The province of South Holland is making available 500,000 euros in innovation vouchers for South Holland technology companies that want to test their 5G innovations in field labs. With the vouchers, the province wants to make the benefits of 5G technology accessible to small and medium-sized companies as well.
5G technology is the successor to 4G, a technology currently in widespread use in the Netherlands for mobile networks. 4G has been making it possible to connect devices and machines for some time. However, this can lead to overloaded networks and interference, which can hamper connections.
Higher speed and lower latency
5G networks are offering a solution. Using 5G technology, companies can create a private network. This not only provides better connectivity, but also greater security. Among other things, 5G offers significantly higher data speeds than 4G technology. However, a key advantage is also low latency, which ensures very fast response times.
The potential applications of 5G technology in industry are diverse. These include connecting more devices in production sites, allowing them to communicate with each other. Partly interesting in view of the Internet of Things, where more and more devices are connected to the internet. However, consider also sensors in devices, which can be read remotely. Among other things, unexpected vibrations and heat can be detected early. This makes predictive maintenance necessary, which means maintenance is carried out before technical problems disrupt production.
Getting small businesses to test 5G innovations
The province of Zuid-Holland points out that many large companies are already preparing for the arrival of 5G. In doing so, they often cooperate with a 5G infrastructure provider. To give SMEs the opportunity to test 5G innovations as well, the province is making EUR 500,000 available in innovation vouchers. The money is intended for SMEs that want to test their 5G innovations in one of the South Holland 5G field labs.
"A golden opportunity for SMEs, this way they can experiment with technology that will only become available in a few years' time. Nice to see how our field labs play a role here and can thus boost and accelerate innovation in South Holland," said Meindert Stolk, deputy for Economy and Innovation at the province of South Holland.
10,000 to 50,000 euros available
SMEs can receive an amount between €10,000 and €50,000 to test a 5G innovation in one of the participating fieldlabs. In doing so, the fieldlabs work with TU Delft's 5G infrastructure. They are supported by the province of Zuid-Holland, InnovationQuarter, the Metropoolregio Rotterdam Den Haag, the Economic Board Zuid-Holland, KPN and T-Mobile. Some 50 SMEs have already expressed interest in using the scheme.
Further information on the Do IoT vouchers is available here.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Photo by: caeuje via Pixabay
