INCOBRA - Increasing International Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation between Brazil and the European Union

The fifth generation of the Internet, or 5G, beyond increasing the speed of the connection, promises to get to organize the coexistence between smartphones and billions of connected objects, such as cars and smart homes. The technology will be the main support for the Internet of Things (IoT, the acronym in English), which will require investments between 2015 and 2020, in the order of $ 6 trillion, with a $ 12.6 trillion by 2025 return as the data collection tool Business Intelligence (BI).

Developing all necessary technologies to 5G, however, will require efforts of many research laboratories, universities and essentially resources of private enterprise. Global conglomerates already envision the opportunities brought by the fifth generation of the Internet. According to a global survey conducted this year by the Swedish company Ericsson technology with over 650 CEOs (chief executive officer) and CTO (chief technology officer) of various industrial sectors, 94% of them pointed to 5G connection as a transformative tool and essential for new business models in the digital economy.

According to vice president of Ericsson's strategy in Latin America and the Caribbean, Carla Belitardo, companies around the world see the 5G as a "game changer" that will change the rules of the game. "The zero latency [takes time to a demand response], for example, allows efficiencies to coordinate robots or remote to surgery. This is very useful in health, where 94% of CEOs surveyed area agreed that 5G is an industry transformer "Belitardo reported during the panel" Industry expectations for 5G technology "held on Friday (23) ICT in Week event in Brasilia (DF).

Enjoy the high technological content and disruptive brought with 5G and invest in this potential was appointed by Belitardo as strategic for companies in Brazil. "What we call the digital transformation of sectors is what we want the industry to come to know, for this to generate demand and, on top of that, investment. So we were not behind the developed countries who are already pulling 5G a fairly consistently, "he said.

 

According to estimates by Ericsson, a volume of US $ 800 million in revenue would be generated in Brazil with the services provided by 5G in 2021 - if the technology is implemented in the country there.

 

Evolution

 

With the implementation of 5G, not only business, but the entire business environment will need to evolve, according to Francisco Giacomini, Director of Government Relations for Qualcomm - developer company of mobile technologies. "There should be a change of business. Until now we live in a physical environment, where it aims connectivity from one device to another. Now we have to start creating models based on services," he predicted.

 

Giacomini warns that the advance of the Internet of Things in the future, provided by the 5G, will create an increasing demand for various kinds of services. "Sensors that will warn when the fridge is empty, when the lighting is weaker, smart cars. If you can develop a number of things to manage, monitor, use. Companies will have to develop enough from a physical model to a hybrid model where the service will also be very important, "he pondered. "It will completely revolutionize business. There was no talk before about cars connectivity, for example. We need to think about the revolution that will happen towards new businesses that will emerge and use the new network," added the senior expert in mobile networks for Huawei company, Rubens Mendonça.

Working together

The public-private initiative in several areas also shows important. This is the view of Vice President of Ericsson Strategy, which sees the need for sharing responsibilities for the success of the 5G network. "We can not always be hoping that the government will do something. The industry has to mobilize, with research initiatives, but all in coordinated actions. The better the government is able to articulate, coordinate initiatives so that they are effective, the more we win, "said Carla Belitardo.

For the director of the Department of Information Policy of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (Sepin / MCTIC), José Gontijo, working together between Brazil and the European Union (EU) has been one of the key initiatives to develop technology 5G in the country, bringing together representatives of both the government and companies and stimulate cooperation. "It is essential to have sufficient strength and scale to reduce costs," he said.

The ICT Week, organized by MCTIC under the Dialogue Brazil-European Union project Sectorial, had as one of the proposals to create new partnerships between Brazilian and European ones in areas such as 5G. Research with the fifth generation of the Internet will be one of the items covered by the cooperation between Brazil and the EU in the 4th Call coordinate, expected to be released until December.

(Leandro Cipriano Management Agency ST & I)