The Internet of Things (IoT) and the associated analysis of data will have a significant impact on the further digitalization of our society and Germany’s economic strength. The challenges here must be mastered in an appropriate time and quality. The cross-sectional Internet of Things/M2M technology, which is almost invisible to outsiders, enables the end-to-end networking of practically all objects and is therefore the basis for everything “smart”.
However, current market studies show that the introduction of this technology continues to be slow, which in our view is due to challenges in IoT cyber security, mobile network availability, professional qualifications, understanding of the technology and its application to business processes.
We are therefore focusing the activities of our expert group on these areas and developing recommendations for action.
(Project name: IOT-PILOT; BMEL funding code: 2818LD003)
The digital transformation will change our economy and society dramatically over the next few decades. The Internet of Things (IoT) plays a key role in networking the analog world. The natural handling of sensors and communication modules, as well as their programming through to cloud applications, is the prerequisite for new application ideas and business models. However, Germany’s SMEs in particular have an enormous shortage of skilled workers in this area, as there are few good computer science graduates who specialize in the Internet of Things. Those who have specialized in this area are poached by the big players in the attractive metropolitan regions. This means that SMEs in rural regions will have an enormous need for expertise in the medium term. With our concept, we want to offer a solution that facilitates access to the Internet of Things for SMEs and accelerates the development of initial prototypes (rapid prototyping). Our concept is designed to train existing specialists (lifelong learning) and simplify and accelerate entry into the new IoT technology. IoT-driven business models are not tied to central resources or urban centers and are therefore particularly suitable for the development of rural areas. Rural areas in particular can also benefit disproportionately from the potential applications of IoT (monitoring in agriculture, new services). We hope that this will improve the innovative strength in the region and thus strengthen the region as a whole in the long term.
IoT2 offers the potential to solve the climate problem without us necessarily having to suffer a noticeable loss of comfort. Current studies assume an ICT potential of 20% CO2 reduction by 2030. We say: Give the younger generation the digital toolbox they need to shape their own future sustainably. Together with Germany’s most climate-friendly university, the expert group has developed and successfully tested a turnkey concept.
In the BMBF-funded COSY research project at the Birkenfeld Environmental Campus of Hochschule Trier and RWTH Aachen University, seven practical student experiments on the Internet of Things and machine learning were developed. The aim of the experiments is the didactic preparation of the topics and their illustration using easily reproducible demonstrators on low-cost hardware, for example the Octopus IoT platform. The IoT kit was designed by the IoT workshop (IoT expert group in cooperation with the Environmental Campus). On the website listed above and under the following links, interested parties can find detailed descriptions as well as exercise documents in the form of task sheets, data sets and sample codes for the individual experiments.
The results of the Internet of Things expert group can be found in our publication archive.
