On the way to the internet of things

A TAB report on »Ubiquitous Computing« was published as the 31th volume of the series »Studien des Büros für Technikfolgen-Abschätzung beim Deutschen Bundestag«.
summary ubiquitous computing internet of thing iot
Summary of TAB Working report no. 131: Ubiquitous Computing

Ubiquitous Computing – the complex electronic networking of things that communicate with each other – is deemed worldwide to be a promising innovation path. Intense R&D activities and policy strategies are aimed to promote practical technologies and applications. The 31th volume of the study series describes the current status on the way towards to the »internet of things«.

Which practical projects already reveal the potential that can be exploited by the implementation of the basic idea of ubiquitous computing? Which technical, legal and social challenges need to be addressed – and what could be the possible contribution of politics? Inspired by these questions, the authors analyse the status quo and the prospects of ubiquitous computing and illustrate their findings with examples, e.g. from the area of commerce, logistics and healthcare. However, the fascinating »little helper technology« of ubiquitous computing needs to be further refined by the participants in economy, society and politics in order to become economically attractive, socially acceptable and helpful in addressing social problems.

21.04.2010 

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