As a corporate strategist for Molex’s consumer business, I’m always exploring new technologies that promise far-reaching potential for end-users and the companies that support them. 5G is one such tech enabler that is propelling innovation across a multitude of industries.

Future-gazing in the automotive industry may be the stuff of fantasy to many. But, upon review of the results from the recent Molex ‘The Future of Automotive’ survey, it was clear that it can be more truthful and tangible than many appreciate, even for pragmatic industry influencers. For example, in the fast-moving automotive industry, predicters and consumers alike have long projected a world of flying and driverless cars. While the former may realistically be some way away yet, there are nonetheless several technological stepping-stones that are already in play to get us to the Car of the Future. And, they point to China as the formative player that who will bring us there first.

5G represents the next generation of wireless communications. But while the promises of 5G networks with higher capacity, lower latency, and increased bandwidth are exciting prospects, the value of such technological advancements will only be realized when they are applied to real-world use cases that drive mutual benefit to the end user. This is why engineers globally are endeavoring to unleash the benefits of 5G into a broad range of applications including gaming, virtual reality, autonomous cars, and wireless surveillance, to name a few. In each case, 5G is expected to drive innovative new business models, as companies start to take advantage of enhanced connectivity.