IIC Testbeds – A Blueprint for Delivering Innovation and Ecosystems
4.1
Building Partnerships for Success
The Industrial Internet is complex, no one company can do it all alone in the Industrial IoT space
and no one company will have all types of devices that will respond to all Industrial IoT
configurations. What is needed is a partnership approach that will combine technology with key
skills and expertise. This collective approach will enable multiple providers of the technology
domains (cloud, wireless, gateways, sensors, mobile) to align with providers of specific expertise
in a wide variety of domains (analytics, security, application development, systems integration)
in a foremost and collaborative way that will be essential to driving innovation, seamless
interoperability, addressing complexity and problem solving. The reality is that the future will
require more and new combinations of partnerships that align on strategy and purpose.
The IIC testbeds serve as the catalyst and framework for the formation of these effective
ecosystems, partnerships and networks. Firstly, the go-to-market ethos of the IIC has produced
IIC-approved testbeds that have commenced operation with a readily available critical mass of
selected providers that will immediately deliver value to customers. Secondly, as the testbeds
evolve and grow, more and more partners and providers will join the testbeds and offer more
choice for customers. The open ethos of the IIC testbeds encourages collaboration in a way that
will truly develop ecosystems achieving common goals. Some testbeds have even extended the
spirit of cooperation by facilitating coopetition whereby traditional competitors can participate
in the same testbed. Testbeds enable organizations to connect with new and existing
customers/partners, elevating mutual benefits for all participants (win-win).
IIC testbeds are a collective and coordinated response by industry to meet the challenges posed
by the Industrial Internet. Implicit in any IIC testbed are the technologies and expertise to trial,
test and prove use cases and scenarios. The multi-partner membership that is characteristic of
all IIC testbeds is itself a recognition and reflection of the partnership approach that is required
to meet the challenges of the Industrial Internet. The many IIC testbeds cover the verticals and
sectors that compose today’s industrial landscape.
Local and global testbeds will lead to local and global ecosystems that can best serve local,
regional and global solutions and services. Testbeds provide the collaborative substrate that
enables the assembly and growth of local and regional clusters of excellence. These clusters and
ecosystems enable the transfer of knowledge and experience from local efforts to global industry
and vice-versa.
4.2
The Internal Ecosystem
Testbeds can enable the internal ecosystem by helping individual organizations align their
internal business units for the Industrial IoT. As mentioned earlier, innovation is change and many
organizations can confirm the resistance and inertia that exists internally from employees and
business units. Testbeds are an ideal showcase that can bring technical, non-technical,
operations, HR and senior management to understand the technical and non-technical
IIC Journal of Innovation
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