*Really interesting to see the organizers of this "first transdisciplinary Internet of Things conference" trying to explain IoT issues to the various demographics that they hope to reach.
"Overarching messaging
"The Internet has impacted everything about your organisation and its operational environment. The Internet of Things is here now, and it’s going to get big and quickly, and the ramifications are just as challenging, concerning, exciting and often simply mind-blowing. Hundreds of billions of things will be connected to the Internet this decade.
(...)
"Retail messaging
"Retail innovators like Walmart and Tesco have employed RFID technologies in the supply chain since as early as 2003 and ABI Research predicted earlier this year that “to 2014, the greatest growth will be found in RTLS (Real Time Location Systems), baggage handling, animal ID, and item-level tagging in fashion apparel and retail.”
"This trend doesn’t just represent more of the same. Emergent behaviours and network effects become apparent as we approach ubiquity in specific sectors, with systemic environmental, social and legal ramifications.
"Health messaging
"According to Business Week: “The number of wireless health devices is expected to increase from 300,000 in 2009 to 5.2 million by 2014, says consultant ABI Research. In the U.S., the m-health industry is expected to grow from $304 million today to $4.4 billion by 2013, says Dallas technology consultant Parks Associates.
“…‘Mobile has the potential to revolutionize the health-care system by increasing efficiency, lowering costs, expanding access to care, and improving patient outcomes,’ says Alessio Ascari, who leads McKinsey’s mobile-health-care initiative.”
"Energy messaging
"Smart metering is just the first step in a complex journey for the energy industry and its regulators. The wider smart grid vision increases connectivity, automation and coordination between suppliers, consumers and networks, but what other roles might it serve and where’s the money? These are transdisciplinary questions, and we aim to bring that transdisciplinary perspective to answering them throughout the Internetome project.
"Consumer electronics and white goods messaging
"The consumer electronics industry is of course the sector most entrenched in the Internet as consumers perceive it today, and it remains at the leading edge of Internet of Things type innovation. Consumers want interoperability and mobility, but they also appear to have an unmet desire for the autonomous, the convenient, the customisable and sociable entertainment, information and applications.
"How do white and brown goods fit into life, into the Internetome? When does today’s physical product become tomorrow’s service? How do Internet of Things technologies open new ways to establish and grow consumer loyalty? Such questions are best posed and answers formed in a transdisciplinary forum.
"Transport and automotive messaging
"A short history of transport: ships -> railways -> internal combustion engine -> flight -> Internet of Things. (((Oh dear. Might in fact be true.)))
"Smart transport means different things to different people, and as always it will be the customer who decides what kind of smart most appeals to them. One thing is certain however: whereas the transport and automotive sectors once just connected the world, now they must connect to it and be connected by it.
"Such possibilities wrought by the Internet of Things can only be explored in a transdisciplinary forum.
"Architecture and urban planning messaging
"The Internet of Things is the biggest thing to hit architecture since the steel skeleton and the most pervasive thing to impact the urban environment since the advent of concrete. (((I hate to think THAT is true, but, well, if the cars and jets get replaced by the IoT, why would urban buildings look anything like they do now?)))
"Our relationships with others define us, and the built environment shapes the formation and sustenance of these relationships. Few things mean as much to us as our walls, our roofs and environs, so the evolution of the Internet of Things sparks important questions.
"For example: How is this meaning and influence transformed and transmuted when we’re surrounded by the Internetome (the manifestations of the Internet of Things)? How might we pursue the potential advantages of Internet of Things type innovations in an open and interoperable manner, yet still secure competitive advantage? (((Or, for the open-source radicals in the audience, how do you demolish competitive advantage so that everybody's sharing stuff?)))
"Public policy / government messaging
"The Internet already permeates almost every conceivable aspect of government, and with the advent of the Internet of Things, the Internet is beginning to permeate our real world too: in health, in urban planning, in transport, in energy, in education, in our homes and in our use of this planet’s finite resources. The opportunities and challenges of this revolution outweigh those of the Internet as most know it today, and it’s for such reasons that the European Parliament has adopted an Internet of Things action plan.
"Governments will want to encourage and enable wide multi-stakeholder benefit, and sooner than later, but the nature of the Internetome is not easy to grasp. A transdisciplinary understanding is essential.
"Environmental messaging / ecology messaging (((Always the bridesmaid, never the bride; the Cinderella of ubiquity...)))
"The Internet of Things is, perhaps, one of those groups of innovation that holds the most enormous potential for improving the way mankind lives on this planet. It should help us improve the efficiency with which we consume the planet’s finite resources, the ways in which we generate and use energy, the ways we create and distribute products and services, and the way we deal with the waste by-products.
"The Internet of Things crosses all disciplines and all aspects of life, and we will only optimise our application of these technologies if we pursue a transdisciplinary approach."
