TC3 is a live online unconference, focused on discovering innovation and partnership opportunities across the communications ecosystem. TC3 replaces exhibit halls, speeches, and random networking with hands-on demos, real case studies, and personalized introductions. At TC3, global telcos and their cutting-edge telecom vendors mix with startups & investors, each commited to working with new partners to move the telecom industry into the future.
Silicon Valley, California, Oct 2020/Meeting Recap/ Every year, The Telecom Council holds our biggest meeting, TC3, to set the tempo for the next year of telecom and innovator partnerships. In our TC3 meeting, we run the usual pitch sessions, where innovators pitch large telecom stakeholders their latest solutions. But we also turn the “pitch session” on its head – asking the telcos to pitch the entrepreneurs. We ask the network operators about their innovation and partnership acquisition programs, and also ask them what their technology needs are over the next calendar year. What kinds of solutions are they seeking?
The information delivered at TC3 helps innovators target the most appropriate network operators, where a fit is most likely, but also helps guide them to pivot towards what carriers think they need. And it shows them the mechanisms to engage with the carrier. And in fact, we provide those mechanisms, too, in the form of scheduled 1-on-1 meetings, screened and accepted by all participants. Our custom-designed Telecom Council Portal provides the structure that emulates a live, in-person speed-dating session for companies to decide whether to take it to the next level.
One of the most important content elements of TC3 is case studies, where we review successful stories of an innovator partnering with a network operator. Through these cases, we can learn the pace of business development, how the process flows, what’s required, and how it pans out.
This year’s TC3, naturally, was under difficult circumstances with the global pandemic curtailing our ability to meet face to face. So, we took the event virtual, and shortened the content section to fit in 1 day, and the 1-on-1 meetings the next. Our content kicked off with a presentation from Arthur D Little’s Karim Taga and Gabriel Mohn about the opportunities for 5G in the sports media and fandom sector. Additional cameras, sensors, and data with low latency and high throughput can provide a rich environment where fans can become producers of their own sports experience, choosing their own camera angles, display data, commentary, and more. Even fans IN a stadium can choose an augmented experience.
Our content then went into a number of carrier introductions, with brief updates on their innovation technology needs, and a series of case studies on spectral efficiency, 5G edge, Retail, mmWave, IoT security, and smart cities. And then, things got FAST! We transitioned into the typical dog-and-pony show of innovator pitches to network operators. But in today’s case, the presenters were put under a short 3-minute timer! That’s just barely enough time to explain the company’s innovation, then the key differentiator. But the objective wasn’t a full explanation, rather it’s just a teaser to help our attendees add more meetings to their scheduled sessions in the 1-on-1 meeting tool in the Telecom Council Portal.
The final content session was a choice of three roundtable sessions. One on mmWave as fixed broadband, hosted by Verizon. Another on Private Cellular Networks and CBRS. And the final one on 5G. We’d like to thank all our contributors for such a great, compact TC3. And of course, an tip of the hat to our sponsors Verizon, and iQmetrix.
As always, members can access the presentations from the Member Library.