The OPC Foundation is excited to announce the addition of three new members to its Board of Directors: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Huawei. After working on several key IT topics, this expansion highlights the increasing importance of OPC UA in IT and Industrial Cloud sectors.
New on the Board of Directors are Steve Blackwell, Head of Manufacturing CoE, AWS; Praveen Rao, Global Director and Head of Manufacturing Industry at Google Cloud; and Dr. Jingyi Hu, Chief Strategy Officer of Industrial Digitalization at Huawei.
At the same time, Shinji Oda, from Yokogawa has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Board, succeeding Dr. Holger Kenn from Microsoft. Oda brings great experience in both technical and standardization fields, particularly within the process industry, thanks to his long-standing work at Yokogawa. His leadership is expected to further strengthen the role of OPC UA as a critical enabler for manufacturing and process solutions.
Another change on the Board of Directors was the representative from Microsoft. Microsoft has set a precedent by appointing Christoph Berlin, Vice President of Engineering, to the OPC Foundation Board of Directors, elevating OPC UA to a strategic level within the company.
Shinji Oda expressed his gratitude, saying: “We welcome Christoph Berlin as the successor to Dr. Holger Kenn on the Board of Directors of the OPC Foundation. A big thank you to Dr. Kenn for his contribution to the OPC Foundation. I am deeply honored by the trust and confidence the Board members have placed in me, and I intend to faithfully fulfill my new role to meet their expectations. Yokogawa has been significantly involved in the development of OPC technology since the OPC Foundation’s inception and has supported its growth. As the convergence of OT and IT creates new value, I am delighted to play a role at a time when OPC UA is seen as a key technology for realizing Smart Manufacturing, from the field to the cloud.”
The new board members from AWS, Google Cloud, and Huawei are all prominent players in the industrial cloud sector. They share a common goal of establishing OPC UA as the leading standard for open and secure data interoperability in Industrial IoT and Industrie 4.0. Their combined expertise and market influence are expected to drive this vision forward globally.
When asked about the role of OPC UA in modern industrial systems, the new board members shared their insights:
Steve Blackwell, Head of Manufacturing CoE, AWS said: “The future of manufacturing is being shaped by AI’s ability to turn data into actionable insights and drive operational efficiencies. However, this potential can only be fully realized when data is accessible and interoperable across the entire manufacturing ecosystem. Open standards like OPC UA help provide the necessary foundation for seamlessly integrating manufacturing data into cloud environments, enhancing productivity, and accelerating the digital transformation across the manufacturing sector.”
Huawei’s representative, Dr. Jingyi Hu, says: “Chinese industry is booming, and OPC UA is the cornerstone of Chinese industrial digitalization. We believe there are four megatrends of industrial digitalization, they are digitalization of industrial equipment, fully connected industrial networks, conversion to cloud-based industrial software, and value realization of industrial data. Huawei is both an enabler and an active practitioner of industrial digitalization, we will focus on ICT Infrastructure, to collaborate with OPC partners, we will jointly build the industrial intelligent twins, and promote the “New Four Modernizations” of industry.”
Praveen Rao, Global Director, Head of Manufacturing Industry for Google Cloud, said “Open, interoperable standards like OPC UA are crucial for enabling digital transformation in industrial settings. This collaboration will help empower businesses to harness the power of the cloud and unlock new levels of efficiency and innovation.”
Stefan Hoppe, President of the OPC Foundation, congratulated Shinji Oda, noting, “My sincere congratulations go to Shinji Oda, as he is the first representative of an Asian company in the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors. OPC UA also has great international relevance in China, with Huawei being the first Chinese company to join the Board of Directors in actively supporting OPC UA in its diverse product portfolio, including cloud solutions. Our members are delighted that, with AWS and Google Cloud also on the board, all major cloud providers now jointly support the pre-competitive standardization of the OPC Foundation, as there is no other organization in the world that brings together key companies of both OT and IT domains to meet the challenges of digitalization.”
The current members of the Board of Directors are always publicly listed on the OPC Foundation website at https://opcfoundation.org/about/opc-foundation/organization/. For the four new Directors you’ll find their vita on the OPC Foundation website: