The chairs of Industrial Internet Consortium® (IIC™) task groups and working groups shared their proposals for future industry guidance following the IIC Quarterly Member Meeting, which took place virtually from June 22 – 26, 2020.
Here is a summary of the IIC task group and working group accomplishments and work in process, which span a wide range of industry IIoT requirements and includes contributions from end users:
“The Academic Task Group conducted a brainstorming session with academic and industry community members to identify key areas of collaboration, which included joint university/industry projects in key IIoT areas such as healthcare, AI, digital twin, and smart factory. We initiated a guest lecture series on key initiatives to be given by individual member researchers and industry members. We are also working to align skills, expectations and interest areas of researchers with key industry requirements,” said Lynne Canavan, Chair of the IIC Academic Task Group and Director of Ecosystems at RTI.
“The Automotive Task Group is a cross-industry innovation platform of Information & Communication Technology (ICT), automotive and transportation industries. We will work on the joint architecture design, the connected and automated requirements collection, safety and security evaluation, testbeds and best practices analysis,” said GE Yuming, Co-Chair of the IIC Automotive Task Group and Senior Engineer, CAICT.
“The Distributed Computing Task Group is finalizing a technical report entitled, The Industrial Internet of Things Distributed Computing in the Edge, which will be published in Q3. The report provides a framework, explores architectures, and specifies essential capabilities and interfaces for distributed computing at the edge. It also emphasizes security and management, which can be challenging in distributed edge computing environments,” said Chuck Byers, Chair of the IIC Distributed Computing Task Group and Associate CTO IIC.
“The Distributed Ledger Task Group discussed the use of blockchains for industrial IoT applications. We discussed the latest research and progress on enterprise blockchain for IoT and blockchain-based supply chain management. We also identified new research and collaboration opportunities for the task group going forward,” said Xinxin Fan, Co-chair of the IIC Distributed Ledger Task Group and Founding Member and Head of Cryptography, IoTeX.
“The Energy Task Group plans to launch the IIC Energy Industry Leadership Council in Q3, which will consist of several global power utility end users. These influential thought leaders will provide feedback on industry trends and challenges to help us prioritize resources so we can deliver more impactful IoT solutions and value to the energy sector,” said Eddie Lee, Co-Chair of the IIC Energy Task Group and Director of Global Industry Marketing at Moxa.
“The Healthcare Task Group seeks to promote testbeds that support technology-enabled care and facilitate collaborative relationships between academia, industry, and government. We believe such relationships will facilitate cutting-edge research, promote uptake of new technologies, enable adoption of scalable, sustainable business models, and facilitate innovative models of healthcare delivery that enable equitable access to better value healthcare for all,” said David Pare, Co-chair of the Healthcare Task Group and Chief Technology Officer, Healthcare & Life Sciences, DXC Healthcare Australia & New Zealand.
“The Innovation Task Group hosted an information-sharing session with physicians from the Medical School at Shinshu University to help them develop an IIC Test Drive proposal. They discussed requirements for building a gait analytic system, which will warn the elderly of potential health problems. The task group solicited IIC members with experience in healthcare applications and solutions, ranging from devices, networking, connectivity, security, and medical frameworks, to participate. The members who responded developed a 90-minute showcase to assist the physicians at the university to kick off their project,” said Dr. Mitch Tseng, Chair of the IIC Innovation Task Group and Managing Member of Tseng InfoServ LLC.
“The Marketing Working Group is the place all IIC members pool deliverables. It is the perfect hotspot for keeping in the loop about promising new technologies, an ideal hub to refine business strategies, and ultimately a forum for executives active in the industry innovation space,” said Daniela Previtali, Marketing Work Group Co-Chair, and Global Marketing Director, WIBU-SYSTEMS AG.
“The Security Applicability Task Group delivered a half-day IoT Security Maturity Model (SMM) course and completed the Retail IoT SMM Profile in conjunction with the OMG Retail Task Force. Plans for next quarter include the creation of a one-day IoT SMM course and drafts of the Communications Best Practices and of the Device Onboarding and Automated Provisioning Best Practices white papers,” said Ron Zahavi, IIC Security Applicability Task Group Co-chair.
“The Smart Factory Task Group discussed the needs and experiences of manufacturers, as well as end-user adoption of the IoT maturity model, digital transformation, machine learning and cybersecurity. We also had an in-depth, analytical discussion about the impact of COVID-19 on manufacturing, identifying valuable use cases and opportunities for collaboration,” said Farid Bichareh, Chair of the IIC Smart Factory Task Group and CTO, AASA.
“The task group charter for the Testbed Council Task Group was approved at the June 11th working group meeting. The goal of the group is to accelerate the realization of industry-focused testbeds and test drives. The group’s efforts are supportive of the work group charter and strategy to focus on the needs of industry users. Group members are invited to get involved to help, mentor and guide the testbed teams and the test drives,” said Vijay Ujjain, Co-Chair of the Testbed Council Task Group and Director at PwC.
“The Thought Leadership Task Group published our first virtual edition of the Journal of Innovation, which comprises five select webcasts covering a wide range of topics from characteristics of successful IoT projects to skill gaps in smart manufacturing. We are gearing up for our upcoming edition entitled, IoT Enabling Rapid Response to COVID and Future Pandemic, which is scheduled for November 10th,” said Edy Liongosari, Co-chair of the IIC Thought Leadership Task Group and Chief Scientist, Accenture Labs.
“The Trustworthiness Task Group recently published a white paper on software trustworthiness and at the meeting, continued to work on a trustworthiness framework that incorporates concepts from the white paper and more,” said Frederick Hirsch, IIC Trustworthiness Task Group Co-chair. “We highlighted the need for understanding context and reviewed the importance of trust in supply chain, such as the need for evidence and assurance. We plan to build on our previous work, which is documented in the IIC Journal of Innovation on Trustworthiness, by continuing to develop the trustworthiness model as part of the trustworthiness framework.”
“The Vocabulary Task Group concluded its discussions about contributions for definitions to be included in the Vocabulary Technical Report v2.3 and started the final review process. The Vocabulary Technical Report v2.3 is targeted for a Q3 release,” said Erin Bournival, Distinguished Engineer, Office of the Corporate CTO at Dell EMC and Chair IIC Vocabulary Task Group.
The next IIC member meeting will take place virtually from September 28-October 2, 2020.
