IOTSWC showcases the latest disruptive technologies for industrial transformation

The eighth edition of the IOT Solutions World Congress (IOTSWC) will bring together over 300 companies and 250 experts from around the world, who will discuss the latest developments and innovations for the transformation and modernisation of the industrial sector. The event focuses on semiconductor opportunities and will feature conferences, presentations, testbeds and innovative startup zones.

The leading global event on industry transformation through the use of disruptive technologies will take place from May 21-23, in Hall 1 of Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via venue. It will feature four distinct areas: Congress, Exhibition Area, Activities, and Security and Cybersecurity.

The Congress programme, curated by the International Society of Automation (ISA), will include 125 presentations structured around the four main challenges facing industries that technology can help tackle: Technology-enabled Transformation, Climate Change and Sustainability, Regulations and Standards, and Security and Cybersecurity.

The conferences will show how these challenges can find solutions in IoT (Internet of Things), Artificial Intelligence, Digital Twins, Edge Computing, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, 5G connectivity, Renewable Energy, Cloud Computing, Big Data Analytics and Process Robotics.

Leading experts and companies
Experts taking part in the IOTSWC conference include Elisa Rönkä, Global Head of Digital Buildings SaaS Sales at Siemens; Lucy Han, Executive Vice President, Building and Home Automation Solutions at ABB; Megan Samford, Director of Product Security at Schneider Electric; Madhu Pai, CTO of Global Partner Manufacturing at Amazon Web Services; Soloman Almadi, Senior Engineering Consultant at Saudi Aramco; and Didem Ün Ates, Operational Advisor in Artificial Intelligence at Goldman Sachs.

The exhibition will bring together more than 300 leading companies in the field of transformative solutions for industry, such as AWS, Deutsche Telekom IOT, Digicert, Emnify, Faircom, KNX Association, iot squared, ST Microelectronics, Thales and Txone.

The director of the IOTSWC, Marc Tarragó, said that “our event brings together the entire global technology ecosystem so that the industry can harness the power of technology to overcome its biggest challenges.”

China, guest country
In addition, the event organized by Fira de Barcelona aims at becoming a platform to promote investment and cooperation between China and the European Union in this sector. To achieve this, the Asian giant will be the guest country at IOTSWC 24, an official delegation from Wuxi, considered the Chinese capital of IOT, will travel to Barcelona, and the event will feature a Chinese pavilion with ten high tech companies that manufacture a range of products from energy management chips to intelligent energy and environmental systems for domestic users, including intelligent distribution projects with intelligent vision systems and industrial sensors.

Semiconductor chips
On the other hand, IOT Solutions World Congress will feature an important representation of semiconductor chip manufacturers such as ST Microelectronics, Lacroix, Tessolve or Würth Elektronik. These companies will showcase projects and products that may be key to achieve a leap forward in the digitisation and modernisation of industry.

Along these lines, the event will also have a themed pavilion, promoted by Acció, the agency for business competitiveness of the Government of Catalonia, with Catalan companies working in the semiconductor field. The pavilion will exhibit the projects and products of twelve Catalan companies working on the design and manufacturing of chips, and the provision of services: Draco Systems, Iqneo, Imasenic, Mobile Knowledge, Monocrom, Openchip, QPlox, Semidynamics, Sensing & Control, SGS Brightsight, TEF, and Trace ID.

According to data from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), worldwide semiconductor sales reached EUR 490.977 billion in 2023, with Taiwan being the world’s largest chip producer with 60% of sales, surpassing the US and China.

Testbeds, startups and cybersecurity
The Activities area will include a Testbed area with 10 real applications of cutting-edge technologies; the Startup Pavilion, with 17 new-generation start-ups set to revolutionise the industry; the Women and Diversity in Industry Area to promote inclusion and diversity in the world of technology; and the Garden, a relaxed networking environment to foster new projects.

In addition, access to the conference rooms will be through The Green Tunnel, which houses a vertical garden with built-in smart sensors to monitor its status and watering level as well as an adaptive lighting system. As a token of its commitment to reduce its carbon footprint, IOTSWC will plant a tree for every person passing through the tunnel.

The IOT Solutions World Congress Awards will once again honour outstanding initiatives and digital transformation projects across vertical industries such as Manufacturing, Energy & Utilities, Smart Buildings and Smart Cities, Healthcare, Connected Transport and Smart Vehicles, and Cybersecurity.

According to data from Statista, the Internet of Things is on a constant upward trend, with 16.7 billion connected devices worldwide in 2023 and 19.2 billion in 2024.

IOTSWC 2024 will be jointly held with the fifth edition of the Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress, an annual event co-organised with the Agència de Ciberseguretat de Catalunya whose main goal is to spread the culture of cybersecurity across all industries.