing things like 6G [the next potential wirelessbroadband standard],” says Conti. “We’re here to solve some of the biggestproblems facing society. We have no boundaries in the areas that weinvestigate so I’d say you should expect something big, audacious and,well, unexpected.”J.L.S.

— P.21

Alpha employees speak to peoplein an Andean village about what types of energy servicescould make sense in the region.

Page 24: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

Brian Behlendorf, ascheduled keynote speaker atMobileWorld Congress in Barcelona, isexecutive director of TheHyperledgerProject, an open-source collaborationinitiative hosted by the LinuxFoundation. Its charter is to build aset of distributed ledger or blockchaintechnologies that can be used for awide variety of purposes andembedded inside the emerging next-generation Internet.Behlendorf, a leading figure in theopen-source softwaremovement,wasa primary developer of the ApacheWeb server, the most popular webserver software on the Internet. Heis a member of TheWorld EconomicForum’s Global Future Council onBlockchain and is on the boards ofdirectors of the Mozilla FoundationandTheElectronicFrontierFoundation.He recently agreed to speak to TheInnovator’s editor-in-chief about howthe telecommunications industry –and other sectors – might leverageblockchain technology.A consortium of telecom operators isbeing formed to construct a massiveasset exchange network based onblockchain that would leverage andbuild upon their existing ability toexchange data across their collectivefive-billion-person network.Accenture calls it a $1 trillionopportunity for the industry. How doyou foresee the telecoms industryusing blockchain?— B.B.:The idea of telecomoperatorsbuilding something based on open-source distributed ledgers is not farfetched. The use of blockchainmakessense when you need to record atransaction or implement a directory.In the telecoms sector thereare severaluse cases worth thinking about. Thesimplest one is number portability:

when a sim card is turned on you areassigned a phone number andwhenthere is consensus tomove that phonenumber with all of its transactionhistory you want to be sure that it isdone in away that is transparent anddistributed.Q: What are some other possibleuse cases?— B.B.:Another potential use case iscross-border billing for usingminutesor services on a number of differentprovider networks. Every transactionis tracked and reflected back on a billto an end user. Before blockchaintechnology, the sector was limited topoint-to-point integration of networksor centralized transaction hubs. Thiscreates certain challenges. Thesecentralized networks are great for

P.22— THE INNOVATOR

BLOCKCHAIN

HowBlockchainMightTransformTheMobileIndustryAndMore

AnInterviewWithBrian Behlendorf,AscheduledkeynotespeakeratMobileWorldCongress inBarcelona

Page 25: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

passing around small payments andkeeping track of lots and lots of smallgranular transactions, but when aproblememergesor thereareattemptsatmalfeasance it is important to havea record in an immutable ledgershared between network providers.The blockchain provides a goodway,when problems do emerge, to haveanaudit trail back tounderstandwhatwas the change and who wasresponsible for it.Could telecoms also use blockchainto generate new sources ofrevenues?— B.B.: Digital identity services areone potentially very large opportunityfor today’s retail network operators.There are very few other sectors thathave billing relationships with such

a broad segment of the population.Globally, there are 1.1 billion peoplein theworldwho do not have formalidentity documents and thus can’topen a bank account or even haveaccess to government services. Therehave been attempts to address thiswith digital identity solutions, suchas Aadhaar, a national biometricidentity program in India created bythe tech entrepreneur NandanNilekani. But there are significantchallenges with such centralizeddirectories, whether from corruptionand abuse or simply because they arelike big honeypots that are vulnerableto hacking.So to address this we have a projectcalled Hyperledger Indy, whichimplements a different concept fordigital identity called “Self-SovereignIdentity.” In such a system individualsmanage their personal data insomethingmore personal and closer,likeadigitalwallet,whichholdsdigitalequivalents of drivers licenses, birthcertificates, diplomas, titles to yourhouse, health records andmore. Sucha wallet uses a distributed ledger torecord your signatures, and othersignatures on these documents, soyou can prove they are valid whenyou present them to others. The dataremains stored at the source – withthe person it concerns – and eachperson could keep trackofwhomtheyshare the data with. Permissions andaccess history would all be recorded,and the original datawould stay safe.Telecom companies are in a uniqueposition to assist with the rollout ofsuch a service, because of the directretail consumer relationship theyhave with so many individuals.Furthermore,a simcardcanhelpattesttowhoaperson is or assist in resettingin case of lost ID.

Will people trust their phonecompanies to handle their identities?— B.B.: There are three sectors –telcoms, banking and government– that many people love to hate.That is one of the challenges. ButwhatM-Pesa [amobile phone-basedmoney transfer, financing andmicrofinancing service, launched in2007 by Vodafone for Safaricom andVodacom, the largestmobile networkoperators in Kenya] demonstratedis that telecom operators have thereach – even more so than financialservice companies. Banks are closingretail branches everywhere, whereas,especially in the developing world,every bodega or kiosk operator isselling added minutes or can helpyou with transferring money viamobile phones. That is why telecomoperators are in a great position tobe the touch point for managingdigital identity.What other sectors are likely to useblockchain?— B.B.: Any sector that has to dealwith real problems involving trust.Supply chains of all sorts. Thediamond industry has an activeblockchain project this year. Foodsafety projects, such as one involvingIBM andWalmart, that seek to trackthe provenance of everything frompork to mangos or salmon. Inhealthcare it canbeused for the supplychain of pharmaceuticals or thesharing of medical records. Telecomcan’t be too far behind fromwhatwesee, but now is the time for thisindustry to get things rolling.Hyperledger is here to help.Are we at the top of the blockchainhype cycle?— B.B.: It does feel like there is someover-cheerleading, but blockchainwill be transformational. It’s a

technology that makes it easy torecord and verify and easy to havea memory. This is something thatwill impact every business. It is abit like the Internet in the days whenit moved from being a researchplatform and a place to play withtech to a platform for how businesswas changed. If your business haslots of transactions and is workingwith a large number of parties wheretrust is always an issue then youshould be doing research and bedeveloping a plan for deployingblockchain. You shouldhave someoneon your innovation team orsomebody from IT doing a proof ofconcept internally so that you startto get the physics of the technology,in the same way that in the mid-1990s Fortune 1000 companiesweregetting the sense of the physics ofthis thing called the Internet. A lotof blockchain technology is still earlybut not so early that you can’t applyit to a real business need today.What other advice do you have forexecutives at big companies thatare considering deployingblockchain?— B.B.: There is no such thing as ablockchain of one. The technologyis about coordinating interactionsbetween parties. So first you needto be talking to the other participantsin your value chain, the people youbuy from, sell to and perhaps evenyour competitors. Then you needto ask yourselves “how do wedemonstrate that applying blockchainfor this use will have commercialvalue?” You need to be havingconversations about common usecases and to put in some R&D effortwork to see what’s worth doing andthen make it happen.J.L.S.

— P.23

“Telecomoperatorsareinagreatpositiontobethetouchpoint formanagingdigital identity”

Page 26: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

P.24 — THE INNOVATOR

THE TOP 25STARTUPSTO MEET AT 4YFNIN BARCELONAEach year 4YFN gathers hundreds of innovative startups from aroundthe world to pitch to investors and corporates.The Innovator selected the 25 startups we think would be most interestingto big business.

CYBERSECURITYEVERSPINSOUTHKOREAWHAT IT DOES: Everspin’s security platform isdesigned for industries adopting IoT systems. It isfocused on protecting increasingly connectedproduction and manufacturing facilities fromgrowing cybersecurity threats.

http://www.everspin.co.kr/

CYBERSECURITYEXCALIBURSLOVAKIAWHAT IT DOES: Excalibur lets companies turn theiremployees’ smartphones into secure tokens thatcan be used to access enterprise systems in place ofpasswords. The idea is to eventually eliminate allcorporate passwords and replace them with adynamic security system that is more difficult tohack.https://getexcalibur.com

BLOCKCHAINVALIDATED IDSPAINWHAT IT DOES: An ID validation system forbusinesses based on blockchain technologies. Itallows companies to centrally manage identificationfor customers and partners to facilitate transac-tions and sales.

http://www.validatedid.com

ANALYTICSVIISIGHTSISRAELWHAT IT DOES: The company uses software, deeplearning, and cognitive computing to power aplatform that analyzes video for smart cityapplications, connected businesses, security, andother IoT uses. The processing is fast enough toprovide real-time warnings and alerts.

http://www.viisights.com

ANALYTICSBITPHYSPAINWHAT IT DOES: Provides predictive businessintelligence based on AI, IoT and Big Data for theretail sector.

www.bitphy.es

CYBERSECURITYCOUNTERCRAFTSPAINWHAT IT DOES: CounterCraft uses a new securitytechnique called ” deception” to fight hackers. Thetactics assume hackers will get into a system andattempts to trick them and manipulate them tominimize damage and theft.

https://www.countercraft.eu

AUGMENTEDREALITYWIDEUMSPAINWHAT IT DOES: Wideum makes smart glassescalled Remote Eye, which are aimed at heavyindustrial users and manufacturers. Remote Eyedelivers live video feeds and uses augmentedreality to allow companies to provide remotesupport to technicians in the field.

http://www.remoteeye.com

ENVIRONMENTTRACKSCO2SPAINWHAT IT DOES: AnEthereumblockchainsystemthatallowscompaniestosignsmartcontractstooffsettheircarbonemissions.Thesystemaimstoconnectcorporateclientswithvariousenvironmentalprojectsaroundtheworld.

http://tracksco2.com/

FOODEVJAITALYWHAT IT DOES: Hardware and software systemthat draws information from sensors installed infields. A farmer can monitor this information onthings like temperature and humidity to makedecisions and, in some cases, even benefit frompredictive models for advance warnings onpotential threats such as various plant diseases.http://www.evja.eu

HEALTHIOMED MEDICALSOLUTIONSSPAINWHAT IT DOES: Providesadigitalplatformformanagingunstructureddatageneratedbydoctorsandhospitals. Inaddition,theserviceanalyzestheaggregatedataitgathersusingAItoprovideanalyticsonpatientcareandhospitaloperations.http://www.iomed.es

ROBOTICSLUXROBOSOUTHKOREAWHAT IT DOES: Luxrobo sells MODI, a modularsystem that lets users design and build their ownIoT and robotic devices. MODI’s clients includesmall businesses looking to develop basic IoTdevices.

http://www.luxrobo.com

Page 27: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

— P.25

MOBILITYECCOCARSPAINWHAT IT DOES: Develops a car-sharing platformbusinesses can use to manage fleets of cars andtrucks. Administrators control the system fromthe back end but employees can book and servevehicles directly through a mobile app.

http://www.eccocar.com/en/

BLOCKCHAINJELURIDANETHERLANDSWHAT IT DOES: Develops tools to allow mains-tream business to build products and servicesthat leverage blockchain technologies. Itsblockchain-as-a-service approach has been usedto create voting systems, transactions, and somebasic monetary exchanges.

http://www.jelurida.com

MOBILITYTERAKIGERMANYWHAT IT DOES: Teraki makes software that tapsinto the growing amounts of data generated by carsto better predict maintenance issues. It is alsoworking with insurance companies to developsystems for ”usage-based insurance” thatpersonalize premiums based on driver behavior.

http://www.teraki.com

PRODUCTIVITYZAPIENSSPAINWHAT IT DOES: Uses AI to create a centralizedknowledge management system for companies thatallows employees to share data resources. As theyshare information, the platform also builds profiles ofemployees to help match them to various jobs ortasks that arise elsewhere in an organization.

www.zapiens.org

COMPUTINGCOGNIFIBERISRAELWHAT IT DOES: CogniFiber is developing ”scalablephotonic computing,” a new technology that allowsmachine learning and AI to be processed in fibercables rather than having to go all the way back to acentral computing sources. The concept aims tospeed processing, cut costs, and save energy.

http://www.cognifiber.com/

VIRTUALREALITYNEURODIGITALTECHNOLOGIESSPAINWHAT IT DOES: Develops virtual reality hardwareand software, including haptic gloves, for mobilephones and computers. Clients include NASA, theU.S. Navy, Airbus, Alstom, BMW, British Telecom andVodafone.

www.neurodigital.es

IOTDEVICEHUBROMANIAWHAT IT DOES: Operates a platform andmarketplace for IoT devices and systems. Itsopen- source tools are designed to make it easierfor businesses to connect and manage IoTtechnologies.

https://www.devicehub.net/

ENERGYHYBRICO ENERGYTECHNOLOGIESGUATEMALAWHAT IT DOES: Allows companies to power theirmission-critical operations using sustainable, greenpower sources. Its modular, solar-poweredgeneration system can also be used to deliver powerto remote areas not connected to the power grid.http://www.hybricoenergy.com

ENERGYAEINNOVASPAINWHAT IT DOES: To reduce wasted energy,AEinnova creates power by using heat generatedby electronic and industrial machines. Thiscaptured and recycled energy can then be used forlow-powered IoT devices.

http://www.aeinnova.com

DRONESUNMANNED LIFEUNITEDKINGDOMWHAT IT DOES: The company has built an IoTplatform to manage both flying and earthbounddrones by allowing them to operate autono-mously. The system works over a variety ofwireless networks and initially is targeting largeindustrial users who want to augment theirproduction systems.http://unmanned.life

Compiled and written by Chris O’Brien.

O’Brien is European c orrespondentfor VentureBeat, currently based in France. Beforemoving to France in 2014, he spent 15 yearscovering Silicon Valley for the San Jose MercuryNews and Los Angeles Times.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCEDIGITALGENIUSUNITEDKINGDOMWHAT IT DOES: Applies deep learning and artificialintelligence to the customer service opérations oflarge companies. Customers include KLM RoyalDutch Airlines.

www.digitalgenius.com

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCEPIXONEYEISRAELWHAT IT DOES: PixoneyeusescomputervisionandAI tohelpbusinessesmeasurecustomerbehavior.Once itssoftwaredevelopmentkit isplugged intoacompany’sconsumerapp itscanstheusers’photostoenhanceabusiness’sprofileofcustomersandpredict theirbehavior.

http://www.pixoneye.com

LOCATIONSERVICESGIPSTECHITALYWHAT IT DOES: The company’s system combinestwo technologies it developed — geomagneticsensors and a specialized localization engine tosense the direction of pedestrians – with publictechnologies like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth beacons. Theplatform allows precise mapping and tracking ofindoor spaces such as museums and airports.http://www.gipstech.com/

SMARTCITIESXAPIXGERMANYWHAT IT DOES: Uses open data to createsmart-city services. It’s currently focused onsolving the challenge of helping automanufacturers make better use of connected cardata and linking to urban mobility systems.

https://www.xapix.io

Page 28: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

P.26 — THE INNOVATOR

Sometime last November an anonymous group of hackersbegan hijacking smartphones and redirecting their browsers to a websitethat conducts “crypto-mining,” the term for using computing power to tallytransactions made on the blockchain, a type of digital ledger technology.By the time cybersecurity firmMalwarebytes detected the campaignagainstAndroid phones in late January, it estimated that millions of phones hadbeen compromised. “The threat landscape has changed dramatically overthe past few months, with many actors jumping on the cryptocurrencybandwagon,”Malwarebytes researcherswrote in a report. “Malware-basedminers, aswell as theirweb-based counterparts, are booming and offeringonline criminals new revenue sources. Forced crypto-mining is now alsoaffectingmobile phones and tablets enmasse.”Rather than attempting to infiltrate inside a mobile phone user’s networkto steal information, forced crypto-mining makes use of 100% of theprocessing power of each compromised phone to make money for thehackers. (As payment for their mining or processing services, miners arepaid cryptocurrency as fees.) It is just the latest example of how the long-feared security risks posed by gadgets such as smartphones and tabletshave finally become a reality. Over the past two years, the number ofmalware attacks and vulnerabilities on mobile devices have exploded,leading 4YFN, an innovation conference taking place in Barcelona at thesame time as MobileWorld Congress, to put cyber-security on the agendafor the first time. While innovative technologies, startups, and strategies

CybercrimeIsGoingMobile— Innovative startups are helping corporates combatsecurity risks posed by smartphones and tablets.

By Chris O’Brien

CYBERSECURITY

are emergingmobile offers toomany entry points to prevent the bad guysfrom getting in. The goal now is to use deceit and vigilance to isolate thehackers’ movements and limit the damage. “Companies use to think ofsecurity as putting up walls and creating a fortress” to prevent anyonefrom getting in, says Nico Goulet, a scheduled speaker on the February27th 4YFN cyber-security panel and a partner at Madrid-based AdaraVentures, which focuses on cyber-security and Big Data investing. “Nowyou assume the world is more open and the walls are not going to protectus. Now you have to assume people are going to get in.”

Mobile as the TargetOf course, mobile and the Internet of the Things are extensions of existingcorporate networks,which are facing a growingwave of attacks on all fronts.JuniperResearch, ananalystfirm, recentlypredicted that the rapiddigitizationof consumers’ lives and enterprise records will increase the cost of databreaches to $2.1 trillion globally by 2019.An increasingly connected world where more information is digitized andstoredonlinehasdramatically increasedthevalueof targets,offering tantalizingopportunities for increasinglywell-funded internationaldigital crimesyndicatesand state-sponsored hacking. There’s been a non-stop parade of headline-grabbing breaches over the past year, from ransomware cyberattacks suchas WannaCry and NotPetya to the catastrophic Equifax hack. As a result,spending on cybersecurity is exploding. IDC projects that the $83.5 billionspent worldwide on security hardware, software and services in 2017 willclimb to $119.9 billion by 2021. Even as cyber-security spending overallincreases, a report from Thales and research firm 451 notes that mobilewill be a particular focus of this investment, with 57% of organizations itsurveyed saying they planned to spend more on end point and mobiledefense in2018.That’sbecauseover thepast twoyears,mobilehas increasinglybecome the focus of attacks. While security experts have fretted about thispossibility since the iPhone ushered in the smartphone age more than adecade ago, it’s only more recently that the ubiquity of phones and tabletsatworkhavemade themvaluableenoughtodrawmoresubstantial investmentand attention from hackers. The lack of security on the devices combinedwith the growing amounts of data they contain make them much easieraccess points.“The evolution of the mobile device into a computing device, I would sayit’s something organizations didn’t put high on their radar for a long time,”says Robert Arandjelovic, director of security strategy at Symantec, a U.S.-based global cyber-security software company. “And security is still anunpopular topic. Because people still look at security as a weight that willpull you back rather than something that will allow you do these things.”In an annual security report, Kaspersky, a Moscow-based cyber security

Page 29: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

and antivirus software company, notes that during the first half of 2017it detected almost twice as much ransomware on smartphones as it didfor all of 2016. Hackers tend to target Android phones because its opensource code and the Google Play storesmake development and distributionof apps containing some kind of malware more efficient.CVE Details, which compiles a database of security issues, received reportsof 842 Android vulnerabilities in 2017, up from 523 the previous yearand only 13 in 2014. “Google has been playing catch up to improve thesecurity posture of apps available within their store,” says Pablo Garcia,CEOof Japanese security firmFFRI,which has developed amobilemalwaredetection product. “Google removed roughly 700,000malicious apps fromtheir app store in 2017.” But Apple’s iOS is not completely immune. CVEDetails lists 387 iOS vulnerabilities reported in 2017, up from 161 in 2016.

An Uptick in VulnerabilitiesTrendMicro,which specializes in enterprise data security and cyber securitysolutions for businesses, was one of the earliest to move into mobilesecurity. In 2012, the company released its Trend Micro Mobile AppReputation Service, which scans publicly available apps for suspiciousbehavior and malware across all app marketplaces. When employees atbig corporates first started using their personal devices atwork, ITmanagerskept a pretty tight lid on access, says Loïc Guézo, TrendMicro’s cybersecurity

— P.27

CYBERSECURITYSTARTUPSTOWATCH

WISEKEYSWITZERLANDWHAT IT DOES : Authentication,identity management and cybersecu-rity for the Internet of Things.

www.wisekey.com

strategist for Southern Europe. But as the practice has become morecommon, those devices have becomemore integral, and thusmore enticingto digital thieves. “There’s more data on these phones and there are moreprivileged access points they can use to get into the corporate network,”says Guézo, So it is no surprise that cyber-security startups which aredriving some of the more innovative approaches to mobile security, arein hot demand.For instance, Fireglass, an Israeli startup, founded in 2014 raised $20million for its pioneering security strategy known as “isolation.” Thecompany’s technology creates virtual versions of corporate functions that

Page 30: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

employees can access onmobile browsers without being connected to themain corporate network. If someone hacks their phone, it can’t be usedasagateway into themain system.Symantec, aU.S.-basedglobal cybersecuritycompany, acquired Fireglass in July 2017 for an undisclosed sum. Fivedays later, Symantec acquired another Israeli security start up called Skycure,which had raised $27.5 million in venture capital.Skycure created a platform that combined crowd-sourced threat informationand artificial intelligence in an attempt to predict and prevent attacks onmobile devices. After the acquisition, Skycure was renamed SymantecEndpoint Protection Mobile.CounterCraft, a Spanish security startup founded in 2015 that has raised$2.6 million, sets various traps inside networks for hackers who break in,using another strategy called “deception,” which assumes hackers will findaway tobreak-in. These includevarious apps that areplacedona smartphoneor tablet that the owner knows not to touch or launch. But if someonesteals the phone, or breaks in, and tries to launch or access one of theseapps, they can release fake information, or do things like activate thephones’ camera to snap a picture of the thief, or send out GPS coordinates,or turn on the microphone. “You have to be one step ahead of any threats,and we try to use concepts from counter intelligence,” says David Barroso,co-founder and CEO of CounterCraft, a scheduled participant on the 4YFNconference cybersecuritypanel. Still, the assumption remains that informationwill be stolen. Increasingly, that information is being used for things likeaccessing accounts, particularly financial accounts. The stolen data isused to create fake identities that mix information from various victimsto create new personas that are then used to open fraudulent accounts.Enter 4iQ, a startup launched in 2016 with a service that tracks the useof stolen personal identities that are traded onwhat is known as the “DarkWeb.” The company was founded by the Spanish developer Julio Casal,who previously launched another pioneering cybersecurity startup calledAlienVault. That company, which was launched in 2007, was backed by

Adara, as is 4iQ, which has raised $14million. 4iQ CEOMonica Pal, whopreviously worked with Casal at AlienVault, says the mobile topographyis only going to get more challenging for companies as employees turnto new gadgets and the lines between personal and business uses andapplications blur. “The new perimeter is the individual,” Pal says. “Andthe way the individual gets online is their mobile device.”

CROWDSTRIKEUNITED STATESWHAT IT DOES : Analyzesendpointevents inreal timeusingmachinelearningandhumanintelligence. Itaimsto detectactiveattacksatendpointsanddisableattacksbeforeanetworkbreak-inoccurs.

https://www.crowdstrike.com/

SECURITHINGSISRAELWHATITDOES: Provides a platformthat lets service providers monitor allactivity across IoT devices in real timeto detect threats.

https://securithings.com/

TANIUMUNITED STATESWHATITDOES: Provides a dashboardthat gives visibility and control overevery device in a corporate network,with the aim of detecting any securityissues within 15 seconds.

https://www.tanium.com/

CYBEREASONUNITED STATESWHATITDOES: Endpoint detection ofattacks. Its technology finds aweakness in the attack and thendesigns a specific response to stop it.

https://www.cybereason.com/

P.28 — THE INNOVATOR

CYBERSECURITY

Financial servicesUtilities and energy

Aerospace and defenseTechnology and software

HealthcareServices

Industrial/manufacturingRetail

Public sectorTransportation

Consumer productsCommunications

Life scienceEducation

Hospitality

Sources: Ponemon Institute and Accenture

Average annualized costby industry sector

US$ millions

Total annualized cost($1 million omitted)

FINANCIAL SERVICES HAS THE HIGHEST COSTOF CYBERCRIME

$0 4 8 12 16 20

Page 31: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,
Page 32: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

AnInterviewWithJulienCodorniou,Vice-President of Workplace by Facebook

more than onemillion work groups.Users includeglobal phone companieslike Telenor, Spotify, Telefonica,Deliveroo and India’s Airtel. TheInnovator’s editor-in-chief recentlyinterviewed Julien Codorniou, vice-president ofWorkplace by Facebook,about how its mobile-first enterprisecollaboration platform is changingthe way people work.

When did Facebook launchWorkplace and why?J.C.:Workplace launched in October

Facebook,anexhibitoratMobileWorldCongressinBarcelonaFeb. 28-March 1, is aggressivelyexpanding into the market forenterprise social networking andcollaboration applications throughWorkplace by Facebook. Thiscollaboration tool allows co-workersto communicate and share project-relatedmessages, documents, videosandother contentover aweb interfaceormobile app.Workplace now servesmore than 30,000 corporations andorganizations, which have formed

of 2016, so less than 18months ago.It is based on a system that we builtfor ourselves and used internally formany years. A few companies askedus if they could use it so we grantedthem access and then based on thatsuccess we decided to package it andlaunch it officially. The vision is thatit is possible to change the waycompanies work by connectingeveryone from the CEO down to thepeople on the front lines that werenever connected before – peoplewhonever had a desk, a company emailor a computer. Every CEO we meettells us that everybody in the nextgeneration is coming to work withdifferent expectations about how tocommunicate so we knew that if wecould increase connectivity via ourplatform – which uses an interfacemost people are already familiarwith–wecould increaseproductivity, boostemployee engagement and helpretention.So is Workplace more of acommunications tool or acollaboration tool?J.C.: It’s both. It is a communicationsplatform and it is an automationplatform. Workplace connects withindustry business tools, along withcustom integrations like bots, to helpbusinesses get more done.It’s a crowded market – what does

Facebook offer that other serviceslike Microsoft’s Yammer or IBMConnections don’t? Workplace’sfunctionality also overlaps that ofteam collaboration tools such asSlack, Microsoft Teams andAtlassian Stride. What do you seeas your key differentiators?J.C.: The fact that nearly two billion

people know how to use Facebookmeans that they also know how touse Workplace. This means that notraining is needed for employees,which is important for non-technicalpopulations.Workplace, likeFacebook,is also mobile-first, so it’s built fortheway peoplework now.WebelievethatWorkplace is a product that everycompany – regardless of size, industryand geography – can use and benefitfrom.For big companies we havedeveloped an ecosystem of partnersto help with onboarding thatincludes Deloitte, Slalom and PwC,because even if technical training isnot necessary, giving everyone in thecompany a voice can sometimesnecessitate somechangemanagement.The fact that we connect to otherapplications that many companiesuse, like Box, Microsoft Office,ServiceNow,Okta andG-Suite, reallyresonates as well. Our pricing is alsoa plus. Companies pay $3 per activeuser per month – if someone is notusing it the company does not pay– and there are no long-termcontracts. We are also addingfeatures all the time to makeWorkplace better and faster. All ofthese things together explain ourtraction in themarketplace.Wemorethan doubled the number ofWorkplace users last year.Can you give us some examples ofhow companies are usingWorkplace?J.C.:Our customers include Starbucks,Walmart,Heineken, AirAsia, Booking.com, Spotify and telecom operatorslike Telenor. More than 75% ofemployees at Telenor are using

P.30— THE INNOVATOR

FUTURE OF WORK

NewWaysOfCollaboratingAtWork

Page 33: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

devices, but it works for people likeCEOs or managers, who use theirmobiles to access it betweenmeetings.What about some of the younghigh-growth companies that areusing your service, like Spotify?What are the advantages of usingWorkplace for them?J.C.: The platform is helpful forcompanies that are trying to scaletheir culture and rapidly integratenew employees.What about the SME market ?J.C.: We are starting to address the

the minute they wake up in themorning to go to discover content,communicate and get things done.It soon becomes the home page ofthe company.Do most people access Workplacethrough their computers or viamobile phones?J.C.: The vast majority useWorkplaceontheirmobile.Manyof theemployeesconnected at companies likeWalmart,Danone, Heineken previously didn’thave email addresses. Now, theseemployees useWorkplace onmobile

Workplace by Facebook on a weeklybasis. It has already replaced mostinternal emails and the companynewsletter. Now teams within thecompany, like marketing, are usingsmall groups, chat and video calling,to get things done. Equally, it worksfor large groups – the CEO of Telenoruses Workplace to do live sessions,in HD, on his mobile phone tocommunicate with everyone in thecompany,whichhaseffectivelyreplacedthe company’s intranet. Workplaceis the platform that people use from

SME market now, making it easierthan ever before for them to signup and get up and running quickly.We decided to first go after largecorporate customers because it iseasier to branch out from bigcorporates to startups and SMEsthan the other way around.Q: IsWorkplace evolving from beinga platform to a kind of ecosystem?JC: We are seeing a lot of startupsbuilding apps on top of Workplace.One is called Safety Officer, byService Rocket, which is a safetycheck app that helps a companydetermine quickly who is safe andwho is not in times of crisis. Sincethe entire company is on the sameplatform it makes it easy to reacheveryone quickly. Other startups arecreating Workplace bots for thingslike inventory management, shiftmanagement or to do employeesurveys. I foresee a growing quantityand diversity of bots on Workplacethat will be built by other companiesand not by us.Facebook has been receiving a lotof negative press recently for itsrole in spreading fake news,creating questions around abuseand trust. Is this an issue forWorkplace customers?J.C.: Workplace is a software-as-a-service startup that is completelyseparate from consumer Facebook.When a company uses Workplace,it is that company that owns, andadministers the account data, notus or Facebook. This allows thecompany to control and monitorwhat appears in their News Feedand across Workplace for theiremployees.

— P.31

“Morethan75%ofemployeesatTelenorareusingWorkplacebyFacebookonaweeklybasis. Ithasalreadyreplacedmost internalemailsandthecompanynewsletter.”

Page 34: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

P.32— THE INNOVATOR

AR/VR

BusinessesArePuttingVirtualRealityToWork— The technology is being applied to everything fromaviation to auto manufacturing

By Leila Abboud

It’s easy to dismiss virtual reality as a fad that appeals only tocouch-bound video-game aficionados. After all, people do look a bit sillywith clunky goggles strapped to their faces. Yet businesses are proving tobe fast adopters of the technology, which will once again be on display atMobileWorld Congress in Barcelona.From aviation to construction, companies are putting virtual reality (VR)to workwith the aim of reaping efficiency and productivity gains. ForresterResearch predicts that starting this year, businesses will buy more mid-priced virtual reality gear than consumers. Augmented reality (AR), whichlayers virtual 3D images on top of what a person sees in the real world,is also turning out to be particularly well suited for the workplace. Sinceit doesn’t distract users in immersive environments, they can carry onconversations and use their hands naturally. Microsoft is among thebiggest boosters of augmented reality for businesses. Its HoloLens glasseswent on the market in March 2016 and are now sold in 39 countries.Other manufacturers include start-ups like the U.S.-based DAQRI. It’s amuch less crowded field than on the consumer side of the VR business,where Facebook, Samsung, HTC and others are jockeying for position.The market researcher IDC forecasts that sales of AR and VR headsetswill grow from about 10 million units in 2016 to 100 million in 2021.

A Need for SpeedWhile AR/VR technology is still nascent, the most innovative companiesin their respective sectors, such as Airbus and FordMotor Co., have already

completed pilot projects and are starting wider deployments. FlorentPelissier, the product lead in France for Microsoft’s HoloLens, believesthat businesses need to move quickly. “If you’re in an industrial ormanufacturing sector and you have not yet started using or at leastexperimenting with mixed reality, then you are falling behind,” he says.So what should executives be doing to ensure that doesn’t happen?First off, companies need to think about how AR/VR can actually helpsolve business problems. There is no point deploying a big virtual realityproject if it doesn’t lower costs, reduce time to make a product, or makeworkers perform better. To that end, companies should define keymetricsto measure the impact of the technology. That way, executives will bearmed with data with which to decide if broader use is warranted.Although costs for AR/VR gear have been dropping, projects remainexpensive and time-consuming to implement. Companies often have tobring in specialized developers or outside consultants to write softwarefor them since there are few off-the-shelf programs available. Even thoughmost AR/VR headsets come with some software, making themwork withthe IT systems of a company or perform specific tasks usually requirescustom-built programs. This will eventually change as more softwareemerges, but for now deploying AR/VR projects can be a slog. Startups,such as Immersion andDiota in France or Re’Flekt in Germany, are helpingbig companies implement AR and VR, as are big IT firms like Accentureand Capgemini.

Industrial ApplicationsIt is easier for companies that are already accustomed to working with3D images on computers to jump into AR/VR. Think of a car companydesigning a new sedan or an architect working on a new office tower.Bothwould already be using computer-aided design software tomanipulate3D images. It’s a natural evolution for them to create virtual realityversions of the designs, which can then speed up the prototyping andbuilding process.Airbus, for example, has been a leader in using virtual reality in its designprocess. While conceiving a new helicopter, the company had four so-called virtual reality immersion rooms installed at the various productionsites involved in the project. This allowed the engineers to collaboratemore easily, using 3D models of the aircraft.AR/VR tools help make Airbus staffers more efficient, says ChristopheChartier, the CEO of the French virtual reality company Immersion, whichhas done work for Airbus. “While designing the cockpit for the passengerjet A380, the virtual reality rooms were so lifelike that Airbus staffers

Page 35: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

— P.33

AR/VRSTARTUPSTOWATCH

DAQRIUNITED STATESWHAT IT DOES : Makes augmentedreality glasses and helmets designedfor business. Will soon sell a suite ofsoftware for the most common usesof the technology.

https://daqri.com/

DIOTAFRANCEWHAT IT DOES : Publisherofaugmentedrealitysoftwarefor industry,suchasremoteexpertapplications.TheFrenchaviationgroupSafranhasinvested inthestartup.

http://www.diota.com/index.php/en/

IMMERSIONFRANCEWHATITDOES: Develops software forvirtual reality projects on behalf ofbusiness clients. Also sells large-scalevirtual reality rooms that allowmultiple people to interact with a 3Dhologram, such as an airplane orbuilding.https://www.immersion.fr/

Application MarketConsumerEntrepriseIndustrialPublic SafetyHealthcareSportsOthers

Total

Units( Thousands)( Thousands)( Thousands)( Thousands)( Thousands)( Thousands)( Thousands)

( Thousands)

20166

2593

16

181

150

20172389

1912

1517

3

340

20182 234

3121 053

175834

9

3 716

20194 013

5891 756

34914117

6 542

20206 713

9362 850

65141

4938

10 793

202110 203

1 4884 506

129190

6877

16 660

202214 000

2 0956 065

190228

85137

22 081

CARGR(2016-2020)

260,1%109,7%100,5%127,8%

85,1%29,6%145,9

131,0%

SMART AR GLASSES SHIPMENTS BY APPLICATIONMARKETS : 2016-2022

Source : Tractica

An employee at a Renault trucks factory inspects an engineusing Microsoft HoloLens glasses.

Page 36: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

started writing the maintenancemanuals based on the simulation insteadof waiting till the first real plane was manufactured,” he says.

Early AdoptersHeavy industrial companies like Siemens and thyssenkrupp have also beenearly adopters. They are using the technology for training purposes andhave found that workers learn new tasks faster when taught with thesetools. DAQRI, whichmakes smart glasses and helmets for business, workedwith Siemens to create a program to teach workers how to assemble gasburners. Instead of using long and heavy paper manuals to guide them,the workers could consult digital versions of the trainingmanuals on theirglasses. After the AR training module, Siemens saw fewer errors andquicker assembly times, while the participants also said they felt moreconfident in their abilities. Jason Haggar, an executive at DAQRI, says ARtechnology is also increasingly being used to call in remote experts to fixa problem in the field. Imagine a worker on an oil rig in the North Seawho is faced with a broken valve.Usually an engineer would have to fly out to the platform to fix the valveand several days of production could be lost. With AR, the rig workerwould strap on a headset and connect with a specialized engineer to walkhim through the repair. Such remote expert applications are provingpopular for companies, since they provide instant benefits that are simpleto quantify. But it isn’t always easy to convince companies to adopt AR/

VR tech. They’re concerned about the costs and fear disrupting production.Workers can also be wary of change, especially if they fear that technologywill soon replace humans with robots. “Our main competitor is the statusquo,” says DAQRI’s Haggar. “It’s always easier to stick with how you’vealways done things. But I think there are huge productivity gains to behad here.”

P.34 — THE INNOVATOR

RE’FLEKTGERMANY

WHATITDOES: Creates software to helpcompanies take existing data fromtechnical manuals and blueprints andturn them into data useable foraugmented reality programs.

https://www.re-flekt.com/

LYTROUNITED STATES

WHATITDOES: An imaging startupthat markets products for virtualreality, cinema and scientificapplications.

https://www.lytro.com/

MAGIC LEAPUNITED STATESWHAT IT DOES : Asecretivestartupthathasraised$1.9billionfromprominentventurecapitalists,aswellasfromGoogleandAlibaba. Ithassaid itwill launch itsfirstaugmentedrealityglasses laterthisyear,andthencontinuewitharangeofthemforbusinessesandconsumers.https://www.magicleap.com/

AR/VR

20202019201820172016 2021 2022

25, 000

20, 000

15, 000

10 000

5, 000

0

SMART AR GLASSES SHIPMENTS, WORLD MARKETS :2016- 2022

Source : Tractica

AR/VRSTARTUPSTOWATCH

Page 37: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

— P.35

NEW MATERIALS

It would be hard to find a material that’s gotten the mobileindustry more excited than graphene, a super-thin, wonder material madeup of carbon atoms that are layered together in hexagonal shapes.Demonstrations of ways graphene could be used to develop new types ofoptical communications, transparent circuits that can be bent and twisted,neural implants, stickers that can track health, and printed sensors for allsorts of Internet of Things applicationswill be ondisplay at theMobileWorldCongress in Barcelona, Spain Feb. 26-March 1.The mobile industry is interested because graphene could usher in entirelynew types of connectedobjects. Apple, for instance, has beenawarded severalpatents for designs that incorporate graphene, including graphene solarpanels printed inside the touch screen to allowconstant recharging; an entiresmartphone that can be folded in half; a heat dissipater that would preventsmartphones from overheating; and a graphene-based battery system forsmartwatches that conducts heat from thewrist to keep the gadget charged.Samsung alone has applied for at least 405 graphene-related patents aroundthe world, according to press reports, and last November announced it haddeveloped a “graphene ball” which, when combined with lithium batteries,

allows forfive times fasterchargingofSamsungphones.Onecould theoreticallyfully charge a smartphone in 12minutes, the company says. There are goodreasons why graphene should also be on the radar of executives in otherindustries. Developed by two researchers at the University ofManchester inthe U.K., Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov -- whose work won themthe Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 -- graphene is incredibly stable and verythin, yet also a strong conductor of electricity, heat and light. According toan article on Singularity Hub, a website operated by Singularity University,potential uses include purifying water, dairy products or wine; productionof pharmaceuticals; separating unwanted gases from industrial, commercialand residential emissions; replacinghumanbones andbodyparts that requireelectrical current, like organs and nerves; improving building materials likeconcrete and aluminumbymaking them stronger and lighter;making pipesand storage tanks corrosion-resistant; developing strongeradhesives; creatingflexible, low-cost, transparent solar cells that can turn virtually any surfaceinto a source of electric power and building bigger and lighter windturbines.

WhyGrapheneShouldBeOnEveryExecutive’sRadar— The super strong, super thin and super versatile new material could change theway multiple products are made.

By Chris O’Brien

Page 38: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

Revolutionary PotentialSuch revolutionary potential has triggered an international arms race ofsorts, with governments pumping huge sums of money into development.In the U.S., the federal government has awarded almost $264 million ingraphene-related research grants over the past decade to recipients rangingfrom the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to corporations like IBM.Last fall, the National Graphene Association, which is based in Oxford,Mississippi, announced it was co-sponsoring the Center for GrapheneResearch and Innovation at the University of Mississippi. It also createda new industry advocacy group called the American Graphene Institute,along with a graphene venture fund to invest in related products.In the U.K., the government has earmarked $166 million for grapheneprograms. That includes at least $80 million for the National GrapheneInstitute and a new Graphene Engineering Innovation Center based atthe University of Manchester, where it all started.Trumping them all, however, is the European Commission, which in 2014announced it would spend $1.22 billion over 10 years on the GrapheneFlagship, a partnership of 125 research organizations, governments, andindustry that aims to take the newmaterial out of labs and into commercialproducts. The Graphene Flagship is organizing the pavilion at MWC forthe third time this year. Frank Koppens, professor at the Institute ofPhotonic Sciences in Barcelona and scientific chair of theGraphene Pavilion,says he believes graphene is a disruptive technology that could have ahuge impact on society.

Not Yet Ready for Prime TimeThe trouble is, it is not quite ready for prime time. Graphene is made inlimited batches, in carefully controlled lab settings, has been effective increating high-quality material than can be used in experiments. But ithas proved harder to produce high volumes that maintain the samestructural integrity and offer the fullest benefit of things like conductivity,says Koppens.The challenges in realizing graphene’s potential might best be understoodby gazing inside an Italian shoe. The sole of a recently developed open-toed sandal called “Freshoes” was the result of a partnership betweenthe Tuscany-based shoemaker Fadel and BeDimensional, a startup that

NEW MATERIALS

was spun out of the Italian Institute of Technology. The bottom of theshoe contains a mixture of polyurethane and light-weight, super-stronggraphene which leverages the latter’s ability to conduct heat and energyto make a sole that keeps feet unusually cool. While the shoe is a neat,niche consumer product, for Vittorio Pellegrini, a BeDimensional co-founder, it also represents graphene’s two main limitations: The industrystill can’t produce it inmass quantities, whichwouldmake it cheap enoughfor wider use beyond such novelty products. And a tremendous amountof work must still be done to understand how graphene can be combinedwith other materials to make something as basic as an analog shoe, nevermind a futuristic bendable wearable packed full of atomic-size circuitrythat could create a whole new class of consumer electronics.

“We know that graphene is an exceptional material, but we have notidentified the killer applications yet,” says Pellegrini. “And a big reasonfor that is that production is just not scalable.”Large corporations are reluctant to invest toomuch in product developmentuntil they are sure the material can be made in sufficient quantities atreasonable prices, says Koppens, the scientific chair of theGraphenePavilion.So for the moment, he and his teams are focused on developing use cases

P.36 — THE INNOVATOR

WATERPotential uses include purifying water,dairy products or wine.

CO2Graphene could be used to separateunwanted gases from industrial,commercial,andresidentialemissions.

Page 39: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

and products that demonstrate the power of graphene in order to continuebuilding interest from the industry. Imagine a camera for your smartphonewith the power of night vision goggles and the ability to identify thevarious substances in milk to tell you if it’s contaminated. Or light-baseddata transfer systems for new data centers that don’t generate heat andtherefore don’t need massive expensive cooling systems. Or a sticker

that you slap on your arm that contains a sensor to measure UV lightand sends an alert to a smartphone if you’re getting too much sun. “Forany new material that makes it into applications, it takes a long time,”Koppens said. “And people forget that. But I think there has been a lotof progress and I feel optimistic. There’s still a challenge, but it’s a morerealistic challenge now.”

— P.37

TELECOMSamsung says that batteries madewith “graphene balls” will be able tohold 45% more capacity than a lithiumones, and fully recharge mobilephones in just 12 minutes. Connecteddevices with screens made fromgraphene are so flexible they could beworn like a bracelet.

SOLARGraphene could be used to makeflexible, low-cost, transparentsolar cells that can turn virtuallyany surface into a source of electricpower.

CONSTRUCTIONImproving building materials likeconcrete and aluminum is anotherpossible use.

HEALTHIt could replace human bonesand body parts that require electricalcurrents, like organs and nerves.

GRAPHENESTARTUPSTOWATCH

GRAPHENE SQUARESOUTH KOREAWHAT IT DOES : Manufacturersbatches of graphene for use by otherresearchers and product developers.

http://www.graphenesq.com/

ATOMIC MECHANICSUNITED KINGDOMWHATIT DOES: Develops andmanufactures graphene-basedsensors for touch interfaces that aretransparent and flexible.

http://www.atomic-mechanics.com/

EMBERIONSWEDENWHATITDOES: Develops graphe-ne-based photonics and electronics,including infrared photodetectors andthermal sensors.

http://www.emberion.com/

Page 40: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

P.38 — THE INNOVATOR

TeamingWithStartupstoReachNewMarkets— The global consumer goods company brings scale,budget and marketing while the startups inthe Unilever Foundry offer fresh approaches toconnecting with customers.

“What I should I eat for dinner tonight?“ Knorr, a food andbeverage brand owned by the consumer goods company Unilever, wantedtohelp target customers inSouthAfrica answer that questionbutwasn’t surehow to reach peoplewho didn’t have smart phones or computers.DigitalGenius, a UK startup, helped the global consumer goods companycome up with a recipe for success.It partnered with Unilever in a programcalledUnilever Foundry that helps startups link upwith its 400-plus brands.DigitalGenius’s artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processingtechnology allows it to automate tens of thousandsof real-time conversations.An AI chat service it developed allowed people to use their basic phonesto text the Knorr ingredients they had on hand at home to get advice onwhat to cook.The service helped Knorr build personal profiles of customers in a databasethatwas then used to push targeted campaigns of their newproducts. Knorrsaid it found that engagement was higher than with other digital channelsand gave the company the opportunity to reach people it had not connectedwith before.Working with Unilever Foundry gave the UK startup a new use case andopportunity for its technology in a new market. It is continuing to workwith Unilever acrossmultiplemarkets and brands, even after pivoting fromits original model of AI-based chat services to using AI to automate andstreamline customer relations, says Dmitry Aksenov, DigitalGenius’s CEO.BothAksenov and JonathanHammond, the global head ofUnilever Foundry,are scheduled to take part in a February 28 panel at the 4YFN innovationconference in Barcelona about corporate/start-up collaboration. The panelwill be moderated by The Innovator’s editor-in-chief, Jennifer Schenker,

andwill also include executives fromVisa andDeutscheTelekom.Corporatesare acquiring, investing in, or partnering with startups around the globein record numbers. More than 1,000 big companiesworldwide have openedcorporate venture arms, spreading their bets by taking stakes in multiplestartups. Some corporations are creating their own stand-alone “startups”and recruiting entrepreneurs to run them. Another strategy is openingstand-alone incubators and accelerators or joining ones backed bymultipleplayers. Othermodels include hackathons and global startup competitions,or opening labs in universities and then taking stakes in the companies thatget spun out.Setting up programs is one thing.Making themworkwell is another. Thereis no off-the-shelf operating system for innovation, and big corporates theworld over are experimenting to find the most successful formulas forworking with startups.

Pitch, Pilot, PartnerUnilever Foundry has launched around 150 pilots with startups in a numberof verticals since it was launched in May 2014. “These pilots have helpedus to learnhow tobetter communicatewith clients andunderstanddisruptivebusiness models as well,” says Hammond. Unilever operates under a“pitch, pilot, partner” model. “We scout for innovative tech and startups,then we pilot to get to a MVP [minimum viable product] and try to get tomarket as quickly as possible,” says Hammond. “This removes a layer ofbureaucracy traditional corporates have and really allows us to experiencehow the startup ecosystem works. It is a win-win relationship for both.

COLLABORATION

Page 41: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

Unilever brings scale, budget and marketing while the startups bringinnovation and new go-to-market approaches. These partnerships leadto a great outcome for both parties.” Startups accepted into the programreceive $50,000 and the possibility of working with Unilever but remainseparate entities. The global consumer goods company has a venture arm– Unilever Ventures – but taking equity or buying startups is not the goalfor Unilever Foundry. “We are focused on finding long-term partners wecan scale across the organization,” Hammond says. “These are typicallystable startups that have raised a round or two of funding and alreadyhave a go-to-market strategy.”Unilever has chosen to continue relationships with startups in about halfof the pilots. In the case of 30 of the pilots it is looking to actively scalethe partnerships. “There is no one-size-fits-all formula,” says Hammond.“It can mean investment, a continued supplier-client relationship on aglobal scale, a contractual relationship that will enable the startup tomovemore successfully across a number of markets or it can mean more heavylifting.” One example is Olapic, a New York City-based visual contentmarket engine that collects consumer photos and videos from social mediasites such as Instagram, Vine, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr to help brandsand retailers increase sales and marketing campaign performance.“Olapic is now part of the roster for Unilever and we are looking at howwe can scale them across our businesses,” says Hammond.Another pilot, which took place in Bangladesh, involved a startup calledNextBillion located in Unilever Foundry’s 250-desk co-working space inSingapore. NextBillion addressed the challenge of reaching rural consumersin Bangladesh by bringing people together via a pop-up movie theater

that shows entertaining mobile content and uses these gatherings to alsoscreen educational videos about good health and personal hygiene anddistribute product samples from the brands Lifebuoy soap and Pepsodenttoothpaste. “It is a great way to tap into a market and we are now doingsimilar pilots in Myanmar and a few other places in Southeast Asia,” hesays.

Lessons LearnedSowhat are some of the key things Unilever has learned about what worksand what doesn’t when engaging with startups? “It is important to makesure we are answering a business challenge rather than getting caught upin a particular technology,” says Hammond. “As a big organization youhave to be sure to make it easy for a startup to navigate your organizationby clearly identifying an entry point. And you need to be clear on thecomponents the startup is expected to deliver, set really clear objectivesand describe what success looks like.”It is also important to inspire the internal organization by demonstratingthat working with startups is tied to a real opportunity, he says.“There is no right model for this,” says Hammond. “Unilever Foundry isonly one part of our external innovation strategy. For us it is about creatinga framework that can help these startups to scale so we can demonstratethat their way of doing things really is more efficient andmore sustainablethan our current ways of doing things in the core part of the business,”saysHammond. “If we can prove thatwith anMVP, that is a clear indicationthat we should engage with these startups on a larger scale.”

— P.39

Startups and executives gather at one of Unilever Foundry’s workspaces.The program helps startups link up with the company’s 400-plus brands.

Page 42: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

P.40 — THE INNOVATOR

DRONES

Drones aren’t just a potentially big business.They are expectedto be crucial to doing business and saving lives. Their uses include last-mile delivery of goods ordered from Internet ecommerce giants, industryinspection, surveying and mapping, search and rescue, television, videoand film and the delivery of urgent medical supplies. These and otherpotential business-use cases for drones will be a topic of discussion at theInternational Drone Expo during theMobileWorld Congress in Barcelona,February 26 to March 1.There are, however, several issues holding the industry back. While asingle drone can capture gigabytes of data in a matter of minutes, theability to transmit that data is currently very limited. That is where 5G –a fifth-generation wireless broadband technology that will offer speeds10 times faster than current systems; low latency and better reliability –comes in.5G connectivity is expected to enable a worldwide boom in drone use.Qualcomm, which makes 5G gear, predicts that the use of 5G will allowdrones to help spread the Internet to areas that lack reliable connectivity.Multiple drones will be able to fly autonomously within close proximityto ensure there are no gaps in signal distribution to the ground, and self-monitoring technology will keep the fleet of transmitting drones workingproperly.Governments anddisaster-relief organizationswill use5G-connecteddrones to aid in emergency efforts. Drones in the sky will communicateand share real-timedatawith eachother and teamson the ground, increasingthe speed and effectiveness of search-and-rescuemissions and helping aidworkers safely dispatch rescue teams, quickly estimate structural damageand debris levels, and better distribute resources.The promise of package – or even food – delivery by drone could finallybe realized in the developed world as the 5G network promises to enablea multitude of autonomous drones to safely navigate the skies.

To that end, researchers from Aalto University and Tampere University ofTechnology, both in Finland, say they believe 5G could be used for theefficient detection of drones. 5G base stations could act as radar systemreceivers, acquiring reflected signals from all types of unmanned aerialvehicles that could pose potential threats to humans, urban infrastructureor airplanes, allowing governments to prevent accidents and unauthorizedflight over restricted areas.

Managing Drone TrafficBut the introduction of 5G technology alone will not be enough to ensurethe market thrives. Regulators around the world are unable to keep pacewith technology developments, andmanaging drone traffic is no exception.But East African countries such as Rwanda are leapfrogging ahead withnationwidedronedelivery servicesandaredevelopingnewformsof legislation,which could serve as a model for regulators in other nations.InOctober of 2016, Zipline, a California drone startup, and theGovernmentofRwanda launched theworld’s first national dronedelivery service to makeon-demand emergency blood deliveries to transfusion clinics across thecountry.Now, Rwanda is about to become the first country in the world to adoptperformance-basedregulationsofdrones in itsnationalairspace.Theregulationswereco-designedwiththeWorldEconomicForum’sFourthIndustrialRevolutionCenter in California and could lead the way for the safe introduction ofdrones worldwide. A performance-based approach allows both regulatorsand operators to respond dynamically to technical challenges, includingensuring the safety of the public, says the Forum. This promises to open upthe airspace to more operators and applications, thereby spurring businessdevelopmentandsocial impact. “G-7countrieshavealreadyexpressed interest

WillDronesFinallyTakeoff?— Their future use may be determined by 5G and thegovernment of Rwanda.

Page 43: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

— P.41

of Zipline’s blood delivery technology, we are working to nurture a droneindustry,” Jean de Dieu Rurangirwa, Rwanda’s minister of informationtechnology and communication, said in a statement. “Rwanda has puttechnology at the center of its economic transformation. As we look to thefuture,wewill continue toput inplace the infrastructureandpolicy frameworksthat accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies to transform people’slives.” Indeed, says Harrison Wolf, the drones project lead at the Center forthe Fourth Industrial Revolution, it “nowmight be possible for operators todeliver more than just blood in Rwanda — farmers will be able to deliverflowers into logistics hubs, remote locations will be landing zones to helpthe fight against poachers, and new types of drones and controlmechanismswill reinvent the very concept of what flight requires.” If he is right, it couldhelp drones takeoff, not just in Rwanda but worldwide.J.L.S.

in reviewing thedata fromRwanda inorder tohelpcraft theirownregulations,”says Zvika Krieger, head of tech policy at the Forum’s Fourth IndustrialRevolution Center.He points to the collaboration as an example of how the center wants towork with governments to co-design policy frameworks to govern theintroduction of new technologies.The performance-based regulations are expected to lead to a greater varietyof drone operators, operations and systems in use, says Timothy Reuter, theproject head of Civil Drones for Tomorrow’s Commerce at the Forum’s FourthIndustrial Revolution Center. When the Government of Rwanda partneredwith the Silicon Valley-based company Zipline in 2016, it was a strategicstep topioneer theuseof drones todeliver essential supplies to rural hospitals.Over3,000deliveries, including the timelyprovisionofblood tohemorrhagingmothers during childbirth, havebeenmadebydrone. “Buildingon the success

Zipline drones delivering emergency blood suppliesin Rwanda.

DRONESTARTUPSTOWATCH

ZIPLINEUNITED STATESWHAT IT DOES : Operates a dronedelivery system at national scale inRwanda and Tanzania to send urgentmedical supplies, such as blood andanimal vaccines.

www.flyzipline.com

MATTERNETUNITED STATESWHATIT DOES: Uses drones toautomate on-demand transportationof blood and pathology samplesbetween hospitals in Switzerland.

https://mttr.net/

FLYTREXISRAELWHATITDOES: Offers commercialdrone delivery services in urban areas,charging 8 cents per mile. The service isalready available in Reykjavik, where itis being used by AHA, one of Iceland’slargest ecommerce companies, todeliver everything from food to flowers.www.precisionmedicinegrp.com

Page 44: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

P.42 — THE INNOVATOR

POUR NOS LECTEURS FRANCOPHONES

RÉDUIRE LA FRACTURE NUMÉRIQUEBientôt, il y aura un app pour cela aussi

LE “BRIEF”

A LA UNE -COMMENT LA 5G VA IMPACTER LES PAYS, LES VILLES ETLES ENTREPRISESLa 5G devrait créer 22 millions de nouveaux emplois, générer desmilliards de dollars d’activité économique, et alimenter unecroissance durable à long terme du PIB mondial

LA CHINE EN PREMIÈRE LIGNE SUR LA 5GLe déploiement de la technologie fait partie d’une “stratégienationale hautement prioritaire” pour devenir une puissancetechnologique mondiale

LA COURSE EST LANCÉEPourquoi les Etats-Unis et l’Europe ont besoin d’être gagnantsdans les technologies sans fil

BARCELONE SE POSITIONNE POUR DEVENIRLE CENTRE MONDIAL DE LA 5GLa ville espère faire de ses prouesses en matière de technologiemobile un avantage économique pour son territoire

EXPLORER DE NOUVEAUX TERRITOIRESTelefonica cherche à définir ses revenus et ses profits futurs enlançant des projets fous

COMMENT LA BLOCKCHAIN PEUT TRANSFORMERL’INDUSTRIE DES TÉLÉCOMS ET BIEN PLUS ENCOREInterview de Brian Behlendorf, speaker au Mobile WorldCongress de Barcelone

LES 25 STARTUPS À NE PAS RATER À 4YFN

LA CYBERCRIMINALITÉ S’ATTAQUEAU MOBILEDes startups innovantes aident les entreprises à combattre lesrisques sécuritaires posés par les smartphones et les tablettes

DE NOUVELLES FAÇONS DE COLLABOREREN ENTREPRISEInterview de Julien Codorniou, Vice-Président de Workplace byFacebook

LES ENTREPRISES S’EMPARENT DELA RÉALITÉ VIRTUELLELa technologie est appliquée à de nombreux secteurs, del’aviation à l’automobile

POURQUOI LE GRAPHENE DEVRAIT ÊTREUNE PRÉOCCUPATION POUR TOUS LES DIRIGEANTSCe nouveau matériau extra-résistant, extra-fin et extra-flexiblepourrait changer notre manière de fabriquer de multiplesproduits

PÉNÉTRER DE NOUVEAUX MARCHÉS GRÂCEAUX STARTUPSLes conglomérats de produits de grande consommationapportent une taille critique, du budget et une puissancemarketing, et les startups de l’« Unilever Foundry » offrent unenouvelle approche pour se connecter aux consommateurs

L’USAGE DES DRONES VA-T-IL DÉCOLLER ?Leur usage futur pourrait être déterminé par la 5G et le gouver-nement Rwandais

P.24

P.28

P.30

P.32

P.34

P.38

P.40

P.05

P.06

P.08

P.11

P.14

P.16

P.20

P.22

Directeur de la publication,président de laSAS Les ÉchosFrancis MorelDirecteur des rédactionsNicolas BarréDirecteur desdéveloppements éditoriauxdu pôle Les ÉchosHenri GibierEditriceBérénice LajouanieDirecteur de créationFabien Laborde

Editor-in-ChiefJennifer L. [email protected] [email protected] & LayoutStudio L’EclaireurContributing EditorKimberly Conniff TaberContributing JournalistsChris O’Brien, Leila Abboud,David Pringle

Head of Marketingand DistributionÉtienne PorteauxHead of Strategy andCommunicationFabrice FévrierPress relationsKarine [email protected](+33 1 87 39 73 92)

PUBLICITÉ / ADVERTISINGPrésidente Corinne MrejenDirectrice généraleCécile [email protected](+33 1 87 39 75 08)Directeur du pôle Réseaux,International et RégionsNicolas [email protected](+33 1 87 39 75 26)Directeur commercialdu pôle BtoBNicolas [email protected](+33 1 87 39 75 10)Directrice commercialepôle Lifestyle & CultureAnne-Valérie Oesterlé[email protected](+33 1 87 39 75 45)

SERVICE ABONNEMENTSLES ÉCHOS4, rue de Mouchy 60438Noailles CedexDu lundi au vendredi, de9h à 17 h 30, au01 70 37 61 [email protected]

FABRICATIONDirecteur Jérôme MancellonResponsable fabricationgroupe Sandrine LebretonDirecteur de ProductionBruno SantinChargés de productionNaima MansouriImpressionNewsPrint, France

Origine du papier : AllemagneTaux de fibres recyclées 42%Le papier de ce magazineprovient de forêts géréesdurablement et est porteur del’Ecolabel européen FI/11/011Ptot : 0,004Kg/tonne

The Innovator est unepublication éditée parLes Échos, SAS au capital de794240 euros RCS Paris582 071 437ISSN en cours d’obtentionCPPAP: 04 21 C 83 015Dépôt légal : novembre 201710 boulevard de GrenelleCS 1081775738 Paris Cedex 15Tél. : +33 1 87 39 70 00

Principal associé Ufipar(LVMH)Président-directeur généralFrancis MorelDirecteur général déléguéChristophe VictorDirecteur déléguéBernard Villeneuve

Credits photo :Getty Images / Thinkstock

Pour recevoir chaque semaine un décryptage de l’actualité des nouvelles technologies,abonnez-vous à notre newsletter : http://innovator.news

Page 45: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,
Page 46: CHINA RACES AHEAD PUTTING AR/VR TO WORK …of-charge to up-to-date, self-paced training materials designed by global IT companies, says Alan Marcus, the Forum’shead of technology,

For more information www.wiselifi.com and www.wisekey.com

My Ambiance from warm to neutral and Light Therapy effectsMy Data Security with WISeKeyMy Green Connexion, internet through light without radiowaves.

My Freedom, remotly controled via a mobile or desktop applicationMy Economy, with only 13w energy consumption.

WISeKey, as leading global cybersecurity company with an offering based on the best practices already providing 360° security to secure IoT Infrastructures is enabling the required level of reliability and privacy to the Li-Fi devices. Herewith illustrated by the first Oledcomm’s Secured by WISeKey MyLifi Lamp.

Li-FiLi-Fi (Light-Fidelity) is a new technology that allows mobile devices (and other connected objects) to connect to each other by using LED lights. Li-Fi transmits data by modulating the light signals from an LED light bulb, a process which is invisible to the human eye. Light signals are received and converted into data by a dongle connected to the device.

By combining WISeKey's VaultIC (our tamper-resistant silicon chip) and our managed Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) systems with Oledcomm's experience in Li-Fi development and technology, we are bringing powerful solutions to companies that wish to implement the Li-Fi technology.

OledcommOledcomm’s MyLiFi®, is brightly reinventing the way we connect and more than the 1st Li-Fi high tech lamp Secured by WISeKey & designed by Pierre Garner its offering:

LI-FI Devices SECURED BY