Telefónica demonstrated at last week’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona how to turn spaces into smart buildings. Its stand also featured a demo to show people how to build a smart home.

The smart buildings demonstration area showed the advantages of technology applied to spaces around the four pillars of efficiency, sustainability, people and security.

The integration platform of the different systems also aims to automate, collect and present data more efficiently, facilitating decision-making with IoT as the enabling technology.

Telefónica, in collaboration with Siemens, Bookker and BIM6D, showed the advantages of technology applied to these spaces. Within this value proposition, the smart building platform plays a fundamental role in transforming spaces into smart buildings, as it integrates the management of all the techology and collects the main indicators of each one.

In addition, artificial intelligence enables predictive models to anticipate the future use and consumption of the building. Likewise, this smart building tool is integrated with Powerbim, a digital platform developed by BIM6D, which provides digital-twin support with multiple technologies based on data – static and dynamic – to manage the life cycle of buildings and infrastructures through six dimensions.

Telefónica, working with Siemens, acts as an integrator, and has the capacity, thanks to Desigo CC, to offer all the proposals that a building would need in a joint, analysed and global way.

Smart buildings offer a number of benefits, including economic ones. Through the use of a building management system (BMS), energy consumption can be monitored and the application of rules for electricity, gas or water consumption can be automated. The analysis of occupancy, flows and user behaviour should allow optimisation of the use of spaces and increase comfort.

In this environment, where the well-being of people plays an increasingly important role in the management of buildings, at a time when the implementation of new hybrid work models is beginning to transform spaces, Bookker, a Wayra start-up, offers SaaS to manage all resources in an efficient, sustainable and integrated way, putting users at the centre. Through a mobile application and augmented reality technology, users can book a workstation, meeting room, parking space or dining room, creating a simple and visual user experience. Likewise, improving the user experience involves better communication management, broadcasting the most appropriate content depending on the time, audience, use and state of the building.

In terms of physical security, these improve and provide biometric technology based on artificial intelligence for access control, innovation for fire protection, optimisation of monitoring thanks to the use of cameras equipped with video analytics intelligence that automate the detection of incidents, reducing response times, or the use of autonomous drones to carry out surveillance. They also increase usability to enhance user and worker satisfaction by optimising air quality, lighting and temperature. And, finally, it reinforces safety with more efficient and healthy buildings, which translates into the protection of occupants’ health and safety.

Together, these proposals provide a global knowledge of both what is outside and inside the building with socio-demographic parameters. The integration platform of the different systems aims to centralise, automate, collect and present data more efficiently, facilitating decision-making with IoT as the enabling technology.

“Telefónica offers a global value proposition based on connectivity, physical security, IoT and AI, which facilitates the development of smart buildings,” said Elena Gil, head of IoT and big data at Telefónica. “Our goal is to provide buildings with the most advanced intelligence to increase efficiency, promote sustainability, improve the user experience and increase security.”

Miguel Ángel Orellana, CEO of Bookker, added: “We are very excited to be involved in such an inclusive and impactful project. The new workspaces are being redesigned towards more collaborative spaces and the user experience in them will be the key to generate maximum efficiencies, create safer and more pleasant environments that will result in an improved working environment and the attraction and retention of talent making organisations more competitive”.

Telefónica also presented its proposal to transform conventional television into a complete and innovative home entertainment platform. This revolves around Movistar Plus+, where Telefónica offers its own and third-party content in Spain, thanks to the integration of national streaming content platforms LaLigaSports TV, AtresPlayer Premium and Mitele, and international platforms, such as Netflix, Prime Video, DAZN and Disney+.

The company is also enriching its catalogue with digital experiences through television with the Living Apps, which are applications accessible through the apps section in the Movistar Plus+ home menu, where users have access to a varied catalogue of products and services, and which represent a business opportunity for companies and partners to reach the homes of Movistar customers.

In addition, Telefónica’s digital home proposal offers users, through Aura, Telefónica’s artificial intelligence platform, the ability to interact with voice in an easy and simple way to ask for recommendations, make searches or manage TV content in the most comfortable and natural way.