Entitled Driving Growth in the Digital Single Market, the 2016 edition of the Net Futures conference took place on 21 and 22 April in Brussels. Net Futures 2016 explored how the “Future Internet” can best serve and benefit from the Commission’s Digital Single Market strategy. The GSMA was proud to be one of the main sponsors of the event, which is organised by DG CNECT.
This year, the conference attracted attendees from industry and the research and academic community, as well as policy makers. The event looked in particular at the latest technological achievements and the disruptive challenges of a next generation Internet, identifying its impact on new industrial business models and its power to help solve major societal challenges.
The opening plenary focused on how the Internet and digital technologies are transforming the world. It also explored how to make it easier for citizens to access digital goods and services, while expanding the horizons of Internet companies and start-ups, and enabling businesses and governments to fully benefit from digital tools. The audience heard insights from Andrus Ansip, Vice-President of the European Commission, Jim Kurose, Assistant Director, National Science Foundation in the US, Lise Fuhr, ETNO’s Director General, and Susana Sargento, Professor DETI in University Aveiro, Veniam Co-Founder.
In his keynote speech, GSMA Director General Mats Granryd discussed the global telecom landscape, with a particular emphasis on 5G. He explained how mobile technologies and services are transforming entire industries – automotive, healthcare, utilities, financial services and many others, flagging the many technological advancements on display at the recent Mobile World Congress. The key challenge for Europe’s mobile industry is to scale across a continent with differing national regulatory and legal environments, Mats Granryd noted. He highlighted how the Digital Single Market provides a unique opportunity to build a new regulatory framework that supports a new era of digital players, services and business models, underpinned by advanced mobile broadband connectivity.
The Net Futures programme was also enriched by a wide variety of workshops, including sessions on Internet of Things standardisation, global experimentation for the Future Internet, free flow of data, the sharing economy, the 5G vision and the roadmap to key standards. The event also highlighted successful Commission-funded projects, while project clusters showcased their results at the exhibition.
Commissioner Günther Oettinger, responsible for the Digital Single Market, gave a keynote speech at the closing plenary session which successfully provided a platform for policy discussions and cross-community networking and collaboration.