The management board of the M2M Alliance has been confirmed at the Annual General Meeting. But still, there will be changes within the association. The M2M Alliance has presented a new strategy that focuses on more direct interaction with members.
The organisation also wants to address more national and international companies, partly through a digital re-launch, including a new corporate design and a new website.
Exactly one year after his appointment, Dr. Andreas Fink was confirmed in his role as chairman of the M2M Alliance. The members of the M2M Alliance also expressed their confidence in Helmut Schnierle (2nd chairman), Robert Jänisch (Innovation) and Joachim Dressler (chief financial officer), leaving the Management Board unchanged.
The confirmation of the Management Board marks the next phase of the realignment of the M2M Alliance, which had already begun last year. At the AGM, a new strategy was introduced which focuses on even more interaction with members, partners and end users.
One example for the increased interaction with members and partners is the joint working group of the M2M Alliance and the OPC Foundation. Under the leadership of Prof. Axel Sikora, the Academic Advisory Board of the M2M Alliance, six member companies are working on the description of best practices for integrated end-to-end security in M2M communication.
After the lively interest during the AGM, the results are now being made available to a wider audience, including companies that do not have the Internet of Things (IoT), Industry 4.0 or Digital Transformation at the heart of their business, but still benefit from M2M communication.
In order to achieve the new goals, the format of the M2M Summit, Europe’s largest event for M2M, IoT and Industry 4.0, will be refreshed after ten successful years. It will now include a Makerspace, where topics and solutions such as robotics, augmented reality, rapid prototyping, and even drones, can be experienced live.
Last year, young companies were given the opportunity to present their ideas and solutions in the form of a pitch for the very first time. This start-up pitch will be expanded for the upcoming M2M Summit through a co-operation.
“The changes in our strategy and focus show that we have been listening over the last few weeks and months,” says Dr. Andreas Fink. “We always want to meet the wishes of our members and potential members. The new strategy is a cornerstone for growth, which has been officially laid down with the approval of the Board by the members. Now it is important to implement the new objectives effectively.”
The relocation of the headquarters from Aachen to Düsseldorf also contributes to the new orientation of the M2M Alliance. In the “MedienHafen (“media harbour”), a team is working together with the board member for innovation, Robert Jänisch. The first meeting of the new M2M “Meetup” format was held a few weeks ago, and proved to be a big success. Further meetings with member companies are planned.
In order to further increase the interaction with the members, two general meetings will be held at “embedded world” in Nuremberg and the “M2M Summit” in Düsseldorf. By doing so, the M2M Alliance wants to make it easier for its members to attend the general meetings, as a large number of members have already marked these events in their calendar.
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