Tuesday 4th July saw press officials from across Germany descend upon Kreuzberg's Bergmannkiez area to the offices of Relayr, where Technologiestiftung hosted a press conference to share, publicly, their findings from recent research into IoT in Berlin.

Berlin has recently been appointed to be the IoT Hub for Germany, with Next Big Thing AG being awarded digital hub status to represent the hub. Our CEO, Harald Zapp was invited to speak at the conference to share his thoughts on the current climate of IoT in Berlin as well as the future, and the key challenges to its widespread adoption.

During the presentation, CEO of Technologiestiftung suggested that even in Berlin, many companies are not yet adequately prepared to adopt new IoT technologies. He argued that there is a great necessity for traditional industries to collaborate and network with the young Berlin digital economy in order to fully capitalise on the potential of the IoT. From a monetary perspective, Zimmer suggested that the creation of value will continue to steer toward the digital field, those that can effectively manage data will be the most economically successful.

Harald identified the leading drivers for the IoT to expand in Germany. Suggesting that having access to skilled entrepreneurs and technologists is necessary, however, the creation of an IoT ecosystem is of the utmost importance. An ecosystem enabling multidisciplinary knowledge exchange and the sharing of resources will greatly support collaboration between traditional industry and the young start up scene. Furthermore, he pointed out the impact political decisions will have, arguing that they must provide the necessary framework for the IoT to thrive.

Key findings from the research on IoT in Berlin include:-

  • Berlin hosts, by far, the greatest amount of IoT organizations in Germany.
  • The amount of IoT related incubators, accelerators and company builders in Berlin is much greater than anywhere else in Germany.
  • Complete devices represent the most widespread IoT-related technologies in Berlin, followed by app-development, IoT-platforms and analytics.
  • The majority of IoT organizations in Berlin focus on the production and mobility sectors.
  • Few pioneering technologies come from Germany. There are currently only 2 German firms among the top 50 companies with the highest patent activity in IoT related technology.
  • The adoption of IoT technologies and services is still in its infancy with fewer than 300 organizations employing IoT technologies.