Interim report of the Emerging Technologies working group of the German M&A Association on 5G, Internet of Things and Edge Computing
When the working group on digitalization of the German M&A Association was established in Frankfurt in 2018, further working groups were set up, including one for emerging technologies.
Three working group meetings have already taken place, including in November 2018 in Frankfurt on the topic of digital infrastructure and blockchain and in February 2019 in Munich on artificial intelligence. The last meeting for the time being took place on April 25, 2019 in Düsseldorf, where the focus was on 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT) and edge computing.
After the welcoming address by Professor Lucks (BVMA) and Mr. Kügler (EY), the presentation by Dr. Beckmann (EY) provided an introduction to the topic of 5G. The current bidding process, possible fields of application and challenges and opportunities in the roll-out were discussed. In addition to higher data transmission rates, 5G will enable a large number of connected devices to be realized, some even in long-term battery operation. In order for 5G to deliver the short signal propagation times that are expected, a large number of small data centers, also known as edge computing, will be required.
Marc Schmickler from T-Systems presented application examples, frameworks and business models for IoT applications and emphasized the statement that 70% of such projects fail immediately before or after the PoC (Proof of Concept), as they ultimately have to create real customer benefits and have a business plan in order to be successful.
Ronald Brandt from CGI then presented the connection of sensor data, transmitted by IoT, and its evaluation with the help of artificial intelligence solutions using concrete application examples – keyword predictive maintenance. Mr. Brandt also underlined the statement that many IoT applications are planned too large and still cannot demonstrate a reasonable business case. Instead, so-called minimum viable products should be used more often.
Mr. Fessler from Nokia reported on Nokia’s digital supply chain and production processes as well as current challenges in the network expansion of 5G. He also discussed areas of application for closed and open 4G networks in production facilities and how this problem will continue in the context of 5G. Mr Fessler also reported that network equipment suppliers are already working on the 6G generation, which is expected to include the decentralization of artificial intelligence.
Finally, Mr. Kügler (EY) presented the development of M&A transaction volumes in the context of IoT. US (e.g. Cisco) and Asian investors (e.g. Softbank) are also investing significantly more in IoT start-ups than Europeans. And the start-ups themselves are also increasingly coming from Asia and the USA.
Professor Kai Lucks (BVMA), Stefan Marquart (Invensity) and Martin Kuegler (EY)
