PwC: Internet of Things to grow to 9 trillion by 2020
The Internet of Things market is set to grow to around $9 trillion by 2020, with up to 30 billion devices connected a recent report from PwC highlights. Especially the energy/utilities, construction/infrastructure and retail markets will see strong growth over the coming five years.
The Internet of Thing (IoT) helps to improve productivity and reduce operating costs and is arguably the biggest driver of productivity and growth in the next decade. Most IoT devices will use sensor-based technologies, in which the sensors will identify or measure any change in position, location, etc.; these sensors will transmit data to a particular device or server, which in turn will analyse the data to generate the “information” for the user. This processed (depending on how it is leveraged) information can then be used in a variety of contexts.
The technology can be used in a variety of contexts, from devices that monitor health, devices that monitor city infrastructure for wear and tear, devices that manage traffic or the efficacy of fleet movements, to devices that optimise the production of goods in manufacturing value chains.
IoT market by 2020
In a recent PwC report the consultancy finds that the IoT market is set to boom massively by 2020. With the industrial/manufacturing market growing from $472 billion to $890 billion, while the consumer electronics IoT market is set to grow from $1,150 billion to $2,225 billion in the coming five years. The energy/utilities, construction/infrastructure and retail markets are all set to more than double in the coming five years being worth $890 billion each by 2020. The total market will grow from $3.4 trillion to $8.9 trillion.
Number of connections
The number of connected devices is also expected to grow rapidly, from around 9 billion today to around 50 billion in 2020. As it stands there are around 4.1 billion smartphone connections, which is expected to grow to 6 billion by 2020, while the number of connected televisions will hit 6 billion by 2020. In the same time the number of IoT connected devices is expected to grow an almost stupid 455% from 5.4 billion to 30 billion in 2020.
Total economic activity
Recent research from Accenture reveals that IoT has massive potential for the industrial sector, dubbed as ‘IIoT’. Productivity gains have the potential to increase the real GDP (adjusted for inflation) for 20 major economies with 1.5% by 2030. This translates into an additional GDP of $14.2 trillion. For the UK, the IoT is set to lift its GDP by $303 billion between now and 2030 at today’s level of investments in IIoT.
While the technology is promising, it also brings with it huge and difficult to manage security issues, a recent report from EY highlights.