Samsung moves IoT to heart of strategy

Samsung Electronics has announced that Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have become the centre of the group’s strategic focus, with over R17 billion to be invested in IoT research and development over the next four years.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman & CEO Dr. Oh-Hyun Kwon unveiled Samsung’s vision for ‘Human-Centered IoT,’ at a Samsung-hosted forum in Washington, D.C last week. The event, entitled Internet of Things: Transforming the Future, brought together technology industry leaders with policymakers and influencers to discuss the many ways IoT can benefit society and how to tackle the challenges that remain in bringing it to scale.

Vice Chairman Kwon called for his peers to “start talking and thinking differently about IoT,” with a human-centered approach, embracing the life-changing possibilities of the technology and working together to bring these benefits to society at-large. “IoT has the potential to change individual lives. If we want innovators everywhere to make use of IoT, we must make sure all tools are available to them. This means technologies that connect to each other, because we know that boundaries around technologies hold back innovation and scale,” he said.

As the IoT ecosystem is by nature connected and interwoven, collaboration is vital to promoting this level of openness and interconnection, Samsung believes. In this vein, Vice Chairman Kwon called for cross-sector dialogue and partnerships as well as announced Samsung’s role as a co-founder of the newly launched National IoT Strategy Dialogue.

Paulo Ferreira, Director Enterprise Mobility at Samsung South Africa, says Samsung aims for all of its devices to be IoT-enabled by 2020. But IoT cannot succeed in a vacuum, he notes, therefore Samsung is actively promoting cooperation that will result in smart ecosystems in which all devices are intelligent and improve the way people work and live.

“We believe that the promise of IoT can only be achieved on an open platform, using open standards, using secure devices and integrating business intelligence and analytics. With Samsung’s SmartThings platform, we are now able to support the convergence of a range of smart devices on an open platform to make the smart home a reality. We will see the integration of smart devices – from fridges to lightbulbs – into the smart home of the future,” Ferreira says.

Ferreira explains that the Samsung SmartThings platform supports a collaborative environment where developers and innovators can work together to bring the vision of an IoT-enabled smart world to fruition. “With its IoT software developer toolkits and open APIs, Samsung is providing the resources innovators need to build IoT solutions faster and better,” he says.