Internet of things (IoT) is the future and next big thing! To explain it easy: “Internet of things means connecting things (digital devices) with internet”. IoT is majorly driven by data, sensors and actuators.
So what can we expect in the future? And what’s in it for you or your businesses?
These questions will be answered in this Blog:) Just think about this: not just your car, but what if your refrigerator, microwave and all other digital devices become your everyday companion? The idea of making human life faster and comfortable is the essence of discovering “Internet of Things”.
But how did we come up with IoT?
Let’s start with the basics – In 1980, futurist Alvin Toffler wrote The Third Wave, a book describing how the next “wave” of evolution in the information age would transform the world and create an electronic global village. But to understand this “third wave,” let’s see what came before.
- The first wave began with the creation of the foundation and infrastructure of the online world. Companies like Sprint, Cisco, Apple, Microsoft, AOL, and IBM created crucial hardware, software and networks, making the internet available to everyday users.
This wasn’t exactly an easy task. These online pioneers faced an uphill battle, struggling to convince people that the internet was relevant and worthwhile. Indeed, many saw it as a joke. In a 1995 interview on PBS, the author was asked, “Why do people need [the internet]?” People will call you stupid if you’re asking this question now:)
- By the turn of the twenty-first century – the beginning of the second wave – the answer to that question was more than apparent.
By this time, search engines like Google were helping people navigate ever vaster amounts of information; online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay appeared; and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter emerged, connecting more and more people. The second wave further revolutionized the world when mobile devices like Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android enabled people to access the internet wherever they went.
- This brings us to the third wave, on the threshold of which we currently stand.
The third wave is about integrating the internet into everything we do. No longer limited to PCs, tablets and other devices, the internet is becoming part of our homes, automobiles, agriculture and cities. The technologically-integrated age has begun.
The third wave will find entrepreneurs taking advantage of this new era to challenge major industries such as healthcare, education, food and commuting.
This week I had a very interesting meeting about IoT with T-Mobile Netherlands and Buzzerbase. We came to the conclusion that it is not that easy to introduce a new IoT product. IoT is not something customers will understand, so you should talk about the need, what will solve their problems, or how it will make their lives easier. IoT is already in use in B2B markets, who see already the major benefits. For the B2C market is will take some more time also looking to the data security and privacy regulations and the consumer needs to gain trust.
Let’s dive in and discover what these future fields of entrepreneurship may look like.
Healthcare and food will be a major focus for third-wave entrepreneurs.
The third wave of the internet isn’t about creating the next viral game or social media app; it’s about innovatively addressing real-world problems.
Consider health care, an industry that offers great potential for entrepreneurs. Health care is a huge market, making up one-sixth of the US economy, and since it suffers from longstanding problems, there’s plenty of room for technological improvement.
The US healthcare system is notoriously slow, inefficient and expensive; many hospitals still use fax machines and hard copies of medical records, and, due to a lack of coordination and accessible data, mistakes are constantly being made.
For instance, in 2011, researchers at the cancer center MD Anderson found that one out of every four patients was getting a new diagnosis following a second opinion.
Many entrepreneurs have already jumped at this opportunity: between 2010 and 2014, the amount of money raised by digital health-care start-ups quadrupled.
So, before long, smartphones will diagnose your symptoms, check your medical background and warn you before you have a stroke or heart attack. This constant monitoring of high-risk patients from home could potentially reduce health-care spending by 30 percent – money that would otherwise be drained into misdiagnoses and incorrect treatments.
Another enormous opportunity for these entrepreneurs is the five-trillion-dollar food industry.
The third wave will revolutionize how we grow, raise, store, transport and deliver food.
For example, a report in The Guardian revealed that innovative researchers are already finding ways to improve bee colonies by connecting their hives to the internet. Bees are vital in the pollination of crops and their numbers are declining. But internet technology can monitor hive temperatures and create heat in order to deter the mites that lead to colony collapse.
Entrepreneurs are also developing sensors to monitor food safety, even going so far as to imagine ovens that will refuse to cook spoiled meat! Such technology is badly needed in processing plants today, where USDA inspectors check less than one percent of processed meat.
As we can see, the third wave represents a serious change to the old ways of doing business. This might be happening to your home anytime soon too. What if you don’t have to do any groceries anymore? Chips will be implemented in the cover of the products you’re buying for example: your delicious peanut butter. Ouch, its finished! This will not happen, once the product reaches the 25%, it will order automatically a new one, and you only need to approve. This is just a small example, but the data that will be collected can be used for several other things for example your health, are you eating well or perhaps you should skip some things. All the data will be collected and can provide you with the right feedback. Would you like that?
SUMMARIZE:
IoT is fast approaching. This next step in our technological evolution will be marked by businesses and entrepreneurs who possess strong partnerships, purpose-driven missions and a clear understanding of how to make life easier.
What do you think? Would you connect all your mobile devices via Wi-Fi or 4G and 5G? Please share your thoughts.
Love, Marietta
