Hannover Messe (Hannover Fair) amasses nearly 250,000 visitors in a week in Hannover, northern Germany - a town only twice the size of the fair itself. What you'd expect happens every year: no hotel rooms, no taxis, no rental cars, no flights, and so forth. However, it is the largest and most comprehensive fair covering automation technology and thus focuses interest from both Object Management Group® and the Industrial Internet Consortium® (IIC™).
For several years, IIC had a booth displaying the wares and testbeds of around ten of our members, and it announced cooperative announcements with Germany's Plattform Industrie 4.0. Having worked closely with the organization for four years, the IIC was delighted to announce that it is deepening that relationship, with upcoming joint testbeds and the possibility of standards in digital twins and administrative shells (containers) integrating information and operational technology. The new IIC Security Maturity Model got a lot of attention, as did the focus on smart factories.
Plattform Industrie 4.0 Secretary General Henning Banthien (left) shakes Dr. Soley’s hand signifying a strengthening relationship between the two organizations to advance IIoT at the Hannover Messe Fair.
I also attended HORASIS: The Global Vision Community, a conference held in Cascais, outside Lisbon, Portugal. This fascinating global emerging economy event focused on globalization and its effects, and all the related issues (technology, migration, jobs, etc.). The beautiful seaside community of Estoril in Cascais provided a lovely setting for the four-day event, reminding us of the importance of understanding the impact of the work that OMG and IIC do.
(L-R): Isabella Qin, Vice Chair, United Nations Association UK Young Professionals Group, United Kingdom; Dr. Richard Soley, CEO and Chairman of OMG; Ray Walshe, Steering Group Member of Joint Initiative on Standardization (JIS), European Commission, Belgium; Morgan Parnis, Chief Executive Officer, Business Leaders Malta, Malta; Luciano Brunherotto, Member of the Board, Brazilian Facilities Association, Brazil; and Jeff Conrad, Chairman, Kinecta Federal Credit Union, USA.
I was also invited to join the Global IoT Council of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and gladly accepted. The advent of IoT, and its impact on world markets, is certainly interesting to this worldwide group of multi-disciplinary experts!
My next stop is at Innovatech in Santiago, Chile where I plan to discuss "Implementing IoT in Industries: Digital Transformation."
In the meantime, I am also planning to attend the OMG Technical Committee meeting in Amsterdam, The Netherlands from June 17-21. The agenda for the Special Events program (open to the public) is almost final. The topics include: AI, business architecture, software quality, BPMN™ and a special event featuring thought leaders from NATO, national governments, systems integrators and the Unified Architecture Framework® development team who will discuss use of the OMG UAF® standard in building NAF architectures. If you reside near The Netherlands or are planning a trip nearby, I recommend attending any of these topics to gain a better understanding how standards are harnessing the power of tomorrow's technology.
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