OREANDA-NEWS. February 14, 2014. If the internet of things is to gain widespread acceptance, its main focus has to be a high level of benefit. This was the message from the Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner at the “Bosch ConnectedWorld” conference in Berlin.

Held on February 5 and 6, this was the first conference of its kind. Attended by more than 400 experts, it focused on smart batteries, smart homes, and smart sensors.

Huge market potential

The delegates agreed that the internet of things opens up huge market potential. By 2015, Bosch expects that roughly 75 percent of the global population will have access to the internet, and that six billion things will already be connected to the web. This growth is happening at a high exponential rate.

The opportunities presented by smart factories

On the internet of things, parts and machines can also exchange information, allowing industrial manufacturing to be made more flexible. This will effectively create “smart factories” which are expected to lead to considerable increases in productivity, with opportunities opening up for German industry both as a supplier and a user. “The internet of things, and the smart factories that go with it, has the potential to create and preserve jobs in a high-wage location such as Germany,” Denner said. In this context, Bosch expects to see many new alliances, including between companies that have so far had nothing to do with each other.

Cross-industry conference
Delegates to the Berlin conference – which included speakers from Cisco, BMW, McKinsey, Vodafone, and the University of St. Gallen – came from a wide range of industries, and from companies of all sizes. “This also shows how important alliances are for putting connected solutions into practice – all of us expect to see new alliances among completely new partners who have hitherto worked in completely different domains,” said Dr. Rainer Kallenbach of Bosch Software Innovations. This subsidiary, the group's software and systems unit, employs 600 associates. It also organized the conference. A second conference is planned for 2015.

A wealth of opportunities for Bosch
The internet of things and services will change business and society. The technological basis already exists: tiny radio sensors can automatically record the status of any object and transmit this over the internet. Using the right software, this data can be evaluated and used as the basis for decisions. This opens the door to a whole new world of business models. As Kallenbach emphasized, this means a wealth of opportunities for Bosch: “The internet of things is not only relevant for industry, but also for mobility, energy, smart homes, and smart cities. Right now, Bosch is unsurpassed when it comes to covering this breadth and depth of applications – from the tiniest sensor to the connected city.”