LIVE FROM HUAWEI’S GLOBAL MOBILE BROADBAND FORUM 2017, LONDON: For industrial applications, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated, to truly go mobile future networks need to be more robust and faster, a robotics expert explained.

Joni Rautavuori, a group VP at ABB Robotics (pictured), said during his keynote while there are many IoT applications where the quality and speed of today’s networks are good enough, there are many opportunities which require better quality communications and “5G will play a clear role here”.

Rautavuori is optimistic connectivity won’t be a problem in the future, citing data showing 5.5 million new devices are connected every day. By 2020 there will be 34 billion devices connected globally, with the majority of those in industrial applications – non-PC, non-mobile. The same will be also be true for the traffic generated.

Connectivity is key for everything, he noted: “If you don’t connect, you don’t get data, and if you don’t get data you’re not capable of making smart decisions.”

He also said the world faces a productivity challenge, which is pushing governments to take initiatives like Industry 4.0.

“We can’t continue like we have over the past ten years – we simply [do] not have enough labour. Companies can’t simply outsource any more – customers require shorter time to market, want to be close to consumers…They need to automate and reduce costs, which is difficult if you haven’t done this before,” he said.