The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most popular current technologies and around ten thousands startups are present in this sector.
Some countries have understood very fast that IoT is the technology that will change the world. The investments are significant and the adoption rates for IoT are stimulated by governments’ policies, subsidies and research projects. According to global market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), countries that are expected to spend the most by 2020 on the IoT industry are the U.S. with 194 billion USD, followed by China with $182 billion USD, Japan 65.4 billion USD and Germany 35.5 billion USD. Amazingly, South Korea ranked fifth at 25.7 billion USD, overtaking European countries such as France (25.6 billion USD) and the U.K. (25.5 billion USD).
When it comes to IoT changing the world, one of the main points of IoT are the sensors. These devices are responsible for collecting data from outside and communicating them over the Internet.
In the health sector, these sensors, placed directly on humans’ bodies, collect information and send it directly to software for analyzing their well-being. The vehicles thanks to these sensors are a powerful communication device and autonomous vehicles are already proving their efficiencies. We know that equipped with sensors, they will communicate with each other and with different elements on the road to achieve a smoother and safer traffic. For the industry 4.0 the IoT sensors and technologies are powering them like a nervous system which multiplies the productivity significantly. As well, IoT appears, again, in the center of concepts such smart city. Cities will be connected at more levels than we can even expect. IoT will also enter our homes and lives through all kinds of devices that will seek to make our lives a little more comfortable. We are all watching with amazement the change taking place with an unexpected speed either we like it or not. Maintaining the security and privacy of citizens are issues which are already the subject of concern. With current IoT technologies, these concerns will increase their importance in the future. Perhaps the concern about the security and privacy in European and North American countries are more and more influencing the speed of adoption and of decisions on investment in these technologies and that is allowing the Asian countries to take the lead over this market?
73% of the global robot sales in five countries. Same trend for IoT?
There are five major markets representing 73% of the total global sales volume in 2017: China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States and Germany. Since 2013 China has been the biggest robot market in the world with a continued dynamic growth.
According to a recent McKinsey study, the most impacted sector by the IoT by 2025 will be the industrial manufacturing. Another study by IFR, showed that in terms of demand for industrial robots in 2017, robot sales increased by 30% to 381,335 units, a new peak for the fifth year in a row. The main drivers of this exceptional growth in 2017 were the metal industry (+55%) and electrical/electronics industry (+33%). Robot sales in the automotive industry increased by 22% and remained still the major customer of industrial robots with a share of 33% of the total supply in 2017.
Are IoT patent applications a predictor of future world leadership for China and Asia?
According to research conducted by IPlytics, 41,845 IoT patent applications have been filed in China to date, making it the world’s largest processor of IoT patent applications followed closely only by USA with 37595 applications. Asia is the region claiming the leadership in IoT. The representation above shows that Korea, Australia and Japan are overtaking countries such as Germany, Great Britain and France. South America and Africa are two regions lagging behind in the IoT patent applications.
The stakes are high for new players entering the IoT country game and to be able to succeed, smart and specific industries focused strategies might be the key.
