Here we are: the IoT revolution so often foretold has reached its turning point, when its spreading will be enough to change forever how institutions and companies operate and people live. This is the background provided by Business Insider Intelligence which dedicates “The IoT Forecast Book 2018” to the topic.
In the US the number of smart home devices is estimated to exceed one billion by 2023, with an estimated consumption of about 725 dollars per household, for a total of over 90 billion dollars in expenses for IoT solutions.
As for the corporate IoT, companies will continue to invest billions of dollars in connected devices and automation. By 2023, the overall installed base of industrial robotic systems will reach 6 million worldwide, while annual expenditure on the production of IoT solutions will reach approximately 450 billion dollars.
Governments worldwide are introducing IoT systems to drive the development of smart cities with connected cameras, smart streetlights and smart meters to provide a real-time view of traffic, utility usage, crime, and environmental variables. Annual investment in this sector is expected to reach nearly 900 billion dollars by 2023.
IoT market in Italy
According to the latest research by the Internet of Things Osservatorio of Politecnico di Milano, our country is showing a very positive growth trend.
In 2017, the IoT market reached €3.7 billion, an increase of 32% on 2016. Smart metering is the industry’s driving force, slowing down but still representing the “biggest figure” of the IoT, with sales amounting to 980 million euros for a market share of up to 26% and growth of 3% compared to 2016. A market experiencing the benefits of regulatory obligations for gas that have led to the installation of 2.4 million meters in the household market and that is leading to the installation of the second generation of smart electricity meters in the energy sector.
The other great trend behind such development is the introduction and use of the Internet of Things in the automotive industry. The Internet of things in connected cars is worth something like 810 million euros and comes to represent 22% of the market. The growth rate of this trend should be noted and underlined: 47% development in 2016 resulted in the introduction of 11 million connected cars in 2017, which now account for almost 25% of the vehicles on our roads.
Connected cars trend is still led by the spread of GPS/GPRS boxes coming from the insurance industry and used to locate and record driving parameters for risk control purposes. These devices grew by 44% during 2017, but at the same time there was a significant increase in natively connected cars, which rose by 68% and in 2017 60% of registered vehicles have a connection system as standard.
The third important trend of this market is represented by Smart Building applications which resulted in a business volume of 520 million euros, representing 14% of the IoT market.
Smart things for Smart Cities are worth 320 million euros and have grown at a rate of 40%. Aside from the IoT that, linked to the entire metering sector, enters our homes thanks to the effects of regulations, there is an increasing share of smart services for Smart Homes, which represent an essential business with 250 million euros, up by 35%.
