We hear more and more often about Internet of Things, but what is it? What is the situation of the global market, and particularly the Italian one regarding new connected technologies?
What is the Internet of Things, or IoT? Try to find out more!
The IoT allows you to connect anything to the Internet. Yes, that’s right, just everything! From simple objects such as a refrigerator or a TV, to cars, to homes to animals and people. The main objective of the IoT is to facilitate and improve our life by providing real-time information that was not available before.
To date, according to Gartner, the connected objects in the world are about 8.3 billion. However, the number is constantly increasing, it was estimated that the share of connected devices will reach 20.4 billion by 2020.
Focus on Italy:
The present of the IoT in Italy
The IoT market in Italy has almost reached € 3 billion in 2017.
It is therefore clear to everyone that the sector of new connected technologies is increasingly taking on a decisive role within the Italian economy.
In light of the key role of the Internet of Things, to further encourage the development of digital in Italy, a series of measures have been launched by the institutions they take the name of: “National Plan for Industry 4.0“. Not yet available data about 2017, we take into consideration those of 2016.
In that year the 3 main segments that constituted the market of smart objects were:
Smart Metering Gas and Smart Asset Management: with a market share of 950 million euro.
The explosion of this type of IoT solutions is due to the regulatory obligation imposed on Utilities to put into service at least 11 million smart meters by the end of this year;
Smart Car: represented by a market share of 550 million euro;
Smart Building: 510 million euro of market.
Recently IDC has conducted a survey on approximately 4500 companies around the world that have already adopted, or intend to adopt in the short term IoT technologies.
As for Italian companies involved in the research, some interesting thoughts have emerged:
- The majority respondents think that the IoT has a positive influence in terms of competitiveness on their company. An interesting share of the survey participants says that the IoT has an even more decisive impact, allowing the company to transform itself by entering new markets and facing new challenges;
- The main drivers for the adoption of IoT solutions by companies are:
- Reach new customers;
- Cost rationalization;
- Organizational improvement.
The future of IoT in Italy
Confartigianato, after evaluating data from a study by the European Commission, said that the Internet of Things in Italy will be worth 5.4% of GDP in 2020. From 2015 to 2020, according to some forecasts of the International Monetary Fund, the income for companies operating in the IoT sector will triple in value, increasing by 205%.
The main segments that will be affected by this wave of progress are: manufacturing, transport, logistics, self-repair and plant engineering (the latter two strongly driven by home automation).
Manufacturing will above all be characterized by an important transformation that will involve production and products (automation, M2M, new skills).
In conclusion, the Internet of Things presents many benefits. By offering information in real time, certain processes can be automated, optimizing consumption and reducing waste. However, it is important not to divert attention from Cyber Security and Privacy issues. These aspects, in fact, must be dealt with appropriately in order to avoid the raising of barriers to the users’ adoption of IoT solutions.
