Ten years ago, I co-founded RIoT to create a joint research triangle around the Internet of Things. I saw then the opportunity for our region to become a recognized center of excellence in the next major shift in the global economy. [ASIDE – RIoT is holding a 10th Anniversary Celebration March 19 at 5 p.m. along with our partners Raleigh Founded and NC IDEA. Please feel welcome to register and attend].
Early in my career, I experienced the technological turning point that occurred simultaneously with the launch of the Internet and the shift from analog to digital communications. These shifts combined to create a dramatic shift in our economy, clearly defined today as “pre-Internet” versus “post-Internet.”
Let’s face it, there isn’t a new company today that doesn’t use the Internet and digital communications in its business. Even the least tech-related businesses still have emails, websites, and cell phone numbers. Most industry and commerce are already fundamentally linked to the Internet.
In the early 2010s, I saw a similar “tilt” in business readiness in data analytics, energy harvesting, battery storage, nanotechnology, and wireless communications. Each of these areas has seen advances that are not just incremental evolutionary gains but step improvements. Importantly, these improvements are not just feasible in the research lab—these improvements are scalable.
I’ll briefly summarize it this way:
- The cost per calculation to analyze data is close to $0.
- This means computationally intensive machine learning and artificial intelligence are finally commercially viable
- The cost of storing data is close to $0 per data point.
- This means we can collect large enough data sets to properly train AI in a meaningful and nuanced way.
- The cost to mass produce and package simple semiconductors for sensing applications is close to $0.
- This means sensors can now be deployed anywhere, even in extremely low-cost devices.
- The cost per packet of wirelessly transmitting data over long distances is close to $0.
- This means data can be collected from anywhere in the world and instantly and cost-effectively aggregated with other data.
- Efficiency in harvesting energy from the environment and efficiently storing it in batteries is improving at both ends.
- Small devices could eventually be self-powered, operate permanently from their surroundings, and enable continuous sensor data collection.
- Large devices (e.g. cars, airplanes, homes) can become part of the new energy network infrastructure, acting as both consumers and storers/distributors of electricity. Additionally, these large devices with computing and capabilities can now become part of the “edge cloud,” reducing reliance on centralized data center computing.
Anytime you gain access to powerful new technological capabilities at near-zero cost, that means anyone can suddenly become an innovator. When we focus on accessibility, everyone can participate in innovation. It is clear to me that IoT is the umbrella term on top of all these technologies.
Tim Berners-Lee is widely regarded as the inventor of the Internet. In 1990, he created the “World Wide Web”. The term lasted for a while but was ultimately short-lived. Eventually, the broader term “Internet” became the way we fundamentally described the network of connected devices and computers that power every aspect of our lives today.
The Internet of Things may also be a temporary term. Too many people focus on “things” and think IoT is only about devices. This couldn’t be further from the truth. IoT is about the automation of data. In the Internet age, networked computers leverage information that is stored, cataloged, tagged, and filtered to support services and applications.
In the data economy—a term I believe may replace the Internet of Things—we are working relentlessly to reduce the life cycle of data to zero. Ultimately, IoT enables us to collect sensor data from anywhere, aggregate the data instantly, analyze the data instantly, visualize the data instantly and automate responses instantly.
Pure real-time automation will replace our common internet-based processes and services. In the future, any new business will be a data business, implementing real-time automation to gain competitive advantage. The Internet killed the Yellow Pages. Searching a database of information is simply more powerful than flipping through a book. Google is already seeing AI assistants taking over search. In the future, text search bars will be a novelty in the movies and museums of the 2000s.
AI and ML (automation of analytics), AR and VR (automation of visualization), 5G and LPWAN (automation of convergence), energy harvesting (automation of system power), and edge sensors and cameras (automation of data generation) are all IoT technologies. These are all components of an automated data economy system.
When RIoT was founded, it was clear to me that our region had the expertise, diversity and first-mover advantage to be recognized as a global center of excellence for IoT. Data Economy isn’t a term in my head yet (and even if it was, it wouldn’t make for such a cool company name – RDE? 🙂 ).
I hope you’ll join me on Tuesday night to share the progress we’ve made on our leadership journey over the past 10 years, as well as the new technological turning points we should expect in the next decade.