At CeBIT, Huawei unveiled its new competence center in Munich. With the Munich Openlab, the Chinese company is following other industrial giants such as IBM, Intel, and Volkswagen in driving research and development in the areas of IoT, big data, and solutions for smart cities.
This year, CeBIT is all about digital transformation, so it's no coincidence that Huawei used the opportunity to announce the opening of its first European Openlabs in Munich Together with more than 25 partners and industry experts, including Intel, Huawei aims to drive innovation in the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, big data, and smart city solutions. Intel itself opened its IoT Ignition Lab in Munich in 2014 and celebrated its one-year anniversary last year with the reopening of its research lab and an expansion of its service portfolio.
At the end of 2015, the company announced its largest investment targets to date in the IoT sector. IBM named Munich the global headquarters of its business unit Watson IoT and thus created around 1,000 new jobs in the Bavarian capital. From numerous cities worldwide, the company ultimately chose Munich, according to John Kelly, IBM Senior Vice President, Cognitive Solutions and IBM Research. The decisive factor in the decision to locate its most important business area in the Bavarian metropolis was the unique combination of proximity to industry, universities, technical know-how, skilled workers, the local economy, and the investment-friendly, favorable political environment.
