Multi-video conferencing and remote computing have been lifelines during the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing dispersed colleagues and families to stay connected throughout these difficult months. It’s almost unfathomable to imagine how much more challenging this could have been even ten years ago when this level of connectivity was not available. With this in mind, the scope and impact of the emerging 5G enabled ecosystem will disrupt our lives even further. It is vital to look at the whole ecosystem to identify where and when this disruption will occur and how investors should capitalise on this growth.

Approximately eighteen months on from the introduction of 5G networks, many companies involved in the development of this industry have performed well, the first 5G iPhones have just been released, and industrial applications are being deployed across a range of industries. There is an entire ecosystem of connectivity enabling and adopting companies which are growing at a fast rate in tandem with one another, providing a strong case to predict vast and long term growth. 

Some innovations of 5G include significantly faster speeds, reliability equivalent to a wired connection, 100x device density capability, millisecond latency and the ability to bypass physical obstructions. The disruptive possibilities are endless and 5G adopting technology is expanding rapidly, creating interesting investment opportunities. Within healthcare, some examples include remote telesurgery- allowing access to world-class surgeons anywhere in the world; new IoT-enabled 5G hospitals; and advanced diagnostic and medical trialling capabilities. Today, the autonomous car is less of a retrofuturistic dream than a foreseeable reality thanks to technologies like 5G, as legacy automakers compete with disruptor tech giants like Uber, Google and Amazon to bring driverless cars to the mass market. These examples merely scratch the surface in sketching out of how life will change, with 5G integral to the development of cloud and edge computing, smart cities, AR, VR and AI, in addition to the architectures of almost every industrial setting.

Hosted by the Financial Times in partnership with Neuberger Berman, this digital webinar will discuss disruption and investment opportunities in the ever-expanding 5G ecosystem, looking at the key IoT, application and service growth areas across industries. A senior Financial Times journalist will chair the discussion.