Nokia, together with Datwyler IT Infra, Intel, and the Switzerland Innovation Park Biel/Bienne (SIPBB), revealed a pioneering hub for startups and nonprofits to accelerate industrial digitalisation through advanced private 5G and AI-powered Edge solutions. This initiative will drive breakthrough innovations in efficiency, safety, and sustainability across key industries such as health, mobility, energy, and manufacturing.
At SIPBB, innovators will have access to a full-scale deployment environment offering private 5G connectivity. The infrastructure includes Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) private wireless networks, MX Industrial Edge (MXIE), and future-ready applications such as Nokia MX Workmate, one of the industry’s first OT-compliant Gen AI solution for connected workers. These technologies, alongside Intel Xeon Scalable processors and Edge AI capabilities, such as visual positioning and object detection, provide a real-world testbed open to nonprofit research and startup collaboration without the typical cost or deployment challenges.
The new trial site enables several industrial use cases, including predictive maintenance powered by real-time analytics to minimise downtime and material waste, push-to-talk and video communication tools to keep teams connected without on-site travel, and AI-enhanced safety monitoring to improve situational awareness and worker safety. Energy-efficient automation ensures consistent productivity with reduced environmental impact. In addition, the site features natural human-machine interaction through Gen AI-driven digital assistants, allowing workers to communicate with machines using intuitive, conversational language.
“SIPBB is a hub for pioneering researchers, engineers, and investors to meet with industrial partners in start-up ecosystems to exchange ideas, test, and validate new technologies. It provides a full-scale deployment environment for trialing new technologies and realising research projects. We are aiming for the hub to attract global investment and support Swiss economic growth and digital leadership,” said, Michael Wendling, Co-Lead Swiss Smart Factory, Switzerland Innovation Park Biel/ Bienne (SIPBB).
“The success of industrial digital transformation depends on how enterprises capture data, securely transport it and bring AI closer for data analysis & decision making. The partnership with Nokia, SIPBB, and Datwyler showcases use cases that leverage Intel Xeon servers powering both connectivity and AI inference at the enterprise edge. CPU-based AI inferencing not only lowers TCO (total cost of operation) but also enables flexible, scalable, and sustainable solutions at the enterprise Edge,” said Bhupesh Agrawal, General Manager, Private 5G and Enterprise AI, Intel.
“At Nokia, we believe technology should empower industries to increase efficiency, safety and sustainability. Through our partnership with Intel, Datwyler, and SIPBB, we are supporting digital equity by enabling innovators to test future-ready solutions without upfront infrastructure costs to accelerate development, validate use cases, and scale digital transformation in the real world,” concluded Michael Aspinall, Head of Enterprise Campus Edge sales in Europe, Nokia.
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