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Compared to the 1990s, when the internet arose, the world is in a much more precarious and disunited position. Geopolitical tensions are increasing the risk of geographic fragmentation. This matters for technology standards. If the world begins to fracture just as the digital and physical realms start coming together, machines could lose the ability to communicate across borders, limiting the exponential potential of digital innovation.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) secretary-general, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, has called for the industry to speak “the same language” and reach a consensus on global technical standards to make digital networks not only more connected and efficient but, crucially, more sustainable and accessible. That’s a view that we wholeheartedly agree with at Nokia.
When people can’t understand one another, it can be awkward or even amusing; but when machines don’t talk the same language, it can be costly–and sometimes fatal. From planes, trains, and automobiles, to medical devices and shipping containers, to the voltage of the electricity coming from the wall socket of a hotel room–all require a degree of standardization for their smooth operation across national borders.
Standards help ensure products and devices made by different manufacturers remain interoperable. And shared standards help spur innovation.
Look at the internet. The success of the World Wide Web was shaped by the invisible architecture of shared standards, common protocols, and interoperability. That open foundation enabled different players, across different countries, to contribute the complementary elements that make up the internet as we know it.
Digitalization is rapidly reaching the shores of almost every industry, from agriculture to energy to manufacturing to transport. As a business-to-business technology innovation leader, Nokia is helping to ensure that this wave brings badly needed productivity, efficiency, safety, and sustainability gains to a range of industries.
Research from Accenture found industrial enterprises that have harnessed digital technologies–such as automation, machine learning, cloud and data analytics, digital twins, and agile engineering–reduced idea-to-product time by 9.5% and demand-to-delivery time by 10.9%. Another study, by McKinsey, found that enterprises leading the way in integrating machine intelligence into their operations improved their forecasting analytics by 13% compared to just 3% for digital laggards. And taking a longer-term perspective, Nokia's Bell Labs Consulting project 5G-enabled industrial digitalization will help grow global GDP by $8 trillion by 2030.