In an interview with eco, VS-Apps Managing Director Florian Schulz talks about the development and use of business apps for customer loyalty and process automation, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) and the importance of digital transformation for German SMEs.

At the beginning of the 2023 heating season, only 8 per cent of Germans use smart heating thermostats that can be controlled via an app. Just a few take advantage of other digital solutions to save energy: 11.2 per cent of Germans control their lighting using motion detectors, while 10.3 per cent use smart shower heads. Additionally, only 7 per cent control their sockets via an app.

From 26-29 February 2024, Barcelona will host the Mobile World Congress (MWC). In the run-up to the event, we had a conversation with Dr. Bettina Horster, Board Member at VIVAI Software AG and Head of the IoT Competence Group at eco Association, regarding her expectations for the trade fair and the trends in the Internet of Things (IoT) sector that will have a lasting impact on the industry in the future.

At the cross-competence group event titled to “IoT Competence Group/Networks CG: Digital Infrastructure as the Basis for Smart Home Applications”, jointly organised with Huawei Germany, eco engaged in discussions with various experts from the IoT and network fields, regarding the importance of digital infrastructure and its necessity for the smart home.

In the run-up to the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, we interviewed Giovanni Coppa, eco Competence Group Leader Mobility and Head of Data Center and Cloud Innovation at WOBCOM GmbH, about his expectations for the trade fair, and his take on current and future challenges in the field of Smart City and Smart Mobility.

We spoke to Dr. Michael Lipka, Senior Manager Technology Strategy, Huawei Technologies Germany, about the crucial role of digital infrastructures and wireless technologies for Smart Home use cases. On 12 September 2023, the eco Networks and IoT Competence Groups  will meet at the Huawei OpenLab in Ismaning to discuss groundbreaking topics of current and future Smart Home applications under the motto "Digital Infrastructure as the Basis of Smart Home Applications" (a German-language event).

On 12 September 2023, the eco Networks and IoT Competence Groups will come together at the Huawei OpenLab in Ismaning to discuss groundbreaking key topics of current and future smart home applications under the motto of "Digital Infrastructure as the Foundation of Smart Home Applications". In the run-up to the event, we’ve had the opportunity to talk to Lorenz Grehlich, Head of Planning and Implementation at M-net.

Whether in the supermarket, restaurant or at the bakery: one in four people hold their mobile phone or smartwatch against the card reader to pay. The latest eco/Civey study shows that the number of mobile payment users has doubled in the last four years.

Online-based technologies for outdoor activities have become popular summer companions for nearly half of the population in Germany. At 27.3 percent, the most popular applications include smartphones with holiday apps for hiking tours, for example.

In an eco interview, we talked to Michael Nicolai, Head of Sales Business Unit IT, Rittal, about digital ecosystems, smart factories and the challenges of transformation processes.

In the run-up to the event, we spoke with Marcel Klein, Strategic Partner Manager, plusserver, about data lakes and digital sovereignty and the central challenges of Industry 4.0.

At our Mobility Competence Group meeting,“Urban Mobility – Interaction of IoT and Mobility for the Implementation of Mobility Solutions”, eco entered into discussion with various experts from the mobility and IoT environment on the topics of data generation, data usage, data management and data policy. Together with our host, WOBCOM in Wolfsburg, and our CG Mobility Leader Giovanni Coppa, we arrived at exciting content and a highly productive CG meeting.

According to eco Chair of the Board Oliver Süme: “The German federal government Data Strategy must clarify open questions related to the use of data in an economic context.”

eco Survey: 83.7 per cent of IT experts believe that the German industry is in a worse position than its international competitors. 55 per cent complain about bureaucratic hurdles in digitalisation projects in German industry.

In 2023, the eco Association was once again part of the NRW joint stand organised by NRW.Global Business and Koelnmesse at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. This year, the Head of the eco IoT Competence Group, Dr Bettina Horster, took on the position of State Representative for the first time.

At 8.2 per cent, smart solutions in the heating sector are those most frequently used in German households. This is the result of a survey of 2,500 people conducted by the opinion research institute Civey on behalf of eco – Association of the Internet Industry in mid-February 2023.

The year 2023 will be the year of artificial intelligence (AI). The hype around ChatGPT, the AI that can write essays, articles or texts within seconds using just a few lines of input, continues unabated. Voice assistants also use the potential of AI and are constantly developing to provide users with even better results....

At the cross-competence group event “IoT CG/ Data Centre CG: Data Centres as an Integrative Element of Sustainable Smart City and Smart Building Solutions”, which was jointly implemented with ABB and its subsidiary Busch-Jaeger Elektro GmbH, eco Association started the discussion on the topic of smart ecosystems with various experts from the IoT and data centre environment.

Holiday time is burglary time, a Smart Home offers appropriate security systems. However, vulnerabilities in Smart Home solutions are also becoming increasingly apparent. Jan Wendenburg, CEO, ONEKEY, explains in an interview how to secure your Smart Home solutions and the integrated connected IoT devices.

What risks and extra costs arise if cybersecurity in IoT use cases is not implemented and monitored along the entire lifecycle? An interview with Axel Dittmann, Senior IoT, Data & AI Technical Specialist EMEA, Microsoft Germany, about best practices and avoidable mistakes.

Christian J. Pereira is Managing Director/Chief Operating Officer at grandcentrix (a Vodafone company), where he manages sales and projects. Christian Pereira is one of the pioneers in the field of cloud and IoT and has been sharing his practical experience in technical articles and lectures for many years.

In the run-up to the event, we spoke to Bastian Faßnacht, Product Manager at NetCologne, about the many possible uses of the LoRaWAN transmission technology and the ThingsNet IoT platform.

How secure are our devices when they connect to the Internet? This is difficult for consumers to discern. The IT security label of the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) now provides a solution. The eco Association welcomes this initiative and at the same time appeals to manufacturers and consumers to take responsibility for IT security.

Two years down the line, and the world’s most important IoT congress – the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona – could open its doors once again and the eco Association was there, live in person. As part of the NRW pavilion, eco and several member companies were able to present themselves on location.

Presentation at Mobile World Congress (MWC) on 28 February at 10 a.m., at North Rhine-Westphalia Pavilion in Hall 7, Booth C62 Smart City market boom: eco study forecasts over 17 per cent annual growth Digital technologies and applications make an indispensable contribution to achieving the German climate target...

This year, it’s not just the Covid-19 pandemic, but also the threatening climate change which will continue to drive forward digital transformation in the economy and society. “Digitalisation is part of the solution to many challenges,” says eco Chair of the Board Oliver Süme.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing rapidly, and everyday objects are more and more connected to the Internet and to other devices. It is increasingly difficult for consumers to judge which devices and services have which security features.

At the 26th Broadband Forum of the German ict + medienakademie on 10.11.21 in Cologne’s MediaPark, the question was explored as to why Germany is finding it so difficult to tap the potential for growth and prosperity that lies in the “Smart Rural Areas”.

SmartHome is an integrated topical field in the multi-layered IoT world and is regarded as an important building block in the topic areas of  Smart Neighbourhoods and Smart Cities. But how are devices and components of the SmartHome world technically linked to the Internet?

“Smart cities are inevitably the future in the long term. But what do we have to do to promote smart cities so that we as citizens can benefit faster and better?” With this question, eco board member Prof. Dr. Norbert Pohlmann gave the first important impulse in his welcoming speech.