Barcelona to host second edition of Internet of Things Solutions World Congress

The Fira de Barcelona Gran Via fairgrounds will host the Internet of Things Solutions World Congress for the second time from 25 to 27 October 2016. Organized by Fira de Barcelona and the Industrial Internet Consortium (CII), the event hopes to be even more successful than the one last year and to create the best platform possible for companies and experts to develop projects and strategies around industrial Internet.

In line with the transversality of the congress –it is one of the few that explores the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) applied to industry in general and focuses on what are known as vertical markets– the conferences will be organized into six areas: manufacturing, transport and logistics, healthcare, energy and utilities, technology and innovation.

The program committee, which this year includes top executives from companies like ABB, Accenture, Cisco, Deloitte, EMC, GE, Industrial Internet Consortium, Infineon Technologies, Intel, Ipso, Microsoft, National Instruments, Object Management Group, SAP and Schneider Electric, will select international figures in these six fields to be the keynote speakers. In addition to the conferences, the congress will also feature an exhibition and networking space.

IoT technology, which connects common objects or industrial machines to the Internet digitally, is becoming increasingly attractive and many companies are choosing it as a way to transform their business in the future. An estimated 80% of those attending the IoT Solutions World Congress are highly influential decision-makers, which encourages the fair to be a showcase for the latest innovations and solutions in the sector. Last year the Congress attracted more than 4,500 visitors from 53 countries, 120 experts who gave conferences and 88 exhibiting companies.

The director of the fair, Roger Bou, believes this congress is very positive for Barcelona. "We are dealing with disruptive technology that will change the industry as we know it, which is why bringing all the key stakeholders in the industrial Internet scene together in Barcelona is undoubtedly the best way to make our contribution to this global transformation," added Bou.

Open calls

This year the congress has kicked off three initiatives: Call for Papers, Call for Testbeds and Call for Awards.

Call for Papers is geared toward solutions, initiatives, or contributions interested in being included on the program of the most noteworthy presentations in the field of IoT. The deadline to submit proposals is 30 April.

Call for Testbeds will select the best real testbed solutions that apply industrial Internet, meaning live demonstrations. The 10 best will be selected to exhibit their products in a specific space during the Congress in the middle of the exhibition area, with noteworthy presence. The deadline to submit proposals is 30 June.

Call for Awards gives all exhibiting companies in each of the six areas of the Congress the opportunity to participate in the IoT Solutions Awards, which will recognize the most innovative high impact projects in each of the six areas of knowledge. There will also be an award for the best testbed. The call is not yet open, but the organizers have said that the deadline will be 30 September.

Noteworthy activities will include a Hackathon and, new this year, a white paper with the most important data on IoT compiled after the event, as an analysis of the sector.

IoT is revolutionizing the healthcare sector

Healthcare is among the topics that will be covered during the congress in Barcelona. The list of hospitals and healthcare companies working with IoT is growing every year. Technology is not only changing this sector, it is improving it. Remote monitoring of patients is just one of the new uses that is helping cut healthcare costs, as well as decreasing the number of physical hospital visits. Sensor technology allows doctors to monitor medical devices and improve overall efficiency. And there are many other examples just like these.

The fair will be a showcase to get inspired and learn from companies working on monitoring devices, mHealth, wearables, collecting data to improve patient care, predictive maintenance of medical equipment, remote monitoring, secure medical histories, etc. In short, it will address the future of healthcare.

Companies and organizations in the BioRegion are eligible for discounts to attend this event applicable during online registration. To stay up to date on all the discounts available for fairs and events in the sector, subscribe to the Biocat electronic communications distribution list (mark the option “Congresses and fairs”).