Everyone is talking about the Internet of Things It seems like its everywhere in the tech and business worlds right now. Everyone talks about it, but as with many topics that everyone talks about, we sometimes lose sight of exactly what it means and what it can mean for us. The Internet of things (IoT) moves beyond connecting traditional devices to the internet, like tablets, PCs and smartphones. According to Charles Brookson defines IoT as anything that does not have a human involved. IoT gives everyday objects online identities. Its not just using the internet, but connecting new sorts of objects, cars, fridges, medical devices and more to the system, generally without even needing a humans involvement.Here are 2 videos that explain the topic in a bit more detail: https://youtube/watch?v=Cpbbrpgwu2I https://youtube/watch?v=YhZkIhaWsX0 So, this is a huge field, with a huge potential. It might be worth trillions of dollars in the near future, and people have talked about how it will transform the way we drive, the way we shop and the way we heat and light our homes. However, the IoT is often seen as a series of geeky toys. It will be the next cool gadget, or it will help to improve our shopping experience, but there are many who question how much positive impact it can have in the world. We and our partners at the IEEE IoT Initiative want to hear from in Challenge 4 on the Internet of Things, want to know how you think that the IoT can be applied to social good. We want to hear about how we can make the IoT cheaper and easier to access and apply it to the issues that are important to the world, such as health care, agriculture or environmental protects. There are some young people doing this already, working to build a better future using the internet of things. Victoria Alosoperez, one of our Young Innovators Competition winners from 2012, is working with IoT technology to help farmers in Uruguay keep their livestock healthy. The Chipsafer system keeps track of the animals health, location and other parameters using a connected collar, letting the farmer get help if their livestock become sick or lost. The Cardiopad system, created by Arthur Zang of Cameroon, has the potential to expand the reach of health care throughout the country. When Zang found that Cameroon had far too few cardiologists to treat the countrys population, he developed a tablet PC with connections that could act as an electrocardiograph (EKG), and send medical data directly to a doctor who can make a diagnosis. When confronted with logging that was destroying the rainforests in Sumatra, Topher White developed the Rainforest Connection system. Using recycled cell phones as remote listening posts, RFCx can pick up the sounds of illegal logging equipment and allow rangers to locate and stop operations that would otherwise destroy protected forests, by notifying them via SMS or email. Our hope is to find other innovative young people like these, ready to use the seed funding and incubation we can provide to turn the IoT from a collection of high end luxuries into a tool for social good, by using the latest in technology to address the biggest problems facing the world today. With these ideas in mind, send us your own. How will you use the IoT to make the world a better place? Let us know on ideas.itu.int.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 17:01:14 +0000
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