On March 3rd, a series of events themed “SparkLink: Infrastructure to Empower Intelligence,Driving Change”, hosted by the International SparkLink Alliance (iSLA), was held in full swing at the W Barcelona Hotel. More than 100 industry elites, technical experts and representatives of ecological partners from the global communications, smart automotive, smart home and other sectors across China, Europe and beyond gathered together to conduct in-depth discussions on SparkLink’s core technological advantages, industrial implementation, standard coordination and global cooperation. The events have laid a crucial foundation for SparkLink to take root in Europe and radiate across the globe, and also outlined a brand-new blueprint for collaborative innovation and ecological co-construction for the development of the short-range wireless communication industry in the AI era.
Spark Forum: Insights to Next-gen Connectivity Infrastructure, Latest SparkLink Products, Diverse Perspectives on Driving Change
The forum was structured with progressive sessions and closely connected content. Ranging from inaugural speeches and sharing on industry frontiers, keynote speeches with in-depth technical insights, the launch ceremony of ecological layout to a thought-provoking roundtable discussion, each session was interlocking and focused on its own highlights, together depicting the current development status and global future of SparkLink technology.
At the critical juncture of the accelerated global intelligent transformation, short-range wireless communication technology has evolved from a mere convenience tool to a core variable defining the upper limit of intelligent experience. SparkLink, with its core advantages of low latency, high reliability, precise positioning and high concurrency, has become a key solution to this transformation. In his opening speech, Wen Ku, Chairman of the Board,China Communications Standards Association, pointed out that AI entities need to interact with each other and the physical world on a large scale, in real time and reliably. The massive data they generate and exchange is mainly processed locally, driving a surge in demand for local data interaction. SparkLink is not just an ordinary connectivity option, but a new-type infrastructure for AI interconnection. It will build the fundamental “neural network” to support the collaboration of AI devices, the coordination of AI agents, and the millisecond-level precise perception and execution of embodied intelligence.
Joost Vantomme, ERTICO – ITS Europe CEO , put forward three core viewpoints in his speech targeting industry transformation: First, the automotive industry has shifted from “hardware-driven” to “software-defined”, with vehicles becoming “mobile sensor hubs and data centers”, and short-range communication is the key to the safety verification of autonomous driving. Second, the deployment of connectivity technologies in Europe faces fragmentation issues, and there is an urgent need to achieve interoperability through unified standards, especially to strengthen legislative guarantees in areas such as cybersecurity and credential management. Third, cooperation should break geographical boundaries. SparkLink’s advantages in low latency and high reliability are highly aligned with the demands of the European market. “ERTICO – ITS Europe is willing to promote the integration of SparkLink with Europe’s existing intelligent transportation systems to jointly address the three major industry challenges of policy certainty, long-term capital investment and governance fragmentation.”
Zhang Wenjun, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, pointed out in his sharing titled Short-Range Communication in the AI Era – The Nerve Endings of the Intelligent World that SparkLink has established three major standard systems: SLB (high data rate), SLE (low power consumption) and SLP (positioning). Looking to the future, he proposed three key directions for technological upgrading: ensuring the absolute determinacy of communication latency, realizing the native integration of “communication-perception-computing-intelligence”, and building customized standards adapted to different industries. He called on the industry to adapt to the architectural transformation of “intelligence migrating to the edge” and make SparkLink an “edge hub” with local intelligent decision-making capabilities.
Subsequently, Luis Jorge Romero, Chief Strategy Officer of the Comentropy, stated in his speech Connectivity Infrastructure in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Development Trends and Core Demands that AI and short-range communication are mutually empowering. The development of AI requires exclusive short-range communication technologies with low latency, predictable deterministic latency, high-precision synchronization, high concurrency and high data rate, while short-range communication can also be upgraded with the help of AI. This demand is reflected to varying degrees in scenarios such as smart devices, smart homes, smart automobiles and industrial manufacturing. “SparkLink is precisely the short-range communication technology that meets such high requirements and can help realize edge-side communication connectivity and the construction of digital world infrastructure.” He also called on all sectors of the industry to jointly promote the continuous optimization of SparkLink technology.
Shi Chao, Deputy General Manager of the Home IoT Product Department of China Mobile (Hangzhou) Information Technology Co., Ltd., focused on the practical application of SparkLink in the smart home field, and pointed out three major pain points of traditional short-range communication in home scenarios: device concurrency conflicts (offline and reconnection difficulties caused by multi-band interference), poor cross-protocol compatibility (separate gateways required for devices of different brands), and insufficient upstream bandwidth (bottlenecks in local data uploading to the cloud). He introduced that China Mobile has launched a USB/Type-C SparkLink dongle to lower the access threshold for traditional devices. At present, it has piloted services for 5 million users in voice remote control products, achieving low latency and high convenience in device pairing. He emphasized that the core value of SparkLink technology lies in “user-centricity”. For example, the directional remote control built based on SLP positioning technology can solve the pain point of the elderly using multiple device remote controls. In the future, it will be further expanded to scenarios such as health monitoring and smart home appliance control, and explore the spectrum coordination between SparkLink and 5G/6G.
Steven Shan, Co-founder & CEO of INGEEK, shared the company’s implementation achievements of SparkLink in three major scenarios: smart automobiles, smart phones and robots, while demonstrating the integration of SparkLink and artificial intelligence. Among them, Infomax has applied SparkLink technology to automakers such as GAC Toyota, Chery and GAC AION, and “Lexus’s new models in 2027 will also be equipped with SparkLink digital keys”, empowering a total of 5 million in-operation vehicles. In addition, he proposed that the key to the globalization of SparkLink technology lies in “scenario-driven”, allowing the technological value to be recognized by the market through actual experience.
Jordi Borras, CEO of Automotive Safety SL, introduced that the company has completed a software interface integration demonstration based on NXP microcontrollers and SparkLink chips, proving that SparkLink technology can be seamlessly adapted to the existing development platforms of European automakers. He emphasized that the high-performance advantages of SparkLink in automotive V2X, wireless charging and other fields need to reduce industry access costs through “standard compatibility”. “It is expected to become one of the core standards for global automotive short-range communication in the future, and we call on European automakers to open up cooperation and jointly explore technology implementation scenarios.”
Thomas Jäger, Senior Vice President of DEKRA, elaborated on the fundamental guarantee role of testing and certification in the construction of the SparkLink ecosystem from the perspective of “digital trust”. He proposed that the globalization of new technologies needs to meet three levels of requirements: regional regulatory compliance, industry association standards and market third-party verification, and the complex evaluation process must rely on a collaborative cooperation system. SparkLink has now launched the product certification process, and DEKRA will use its global resources to provide compliance testing and certification services for SparkLink products, building a foundation for user trust and market recognition.
Liu Yang, Vice President of HopeRun, introduced the company’s SparkLink full-scenario intelligent solutions, covering a complete product matrix of terminals, edges and the cloud. He shared the company’s application achievements in industrial and consumer scenarios: in the industrial field, the SparkLink AI connection gateway has been successfully applied in coal mine and power distribution scenarios, replacing traditional wired lines with wireless connections to solve problems such as mobile equipment in coal mine roadways and easy damage to cables in power distribution rooms; in the consumer field, SparkLink technology has been implemented in scenarios such as educational terminals and hospital digital badges, solving the problems of low concurrency and difficult deployment and maintenance of Bluetooth devices.
Manuel Illanes, Vice President of the Advanced Communications Department of Innova, focused on the construction of the SparkLink European ecosystem and shared the future cooperation plan with the International SparkLink Alliance. “The two parties will advance cooperation around three major directions: first, build an innovation platform to promote prototype verification and knowledge transfer of SparkLink technology with European universities and technical centers; second, replicate China’s successful model to promote the implementation of SparkLink in European intelligent transportation, IoT and other scenarios; third, break geographical barriers, build a bridge for China-Europe industrial cooperation, and jointly promote the global recognition of technical standards.” Relying on its advantages in an extensive network of partners in Europe, it will provide all-round support for the development of the SparkLink European ecosystem.
Subsequently, 10 distinguished guests including Chinese Academy of Engineering Academician Wenjun Zhang,DEKRA-SVP Thomas Jäger,ERTICO-ITS Europe CEO Joost Vantomme,Vice President, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Bin Gan,International SparkLink Alliance Secretary-General Guosong Zeng,Innova Vice President of Advanced Communications Manuel Illanes ,Chief Strategy Officer of Comentropy Luis Jorge Romero ,HopeRun Vice President Yang Liu ,ZTE Corporation Senior director of standards and industry relations Dao Tian,Automotive Safety SL CEO Jordi Borras, took the stage together to officially launch the SparkLink Europe Partner Program.
This program is not only a key milestone in SparkLink’s global strategy, but also a symbol that SparkLink technology has officially taken root in Europe. With Europe as the core hub, it will integrate global industrial forces, explore new application scenarios, build a unified standard system and share development opportunities. It is also an important symbol of collaborative innovation in the global short-range wireless communication industry, laying a solid bridge for China-Europe industrial cooperation.
After the launch ceremony, hosted by Thomas Jäger, Senior Vice President of DEKRA, four representatives including Shan Hongyin 、Liu Yang 、Juha Saarnio ，Member of the Strategy Committee and European Project Committee of ERTICO – ITS Europe and Julio García Ramón ，Vice Chairman of the Spanish Intelligent Transportation Association & Chairman of the Catalan Intelligent Transportation Association conducted an in-depth dialogue centered on building a connectivity infrastructure for the intelligent world, focusing on two core issues: “Why is connectivity technology the fundamental infrastructure for AI and smart devices”and“ How can SparkLink support the construction of intelligent world infrastructure”
In the exchange, all guests based their discussions on the current application achievements of SparkLink technology, jointly looked forward to the future trend of the deep integration of AIoT and various industries, and explored the application potential of SparkLink technology in wireless communication for cutting-edge fields such as the metaverse and embodied intelligence. This will promote all industries to lay out technological research and development and scenario exploration in advance, providing a reference for SparkLink to always meet the development needs of the future intelligent industry and maintain the leading position of its technology and ecosystem.
SparkLink Exhibition: Record-Breaking Number of Exhibits, More Complete Categories, and Strong Appeal with Superior Performance
Coinciding with the forum, the SparkLink Technology Achievement Exhibition, centered on immersive experience, served as an important window to intuitively demonstrate SparkLink’s technological strength and ecological maturity. Focusing on four core fields: intelligent mobility, smart home, industrial interconnection and smart terminals, the exhibition showcased dozens of cutting-edge products and solutions including chips, modules, digital car keys, 3C products and electronic table cards. It presented a panoramic view of SparkLink’s complete industrial chain from technological research and development to industrial implementation, covering core underlying components, terminal application products, single products and full-scenario solutions. On-site guests could experience SparkLink’s core technological advantages of low latency, high reliability, precise synchronization and high concurrency up close.
This exhibition has broken the communication barriers between technology and industry, and between different regions and sectors, allowing global industrial partners to clearly see the actual progress of SparkLink technology from the laboratory to thousands of industries and millions of households. Furthermore, through the display of multi-scenario and multi-category achievements, it has built a bridge for technological exchange and industrial docking for global guests, further enhancing the international influence of SparkLink technology and laying a solid industrial cognitive foundation for the implementation of the SparkLink Europe Partner Program.
Going forward, the International SparkLink Alliance will continue to uphold the principles of openness, cooperation and win-win results, gather global industrial forces, continuously improve technical standards, enrich application scenarios, expand ecological partners, and drive SparkLink technology to become one of the key connectivity backbones of the intelligent world, painting a new blueprint for intelligent interconnection with global partners hand in hand.