Industry elites forecast future smart home trends
The 10th edition of Shanghai Intelligent Building Technology (SIBT) and second edition of Shanghai Smart Home Technology (SSHT) are set to open their doors from 31 August – 2 September 2016 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre in Shanghai. The two fairs will welcome 240 exhibitors from 14 countries and regions. This year, a comprehensive profile of smart home and intelligent building innovations will be displayed across a record 16,000 sqm of exhibition space, up 23% from last year.
Ms Lucia Wong, Deputy General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai) Co Ltd, expressed: “SSHT and SIBT highlight the integration of different management technologies for intelligent buildings, building controls and smart homes. As these technologies evolve, data communication between smart home controls, applications and external information sources will enhance living environments for end-users. In the Internet Plus era, SSHT and SIBT firmly advocate smart living and strive to showcase the entire ecosystem of intelligent building products and connected solutions. The two shows will not only offer participants the opportunities to discuss the development and convergence of various smart technologies, but they will also promote vertical and horizontal collaboration.”
Industry elites forecast future smart home trends
This year, SIBT will celebrate 10 years of helping pioneers to bring cutting-edge building technologies to diverse groups of professionals from around the world. The show will exhibit a comprehensive array of intelligent building systems including building energy saving, energy management, intelligent hotel and building automation control systems.
The concept of smart living is gaining in popularity and innovators are bringing many new creations to market. In an effort to explore what the future of the smart home sector will look like, SSHT has invited industry elites from influential associations and leading enterprises to share their thoughts. Here is what a few experts have shared:
Mr Steven Zhou, Secretary General, China Smart Home Industry Alliance
“We believe that a complete transformation will take place in the industry. Electrical engineering and home appliance enterprises are becoming smart. In the future, connected technologies will be found in every device and more end-users will incorporate smart home technologies into their daily lives.”
Mr Rawlson O’Neil King, Communications Director, Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA)
“Digitally advanced homes have developed into communication-rich living spaces. This progression has enabled a host of smart experiences for consumers including energy management, interactive home devices, connected appliances and real-time security solutions. However, the industry has acknowledged that such convenience is associated with risk.”
Mr Zhang Jun, Chinese Ambassador, AllSeen Alliance
“We believe that in the near future that smart home appliances, home safety and security solutions, health management and entertainment technologies will be applied more extensively. In fact, these areas have already been changing our daily lives gradually.”
Ms Lori Lee, Senior Marketing Manager, APAC, Bluetooth SIG, Inc
“Currently, smart lighting is still the major market since application development in this sector is more mature than other smart home applications. In the future, by promoting standardisation, smart lighting systems will become even more popular and I believe this market will face promising growth.”
Mr C.K. Sze, Z-Wave Evangelist, Z-Wave Alliance
“I believe commercial applications such as automation in hotels and offices will lead market demand. There are many supporting trends that present numerous opportunities such as a growing number of senior citizens living alone who can benefit from the assistance of smart home technologies. Also, there has been increased awareness and demand for energy-saving solutions, Internet technologies and smart devices. Wireless communication technologies have also become more advanced and affordable while the Chinese government has been aggressively promoting the development of smart cities and Internet Plus technologies.”
Dr Wilma Su, Chair, ZigBee Member Group China
“Opportunities for the smart home market are about ‘connection’ and ‘systems’. In other words, single or multiple devices alone cannot create a home. People-oriented controls like mobiles or panels cannot be referred to as smart. The smart home should be able to incorporate every single device from home appliances and safety and security systems to light bulbs to curtains. ‘Connection’ and ‘systems’ are fundamental concepts for the smart home which is created by holistic people-oriented solutions.”
Being a comprehensive platform for smart home technologies, SSHT will once again gather leading brands to showcase a diversified range of smart home technologies. Some of the show’s exhibitors talked about their industry outlook:
Smart home systems
Mr Niu Xiaofeng, Media Operation Manager, Peng Intelligence System Engineering Co Ltd
“’Service’ is the word I will use to describe the development trend for the smart home industry. In the future, the market will evolve from simply selling devices to offering services. The ‘open platform’ is another important element in smart home products. Whether a company can stand out from the crowd depends on the openness of its products – an ability to connect to more platforms and be compatible with other branded applications.”
Mr Wang Xiaodong, Technical Director, Honyar
“As a regular tool for operation, control panels are relatively more frequently used than other newly developed control technologies. They are also easier to adapt to for traditional users. Therefore, there is still a great potential within this sector.”
Cloud platform and IoT solutions
Ms Sharon Feng, Brand Director, Lifesmart
“The concept of being ‘hassle-free’’ is going to be a trend for smart home technology. Users prefer more natural, convenient living conditions that do not require the added burden of learning how to use any complicated products. ‘User-friendliness’ and ‘stability’ are the two key points that smart home enterprises should be aware of when creating convenient solutions that for users experience that will help strengthen companies’ brands and market competitiveness.”
Audio visual integration and home entertainment
Ms Chen Jie, Promotion Assistant, Cinemaster Shanghai Ltd
“The scope of the smart home is vast. From IoT technologies to smart energy, there are always business opportunities. It takes time for the complete smart home to be realised and popularised, but the competition in various sectors such as audio and visual, safety and security, and lighting will be fierce.”
Regarding future industry development, Ms Wong added: “The future smart home is the combination and integration of smart hardware, software and cloud services, and the perfect ‘smart life’ is just around the corner.”
SSHT and SIBT will be held concurrently with ISH Shanghai & CIHE – the Shanghai International Trade Fair for Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (ISHS), and the Shanghai International Lighting Fair (SILF). Collectively, the fairs form the “Intelligent Green Building – IGB” exhibition platform that will host more than 460 exhibitors in 40,000 sqm of exhibition space. Approximately 51,000 visitors from the intelligent building, smart home, HVAC and lighting industries are expected to attend.
SSHT and SIBT are both headed by the biennial Light + Building event which will take place from 18 – 23 March 2018 in Frankfurt, Germany. Messe Frankfurt also organises a series of light and building technology exhibitions in China including the Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition and Guangzhou Electrical Building Technology. The company’s light and building technology fairs also extend to markets in Argentina, India, Russia, the UAE and other countries and regions.
