Education and Science, Innovations, Modern EU, Technology

The Internet of Things (IoT) is considered to be one of the enablers of the next industrial revolution. It is fuelled by the advancement of digital technologies, as well as dramatically changing how companies engage in business activities and people interact with their environment.

The book is the 7th edition published by the European Research Cluster on the Internet of Things (IERC), for which the Alliance for Internet of Things Innovation (AIOTI) and the IoT European Platforms Initiative (IoT-EPI) also contributed with an overview of the European IoT ecosystem landscape. The book is published with the planning and preparation support from the European Commission*).

The IoT's disruptive nature requires the assessment of the requirements for its future deployment across the digital value chain in various industries and many application areas.

*) Digitising the Industry. Internet of Things. Connecting the Physical, Digital and Virtual Worlds. (Eds. O. Vermesan & P. Friess), River Publ. 2016. 

Europe's digital development policy

For the past six years, the European Commission is actively cooperating with the member states and third countries towards the development and future deployment of the IoT technology. The Commission works on creating a European Single market for a human-centered IoT and invests in fostering an innovative IoT ecosystem.

In March 2015 the European Commission initiated the creation of the Alliance for Internet of Things Innovation (AIOTI). This alliance flags the intention of the European Commission to work closely with all stakeholders and actors of the technology in order to create a vibrant European IoT ecosystem.

The Digital Single Market (DSM) Strategy, adopted in May 2015, leads Europe a step further in accelerating developments on IoT. It underlines the need to avoid fragmentation and to foster interoperability for the technology to reach its potential. To fulfill these needs the European Commission is putting forward three concrete actions via the recent Digitising European Industry initiative: - a single market for IoT; - a thriving IoT ecosystem, and -a human-centered IoT’s approach.

Coordinating digital market

The IoT is bridging the physical, digital, cyber and virtual worlds and requires sound information processing capabilities for the “digital shadows” of these real things. IoT applications are gradually moving from vertical, single purpose solutions to multi-purpose and collaborative applications interacting across industry verticals, organizations and people, which represent one of the essential paradigms of the digital economy.

Many of those applications still have to be identified, while involvement of end users in this innovation is crucial.

IoT technologies are key enablers of the new EU Digital Single Market program, which will have a potentially significant impact on the creation of jobs and growth, along with providing opportunities for deploying and commercializing IoT technologies and applications within European and global markets.

The “internet issues” occupy a very important place in the present Commission’s strategy: see Commission’s website on Digital Economy & Society in: