Industrial 5G Uncovered: Accelerating adoption and future opportunities

Working closely with the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Digital Catapult – the UK authority on advanced digital technology and a 5G technical & innovation Centre of Excellence – launched a series of industry events to drive Industrial 5G adoption in the UK. Showcasing real life examples of 5G applications, and maximising learnings for the manufacturing and logistics sectors.

While some barriers remain, 5G has proven to be a powerful platform for innovation across many industries, with a particular focus on the digitalisation journey of large businesses in manufacturing and logistics. This webinar – the 4th in a series, focuses on the next steps for the journey towards widespread 5G adoption, with an overview of the opportunities arising from new Government funding streams and the telecom supply chain diversification programme.

In previous webinars, we have uncovered the ways in which 5G enables groundbreaking opportunities for the manufacturing and logistics sectors. From connected and autonomous logistic operations, to powerful remote access and immersive learning in production testing environments, we have learned that 5G is the foundation for efficient, flexible and innovative businesses.

The last webinar of this four-part series reflects on the expectations and the future path of 5G adoption. We explore how to accelerate the technology journey to reality through:

• Essential strategic partnerships
• Government initiatives and funding opportunities
• Overcoming early operational challenges to embrace the transformation

• Gain insights from policy makers and government initiatives in industrial 5G
• Discover current and future funding opportunities
• Learn more about the current 5G supply chain diversification programme
• Find more about how to overcome barriers to 5G adoption and innovation
• Hear from technology and industry experts leading the way in 5G adoption to improve efficiency and productivity

This event is designed for industry sector leaders and decision makers in manufacturing and logistics who want to understand, or are considering adopting digital solutions to help optimise and evolve their business. It is also a great opportunity to learn how the UK Government, technology innovators, connectivity providers and industries can play a coordinating role to accelerate 5G adoption.

The webinar will also appeal to small and medium sized tech companies, policy makers and industry bodies as key stakeholders within a 5G enabled manufacturing and logistics ecosystem.

10:00 – Welcome
Linda Ligios, Senior Innovation Partner – Digital Catapult

10:05 – Introductory remarks
Juergen Maier – Chair, Digital Catapult and Co-Chair, Made Smarter

10:10 – Panel discussion: Can Open RAN provide new 5G opportunities in industrial settings? 
The global telecommunications industry is going through a rapid shift with new technology architectures and standards such as Open RAN encouraging new collaborations and innovation for the next generation of communications products. This panel explores how a more diverse set of suppliers and new open products could provide opportunities, and support the adoption of 5G.

• Chair: Paul Ceely, Director of Technology Strategy – Digital Catapult 
• Mick Goulding, Head of Commercial – Cellnex
• Steph Leaver, Manufacturing Technology Development Engineer – BAE Systems
• Abel Mayal, Vice President of 5G Technology and Marketing – Airspan
• Ray Nwanze, IT Project Manager – BAM Nuttall Ltd.

10:45 – Funding opportunities and upcoming events
Madalina Nazare, Director of Collaborative R&D – Digital Catapult
Linda Ligios, Senior Innovation Partner – Digital Catapult

10:55 – Panel discussion: What can be done to speed up 5G technology adoption in manufacturing and logistics?
The fifth generation of wireless technology is shaping the future of the manufacturing and logistics industries by fueling new business models, collaborations and partnerships. This panel focuses on the next steps that the 5G ecosystem has to take to speed up the adoption and position the technology at the heart of tomorrow’s digital innovation.

• Chair: Dritan Kaleshi, Director of Technology 5G – Digital Catapult 
• Nina Gryf, Senior Policy Manager – MakeUK
• Sophie James, Head of Telecoms and Spectrum Policy – TechUK
• Mohammad Lari, Cross-Government and International Coordination Lead – DCMS
• Nikesh Mistry, Sector Head – Industrial Automation – GAMBICA

11:30 – Q&A

11:40 – Closing notes
Linda Ligios, Senior Innovation Partner – Digital Catapult

11:45 – End

Digital Catapult is the technical and innovation centre of excellence for the Industrial 5G Testbeds and Trials programme, helping to support the range of projects across the portfolio on behalf of the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The programme sets out to demonstrate the value of 5G beyond enhanced mobile broadband by targeting industry focused use cases in manufacturing and logistics to:

• Explore the potential for efficiency and productivity benefits
• Help make the UK a global leader in the adoption and application of 5G technology
• Help the UK lead the development of the implementation and standards around 5G