Forum clicks on to internet of tomorrow

Losing your keys may become a thing of the past with internet of things technology Ex-press

Washing machines that decide by themselves the best time to run and lost keys that transmit their whereabouts may sound like devices from the future.

But as the organisers of the first ever “Internet of Things” conference in Zurich hope to show, projects that connect the real and virtual worlds are at the cutting edge of technology.

The three-day meeting, which opened on Wednesday, is being hosted by the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

Up to 500 researchers, business leaders and politicians from Europe, Asia and the United States are expected to attend.

“The Internet of Things is basically a metaphor for a set of technologies that connects the classical internet as we know it, the internet of data, to real world objects like machines,” co-organiser and institute professor Friedemann Mattern told swissinfo ahead of the conference.

“It’s wireless communication, sensors or technologies for locating objects which make it possible for the internet to reach out to the real world and connect objects to services and information on the internet,” he added.

Applications already exist, such as vending machines that transmit to service providers when they need to be refilled or serviced.

Lost keys

Mattern and his team are currently working on the smart key project.

“When I lose my keys, I enter my password and small devices on the key chain tell the internet where it is located, so I would know that I have left my keys in the office or lost them somewhere,” he explained.

Household devices may also benefit. Washing machines could download the weather forecast from the web and then decide to do the washing in the afternoon when the sun is shining using solar energy. This would save energy and money, said the professor.

The field is currently developing. But Mattern says that many technology ideas thought of as science fiction have made it into real life.

“Even 100 years ago flying to the moon was pure science fiction, and now it has happened,” Mattern told swissinfo.

“We cannot realise everything in science fiction but some issues, such as making things smart, we should see this realised in the next years.”

There are a few drawbacks. Mattern mentions privacy as one, such as for the smart key chain. Not everyone might want their whereabouts on record. Technical and legal solutions may have to be sought.

Business interest

However, business is already interested in the internet of things. One of the keynote speakers at the conference will be Gerd Wolfram, managing director of the German MGI Metro supermarket group.

Possible applications of the technology in the retail sector could include sensors to locate stock in the supply chain or barcodes read by mobile phones to give customers extra information about products.

Mattern says now is the right time to bring science, politics and industry together to discuss the internet of things.

The Federal Institute in Zurich, its counterpart in Lausanne, and St Gallen University have all done successful research in the field and are among the leaders in Europe in this area. At the head of the pack, as with many IT technologies, is the US.

For Mattern, the huge change brought on by the classic internet is a precursor to what might come.

Objects that speak and collaborate without human intervention could soon outnumber human users of the web and even change the internet as we know it, he adds.

“We can expect really interesting applications that make people’s lives more interesting, that will hopefully save resources and also create benefit for society,” said Mattern.

swissinfo, Isobel Leybold-Johnson in Zurich

The conference

The Internet of Things conference, which runs from March 26-28, is organised by the Federal Institute of technology in Zurich, the Auto-ID Labs at St Gallen University, and MIT in the United States.

Prior to the main track of the conference (March 27-28), a pre-conference programme on Wednesday offers four scientific workshops, two cutting-edge technology tutorials and a start-up event for young entrepreneurs.

On Thursday and Friday there will be keynote speeches from the industrial and academic world, technical presentations of research, reports on the user experience from practitioners, panel discussions, as well as hands-on demonstrations of current technology.