MWC 2024 Day 4 insights: My head is about to explode, where do we begin?

As a newbie to Mobile World Congress, I was not sure what to expect, but what I have seen and heard during the past four days has blown me away.?

To start, the fact that AI has caused so much change and upheaval in the past 12-18 months and will continue to do so even more makes me both excited and daunted.?

As PwC has warned, nearly half of all businesses will need to evolve their business models in the next 10 years, unless they embrace, evolve and adapt.?

Businesses that fail to re-invent their business models, not just how they work but what it is they do for revenue will do so at their own peril. This is more than efficiency and digital transformation, this is going back to the fundamentals of business and seeing what and how your business can contribute to the economy, and then taking steps to make those changes.?

Change is a scary word for many, and it does not come without risk, but with the right intention, fundamentals and investment, I’m confident that many businesses will see this next era of technological advancement as an opportunity. For all of us.?

This brings me to the two main topics that were covered at the final day of Mobile World Congress: space and sustainability.?

Space, the true final frontier for humans, is increasingly on our doorstep. Space is becoming a strategic and technical asset for many countries and companies, for many different reasons, not only for research, but also for political reasons, as outlined by the session?

Embarking on our epic journey beyond earth. ?

According to the panel, which included representatives from AWS, Axiom and The European Space Agency, there has already been a lot of advancement in terms of paving the way to interplanetary communication, and going forward quantum communication and quantum internet are set to extend into interplanetary services in 10 to 20 years, but the regulation is needed now and that means collaboration and agreement across numerous government and non-government bodies now.?

What’s important to remember is that the activities we do in space will benefit us here on earth, and the sustainability of our planet. “We're seeing innovation come out of the commercial sector unlike we've ever seen before,” said Clint Crosier, Director, Space & Satellite, AWS. He went on to add that with governments embracing the private sector's advancements in space, there is “opportunity for significant economic growth”.

We are seeing new integrations and collaborations in a more holistic manner across sectors, governments and enterprises, and that's going to be a game changer, not only for space but for our global communications as well.

And now, the topic that’s really hit home for many. How do we continue to build, develop and explore without causing further damage to our planet??

In particular, how can we make our energy sources cleaner, more sustainable??

According to the panellist on the Can Renewable Energy Storage Innovation Redefine the Power of Tomorrow? session, AI has been a significant enabler when it comes to verifying and certifying the origins of energy, to trace its sustainability.?

But knowing what and where the energy is from is only part of the solution, which is why the real ambition now is to find more advanced and cleaner options for storage of power.?

Notability, Australia, my home is already showing that you can make profitable integrations of renewable storage solutions into existing infrastructure and markets - but it’s not a model that can be easily replicated elsewhere across the globe.?

And while it is clear that renewables will? be a part of the transition to cleaner power it is to consider the applications and how energy is retrieved from the storage system also, and the impact of that.??

Again, back to my earlier point, one of the main takeaways from this session is that when talking about sustainability, people often look to the scientist. But there is a huge opportunity for business model innovation as well. Because when you make something more economically attractive, the market will follow.?

That’s it for me from MWC 2024. Thanks for reading.?