The 26th Convergence India Expo, co-located with the 2nd Internet of Things (IoT) India 2018 Expo was successfully conducted this year too, recording a footfall of over 20,000 visitors and 684 participants from across 28 countries.
The three-day conference (between 07th to 09th March 2018) brought the key professionals and decision makers from the IT, Automotive, Building and Construction, Government, Healthcare, Infrastructure and Urban Development, Logistics, Legal & Insurance, Manufacturing, Media & Broadcast, Retail, Security, System Integrators, Transportation and other industries together.
The event, organized at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi was spread in 25,000 sqm of exhibit space, witnessed 30 conference sessions and 6 workshops with over 180 speakers, comprised insightful sessions, networking sessions, debates and elaborate display of innovative products and solutions. Knowledge papers by Frost & Sullivan and Mazars were also released in the event.
It was one-of-a-kind collaboration platform for top-level government officials, leaders from large corporations to young startups, entrepreneurs, incubators, accelerators, and academia.
India is slowly and steadily progressing to accept the concept of smart cities – which leverages IoT technology to deliver intelligent, sustainable, efficient, affordable and accessible services. This includes smart transportation, smart energy, smart infrastructure, smart communication, smart lighting, smart water, smart parking and more.
This year, the 2nd IoT India Expo 2018 had a special focus on artificial intelligence, robotics, IoT, and its potential impact and opportunities in the context of the Indian market.
The event was inaugurated by Manoj Sinha – Union Minister of State for Communication (IC), who talked about the relevancy of such events to digitization and discussed about BharatNet project and key technologies like 5G.
He said, “In the last three years, 266 million mobile connections and 140 million additional Internet connections were added. We had a meager 5 telecom equipment manufacturing units in 2014; today we have a staggering 118 such units manufacturing more than 22.5 crore mobile handsets.”
- The opening session on Digital Convergence India was highly motivating. Ms. Urve Palo, Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology – Republic of Estonia, shared the experience of Estonia becoming the most advanced digital republic with a virtual and secure government.
- Another outstanding session was on IoT Revolutionizing India which discussed about the impact of technology on social change and empowerment.
- The event also had a session on Introduction to Industry 4.0: Is Industry 4.0 relevant for India, by SAP, which discussed about IoT market potential in India, creation of enterprise value through digital transformation, new value generation for people and operations.
- Other keynote sessions included IoT transforming the transportation sector: Multimodal smart transport and logistics – A Myth or Reality for India by PTC and case study on Smart Transportation.
IDC estimates that around 42% of world’s data by 2020 will come from machine data, this presents a big opportunity for IoT analytics. PTC’s ThingWorx helps detect data patterns, anamoly detection, simulation and analytics with complete automation.
The second day conference at the 2nd IoT India Expo 2018 sessions included:
- IoT – Sensing & sense-making in logistics: Role of IoT in logistics & supply chain by SenRA
SenRa – an India based Low-Power Wide Area Network provider (LPWAN) for LoRa (Long Range) based IoT applications in partnership with NAS (Nordic Automation Systems) which provides end-to-end LoRaWAN services, announced earlier in February 2018 that they will collectively offer remote metering solution and smart lighting services across India.
They demonstrated their water and light solutions at the event with an estimation that the Asian Pacific market will become the fastest growing market for the smart metering services.
- There was a panel discussion on the role of IoT in logistics, and supply chain.
- A case study on the Healthcare ecosystem.
The final day sessions at 2nd IoT India Expo 2018 were on:
- Startups – The Game Changer in AI and ML automation-Session by PHD that discussed about role of IoT in security.
- Skill Development – How IoT is transforming the employment landscape in every industry, not just IT,
- IoT and emerging technologies – Part 1: AR/VR and Blockchain, and
- IoT and emerging technologies – Part 2 Artificial Intelligence & Robotic.
RS Sharma – Chairman, TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) said, “India lacks physical infrastructure such as roads, water, development in cities, etc. Technology enables us to overcome these difficulties and leapfrog such obstacles. Technology should be inculcated as an active medium for social transformation. Therefore, it needs to be ubiquitous and available. Regulatory and policy space has to change and has to embrace data driven algorithms.”
Talking about the IoT opportunity in India, Dr Neena Pahuja Director General, ERNET, India, said “There are almost 127 devices globally connected to the Internet. We are expecting an economic impact of 11 trillion by 2025.”
The 2nd IoT India Expo 2018 was co-organized by the NASSCOM Center of Excellence – Internet of Things (CoE-IoT), the ITPO (India Trade Promotion Organization) and The Exhibitions India Group.
The organizers have also announced the 3rd Internet of Things India Expo 2019 that would be held from 29th to 31st January in 2019.
