Top takeaways from IoTItaly event on IoT business models

The event of IoTItaly on the models of business of the Internet of Things was a very encouraging success and sets a solid basis for the future of the IoT in Italy. On 31 May 2016, the event organized by the Italian association on the Internet of Things, IoTItaly, named ‘Meet IoT: New business models’ took place at Microsoft headquarter in Milan. Over a hundred people attended the event, 350+ watched it live in streaming and other people are still living the event through its recording that is available here.

I discussed in a previous post about the change in the models of business of the Internet of Things that is driven by IoT technologies. Companies will have to reinvent themselves switching from a model of business focused on the sale of products to a model of business whose core will be supply of services.

The speeches from the different speakers covered a quite broad area of the IoT, from the industrial Internet of Things, to smart working, eHealth and the relevance of design in IoT technologies. And the final session discussed about the future of the Internet of Things, about what has to be done in Italy to foster its growth and about the need that privacy compliance does not become an obstacle to the development of the Internet of Things.

United we stand, divided we fall

This is the ‘motto‘ of IoTItaly and its meaning reflects a sentence that has been repeated in several instances during the event. Companies investing in Italy in the Internet of Things need to collaborate. Italy is notoriously a litigius country, but such fights might hinder or even impede the growth of the IoT in Italy. This circumstance might not only lead to considerable losses, but also prevent companies from surviving. And the evolution of the smartphone market and its impact on companies like Nokia might be a good example of how the IoT might change the business of companies.

IoTItaly is the missing piece

The mission of IoTItaly is to become the missing piece

1. between public insitutions and private companies so that initiatives such the allocation to smart city project of EUR 65 million by the Italian Ministry of the Economic Development are properly handled through the investment of such resources according to modalities able to maximize the benefit for the country. The identification of such modalities requires a discussion between public bodies and associations like IoTItaly that reppresent the whole industry of the IoT in Italy, rather than single companies; and
2. among private companies in order to create business opportunities and synergies. It was discussed that the future of the IoT requires open platforms that can interoperate with any possible device. The competition between standards in the IoT is likely to end up with no winner. IoTItaly can be the meeting point between sellers and buyers of IoT technologies as well as between the different actors of the IoT market which can integrate their technologies. This can be done also through the ‘evangilization‘ of companies operating in Italy as to the advantages that can be gained through the explitation of IoT technologies.

The next event of IoTItaly will take place on 5 July 2016 and it is possible to obtain more information through the website or sending an email to info@iotitaly.net

@GiulioCoraggio

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