I just received this press release about a topic important to us in manufacturing. We’ve been exploring the benefits of the Internet of Things for improving manufacturing effectiveness for years. The momentum keeps building. And I wouldn’t mind Barcelona in October, after all, I have Football Club Barcelona scarf I could wear.
To accelerate the development of the rapidly emerging Internet of Things market, Cisco announced the inaugural Internet of Things World Forum, a global event that will unite thought leaders, business leaders and practitioners in business, industry, government and academia. This event will unite leaders and innovators who will come together to create a framework for collaborative industry innovation and market adoption that will accelerate the impact of the Internet of Things on the global economy, society and the environment.
The Internet of Things World Forum will take place in October 2013 in Barcelona, Spain. The event will bring together global leaders, professionals and innovators representing markets such as manufacturing, transportation, oil and gas, utilities, healthcare, sports and entertainment, government, education and retail.
The Internet of Things World Forum is guided by a steering committee representing businesses, universities, cities, governments and thought leaders. The steering committee, which met for the first time February 20-21 in San Jose, Calif. in a meeting hosted by Cisco, is committed to working together to drive industry standards and solutions that will seize the transformational capacity of the Internet of Things. The goal of the committee is to shape the agenda and tracks of the Internet of Things World Forum based on top market opportunities and challenges that will address global, political and environmental issues. The event will also address topics that aim to improve the lives of citizens in broad areas such as health, education, innovation, transportation, job creation and security.
The Internet of Things World Forum steering committee participants include representatives from Accenture, Airbus, Alstom, Barcelona City Council, Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE) at UC Berkeley, Bosch Software Innovations, City of San Jose (CA), City24/7, City Protocol Society, COSM – A Division of LogMeIn, Continental, EVRYTHNG, Ford Motor Company, GainSpan, General Electric, Grundfos, Honeywell, Internet of People, IT Leadership Academy, Itron, Johnson Controls Building Efficiency, Misfit Wearables, National Information Society Agency of Korea, New York Academy of Sciences, Oracle, Panduit, Qualcomm Technologies Inc., Rockwell Automation, SAP, Shell, Smart Cities Council, Tata Consultancy Services, Thales, TTTech, Verizon Wireless, Wind River, and World Wide Technology, Inc.
The objectives of the Internet of Things World Forum include:
* Addressing social, policy, technological and environmental issues pertinent to the Internet of Things
- Fostering cross-industry, cross-discipline innovation and best practices
- Defining relevant standards and solutions in areas such as security, policy, compliance, and interoperability
- Addressing common issues and requirements across industries to create a technology platform for the Internet of Things
- Accelerating the market for the Internet of Things
According to recent Cisco research, the Internet of Everything – defined as the intelligent connection of people, processes, data and things – is predicted to create business opportunities of up to $14.4 trillion in private sector economic “value at stake” over the next 10 years. A critical component of this $14.4 trillion in created value is the predicted flood of networked sensors, devices and things that will enable the Internet of Things, radically transforming today’s business operations into dynamic, intelligent, data driven and innovative business processes.
