Transforming industry

What - In 2011, VCE widened its membership to invite companies from the health, energy, transport and other sectors to join and work with telecom operators and manufacturers, because of its vision for change.

Why - Globally, the growth of telephone penetration, cf China 0.5% (1990) to 80% (2010), and of the Internet (15% globally by 2010) has changed the way the world does business. The next wave of change – personal and object based realtime context, connected wirelessly to the Internet – will enable an even greater transformation of other industries and of public service delivery.  VCE’s member companies recognize the value of the pre-competitive collaboration with such industries, and have seen the way in which VCE has enabled such collaboration in their own industry for more than a decade.

How ? - Low cost sensors and mobile phones can provide realtime context. Today that is on the level of the personal (the user’s location, personal interests, etc). In the near future much finer grained, realtime, personal context will be available, as well as similar information on all aspects of their environment and possessions (Internet-of-Things). Combining such context in a constantly connected way over the mobile Internet with other data and with network intelligence will enable the delivery into the physical world of new service concepts.  Cloud, intelligence, Internet, ubiquitous connectivity, telecom APIs, end user and object context data.  All of these have a role to play, but not in isolation - or silo-ation; to impact other industries demands new models that bridge cultures.

Within the next 20 years, sustainability in healthcare, transport, energy, education and other sectors will need more energy efficient, digital, service delivery.  Effective collaboration across industries can accelerate such a future. VCE brings value to all its member companies, from the communications and application industries, by:

  • bridging experience, cultures and mindsets, in order to explore ways in which this new wave of wireless ICT can be harnessed to address specific sector requirements, to enable new service concepts, business models and market opportunities
  • accelerating such opportunities by building relationships, cross-fertilising ideas and facilitating collaborative R&D projects. We offer a well-established, pre-competitive, environment that encourages mutual respect and esteem, whilst challenging the status quo and looking beyond traditional paradigms 
  • open innovation - encouraging our member companies to challenge their own usual ways of thinking, to share vision, learn together, innovate together and create new possibilities from which all can profit
  • involving a wide range of universities, SMEs and mid-tier ICT companies, as well as the big multi-$bn global operators and manufacturers, identifying resources and routes to rapid prototyping and development of the ideas and innovations that emerge, as well as potential routes for widespread deployment

To read more … about what is involved in the Third Wave of Wireless and what it could enable, please download our articleEnabling the Digital Economy: The Third Wave of Wireless”, published November 2010 in the NMI Yearbook.

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