1. Welcome note to
Futurodesign Lab from
Gerald Santucci
Head of Unit "Enterprise
Networking and RFID" at
European Commission.
"After the PC and the Internet, a third wave of communications
technologies is rapidly emerging with person-to-object (and vice versa)
and object-to-object communications. The so-called 'Internet of Things'
enabled by wireless and contactless technologies is pointing out a new era
where everyday objects will become readable, recognisable, locatable,
addressable and/or controllable via the Internet. By 2020, there will be
on Earth some 7 billion humans, 70 billion connected devices (including
100 million robots), and 70,000 billion 'things' potentially indexable and
interconnectable. This new "proletariat" of objects capable of
transmitting information about their status, performance and usage will
interact with people and social networks. The Internet of Things will
become an inherent part of our economic environment such as electricity
distribution, utilities management, water resources management, oil/gas
distribution, transportation, healthcare. It will also contribute to solve
two of today's most challenging issues: energy and health care. Therefore,
the Internet of Things is heralding not only a new technological paradigm
but also the dawn of a new societal paradigm as new forms of collaboration
among people and things will profoundly change the way the economy and the
society operate. For the economy, the Internet of Things will bring a
disruption - only companies that are able to exploit this new potential
will survive. For the society, it will impose a new "social contract", not
only among humans but also among people and objects. The current policy
challenges - notably security and privacy - will not wear off, far from
it, but will require radically new approaches summoning up both technology
and regulation. And new challenges will surely emerge, in particular
ethics - what is the place of humans in a 'new society' where 'thinking
objects' dominate and gradually conquer their autonomy? The EU and Russia
have much in common to analyse and address the Internet of Things
challenges and opportunities. We can learn from our common cultural
heritage - for example Cervantes, Rousseau or Voltaire and Gogol, Tolstoy
or Tourgueniev - to better understand how the 'new society' will emerge
from the reshuffling and redefinition of the human and social values that
the Internet of Things will generate. We can also bring together our
exceptional scientific heritage, especially in mathematics and economic
sciences, to invent the new business models on which our future economies
will thrive. A dialogue is necessary to anticipate the changes looming on
the horizon and, through it, make that our shared legacy takes also the
form of a common destiny for the well being of our citizens." More info and registration at http://futurelab.mfpa.ru/