Research & Innovation

The UK prime minister David Cameron has announced additional funding of stg£45m for research into the ‘internet of things’ (IoT), which sees an increasing number of devices making use of sensors and connecting to the internet to share data.

As more and more everyday objects become ‘smart’, the emerging IoT will become more congested.

Speaking Sunday night at the opening ceremony of the CeBIT conference in Hanover, Germany, Cameron hopes that the UK and Germany can collaborate and become leaders of a new industrial revolution sparked by the internet of things.

With this in mind, the UK government’s additional stg£45m in funding for IoT research brings its total commitment so far to stg£73m. A stg£1m grant fund will also be made available to European start-ups working in this area.

Cameron noted how the IoT can transform our daily lives, boosting productivity, improving health, making transport more efficient, reducing energy needs and tackling climate change.

The UK government leader also hopes to work with Germany to develop 5G mobile networks through a collaboration between the University of Dresden, King’s College University in London and the University of Surrey.

Cameron also revealed a new spectrum strategy aiming to double the economic benefits of spectrum to stg£100bn by 2025.

The UK is the official partner country for this year’s CeBIT, which is the world’s largest and most international computing expo.