Putting things to work: social and policy challenges for the Internet of things

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a critical assessment of the Internet of things (IoT) and the social and policy issues raised by its development. While the Internet will continue to become ever more central to everyday life and work, there is a new but complementary vision for an IoT, which will connect billions of objects – “things” like sensors, monitors, and radio-frequency identification devices – to the Internet at a scale that far outstrips use of the Internet as we know it, and will have enormous social and economic implications. Design/methodology/approach – It is based on a review of literature and emerging developments, including synthesis of a workshop and discussions within a special interest group on the IoT. Findings – Nations can harvest the potential of this wave of innovation not only for manufacturing but also for everyday life and work and the development of new information and services that will change the way we do things in many walks of life. However, its success is not inevitable. Technical visions will not lead inexorably to successful public and private infrastructures that support the vitality of an IoT and the quality of everyday life and work. In fact, the IoT could undermine such core values as privacy, equality, trust and individual choice if not designed, implemented and governed in appropriate ways. Research limitations/implications – There is a need for more multi-disciplinary research on the IoT. Practical implications – Policymakers and opinion formers need to understand the IoT and its implications. Social implications – If the right policies and business models are developed, the IoT will stimulate major social, economic and service innovations in the next years and decades. Originality/value – This paper pulls together discussions and literature from a social science perspective, as one means to enable more multidisciplinary studies of emerging developments.

A Complex View of Industry 4.0

“…The McKinsey study (Gao, Russel, & Zielke), shows that insurance companies and car owners could save $100 billion a year by reducing accidents with the help of embedded systems that detect and avoid imminent collision. The IoT will enable new business models in insurance, such as, for example, car insurance, which is based on actual usage, calculated on the basis of information obtained in real-time driving (Dutton, 2014).…”

“…Kagermann (2014) defined the IoT and the IoS as parts of the manufacturing process that has ignited the fourth industrial revolution. The IoT includes "things" and "objects" like radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensors that will send storage, processing, and analysis information, and smartphones that interact with each other and cooperate with smart components (Dutton, 2014). This leads to a new functionality of KM processes (Table 2) and involves new functionalities for CRM, customer support systems, and enterprise resource planning (ERP).…”

Research Challenges for the Internet of Things: What Role Can OR Play?

“…A bibliometric study of the articles published on IoT from 2000 to 2015 [20] concluded that much more research was needed that shifts the focus from purely technological to the socio-organizational implications of IoT adoption. Some work along these lines has been done in recent years in the UK [21][22][23][24][25][26] as well as several reports on many aspects of the IoT by the European Research Cluster on the Internet of Things [27]. The key social, legal and ethical issues facing the IoT, as discussed by the Oxford Internet Institute [26] In Section 3 we present a table cross-referencing the technical and business research challenges for the IoT, and the applicable mathematical tools and techniques of OR (optimization, simulation, etc.…”

The Contextual Dynamics of Internet of Things Applications in Smart Public Bike Sharing Services

“…What is new with IoT is that it allows objects to sense, store, and communicate information in real time and thus provides new ways of doing things. However, this also triggers concerns about data sharing and privacy (Dutton, 2014). A recent study on car-related connected services indicates major regional variations in such concerns.…”