Ireland To Become The Next IoT Experiment
This post is also available in: 
עברית (Hebrew)
Ireland has already begun working on the next technological revolution. Young engineers across the country are coming with new innovations to redefine our economy and industry using the Internet of Things (IoT).
Intel’s project – turning Dublin into the very first IoT city – is on its way, and the first step is being applied with the cooperation of over 70 young engineers at the Croke Park stadium – the third largest stadium in Europe. The initiative of the Croke Park stadium may seem like a wonder today, but perhaps in a few years they will be seen as completely obvious. These innovations include measuring stadium and fan experience by monitoring pitch quality and stadium microclimate, analysing athlete’s performance, predicting traffic to and from the stadium and developing apps that indicate queueing times at refreshment and convenience facilities. The whole stadium will be lined with sensors to monitor almost every aspect in order to give us an in-depth perspective to our lives.
The global value of the IoT sector is predicted to exceed €34 billion a year by 2020, with an expectation that 25 billion devices will be connected to the internet by 2025. People all over the world have realised that the world needs testbeds and Ireland fits the bill perfectly due to its modest population size and compact cities. National Geographic recently named Dublin as the capital for the internet of things. The new testbed will provide facilities for the testing and exploration of technologies like machine-to-machine (M2M) communications.
But not only Intel is working on developing IoT in Dublin, as there is a whole sway of initiatives also underway, including tech giants like IBM, start-ups like Movidius and major research initiatives from centres like Adapt, Insight, Nimbus and Tyndall. IBM, for example, has its own floating sea laboratory for the internet of things called Sealab. Across the board, companies like IBM, HP, SAP, Vodafone, Analog Devices, Intel, SAS, EMC and many others are working on IoT in Ireland.On the research front, academic and industrial collaborations facilitated by research groups like Tyndall, Amber, CRANN, Insight, Connect, Adapt and TSSG have put Ireland on the world stage for IoT-related breakthroughs.
“We need world-class education for our kids and our adults. We need smart rooms in smart buildings in smart cities with smart transport delivering safer, healthier, energy efficient, productive living. We need to attract the best companies and we need to start and build the best companies in the world”, said a high-ranked engineer in Intel. All these should provide us with safer, healthier and more productive lives.
Although Ireland has missed the 19th century’s industrial revolution, it seems it will now become the leading enterprise center of the 21st century, where inventors will become the new industrialists.
