The rising awareness of climate change has caused the popularization of sustainability and the realization that we need to do things not only differently, but better.As focus shifts to finding solutions to climate issues, technological advancements and innovation present a promising way forward. The Internet of Things, for example, which Boston Consulting Group estimates will boom into an $267 billion dollar industry by 2021, promises to facilitate great leaps in our efforts to transform our places and spaces, from homes and offices to entire cities, into sustainable environments.

If IoT technologies build on not only established technology, but also new capabilities in the backend, such as artificial intelligence, deep semantic interoperability and novel contractual arrangements like Blockchains, they will undoubtedly bring fundamental change to all sectors of activity, improving the way we live and work.

In other words, IoT is likely to be an essential element of the Next Generation Internet, setting the groundwork for systems and devices of the future.