An update on the Internet of Things

As we look forward to Toronto’s Smart Week 2014 in October, it’s worth reviewing what’s been going on in the UK around the Internet of Things.

Briefly, the term Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the rapid proliferation of network-enabled devices and the Internet-like structures that enable them to communicate with each other. For example, your house could detect when you’re on your way home and switch on the heating and kettle; sensors in storm drains might automatically divert water when rainfall is too high; or your smart shopping list might guide you around the supermarket and automatically process everything you want to buy without you having to load it at the checkout. As sensors and network-enabled devices become smaller and cheaper, they will be become more ubiquitous and will open up new functionality for things (such as light switches, buildings and trees) that have traditionally not been part of a network.

As a leading nation in all things digital (the term Internet of Things was coined by a British technologist, Kevin Ashton), the UK has been ramping up its support for IoT-related technologies. The wide-ranging Information Economy Strategy was launched last year, along with the Connected Digital Economy Catapult. The Catapult in particular aims to accelerate the commercialisation of new digital innovations, many of which will be IoT-based (for some good examples of this, read UK semiconductor firm ARM’s interview with CNET).

More recently, the UK hosted IoT Week and Prime Minister David Cameron announced £45 M of new funding for IoT-related projects (as well as collaborative UK-Germany work on 5G mobile networks, vastly faster than current 4G LTE networks and a key IoT technology). The UK will also host the Internet of Things World Forum in November, bringing companies together to discuss how to best advance what is expected to become a $7 T market over the next six years.

Here in SIN, we work on the IoT as part of our various projects on digital technologies, data and smart cities. You can expect to see a lot more of these kinds of projects over the next few years as innovative UK companies emerge and enabling technologies are rolled out.