Namir Anani, President and CEO of Canada’s Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), wrote a thoughtful piece last week about the Internet of Things (IoT): “IoT, The Impending Intelligence Economy.”
As Namir writes, there are already more internet connections than there are people on the planet.
As more devices get connected to the Internet from health sensors, home heating and lighting systems, to large-scale manufacturing and smart cities—the sum of data offered by such a connected world is growing exponentially. Cisco Systems estimates that approximately 12.1 billion Internet-connected devices were in use during April 2014, and that figure is expected to grow to above 50 billion by 2020.
ICTC will be conducting forward looking research to explore key policy enablers for Canada to lead in deriving benefits from an intelligence based economy.
Businesses are increasingly relying on intelligence to offer new products and services and increase their scope and scale. To out-compete in this global economy businesses need to out-compute. The confluence and integration of cloud, big data, social collaboration, mobile and apps is rapidly reshaping our digital economy to an intelligence economy.
What opportunities will emerge for Canadian businesses, governments, communities and consumers? Will there be sufficient spectrum? Can we increase access to skilled talent? What enhancements are needed to ensure privacy and security? How do we create the right conditions for continued investment in next generation networks?
Over the past few years, The Canadian Telecom Summit has explored some of the issues associated with more and more devices being brought on-line for machine and sensor connectivity. We will be working with ICTC to build a panel for The 2015 Canadian Telecom Summit to examine Canada’s intelligence economy.
What other issues / angles would you like to see us cover?
Be sure to mark the dates on your calendar: June 1-3, 2015 in Toronto.