Whereas in the first run Internet of Things referred to the advent of barcodes and Radio-frequency identification (FID), helping to automate inventory, tracking and basic identification, the second current wave of IoT sees a strong verve for connecting sensors, objects, devices, data and applications. The next wave could be called a “cognitive IoT”, facilitating object and data reuse across application domains, leveraging on hyper-connectivity, interoperability solutions and semantic enriched information distribution, incorporating intelligence at different levels, in the objects, devices, network(s), systems and in the applications for evidence-based decision making and priority setting.
Economically , it could generate billions of Euros that easily translate into growth and employment, provided it ensures trust and security for the European citizens and businesses. At the same time, the IoT will bring hyper-connectivity to a global society, using augmented and rich interfaces. This global society will also be characterised by higher semi-autonomous system behaviour than today.
Smart cities are an obvious application of IoT as a horizontal enabler, covering sustainable smart grids, smart mobility and smart health.