Top 7 IoT Trends That Will Shape the Digital World in 2023

In this age of information, for dedicated web heads with a devotion to the metaverse — possibly an evolved digital alter ego—staying on top of the cyberspace news is default mode. Among the many, many uncountable digital developments, the evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) will certainly hold much interest. If you’re a hardwired digital convert, then you keep a sharp eye out for IoT trends every year (or every time IoT news drops)  

IoT was the future back in 1999, it is what life largely is now, and it’s only going to become more connected as we move forward. Just to give you an idea, according to Statista, in 2020, there were 9.7 billion IoT-enabled devices. This is expected to inflate to a whopping 29 billion by 2030. So if you’re a newbie in this space, or even a veteran, staying clued into what’s happening with IoT can only be useful. But before we dive into IoT trends, here’s a quick crash course on this smartest of digital transformations that made life a whole lot easier.

IoT and What it is

It was a toaster that set things rolling, sort of. Back in 1990, scientist John Romkey connected a toaster to the internet. The term IoT though was used in 1999 by Kevin Ashton, a technology expert with Procter & Gamble. It was the only way to describe this fascinating, evolving innovation where physical objects could be connected via the internet. Your smartphone that can turn the lights on and off in your house, a gesture that can turn the TV, or your phone that will check what’s going on in your house while you’re not even there — that’s all down to IoT. 

And that doesn’t even scratch the surface.

Where Does IoT Apply?

IoT is used everywhere and its potential for further deployment is unknown. Its application is across the board from homes to healthcare to a plethora of industries. Home automation is a rich and fertile ground for IoT. It is the gift that keeps on giving. Then there’s the automobile industry where IoT has made its presence known, as well as wearables — heart rate monitors, sleep monitors, step monitors and their ilk, smart cities, and even agriculture. Things are moving online fast and it’s all we can do to stay apace. So, what does all this mean for the next year? 

Top IoT Trends in 2023

The world does not stop for anyone and that’s truer for the digital space. If you consider the yardstick of year-on-year growth to compare IoT trends, then it’s only getting bigger and bigger in 2023.

1. Shoring up IoT Use in Different Businesses

Imagine anticipating what can happen and being able to adjust your business plans to ensure things work to your advantage. The best thing is you get to do this all virtually. Next year, IoT trends indicate a more solid intervention and upgradation of the digital twin technology. This refers to a virtual replica of your retail space, factory floor, product, device, etc. The prediction is that data derived from IoT sensors will allow for a very close digital facsimile of the real thing—manufacturing unit, retail shop floor, or what have you. It’s also predicted that with advances made in IoT tech, smaller and smaller devices will be twinned digitally. Also, more businesses across industries will turn to digital twinning and gather IoT data to improve productivity, reconfigure their space, product, or service, and enhance the bottom line.

ALSO READ: How Digital Twin Solutions Affect Business: The Next Digital Transformation

2. IoT Trends in Security

So you’ve got all your devices chatting with each other online, and that’s great. The only problem with a good thing is that it comes with a ‘bad thing’ caveat. When it comes to IoT, that means the potential risk of cyberattacks and hacking. To combat this, 2023 will see tighter security measures to lower the risk of exposing your online data to any sinister design. Robust security for IoT consumer devices will (hopefully) go a long way in cyberattack/hacking prevention. The U.S. National Security Council has stated its intentions to have standardized security labeling in place early next year. In fact, spending on IoT security measures may hit $6 billion during 2023 — a sizeable 300% increase from 2018.

3. IoT Trends with Information Exchange

It will surprise no one that data is an invaluable asset for any business. Collecting it, analyzing it, and exchanging it — as you would any commodity — is known as infonomics. This is set to gather steam in the coming year. As IoT trends go, this one’s charting an upward surge. Industries like agriculture, healthcare, hospitality, and retail will definitely see the results of this surge.

4. Expect Healthy IoT Trends in Healthcare

Tech in healthcare has become integral today. That point was driven home in the last two pandemic-hit years. Things will only scale up from here and IoT has a big role to play in this space. A landmark development — and there have been so very many — is wearable devices and in-home sensors. They allow doctors and healthcare professionals to check on their patients even after they’re discharged. This means quicker access to help in case of an emergency, and further inroads into telemedicine, among other (positive) side effects. The value of IoT in health devices may hit $267 billion by 2023.

5. AI Buddies up with IoT

As acronyms go, AI and IoT are natural allies. Think about it — AI technology with IoT infrastructure can scale up efficiency, work toward better human-machine communication, and robust data gathering and analysis, among other things. A cross-pollination of this pair of future-forward tech will enhance, improve, and enrich the digital experience manifold. The number of AIoT devices is only expected to grow exponentially in the coming years.

6. Governance and IoT

Cyberspace is a world unto itself and it stands to reason that governance will be inevitable. The coming year will certainly see countries outlining policies and measures to streamline and safeguard this technology.

7. Migrate to an IoT Mindset

One of the major IoT trends that we can predict will be a desire to know more about IoT. Business leaders, technology leaders, tech professionals — and every digital consumer out there — will want to scale up knowledge, find out everything IoT-related there is to know and leverage it. And we can show you how. 

Emeritus is partnering with MIT xPRO to offer a six-week learning program, Internet of Things (IoT): Design and Applications, that will help you develop an IoT mindset, as MIT professor Sanjay Sharma puts it. Product managers, mid-career tech professionals, mid- to senior-level managers can benefit a whole lot from the course. It focuses on how IoT is making decision-making easier and faster for business leaders, functional heads, and the C-suite. It also delves into how they can help effectively drive business growth, increase productivity, function’s effectiveness etc.. This is an opportunity to stay on-trend and keep pace with the future.

Write to us at content@emeritus.org