With the proliferation of IoT, the need to develop critical Edge computing is becoming urgent. By bringing responsiveness and innovation to where it is needed, intelligent IoT devices accelerate the convergence of Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) and fuel the digital transformation of areas like energy, agri-food, automotive, manufacturing and smart cities & communities.

Computing at the Edge has grown steadily over the past decade, driven by the need to support computing and analytics closer to things in the physical world in order to reduce latency and tackle data deluge due to billions of connected devices and systems. Edge computing lies between physical things in the real world as monitored and controlled by IoT devices (sensors and actuators), via layers of Edge nodes to data centres. In addition, the emergence of AI as a major force in IoT efforts is simultaneous with several important IoT-related trends like cloud-based IoT services and the dramatic increase of AI capabilities in data centres.

Massive IoT data generation is pushing network capacity to its limits across industries; analysing data close to where the data is generated in the physical world (rather than passing data up to a data centre) reduces network load, saves energy and costs as well as reducing the time lag (latency) between generating data and acting on it. Time is critically to optimise industrial processes, automation in connected/autonomous driving, mobile health and integration of volatile energy sources into grid operations. Localisation of data and computation can improve privacy, security, reliability, resilience and safety, which, taken together, comprise trustworthiness.

The workshop will draw attention to future opportunities of Edge Computing including its role of safely connecting devices; and provide insights into the requirement for orchestration with cloud services, the importance of integrating connectivity and computing with AI-based reasoning and automation, while addressing the challenges and barriers for European stakeholders across different sectors.

The workshop is hosted by the Next Generation IoT (NGIoT) CSA project and organised together with the European Commission and the Alliance for IoT Innovation (AIOTI), to reflect on opportunities and challenges, the position of European stakeholders and possible measures to reach consensus on an agenda and roadmap European IoT research, innovation and deployment in the world.

For more information visit https://www.ngiot.eu/event/iot-and-edge-computing-future-directions-for-europe/?instance_id=87