50 bn IoT-connected devices by 2020: Report

As many as 50 billion devices, ranging from smartphones and TVs to watches, pipelines and trucks, will be connected by 2020, a new report said on Thursday.

According to a report by global research organisation Software.org: the BSA Foundation, Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to drive huge economic gains, generating up to $11.1 trillion a year by 2025 in global economic impact.

"Innovators are taking everyday things and making them infinitely better by adding computing power and software, and connecting them to the Internet. These devices open the door to smarter ways to grow our economy," said Chris Hopfensperger, Executive Director of Software.org: the BSA Foundation, in a statement.

The report claimed that the connected devices can reduce the cost of the US' spending on healthcare by $300 billion annually and energy savings gained by connected devices, could reduced greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 19 per cent.

The report argues that only the surface of what IoT can achieve has been scratched, and industry and government must be prepared to help this emerging technology succeed.

Fifty eight per cent of decision makers surveyed for the report said IoT is strategic to their businesses and another 24 per cent saw it as transformational. 

"We are only at the beginning of the digital revolution, and the possibilities are endless," said Victoria Espinel, President, Software.org: the BSA Foundation. 

Espinel stressed on implementing better policies to accompany and enable all devices around us become connected.