The Bosch ConnectedWorld 2016 conference kicked off with a bang in Chicago featuring a diverse range of speakers and panels. They explored key trends and best practices for successful digital transformation in the world of connected products and the Internet of Things. Here are key highlights and lessons learned from the 2-day Internet of Things conference.

1 - Rainer Kallenbach, CEO, Bosch Software Innovations kicked off the conference stressing the importance of open platforms in the world of the IoT. Bosch is embracing open platforms to more easily connect devices, enterprises and people to leverage and understand data. Coupled with open platforms, Rainer put strong emphasis on partnerships as a key to enabling successful digital transformation and innovation.

2 - Bill Ruh, CEO of GE Digital shared the three ingredients to mastering the world of Digital Industrial: The right talent, the right technology and being outcome focused. He went on to describe the notion of the Digital Industrial Blueprint which includes connecting, collecting, securing and using data from connected systems and products.

3 - Rich Hook, CIO of Penske discussed the digital transformation of Penske, citing strategic partnerships as a key catalyst for making this happen across their business lines. A panel following Rich’s talk featuring Tim Cindric, President of Penske Racing and Will Power, IndyCar Driver, covered the ways in which the IoT is changing how race teams and drivers compete, now having access to massive amounts of data related to car and driver performance.

4 - Joyce Mullen, VP & GM from Dell OEM Solutions reminded us that data size in the IoT is huge – many cases involve Zettabytes of data. What is a Zettabyte? That’s a number with 21 zeros attached to it.

5 - Kartik Subramanian, Director Product Management at Walgreens discussed the fact that mobile phones are one of the most powerful sensor-enabled devices in the world, which drives the Omni Channel vision for Walgreens. At Walgreens it’s all about the mobile experience and their 3 pillars of Mobile strategy: Reimagine, Connect, and Extend.

6 - Jim Heppelmann, President and CEO of PTC talked about sensible approaches for connecting the physical world with the digital world. The keys to success in these converging worlds are to monitor, control, optimize, and automate. Connected products are no longer just stand-alone entities, they are evolving into product systems and systems of systems that integrate many products. This shift will create massive amounts of data. Finally, Jim stressed the huge opportunity and rising importance of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality to build bridges between the physical and digital worlds.

7 - Mike Mansuetti President, Bosch USA took a deep dive on “Industry 4.0” and what that means in practice for Bosch and their customers. RFID enables the manufacturing process to become more efficient, automated and transparent. Working environments can now be adapted to personal needs of every individual thanks to RFID tags. A digital “cockpit” allows for a centralized view of a manufacturing plant and process that leads to increased production and lower overall costs.

8 - Joe Biron CTO, PTC Thingworx, led an interactive demo of Augmented Reality in Industry 4.0 showing how a Digital Twin can enhance the production process and provide humans with critical, real-time information and data. Industry 4.0 is not about replacing humans with automation, it’s about integrating humans with automation.

9 - Dr. Richard Mark Soley, Chairman and CEO of the Industrial Internet Consortium, Evangelized the notion of creating ties throughout the value chain. More importantly, he showed studies that suggest the Industrial Internet is leading the next economic revolution. For example, he cited a report from GE that indicates the Industrial Internet of Things market is a $32.3 trillion opportunity representing 46% share of the GDP today.

10 - Caralynn Nowinski Collens, CEO of UI Labs discussed the notion of Unnatural Alliances in the IoT and IIoT (Industrial IoT). We saw GE and Bosch on stage together talking about their partnership on day 1 - something I never thought we would see because in some ways they are competitors. But it illustrates the point: Success in the IoT is possible by creating alliances and strategic partnerships, but sometimes the partnership may feel unnatural out of the gate.

11 - Chris Swearingen, Manager, SenseAware, at FedEx reminded us of FedEx’s deep history of innovation from overnight letters, package tracking (invented by FedEx), real-time visibility into the supply chain, and now the innovation of real-time data with SenseAware. The net of these advancements is really that mobility is driving societal change on a massive scale.

12 - Paul Hatch, CEO, TEAMS Design USA discussed the ways in which the IoT has revolutionized the way industrial designers are approaching their work. He introduced the concept of The Macintosh Moment, which came in 1984 with the first release of the Mac computer and changed the world forever – will the IoT ever have its own “Macintosh Moment” and when will it come?

13 - Megan Neese, Senior Manager at Future Lab, Nissan showed how Nissan is using a place-based process to drive new product development. In each case understanding the Market, Persona(s), Scenario(s), and Concept(s) will ultimately guide the creation of new products. This drives the mobility of an entire product system. Piloting systems in a “living lab” environment combines hardware, software, service and systems and allows companies like Nissan to innovate and test new products and concepts “in the wild”.

14 - Dan Makoski, Chief Design Officer, Garage Partners addressed the creative side of the IoT instilling that creative confidence will drive innovation and we should not be thinking about #UX but rather experience as the brand itself. Through creative exercises (drawing and Play-Doh) he helped us better understand the fundamentals of experience: Experience is a moment in time felt by an individual that combines memories from the past with dreams of the future.

All in all, Bosch ConnectedWorld was a phenomenal experience with many new insights gained coming from colleagues and new friends who are inspiring and leading the way in the world of IoT.