With 500 active members and more than 1500 high level experts split in 11 thematic working groups, during its first year the Alliance for IoT Innovation succeeded to develop the most dynamic European Internet of Things ecosystem and to become a global influencer on IoT technology. Building on its success the AIOTI is now becoming a formal organisation which will continue to work with the European Commission on boosting the IoT innovation and deployment in Europe and beyond.
Ms Michela Magas, speaking on behalf of the Board of the AIOTI, during her speech at the Net Futures Conference 2016 said: “Today we celebrate the first year of the AIOTI, which was launched at Net Futures 15, with the Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mr Günther H. Oettinger. The Alliance has been successful in creating a position for European IoT in terms of research, innovation, standardisation, policy, and across industry verticals. The Alliance has made considerable progress in IoT standardisation and interoperability, it is committed to hands-on engagement with innovation ecosystems to ensure a fast track to innovation, and it is determined to empower people with a ‘Trusted IoT’. It welcomes the European Commission strategy on ’Digitising European Industry’, which considers these areas of activity key to making IoT one of its five priorities in the coming years. The AIOTI will become a legal entity in summer 2016, and we welcome all European IoT players to join us and contribute to the development of IoT across Europe and worldwide.”
Mr Thibaut Kleiner, Head of the Network Technologies Unit of the DG CONNECT of the European Commission, highlighted: "The 'Digitising European Industry' strategy recognises the importance of developing a thriving IoT ecosystem in Europe to unleash the IoT potential in the EU and AIOTI can be instrumental in making it happen. During the last year the Alliance for IoT Innovation proved its capacity to contribute to the future development of IoT."
Last October the AIOTI published 12 reports covering policy and standards issues as well as providing recommendations on the main focus areas of the Internet of Things (IoT) work programme 2016-2017 of the Horizon 2020. In addition, the Alliance was actively represented in all the largest international Internet of Things conferences and contributed to the policy, research and standards discussions. The members of AIOTI also organised workshops in Europe to present their reports and opened the debate in Europe on IoT standards and how to unleash the potential of this technology.
Today, the AIOTI team is working on making recommendations on the future IoT research; these recommendations will focus on the crucial challenges that should be addressed in the coming years under Horizon 2020 Europe's research and innovation programme (2018-2020). To better support this action the Alliance decided to create two additional working groups, one focused on smart energy and one more on smart building and architecture. The two additional working groups will start their work in May 2016.
The next important milestone for AIOTI is the 3rd General Assembly which takes place on the 30th of May in Berlin.