AI-generated summary
The Akademia programme by the Bankinter Innovation Foundation targets Spanish university students nearing graduation, aiming to foster an innovative mindset across disciplines. Selected students collaborate with universities such as the Polytechnic University of Valencia and Pompeu Fabra, engaging in a hands-on program that simulates real-world innovation processes—from forecasting future trends to developing AI algorithms. Industry experts mentor participants, sharing practical insights to inspire the creation of novel products and services.
In a highlighted session titled “Telecommunications as a basic tool for innovation,” experts Ana Vega and Juan José Rodríguez from Telefónica emphasized telecommunications’ critical role in innovation. They discussed three key wireless technologies—Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 6, and 5G—explaining fundamental concepts like frequency bands, bandwidth, and power emission. Higher frequencies offer faster data rates but shorter range and poorer wall penetration. Bluetooth 5.0 improves energy efficiency and coverage; Wi-Fi 6 enhances range and reduces interference; and 5G supports massive device connectivity, ultra-low latency, and dramatically increased bandwidth, enabling advanced applications like real-time translation, remote surgery, and drone-based railway monitoring.
The session underscored the importance of tailoring technology choices to specific use cases, balancing factors like cost, range, and reliability. Innovations in telecommunications, combined with edge computing, open vast opportunities for sustainable, socially and economically valuable solutions across diverse fields, encouraging students to envision novel applications for emerging wireless technologies.
In the world of telecommunications, each new version of a technology (now Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 6 and 5G), brings with it innovative solutions, impossible to implement until then
The Akademia programme of the Bankinter Innovation Foundation aims to awaken the innovative attitude of Spanish university students with high potential, who are about to finish university or have just finished university. Among all the candidates who have applied, 60 from multiple disciplines have been selected, collaborating with universities such as the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Pompeu Fabra, Loyola University and the University of Santiago de Compostela.
At Akademia, students go through a practical program that allows them to experience first-hand a real innovation process: from learning to predict future trends to developing an algorithm based on Artificial Intelligence. To this end, we have a network of professionals who stand out in their respective fields and who accompany students by contributing their experiences and practical cases, with the sole purpose of helping new generations to generate innovative products and services for our future.
In the third session, and under the title “Telecommunications as a basic tool for innovation”, the experts Ana Vega and Juan José Rodríguez, both with long and intense careers in Innovation within the Telefónica group, have explained to the students the fundamental role of telecommunications when it comes to innovation and how inspiring it is to see how telecommunications themselves are a constant field of innovation and improvement.
Given the breadth of the telecommunications topic, the session focuses on three wireless connectivity technologies and their latest versions:
- Bluetooth 5.0
- Wi-Fi 6
- 5G
Before we get into the possibilities offered by the latest standards of these technologies, a very brief introduction to important concepts in case you are not very familiar:
- Frequency Bands: Wireless communication between devices uses the emission and reception of waves along the electromagnetic spectrum. Frequency bands are frequency ranges within that space, regulated by the
International Telecommunication Union . They are usually measured in hertz (for the wireless technologies mentioned, we will talk about megahertz (MHz, 106 Hz) – or gigahertz (GHz, 109 Hz). - Transmission Bandwidth: Bandwidth is measured as the amount of data that can be transferred between two points on a network in a given time. It is measured in bits per second (bps).
- Emission power: It is measured in watts and is the electromagnetic energy needed to establish communication. The power used depends on the number of simultaneous communications, how far apart the different devices are and the obstacles between them. The range depends a lot on the power.
Taking into account these concepts, some additional considerations:
- The higher the frequency, the worse it passes through the walls and the shorter the range the signal has. For example, 2G, which was going at 900Mhz, had more range and penetration than 3G, which was going at 1800Mhz.
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth work at 2400MHz and 5G starts at 3500MHz.
- Regarding bandwidths, with 4G we can reach about 150 Mbps while with 5G we will reach 1Gbps. With Wi-Fi, depending on the standard and the frequency over which it transmits, we find maximum rates of about 70Mbps in 2.4GHz and about 400Mbps in 5GHz.
- Regarding power, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have a very low power compared to the power of 4G or 5G mobile technology.
Having said all this, another determining factor is the price of the chip for each of the technologies. Depending on the power and quality of what you want to transmit, we range from 20 euros for a mobile phone chip, to 2 euros for a Wi-Fi chip and up to less than 1 euro for a Bluetooth chip.
Therefore, the innovations that we can think of using telecommunications will have to take into account all these aspects to implement the best solution in terms of scope and quality at the lowest possible price.
For example, Wi-Fi is not recommended in factories or production lines, because, on the one hand, it works in free and free frequency bands, so all the devices that connect compete for them and their availability for critical devices in the factory cannot be guaranteed. What is the solution then for an industrial environment? Use private 4G (and soon 5G) networks.
Let’s now briefly see what each of the new versions contribute:
What does Bluetooth 5.0 provide? Perhaps the most important thing is the reduction of energy consumption through the so-called Bluetooth Low Energy. It also has improvements in transmission speed, bandwidth, and maximum coverage distance. Officially, the speed is doubled, the distance is quadrupled, and the bandwidth is multiplied by eight.
What does Wi-Fi 6 provide? It increases the range a little, needs less power and therefore consumes less energy and, to avoid interference, it uses what is called BSS Coloring, which optimizes the reuse of channels and the efficient use of the spectrum.
What does 5G provide? It promises up to one million connected devices per square kilometer, which will see an unprecedented deployment of IoT (Internet of Things) devices. In addition, latency decreases a lot: from latencies above 30 milliseconds for 4G, we will drop to 1 millisecond with 5G. It also multiplies the bandwidths of both uploading and downloading content to and from the network.
The conclusion is that all the challenges can be solved and that, with each new version, the challenges proposed in the different international organizations are solved.
Both Ana and Juanjo point out the importance of making use cases with customers, so that we can see which combination of technologies best solves a specific problem.
Another example: For 5G to work almost as well as fiber optics, what is done is to bring computing closer to the edge of the network, which is called Edge computing.
The use cases of 5G technology today are already spectacular: from real-time simultaneous translation applications, to preventive maintenance of railway lines, through the remote assistance of experts in surgeries or augmented reality applied in the field of tourism. All real cases, in which Ana and Juanjo have participated.
Here are two of the cases presented in class by the experts:
Telefónica and Adif begin to monitor train tracks with drones – elEconomista.es
You can also read: Telecom trends: 5G and 6G, IoT, Identity and Connectivity for Good.
Based on your university studies, what other areas can you think of where new wireless technologies could create original solutions that generate value, socially or economically, in a sustainable way? That is, where can there be INNOVATION?
