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1.3 Towards the IoT Universe(s) 5
• Coherence of corresponding technology approaches: larger concepts
like Smart Cities, Cloud computing, Future Internet, robotics
and others will evolve in their own way, but because of
complementarity also partly merge with the Internet of Things.
Here a creative view on potential synergies can help to develop
new ecosystems.
• Coherence of real and virtual worlds: today real and virtual worlds
are perceived as two antagonistic conceptions. At the same time
virtual worlds grow exponentially with the amount of stored data
and ever increasing network and information processing capabilities.
Understanding both paradigms as complementary and part of
human evolution could lead to new synergies and exploration of
living worlds.
1.3 Towards the IoT Universe(s)
In analogy to the definition that a universe is commonly defined as the totality
of existence, an Internet of Things universe might potentially connect everything.
As a further analogy to new theories about parallel universes, different
Internet of Things worlds might develop and exist in parallel, potentially overlap
and possess spontaneous or fixed transfer gates.
These forward-looking considerations do certainly convey a slight touch
of science fiction, but are thought to stimulate the exploration of future living
worlds. The overall scope is to create and foster ecosystems of platforms for
connected smart objects, integrating the future generation of devices, network
technologies, software technologies, interfaces and other evolving ICT innovations,
both for the society and for people to become pervasive at home, at
work and while on the move. These environments will embed effective and
efficient security and privacy mechanisms into devices, architectures, platforms,
and protocols, including characteristics such as openness, dynamic
expandability, interoperability of objects, distributed intelligence, and cost
and energy-efficiency.
Whereas the forthcoming Internet of Things related research in the scope
of Horizon 2020 and corresponding national research programs will address
the above matters, challenges from a societal and policy perspective remain