Internet of Things

The Internet of Things Observatory was established in 2011 to address the growing interest expressed by the public and private sector in the potential of the new model known as the Internet of Things (IoT). In an environment where there is much uncertainty about the current state-of-the-art of IoT applications, the enabling benefits and the expected developments in the market, the Observatory will investigate the true opportunities of IoT from a combined technological and management perspective.

Internet of Things Observatory Research

Within the scope of our Research, the Internet of Things Observatory will:

• analyze the progress of the application framework in Italy, identifying the most interesting projects and developing a comparison with the international scenario.
• estimate the spread and the market value of the Internet of Things in Italy, comparing with foreign Countries;
• monitor the frontiers of innovation, analyzing the most interesting IoT startups in Italy and abroad;
• study the main changes to legislation that can affect the process of increasing the spread of the IoT, with specific attention to Smart Metering for gas, water and electricity;
• analyze the various strategies for using data gathered from connected devices to their full potential, with a thorough investigation into topics regarding privacy and data protection;
• update the IoT solution application framework s in the consumer world with particular focus on the Smart Home, through an ad hoc survey on consumers (one focused on Italy and one on a foreign Country);
• investigate the role of builders in the Smart Home & Building sector through a customized survey targeted to construction companies;
• monitor the evolution of main operating systems, alliances, and Smart Home ecosystems;
• investigate the evolution of short range and long range protocols, Industrial IoT technologies, sensors and edge computing;
• analyze the implementation framework of Industrial IoT projects (focused on Smart Factory and Smart Logistics) by designing one survey addressed large companies and one to equipment manufacturers, examining the most significant success cases in main business sectors;
• monitor the innovations enabled by IoT technologies in the Utility sector by developing specific focus on enabled benefits, legislative evolution, and network development;
• analyze in greater depth the role of IoT technologies as regards environmental sustainability.

Research conducted by the Internet of Things Observatory is based on:

• an empirical analysis of over 500 projects involving the use of IoT technology, in Italy and globally.
• a model to estimate the spread of IoT and relative market, based on the data gathered in the course of case studies, surveys and personal interviews with offer-side players (module integrators, software houses, system integrators, telecos).
• a survey on end-users (one in Italy and one abroad), to be organized in partnership with a specialized institute.
• a survey addressed to Italian City Halls to learn more about current projects, application areas, and issues encountered in implementing Smart City projects;
• two surveys to targeted to companies (one to large companies and the other to equipment manufacturers) to collect Industrial IoT solutions (Smart Factory, Smart Logistics, and Smart Lifecycle);
• numerous IoT technology enabled benefit estimation models in various application areas;
• over 100 interviews and case studies of the most innovative IoT project.