10 most asked questions at CO-OP
Did you have to take a rain check but still would like to join the CO-OP conversation? We got you!
Our team snooped around and listed the most frequently asked questions. Now you don’t have to hide on the toilet anymore when the word ‘CO-OP’ is being thrown around. You’re welcome!
How many times did someone say 5G? IIII IIII III
We kind of stopped counting after 1.754 times. 5G has been hot for a while now. It offers all kinds of new opportunities for both consumers and in a professional context. Think about education, industry, healthcare, smart cities, and emergency services. Keep on reading to find out more.
How long till the machine takes over?
Trend watcher and first speaker of the day Tom Palmaerts said it best; “people will always have their place in the world and in society. For starters to make sure everybody knows how to enter the digital race. Remember elevator operators? All they had to do is say; “Welcome, how’s your day,” and push the button.” In simple terms, they were the ones easing us into a new kind of technology and the future.
“Okay, so we’ll be doing the robot’s dirty work?” Not exactly. If you attended CO-OP you already know that the future will be human-centered. Many companies will follow the lead of companies like Danone, who won’t let their employees hang out to dry, by asking their people for input. Because it’s they who will need to work with new technologies and developments. And of course, make sure the machines know what to do and when to do it. All of this, the digital revolution will create new jobs as well. So great things ahead!
which leads to our next question.
Will we be safer in the future?
We’ve all seen the ‘Top 10 hilarious technical fails’ video or the even funnier version; ‘21 HORRIFIC tech fails they want you to forget.’ So your question is completely justified.
For this question, we go back to the presentation of our very own Safety Drone expert, Hans Similion, or the one given by Steven Werbrouck from BASF. At the core? A safer future on and off-site. Well, the term ‘future’ is quite loosely to be interpreted because many of those technologies are already in use or are about to be. Such as SENSE, a Citymesh project where we create the world's first Safety Drone Network. The drone will gather critical information, and deliver real-time video footage. Based on this information, emergency services can identify the best plan of action.
Some other terms you can throw into the conversation are;
- The efficiency of maintenance activities, in human terms; BASF will increase fire safety with ‘eyes on the spot’ aka drones. Via AI vision they will enhance anomaly detection such as suspicious events, items, or observations.
- Enhancing mission-critical communication. A bunch of fancy words to say BASF will unify communication tools through a ‘one-device policy’, upgrade standard group communication, and live monitor heartbeats, breathing, and gas detection.
Will the future at least be fun?
This one is easy, yes! From letting your office robo-dog serve ham to the gamification of ecological efforts. And, everything in between. We’ll not only be living and working in a much safer environment, it will be fun as well. Work hard, play even harder, right?
Other examples, if we go really techy, are: drone shows replacing fireworks, better connectivity at festivals, and going straight to ‘fun’ with an optimized customer ‘journey’ in Brussels Airport. All obstacles, such as long waiting queues and ticket scanning, are resolved.
Cities of the future, and will we be living underwater?
"I've been to the year 3000, not much has changed but they lived underwater.” Okay, let’s get serious now. Over the last few years, we’ve seen many cities transform into smarter cities. For example, Aubange where Citymesh and NSI installed a high-performance 5G network. And will enable extensive smart city applications, like smart sensors, that will support public services, industry, the economy, and tourism. These sensors are pretty much the know-it-alls of the class. They will send notifications when public trash cans are full, air quality exceeds a limit or detect water leakages. Pretty cool right?
But implementing these sensors will give you an overload of data. That’s when companies like Calculus and Sirus join the game. Calculus merges this data and throws it into one software platform. Giving users full control over their projects. It’s an easy way to keep track of things like water consumption, energy levels, and waste patterns. On the other hand, we have Sirus which offers a data platform with a focus on knowledge and cost-sharing.
Was the food any good?
Of course it was! You already know we are certified foodies, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Did Nokia give away the secret of 'How to win at snake on the Nokia 3210?
It wouldn’t be a secret if we told you, right? That’s something between the CO-OP audience, Nokia, and HAPPI, our Citymesh office robo-dog.
Now for real, At CO-OP we had the opportunity to see a ‘new’ Nokia. No more brick phones but a company that totally transformed itself. At the core of the transformation is Industry 4.0. Everything talks to everything everywhere, mass connectivity of the industry and making the most out of it.
Nokia is one of the few companies that walks the talk or rather runs it. Like Pekka Lundmark, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia said: “The world is changing and industries must adopt Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, including 5G, to keep up with customer expectations. This requires building ecosystems where we can jointly innovate with partners and customers.”
How will all this future stuff be possible?
We saw 1 unifying factor; connectivity. And this, of course, leads us back to the ‘Trinity of Innovation.’ This is the interplay between 5G, artificial intelligence, and hybrid clouds.
What exactly is a ‘hybrid cloud’? It’s a combination of a private, and a public cloud. It lets you keep some of your data in a private space, where only you can access it, and some of it in a public one, where you can share it with others. Think of it like having a safe at home where you keep your most important documents. But, also having a locker at work where you can store things you need to access regularly. You get the best of both worlds - security, and control over your most sensitive information, plus easy access to the things you need to share or collaborate on with others.
So that being said, connectivity was the starting point of CO-OP, culminating in the trinity of innovation. Every guest speaker and partner could be found putting the trinity of innovation in motion.
What about me, the consumer?
Our last speaker of the day was our brand new partner DIGI. A success story that will soon be told in Belgium. So be sure to be on the lookout for the latest news in the consumer telecom world, cause we will be there to shake things up.
How do I make sure I don't miss the next CO-OP edition?
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