Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io

Economic Research and Analysis of the 

National Need for Technology Infrastructure 

to Support the Internet of Things (IOT)

Presentation to the NIST IoT Advisory Board

DRAFT

December 12, 2023
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Introductions

Kathy McTigue, Economist and Program Officer, Technology Partnerships Office

Study Research Team

• Renil Paramel, CEO, Strategy of Things (Principal Investigator)

• Benson Chan, COO, Strategy of Things (Principal Investigator)

• Christopher Reberger, Director, Strategy of Things (Principal Investigator)

• David Duncan, Consultant (Researcher)
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Table of Contents

 NIST IoT Infrastructure Gaps Research Study

 Key Findings: Industry Challenges and IoT Infrastructure Gaps

 Draft SoT Recommendations 
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NIST IoT Infrastructure Gaps Research Study
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io

Scope of Research

• Assess the current state of the IoT technology infrastructure covering research, development and 

adoption across industries

• Analyze these findings and identify technology gaps

• Perform an economic analysis to understand the industry impact of addressing those gaps

• Recommend potential areas for federal IoT-related research investments that will enhance U.S. 

competitiveness and national and economic security

• Communicate these findings across the federal government, academia and industry through a 

variety of channels, including publications, speaking engagements, journals, online and digital 

means

• Project Funding: NOFO - 2019-NIST-TPO-IOT-01 (“Economic Research and Analysis of the National 

Need for Technology Infrastructure to Support the Internet of Things (IOT)”)

5
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Approach to identifying IoT infrastructure gaps

A Industry Review

• Industry Overview

• Challenges

• Value chain

• Use case opportunities

• Industry conferences

• Industry associations

• IoT vendors

• Top businesses

• Use cases

B Identify top industry 

challenges

C Identify IoT 

challenges

Future IoT

D Identify IoT Use Cases to 

solve top industry 

problems

Interviews

Surveys

Industry Reports

E IoT Technology 

Infrastructure Gaps 

Initial Hypotheses

Translate into Enablers

F Validate and 

Refine

• Industry Associations

• Select industry 

vendors

• IoT vendors

• Tech and 

infrastructure

G

Top 

technology 

gaps

H

Economic 

Impact

Assessment

6
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Economic Approach

.

.

.

7
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Key Findings: Industry Challenges and IoT Infrastructure Gaps
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Findings – Top Industry challenges, IoT Technology and Non-Technology Gaps

Source: Strategy of Things 9

1. Agriculture 2. Manufacturing 3. Construction 4. Insurance 5. Retail

Industry

 5.4% of GDP (dir+indir)

 2.6 million workers

 2.05 million farms

 24% of GDP (dir+indir)

 12.8 million workers

 243,687 businesses

 4.1% of GDP (direct)

 7.2 million workers

 753,000 businesses

 2.9 % of GDP (direct)

 2.8 million workers

 181,309 businesses

 6.0 % of GDP (direct)

 32.1 million workers

 3.61 million businesses

Industry 

Challenges

 Changing climate patterns

 Deteriorating 

transportation 

infrastructure

 Labor shortages

 Small farm profitability

 Global food shortage

 Vulnerable supply chain

 Declining labor 

productivity

 Labor shortage

 Future Skills gap

 Flat productivity

 Fragmented industry

 Labor shortage

 Slow adoption of 

technology

 Low profit margins

 Changing customer 

expectations

 Underwriter risk

 Insurance 

commoditization

 Legacy infrastructure

 Inventory management

 Labor shortage

 Profitability

 Shrinkage

 Retailer resilience

IoT Gaps

IoT Tech Gaps

 Connectivity

 Edge computing & 

processing

 Interoperability

 Interoperability

 Cybersecurity

 Low cost sensors

 Connectivity

 BIM-IoT data 

integration

 Data standards and 

interoperability

 AI model accuracy & 

explainability

 Data privacy

 Cybersecurity

 Low cost sensors

 Privacy enhancing 

technologies

 AI trust and 

explainability

Non-Tech Gaps

 Right to repair

 Digital skills

 Adoption resistance

 Data privacy

 Slow adoption

 ROI skepticism

 Resistance to change

 Fragmented industry 

structure

 Lack of asset owner 

requirement

 Adoption resistance

 Uncertain regulatory 

treatment

 Digital skills

 Legacy technology 

infrastructure

 Digital skills
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Findings – Top Industry challenges, IoT Technology and Non-Technology Gaps

(Continued)

10

6. Cities/Local Govt 7. Transport/Logistics 8. Healthcare 9. Renewable Energy

Industry

 19,495 cities

 Metro  91.1% GDP

 Metro  88% of jobs

 2.96% of GDP (dir+indir)

 5.7 million workers

 257,785 businesses

 19.6% of GDP (direct)

 21.2 million workers

 928,174 businesses

 2.9 % of GDP (direct)

 620,000 million workers

 1,673 RE generators

Industry 

Challenges

 Deteriorating 

infrastructure

 Budgets

 Digital ops and services

 Public safety

 Supply chain resilience

 Aging infrastructure

 Environment and 

sustainability

 Labor shortage

 Fuel costs

 Rising care costs

 Access to healthcare

 Workforce shortage

 Chronic disease 

management

 Renewable energy output 

variability/duck curve

 Aging and outdate grid 

infrastructure

 Labor shortage

 Lengthy development 

review and permitting

IoT Gaps

IoT Tech Gaps

 Interoperability

 Spectrum

 Data management

 Privacy

 Cybersecurity

 In Progress  Interoperability

 Cybersecurity

 Privacy

 AI accuracy and 

explainability

 DER cybersecurity

 Interoperability 

(inverters, storage, 

grid)

Non Tech Gaps

 Lack of funding

 Lack of trust

 Skills

 Adoption resistance

 Legacy systems

 In Progress  Digital skills

 Adoption resistance

 Regulatory approval

 Uneven payer coverage

 Digital skills

 Regulatory
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All Industries: Integration of qualitative analysis into narrative
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All Industries: Economically adjusted gaps – by technology

12
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There is significant value for IoT in the USA from 2025 to 2030 ($ 1,420 bn) 

3rd Party worldwide value allocated to 9 industries along with 

high and low estimates

USA share allocated by proxy indicators 1. Agriculture 2. Construction 3. Renewable energy 4. Insurance 5. Healthcare 6. Manufacturing 7. Retail

8. Smart Cities

9. Telecommunications

10. Transport

USA share of world 36% 25% 10% 31% 48% 18% 19% 23% 15% 14%

Value 139 106 20 46 557 223 116 137 0.5 74

% value 10% 7% 1% 3% 39% 16% 8% 10% 0.0% 5%

Total 1,420

Provided a value of $1.4T from 2025 to 2030, including 

consumer surplus, and weightings for US industries

13
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Impact of a $10m investment in H-1, T-4

The table on the right is an example of 

our economic model showing the 

impact of a public investment of $10 

million in the IoT sub category of 

Hardware Sensors (H1)

Industry H-1 Hardware: IoT 

Sensors Weighting

Public R&D 

investment 

($m)

R&D to 

Revenue

Revenue 

($m)

Gross 

margin

Surplus from 

Revenue 

($m)

5. Healthcare 0.052655 $4.91 8.3% $59 52% $31

6. Manufacturing 0.015967 $1.49 2.3% $65 35% $23

1. Agriculture 0.011809 $1.10 0.8% $141 14% $19

2. Construction 0.009477 $0.88 0.8% $113 23% $26

7. Retail 0.006976 $0.65 0.8% $83 24% $20

8. Smart Cities 0.003656 $0.34 2.3% $15 29% $4

4. Insurance 0.003587 $0.33 0.8% $43 31% $13

10. Transport 0.002308 $0.22 2.3% $9 21% $2

3. Renewable energy 0.000855 $0.08 0.8% $10 40% $4

$10.0 $539 $143

The table on the right is an example of 

our economic model showing the 

impact of a public investment of $10 

million in the IoT sub category of 

Standards Interoperability (T4)

Industry

T-4 Standards: 

Interoperability 

Weighting

Public R&D 

investment

R&D to 

Revenue

Revenue 

($m)

Gross 

margin

Surplus from 

Revenue 

($m)

5. Healthcare 0.026640 $2.48 8.3% $30 52% $16

1. Agriculture 0.010690 $1.00 0.8% $128 14% $17

6. Manufacturing 0.009532 $0.89 2.3% $39 35% $14

7. Retail 0.007972 $0.74 0.8% $95 24% $23

2. Construction 0.005752 $0.54 0.8% $69 23% $16

8. Smart Cities 0.003656 $0.34 2.3% $15 29% $4

10. Transport 0.003318 $0.31 2.3% $13 21% $3

4. Insurance 0.002609 $0.24 0.8% $31 31% $10

3. Renewable energy 0.000667 $0.06 0.8% $8 40% $3

$10.0 $428 $106
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Impact of a $10m investment in S-3, Y-3

Industry S-3 Software: Data 

collect Weighting

Public R&D 

investment

R&D to 

Revenue

Revenue 

($m)

Gross 

margin

Surplus from 

Revenue 

($m)

5. Healthcare 0.036005 $3.36 8.3% $41 52% $21

2. Construction 0.005752 $0.54 0.8% $69 23% $16

6. Manufacturing 0.004504 $0.42 2.3% $18 35% $6

1. Agriculture 0.004477 $0.42 0.8% $54 14% $7

7. Retail 0.003986 $0.37 0.8% $48 24% $12

10. Transport 0.003232 $0.30 2.3% $13 21% $3

8. Smart Cities 0.001567 $0.15 2.3% $6 29% $2

4. Insurance 0.000870 $0.08 0.8% $10 31% $3

3. Renewable energy 0.000334 $0.03 0.8% $4 40% $2

$10.0 $262 $72

Industry Y-3 Systems: 

Security Weighting

Public R&D 

investment

R&D to 

Revenue

Revenue 

($m)

Gross 

margin

Surplus from 

Revenue 

($m)

5. Healthcare 0.023310 $2.17 8.3% $26 52% $14

6. Manufacturing 0.006435 $0.60 2.3% $26 35% $9

1. Agriculture 0.006268 $0.58 0.8% $75 14% $10

7. Retail 0.005979 $0.56 0.8% $71 24% $17

10. Transport 0.002770 $0.26 2.3% $11 21% $2

8. Smart Cities 0.002611 $0.24 2.3% $11 29% $3

4. Insurance 0.002609 $0.24 0.8% $31 31% $10

2. Construction 0.001569 $0.15 0.8% $19 23% $4

3. Renewable energy 0.000667 $0.06 0.8% $8 40% $3

$10.0 $278 $73

The table on the right is an example of 

our economic model showing the 

impact of a public investment of $10 

million in the IoT sub category of 

Software Data (S3)

The table on the right is an example of 

our economic model showing the 

impact of a public investment of $10 

million in the IoT sub category of 

Systems Security (Y3)
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Evolution of IoT and Draft SoT Recommendations 
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The Evolution of IoT

We see the evolution of IoT in five stages evolving from standalone applications today to 

a more advanced autonomous state in the near future

Things become 

“smart”

Now

Data of Things

Now

AI algorithms 

take action

10 – 20 years

Hyperconnected 

Autonomy

30+ years

Utility and 

Outcomes

5 – 10+ years

1 2 3 4 5

17
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Key factors driving or hindering evolution of IoT

Things become 

“smart”

Data of Things AI algorithms 

take action

Hyperconnected 

Autonomy

Utility and 

Outcomes

1 2 3 4 5

Key evolution drivers

 Interoperability and standards

 Ubiquitous connectivity

 Ubiquitous computing

 Trustworthy IoT

 Analytics and intelligence

 Convergence of IT, OT and 

enterprise systems

 Policies and regulations

 Innovative businesses and 

operating models

Emerging Trends

 Emergence of “edge”

 “low code” and “no code” tools

 Increasing open source IoT ecosystem

 Cybersecurity standards and regulations

 Next gen satellite connectivity

 5G rollout

 AI and ML capable IoT devices

 Energy harvesting technologies

 Multi-sensor data fusion

 Digital twin adoption

Future Research Areas to Enable Evolution

 More capable and intelligent edge devices

 Robust infrastructure to support increasingly 

large number of IoT systems

 Usable AI for IoT

 Hyperconnected communication and networks at 

scale

 Massive data ecosystem

 Interoperability and standards

 Human centric ambient intelligence IoT systems

 Trust architectures and ecosystems

18
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Hypothesis: Gaps exist and may vary depending on the evolution stage of IoT

Master gaps list

“Illustrative Gaps”

• Interoperability

• Cybersecurity

• Privacy

• AI explainability

• Usable AI

• Network infrastructure

• Interoperability

Draft Recommendations

Source: Strategy of Things 19
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Draft Recommendations Approach and Framework

Recommendations Framework

Agriculture

Manufacturing

Construction

Insurance

Retail

Healthcare

Renewable Energy

Smart Cities

Transportation and Logistics*

* Analysis In Progress

Technology and Infrastructure 

Recommendations (RT)

Non-Technology 

Recommendations (RNT)

Cross Industry and Future IoT Evolution Recommendations (RCI) 

20
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Recommendations Breakdown by Industry and Technology Areas

Agriculture

Manufacturing

Construction

Insurance

Retail

Healthcare

Renewable Energy

Smart Cities

Transportation and Logistics*

* Analysis In Progress

Technology Recommendations (21)

Connectivity (AG1), Interoperability (AG2)

Rural broadband (MFG1), Interoperability (MFG2), 

Cybersecurity (MFG5) 

Interoperability (CON2), Cybersecurity (CON5)

AI explainability (INS1,3), Cybersecurity (INS5)

Low cost sensor research (RT1), Privacy enhancing 

technologies (RT2), AI explainability (RT3), Cybersecurity (RT6)

Interoperability (HC1), Cybersecurity (HC2), Privacy enhancing 

technologies (HC4), AI explainability (HC8)

Interoperability (SC4), Cybersecurity (SC7), Privacy (SC8)

Non-Tech Recommendations (32)

Small farm adopt (AG3), Workforce (AG4), Right to repair 

(AG5), Data confidentiality (AG6), IoT awareness (AG7)

Small manufacturer adoption (MFG3), Workforce (MFG 4)

IoT specification in federal funded projects (CON1), Small 

contractor adoption (CON3), Workforce (CON4), 

AI data usage and privacy policy (INS1,2), Privacy 

framework/regulation (INS2), AI Workforce (INS1,3), 

Workforce (INS4), Federal Insurance Office (INS5)

AI trained workforce (RT3), Workforce (RT4), Small retailer 

adoption (RT5)

Federal healthcare adoption (HC3), Privacy (HC4), Rural 

adoption (HC5), Small practice adoption (HC6), Workforce 

(HC7), Data and privacy for AI, AI workforce (HC8)

City adoption of IoT (SC1), Rural community adoption (SC2), 

Use of IoT by federal (SC3), Small/medium city adoption (SC5), 

Workforce (SC6), GCTC (SC9), Equity of access and benefits 

(SC10), National IoT strategy (SC11)

Cross Industry and Future IoT Evolution Recommendations (7) 

IoT device capability (RCI1), Interoperability (RCI2), Infrastructure (RCI3), Usable AI for IoT (RCI4), 

Hyperconnected communications networks (RCI5), Human centric IoT (RCI6), Model Refresh (RCI7)

21
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Draft Recommendations: Agriculture

Agriculture: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

AG1: Facilitate development of connectivity policies and programs that 

support:

 Broadband service at the farmhouse greater than 25/3 Mbps

 Symmetric connectivity of at least 100/100 Mbps that supports high 

bandwidth precision agriculture use cases (video, imagery, automation 

and control, etc.) 

 Last acre IoT connectivity service that addresses coverage, terrain 

diversity, evolving use cases, and foliage interference

 Today’s broadband and connectivity 

infrastructure and capabilities are 

insufficient to support current and future 

precision agriculture needs. 

 Future needs include the processing of low 

latency, real time data, support automation 

applications, and high bandwidth 

applications

AG2: Support and promote industry and SDO efforts to address 

interoperability of agricultural systems and machinery

 Farms have a variety of equipment and 

machinery that can’t talk to each other. Ag 

industry model is to develop s/w and 

devices in proprietary formats.
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Draft Recommendations: Agriculture

Agriculture: Non Technology Recommendations

AG3: Facilitate small farm/ranch (< $350,000 GCFI) adoption:

 Subsidies and tax credits for purchase

 Use of Cooperative Extension Offices and resources for IoT data 

analytics and other technical support

 Small farms are 90% of all US farms, 49% of 

farmland, 20% of production. 

 They operate with <10% margins. 

 They do not have cash flow to buy IoT or 

smart equipment.

AG4: Facilitate policies and programs that support the key education and 

digital skills development across vocational schools, community colleges 

and four year universities for the current and future agriculture workforce, 

including: 

 Data analytics and management 

 IoT technologies 

 Machine vision and robotics

 Networking and systems integration

 Cybersecurity and Installation

 Maintenance and servicing of IoT systems

 Technology will automate manual activities 

and low skill repetitive work will shift to 

work requiring technical, cognitive and 

people skills. 

 Agricultural workers lack the needed skills 

to succeed in the new environment. 

23
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Draft Recommendations: Agriculture

Agriculture: Non Technology Recommendations

AG5: (Precision Ag) Enactment of federal “right to repair” legislation to 

address the inability of agricultural producers to service their smart 

equipment

 Smart equipment cannot be fixed by farmers. 

 It is expensive and may take a long time to 

get fixed.

 These may occur at sensitive times for 

farmers who can’t afford the wait. 

 Farmers turned to “hacked” software from 

Eastern Europe or buy older equipment.

AG6: Facilitate development of IoT data confidentiality guidelines for 

agricultural IoT systems, and manufacturers of “smart” and IoT enabled 

agricultural machinery and systems [Linkage to privacy recommendations]

 Producers are concerned with who and how 

their data is used. 77% of producers are 

concerned about who accesses data, 67% 

will consider how their data is used when 

making purchase decisions, and 61% are 

concerned that companies use their data to 

influence market decisions.

AG7: Increase awareness and education of agricultural IoT technologies 

through government funded programs, cooperative extension programs, 

publications, and other means. [linkage to Ranveer university demo 

centers]

 Producers are slow to adopt (7 year adoption 

cycle) for several reasons, including “nature 

vs. technology”, poor experiences with 

technology previously and less education 

than larger producers.

24
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Draft Recommendations: Manufacturing

Manufacturing: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

MFG1: Facilitate and prioritize the rollout of broadband infrastructure in 

rural parts of the country with manufacturing facilities. 

 Lack of broadband threatens rural based 

manufacturing companies to compete 

against others using Industry 4.0 

technologies.

MFG2: Support and promote industry and SDO efforts to address 

interoperability of manufacturing systems and machinery

 Interoperability challenges are a major 

barrier to IoT adoption and value 

realization in manufacturing. 

 Factories have a variety of equipment, from 

new industrial equipment with current 

technology to legacy equipment with 

limited technology and connectivity. 

 Many of the machines employ a variety of 

proprietary and incompatible protocols 

that make sharing information from MES, 

ERP systems, and SCADA and DCS difficult 

or impossible.

25
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Draft Recommendations: Manufacturing

Manufacturing: Non Technology Recommendations

MFG3: Facilitate small manufacturer adoption of “smart manufacturing”:

 Subsidies and tax credits for purchase

 Expand Manufacturing Extension Partnership and CESMII and 

resources for IoT data analytics, technical support, promote “smart 

manufacturing” benefits and successes, change resistance and 

cultural issues

 Increase awareness and education of smart manufacturing 

technologies through government funded programs, cooperative 

extension programs, publications, and other means.

 Facilitate workforce development to support smart manufacturing

 Labor productivity fell 4% (2010-19) 

compared to 41% increase (2001-10)

 Small manufacturers < 500 people are 

98.3% of all US manufacturers. 74.3% are < 

20 people. 

 ROI skepticism

 Change resistance issues (IT/OT silos, 

culture)

MFG4: Facilitate policies and programs that support the key education and 

digital skills development across community colleges and four year 

universities for the current and future manufacturing workforce, including:

 Technology and computer skills

 Digital skills (analytics, cybersecurity, IT, networking, etc.)

 Robotics and automation programming

 Working with tools and technology

 Critical thinking

 Manufacturing jobs are no longer low skilled 

jobs, but require new skills. 

 Automation will require people to work 

alongside robots and machines. 

 A labor shortage and skills shortage will leave 

2.4 million unfilled jobs between 2018-2028. 

 This leads to a loss of $454 B of 

manufacturing value by 2028 and makes the 

US less competitive in manufacturing.

26
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Draft Recommendations: Manufacturing

Manufacturing: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

MFG5: Facilitate cybersecurity in IoT applications for smart manufacturing

 Expand cybersecurity trust mark program to include IoT devices 

and modules used for smart manufacturing and industrial 

applications

 Facilitate workforce development programs to increase pool of IoT 

cybersecurity trained resources in smart manufacturing

 Manufacturing industry was #1 industry 

targeted in 2021.

 Creation of new attack surfaces into a former 

“protection by air gap” environment

 Integration of resource constrained IoT 

devices with limited cybersecurity 

capabilities

 Exposure of air gapped legacy equipment, 

industrial control systems and OT 

infrastructure vulnerabilities

 Security operations, such as updates and 

patches, limited to machine downtime 

periods

27
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Draft Recommendations: Construction

Construction: Non Technology Recommendations

CON1: Specify the use of IoT and other technologies (e.g. BIM, etc.):

 In the design, construction and maintenance of federally owned, leased 

and operated properties, buildings and facilities.

 In the design of construction projects funded fully or partially by federal 

grants and funds (e.g. state and local highway projects, infrastructure 

projects, etc.)

 Contractors will not add IoT or other 

technologies unless the customer (federal 

government) specifies the use of it. No 

contractor will add anything on their own 

without a customer requirement.

28
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Draft Recommendations: Construction

Construction: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

CON2: Support and promote industry and SDO efforts to address 

interoperability of data from IoT sources with other construction and asset 

sources. [some linkage to transportation recommendation on 

interoperability]

 Data from IoT devices do not integrate with 

BIM software, nor do they integrate with the 

data sets in that software.

29
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Draft Recommendations: Construction

Construction: Non Technology Recommendations

CON3: Facilitate small contractor adoption of “smart construction” tools 

and technologies:

 Subsidies and tax credits for purchase for tools and machinery

 Increase awareness and education of smart construction technologies 

through government funded programs (e.g. SBA), cooperative extension 

programs, publications, and other means.

 Facilitate workforce development to support smart construction

 Industry labor productivity is flat from 2007-

2020

 Small contractor firms < 5 people are twothirds of all US contractors. Half the workforce 

is in firms between 20-250 people.

 Low profit margins

 Adoption resistance of IoT due to status quo, 

risk aversion, workforce readiness

30
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Draft Recommendations: Construction

Construction: Non Technology Recommendations

CON4: Facilitate policies and programs that support the key education and 

digital skills development across vocational schools, community colleges 

and four year universities for the current and future construction 

workforce, including

 Technology and computer skills

 Digital skills (analytics, cybersecurity, IT, networking, etc.)

 Software tools - BIM

 Working with tools and technology

 Critical thinking

 The construction industry is behind the curve 

in digitalization. 

 43% of U.S. civil engineers and contractors 

reported the use of digital tools and 

innovations, compared with 66% of non-U.S. 

counterparts. 

 43% of U.S. civil contractors had low digital 

capabilities, compared with only 23% of nonU.S. construction companies. 

 In contrast, 45% of non-U.S. construction and 

engineering companies reported high digital 

capabilities, compared with just 20% for U.S. 

companies.

31
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Construction

Construction: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

CON5: Facilitate cybersecurity in IoT in smart construction

 Expand cybersecurity trust mark program to include IoT devices and 

modules used for smart construction and industrial and construction 

operations, and in IoT equipped construction machinery and equipment

 Facilitate workforce development programs to increase pool of IoT 

cybersecurity trained resources in smart construction

 Construction systems do not have the same 

level of digital sophistication as other 

industries. 

 Construction IoT technologies need to be 

secure if they are to be integrated into 

construction monitoring, operations 

platforms, BIM and other software tools.

32
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Insurance

Insurance: Non Technology Recommendations

INS1: The Federal Insurance Office should undertake a study of the impacts 

of IoT and adjacent technologies like AI, in order to understand its 

potential impact on the insurance industry, the products produced, and its 

impact on the markets served, and the role of the FIO.

 With few exceptions, insurance is regulated at 

the state level. However, each state has a 

different treatment, policies and regulations of 

IoT. 

 This inconsistent treatment limits the 

development of IoT-enabled products, the 

benefits realized and the growth of the 

industry. 

 Data collected from IoT enabled products and 

services may be used to discriminate at a 

personal level to create a class of 

“uninsurables” whose members are unable to 

get coverage or have limited coverage.

33
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Insurance

Insurance: Non Technology Recommendations

INS2: The federal government should study and take into consideration the 

data privacy challenges of IoT enabled insurance products in its 

development of data and privacy frameworks, policies and regulations.

 IoT enabled insurance products offer the 

potential for personalized policies that reduce 

underwriting risk, align policies and premiums 

to customer needs, and create new value and 

revenues. 

 However, these products collect data that 

could be used for other purposes now or in the 

future. 

 In addition, the data collected from IoT 

enabled products and services may be used to 

discriminate at a personal level to create a 

class of “uninsurables” whose members are 

unable to get coverage or have limited 

coverage.

34
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Insurance

Insurance: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

INS3: Facilitate the adoption of AI in IoT in insurance through

 Support research in the development of trustworthy AI algorithms and 

tools, including AI explainability

 Facilitate the development of IoT data usage and privacy policies that 

support the development of AI algorithms [linkage with Debbie 

recommendation]

 Support workforce development efforts to increase the pool of workers 

trained in data analytics and AI

 While AI can help automate the analysis of 

massive amounts of IoT data, and other data 

collected from insurance companies, its 

ability to create beneficial outcomes that are 

fair, equitable, ethical, and explainable is a 

challenge.

35
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Insurance

Insurance: Non Technology Recommendations

INS4: Facilitate policies and programs that support the key education and 

digital skills development across community colleges and four year 

universities for the current and future insurance workforce, including:

Technology and computer skills, Digital skills (analytics, cybersecurity, IT, 

networking, etc.), Data analytics, AI and Machine Learning, Privacy 

engineering

 Digital innovation is transforming the 

insurance industry. 

 A shortage of digital skills and talent, 

however, is hindering the ability of the 

insurance companies to innovate and deliver 

new products and experiences, execute and 

operate new business models and to reengineer existing processes and digitize 

operations.

36
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Insurance

Insurance: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

INS5: Facilitate cybersecurity in IoT in insurance

 Expand cybersecurity trust mark program to include IoT devices and 

modules used for insurance applications (e.g. telematics, facilities 

monitoring, etc.)

 Facilitate workforce development programs to increase pool of IoT 

cybersecurity trained resources in insurance

 IoT devices represent new attack surfaces 

and introduce additional vulnerabilities into 

the connected networks. 

 IoT devices connected to home and business 

networks introduce entry points that allow 

hackers and cyber criminals to move laterally 

into the main network.

 Telematics devices can be breached to allow 

hackers to send commands through the 

connected car’s internal network.

 Other impacts of an IoT breach include 

failure of the device to perform its intended 

functions and result in financial losses, loss of 

personal or critical business data, human 

injury or death and loss of products.

37
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Retail

Retail: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

RT1: Support research for the development of low cost sensor 

technologies.

 Low retail industry profitability margins limit 

the cost of adoption of IoT solutions. New 

lower cost sensing technologies at lower price 

points are needed. Costs need to be on the 

order of RFID chips.

RT2: Facilitate the use and development of privacy enhancing technologies

 Support research in privacy enhancing technologies

 Facilitate industry integration and use of PETs

 Consider the usage of PETs on IoT technologies and retail systems used 

in retail outlets on federal properties (including BXs on military bases, 

federally own and managed facilities)

[Some linkage with Debbie recommendation on PETs]

 Consumers want personalized experiences and 

are likely to become repeat buyers. 

 IoT helps retailers understand and offer 

personalized experiences, which helps 

revenues and profitability. 

 The use of IoT technologies and the data it 

collects enable retailers to understand their 

customers better.

 Privacy issues hinder the use of IoT 

technologies in retail and other consumer 

facing environments.

38
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Retail

Retail: Non Technology Recommendations

RT3: Facilitate the adoption of AI in IoT in retail through:

 Support research in the development of trustworthy AI algorithms and 

tools, including AI explainability

 Support workforce development efforts to increase the pool of workers 

trained in data analytics and AI

 IoT is one of many sources that will provide a 

“tsunami of data” for retailers. Artificial 

intelligence (AI) technologies are poised to 

transform the industry by helping retailers 

make sense of data, create insights and act on 

those insights, with some in real time and 

autonomously. There is strong interest in AI by 

retailers. However, trustworthiness of the 

data, and explainability of the outcomes are 

major concerns.

39
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Retail

Retail: Non Technology Recommendations

RT4: Facilitate policies and programs that support the key education and 

digital skills development across community colleges and four year 

universities for the current and future retail workforce, including:

 Software development and engineering

 IT (Networking, systems integration, cybersecurity)

 IoT (architecture and design, sensor and device integration, etc.)

 Cloud management and operations

 Data integration and analytics

 Artificial intelligence and machine learning

 Privacy engineering

 The retail industry is undergoing a long 

running technology transformation towards 

omni-channel retail. 

 This is necessary for retailers to be relevant, 

operationally efficient, profitable and 

resilient. 

 A lack of the relevant digital skills and 

workforce is hindering this transformation.

RT5: Facilitate small retailer adoption of IoT:

 Subsidies and tax credits for purchase of IoT technologies

 Increase awareness and education of smart retail technologies through 

SBA programs, publications, and other means.

 98.5% of retail businesses in US < 50 people. 

Retail businesses operate with 4% margins, 

and small retailers have limited to no ability to 

invest in IoT technology.

40
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Retail

Retail: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

RT6: Facilitate cybersecurity in IoT applications for smart retail

 Expand cybersecurity trust mark program to include IoT devices and 

modules used for smart retail

 Facilitate workforce development programs to increase pool of IoT 

cybersecurity trained resources to support the digital transformation of 

retail

 The evolution of retail requires heavy use of 

digital technologies, from back office systems 

to IoT. 

 The incorporation of IoT in the retail 

environment creates vulnerabilities and new 

attack surfaces that must be mitigated. 

 Retailers lack the critical cybersecurity and 

digital skills to address these risks.

41
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Healthcare

Healthcare: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

HC1: Support and promote industry and SDO efforts to address 

interoperability of medical and healthcare devices and systems.

 Diverse communication protocols

 Disparate data formats and structures. 

Diverse coding systems, data models, and 

terminology standards are prevalent across 

healthcare organizations, making it 

challenging to ensure consistency in data 

interpretation and exchange.

 Legacy systems that may not be inherently 

compatible with IoT and IoMT technologies.

 Inability to integrate and interoperate with 

electronic health record systems

42
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Healthcare

Healthcare: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

HC2: Facilitate cybersecurity in IoT in smart medical devices and 

equipment, including wearables, in-home devices, community IoMT 

systems, and in-clinic systems

 Expand cybersecurity trust mark program to include IoT devices and modules used in a 

variety of healthcare systems and applications 

 Facilitate workforce development programs to increase pool of IoT cybersecurity trained 

resources for healthcare industry on both the solution provider side and care provider 

(buyer) side

 Consider development of programs, resources and incentives to help healthcare providers 

migrate away from those vulnerable legacy equipment and devices that cannot be patched, 

or upgradeable, or were not subject to compliance with section 524B of the Federal Food, 

Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act)

 Develop a plan to audit, inspect and update healthcare and medical IoT devices, and the 

networks they operate in used in federally owned or funded health facilities (e.g. VA medical 

facilities, military medical facilities, etc.). Replace those legacy devices and equipment that 

cannot be patched or upgradeable or not subject to compliance with section 524B of the 

Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). Verify devices and systems, and practices 

meet IoT cybersecurity guidance and best practices.

 Vast attack surface due to the interconnected nature 

of IoT and IoMT devices. 

 Data generated by IoT and IoMT devices in 

healthcare include sensitive patient information. 

 Unauthorized access to healthcare data can have 

severe consequences, ranging from identity theft to 

compromised patient care. 

 Patching millions of IoT and IoMT devices is 

logistically and operationally challenging. These 

devices often have a longer life cycle than traditional 

IT devices, and some lack the capability for regular 

software updates, while some legacy systems and 

devices cannot be patched or updated.

 Compliance with regulatory frameworks (e.g. HIPAA) 

can be challenging due to the dynamic and evolving 

nature of IoT and IoMT technologies.

 Securing endpoints (devices) and gateways against 

unauthorized access and breaches is critical as they 

act as crucial points in the data transmission process 

for IoT and IoMT devices. 

43
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Healthcare

Healthcare: Non Technology Recommendations

HC3: Facilitate U.S. government adoption and use of medical and 

healthcare IoT technologies, including:

 By federal healthcare providers in federally owned or funded health 

facilities (e.g. VA medical facilities, military medical facilities, Indian 

Health Service, federal prisons medical centers, etc.)

 Consider programs by healthcare payers (HMOs, PPOs, etc.) that 

support federal employees to adopt these technologies in the 

treatment of their patients

 Consider programs by federal healthcare programs (Medicare, 

Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Affordable Care Act) 

that support qualifying providers to adopt these technologies in the 

treatment of their patients

 Developing guidance that supports and integrates the use of IoT devices 

in existing medical services, procedures and supplies codes in Medicare 

(HCPCS, ICD-10-CM)

 A number of major healthcare insurance 

companies (payers) support its 2.951 million 

federal civilian employees (October 2023). 

 Approximately 1.3 million active duty military 

in 2022 receive government sponsored 

healthcare insurance (Tricare). 

 Nearly 45%, or 143.3 million persons are 

enrolled in, or heavily subsidized by, the big 

federal health programs: Medicare, Medicaid, 

the Children’s Health Insurance Program 

(CHIP), and the Affordable Care Act health 

insurance exchange plans. 

 Because of the number of people it supports, 

the government can use its significant 

influence and scale to use innovation to help 

improve delivery of services, quality of 

services, and health outcomes in a way no 

private insurer can.

44
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Healthcare

Healthcare: Non Technology Recommendations

HC4: Facilitate the resolution of privacy concerns in healthcare and medical 

IoT

 Support research in privacy enhancing technologies specific to the 

needs of the healthcare industry

 Consider the incorporation of PETs on IoT technologies used in the 

treatment of patients in federal government owned medical facilities, 

and federal supported healthcare programs (Medicare, etc.)

 Incorporate considerations for healthcare in the development of a 

national privacy framework and regulations

 Securing data from unauthorized access, 

including data from clinical medical devices, as 

well as consumer wearable devices. 

 Ownership and consent to use of patient data. 

The interconnected nature of healthcare IoT 

devices raises questions about data ownership 

and the extent to which patients have control 

over their health information. Obtaining 

informed consent from patients for the 

collection, use, and sharing of their data 

(outside of patient treatment) is a complex 

process

 Ethical use of data. Ensuring that data is used 

responsibly, without enabling discrimination or 

exploitation, requires robust ethical 

frameworks and regulations.

45
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Healthcare

Healthcare: Non Technology Recommendations

HC5: Facilitate and support the use and adoption of healthcare IoT in rural 

communities. 

 Facilitate grants to drive healthcare IoT adoption among healthcare 

providers in those communities that have received broadband grants to 

build on new connectivity infrastructure

 Coordination with federal agencies to drive physician and patient 

awareness of IoT in healthcare for treatment

 Many rural areas are considered medical 

deserts with limited number of healthcare 

providers and facilities. In addition, residents in 

rural areas tend to be sicker than their urban 

counterparts, as well as older and more likely 

to suffer from chronic conditions. As a result, 

healthcare access inequities exist. 

 Cost of connectivity services (rural residents 

may have affordability issues)

 Limited connectivity (wireless and fixed 

broadband service)

46
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Healthcare

Healthcare: Non Technology Recommendations

HC6: Facilitate adoption of IoT among small physician practices (< 50 

physicians)

 Consider programs by healthcare payers (HMOs, PPOs, etc.) that 

support federal employees to adopt these technologies in the 

treatment of their non-federal employee patients

 Consider programs by federal healthcare programs (Medicare, 

Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Affordable Care Act) 

that support qualifying patients to adopt these technologies in the 

treatment of their patients

 Coordination with federal agencies to drive physician and patient 

awareness of IoT in healthcare for treatment

 Small physician practices make up the 

majority of physician practices in the United 

States. However, these practices tend to be 

less likely to use electronic information than 

those physician offices with 50 people or 

more. 

47
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Healthcare

Healthcare: Non Technology Recommendations

HC7: Facilitate policies and programs that support the key education and 

digital skills development for the current and future healthcare workforce, 

including:

 Data analytics and management

 Artificial intelligence

 IoT technologies

 Networking and systems integration

 Cybersecurity

 Installation, maintenance and servicing of IoT systems

 Integrate the needs for the development of digital skills and workforce 

in the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy 

 The integration of IoT and digital technologies 

in healthcare will provide more effective 

treatment, reduce the impact of a shortage of 

healthcare labor, and reduce healthcare 

expenditures. 

 However, a lack of the relevant digital skills 

and workforce is hindering this 

transformation of healthcare across all levels, 

from device development and use, integration 

into hospital and healthcare systems, to 

analysis of patient data and development of 

AI algorithms for treatment and diagnosis. 

48
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Healthcare

Healthcare: Non Technology Recommendations

HC8: Facilitate the adoption of AI in IoT in healthcare through:

 Support research in the development of trustworthy AI algorithms and 

tools, including AI explainability

 Facilitate the development of IoT data usage and privacy policies that 

support the development of AI algorithms [linkage with Debbie 

recommendation]

 Support workforce development efforts to increase the pool of workers 

trained in data analytics and AI

 Diagnosing people and identifying treatments 

for people is complex as each person has a 

different reaction to treatments.

 AI generated recommendations may lead to 

negative or unintended outcomes due to use 

of data that may be outdated, contains bias, or 

incomplete. The source of the data may be 

unknown for privacy reasons. 

 While the AI algorithms have been trained on 

this data, the reasons it led to a specific 

recommendation may not be explainable and 

transparent. This leads to a loss of confidence 

in the AI’s ability to analyze the data accurately 

and reliably.

 Data privacy regulations and policies limit what 

data can be collected, and how it is used

 Lack of workforce trained to develop, test and 

refine data and AI algorithms

49
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Smart Cities

Smart Cities: Non Technology Recommendations

SC1: Facilitate opportunities for adoption and equity of benefits of IoT and 

smart city technologies for local governments (cities, counties), regional 

entities (water districts, sanitation districts, air quality districts, etc.) and 

utility companies. This may include:

 Funding regional or state programs that support municipalities and local 

governments in strategy and roadmap development and integration of 

smart city technologies into city vision, infrastructure and operations.

 Project grants for smart city and related innovations pilot projects and 

deployment projects

 Consideration and specification of IoT applications into the design, 

construction and operation of federally funded infrastructure projects 

(e.g. highway projects, street improvements, etc.)

 Facilitate smart city grants for communities that have received 

broadband grants to build on new connectivity infrastructure

 While cities, regional entities, and utilities 

may want to do smart city projects, a 

number of factors is hindering this, including

the lack of funding for pilots and projects, a 

lack of leadership awareness, vision and 

planning for these innovations, and a lack of 

project owner specification for IoT.

50
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Smart Cities

Smart Cities: Non Technology Recommendations

SC2: Facilitate smart community opportunities and adoption of IoT for 

those rural communities that have broadband infrastructure, have received 

broadband infrastructure funding or have completed broadband 

infrastructure build outs. Examples of smart community IoT opportunities 

include home healthcare monitoring, agriculture, natural resources and 

environmental monitoring, home energy monitoring, etc. Examples of 

approaches include:

 Coordination with federal agencies to drive community awareness of 

IoT opportunities, and support programs that encourage industry 

participation

 Project grants for community related IoT projects and deployment 

projects (e.g. environmental monitoring, etc.)

 Consideration and specification of IoT applications into the design, 

construction and operation of federally funded rural infrastructure 

projects (e.g. highway projects, street improvements, energy 

transmission lines, etc.)

 Rural communities lack many of the same 

resources, services and amenities that 

residents in urban areas benefit from. 

 The lack of infrastructure, low population 

densities, private sector investment and 

other factors contribute to the urban/rural 

divide. 

 Many rural areas are considered medical 

deserts with limited number of healthcare 

providers and facilities. 

51
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Smart Cities

Smart Cities: Non Technology Recommendations

SC3: Facilitate U.S. government adoption of IoT and smart city technologies 

within its facilities, including government buildings, military bases, 

campuses and other facilities

 The federal government is the largest 

landlord and owner of properties across the 

United States. These facilities do not 

incorporate IoT technologies which could 

provide a variety of benefits, including 

energy savings, safety, resilience, etc.

52
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Smart Cities

Smart Cities: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

SC4: Support and promote industry and SDO efforts to address 

interoperability of smart cities (including smart buildings, energy and 

utilities, traffic, etc.)

 Interoperability challenges are a major 

barrier to maximizing the value of IoT and 

smart city technologies.

 Disparate IoT devices and smart city systems 

have limited to no ability to communicate 

with each other and other city systems. This 

limits the ability of the city to monitor 

conditions, automate operations, respond 

quickly, effectively and efficiently.

53
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Smart Cities

Smart Cities: Non Technology Recommendations

SC5: Facilitate small to medium city adoption of smart city technologies

 Develop smart city grants targeted for smaller communities and rural 

communities [linkage to existing recommendation]

 Develop smart city grants for communities that receive broadband infrastructure 

funding (BIL, USDA, etc.), to encourage them to build on their infrastructure 

investments

 Consider program grants that allow these communities to sustain the operation 

and maintenance of smart city technologies beyond the initial project funding 

(for initial acquisition, installation and operation). [linkage to existing 

recommendation in smart cities/sustainable infrastructure]

 Consider creating smart city innovation extension partnerships (modeled after 

MEP and agriculture extension offices) to provide the smaller cities with the 

technical and innovation expertise, resources and capabilities to design, operate 

and innovate with smart city technologies [linkage to existing recommendation in 

smart cities]

 Facilitate workforce development to support innovation, IoT and digital 

technologies in smaller cities (including municipalities, regional entities, and 

utilities)

 There are 1300 cities that have less than 

250,000 people. 

 These cities lack the funding, expertise and 

resources to implement, operate and 

maintain smart city technologies. 

 These smaller cities also have needs that are 

different from their larger city counterparts, 

and may require grants that are more aligned 

to their needs.

54
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Smart Cities

Smart Cities: Non Technology Recommendations

SC6: Facilitate policies and programs that support the key education and 

digital skills development across community colleges and four year 

universities for the current and future city and utility workforce, including

 Technology and computer skills

 Digital skills (analytics, cybersecurity, IT, networking, etc.)

 Cloud and other architectures

 Working with tools and technology

 Critical thinking

 Manufacturing jobs are no longer low skilled 

jobs, but require new skills.

 Automation will require people to work 

alongside robots and machines. 

 A labor shortage and skills shortage will leave 

2.4 million unfilled jobs between 2018-2028. 

 This leads to a loss of $454 B of 

manufacturing value by 2028 and makes the 

US less competitive in manufacturing.

55
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Smart Cities

Smart Cities: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

SC7: Facilitate cybersecurity in IoT in smart cities

 Expand cybersecurity trust mark program to include IoT devices and 

modules used in a variety of smart city and utility applications (including 

public safety, public health, energy and sustainability, facilities, 

economic development, traffic, mobility, water/wastewater, public 

infrastructure, and others)

 Facilitate workforce development programs to increase pool of IoT 

cybersecurity trained resources for smart city and utility on both the 

solution provider side and city/utility (buyer) side

 City and utility infrastructure are attractive 

targets for cyberattacks and the number of 

ransomware attacks on cities has been 

steadily growing. 

 The introduction of IoT into utility OT 

infrastructure creates new attack surfaces 

and vulnerabilities to formerly air gapped 

systems. 

 Cities and utilities lack the resources and 

capabilities to defend and mitigate. 

56
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Smart Cities

Smart Cities: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

SC8: Facilitate the smart city privacy concerns

 Support research in privacy enhancing technologies

 Consider the usage of PETs on IoT technologies used in small city 

applications on federal government facilities and properties

 Consider the usage of PETs on IoT technologies and retail systems used 

in retail outlets on federal properties (including BXs on military bases, 

federally own and managed facilities)

 Increase industry awareness of privacy by design in developing smart 

city solutions and services

 Incorporate considerations for “smart cities” in the development of a 

national privacy framework and regulations [Some linkage with Debbie 

recommendation on PETs]

 Privacy concerns are hindering the adoption 

and use of IoT technologies.

 Concerns about the information collected 

and how it is used, as well as the accuracy of 

the data collected and the ability of the 

technology to create the correct outcomes.

57
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Smart Cities

Smart Cities: Non Technology Recommendations

SC9: Continue and expand GCTC efforts to foster collaboration between 

municipalities and the broader smart city ecosystem (utilities, regional 

agencies), industry and academia.

 Build clusters and superclusters around select topic and collaboration 

areas

 Limited opportunities for cities to 

collaborate, exchange knowledge, and learn 

from each other. GCTC has moved away from 

clusters and superclusters.

58
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Smart Cities

Smart Cities: Non Technology Recommendations

SC10: Facilitate equity in realization of smart city benefits. This may 

include:

 Smart city project grants for underserved and rural communities, 

including those applications where underserved communities are 

disproportionately impacted (e.g. environmental monitoring, 

healthcare, public safety, etc.)

 Increase access to broadband services and affordability

 Workforce development opportunities for residents of underserved and 

rural communities for the new IoT and digital jobs to be created

 Benefits of IoT and smart city technologies are 

not available to all members of a community.

 Socioeconomically challenged and rural 

communities may not have the broadband 

infrastructure, or have limited resources to 

implement and operate smart city 

technologies. 

 The new jobs created by IoT, smart cities and 

digital transformation require skills and 

education that members of underserved 

communities may not be able to develop. 

 Some services enabled by these technologies 

require smart phones and Internet service to 

access, which some community members may 

not have, while others are offered in ways that 

cannot be accessed by residents due to 

language barriers, digital literacy skills, etc.

59
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Smart Cities

Smart Cities: Non Technology Recommendations

SC11: Develop a national smart city strategy.

 The strategy should take into account the broader ecosystem of 

stakeholders involved in the design, building and operation of smarter 

cities (local government, regional agencies and authorities, states, 

utilities, industry, communities), the vision, opportunities, 

federal/state/local coordination, equity of benefits, funding, etc..

 The strategy should take into account the various desired areas of 

outcomes, including resilience, economic vibrancy, public safety, 

mobility, quality of life, sustainability, health and wellness, and 

government/community responsiveness.

 Limited collaboration between cities, states 

and federal agencies

 Limited coordination and collaboration 

between federal agencies, who each own parts 

of “smart city and sustainable infrastructure” 

programs and initiatives

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Draft Recommendations: Research to support IoT evolution

Research Cross Industry: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

RCI1: Increase capabilities of IoT devices

 Device processing capabilities

 Decreasing microprocessor power consumption

 Energy harvesting technologies

 Low cost sensors

 As more IoT applications shift to the edge, 

the complexity and intensity of the 

workloads processed is expected to 

increase.

 Smarter IoT devices incorporate more 

capable microprocessors and 

microcontrollers. However, more capable 

processors consume more power.

 Battery powered IoT devices have a limited 

lifetime. With billions of IoT devices to be 

deployed, replacing those batteries is not 

realistic nor practical. Disposal of billions of 

batteries is a looming environmental waste 

issue.

RCI2: Interoperability and standards to support hyperconnected networks  Future systems are expected to work across 

multiple industries and ecosystems to 

support autonomous and connected 

operations. The ability to communicate and 

exchange data is critical.

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Draft Recommendations: Research to support IoT evolution

Research Cross Industry: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

RCI3: Enabling robust infrastructure to support increasingly large 

number of IoT devices and systems

 Management of distributed IoT networks (at scale)

 Optimization and maintenance of performance and Quality of 

Service under continuously varying conditions

 Improving system fault tolerance and resilience

 Improving middleware to support scaling

 With billions of devices, routers and servers of all types soon operating 

in a multi-layer architectural environment, the ability to monitor, 

manage, operate and support this infrastructure over its life cycle is a 

complex undertaking.

 The ability to detect workload demand and allocate appropriate 

resources to collect, process and store the data, whether on a 

scheduled or dynamic basis, is crucial to IoT performance. This is made 

more complex by the addition of new devices of varying capabilities to 

the environment which consumes existing resources, devices that drop 

in and out of the network (e.g., mobile devices, etc.), devices with 

varying resource demands and availability of resources.

 IoT applications and its enabling systems may sometimes fail to work 

properly. These failures affect the operations that the IoT application is 

managing and could potentially spread to other processes through a 

chain of cascading failures. Even if detected immediately, it is not 

always possible to repair the fault or to do so in a timely manner.

 As more IoT devices are added to the network in the future, the ability 

of these devices to be integrated into the network and interoperate 

with existing and older devices and systems is critical to scaling. 

Middleware, the software that sits between increasingly diverse and 

heterogeneous devices and applications and allows them to 

communicate with each other, is essential to integration and scaling of 

IoT networks. However, middleware must also evolve to support future 

IoT infrastructure needs.

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Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Research to support IoT evolution

Research Cross Industry: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

RCI4: Usable AI for IoT

 Ethical AI development

 Explainable AI tools and operations

 Collective intelligence IoT

 Human-AI collaboration

 The use of AI in IoT raises questions of fairness, privacy, ethics, 

maleficence, accountability and transparency

 For AI controlled operations to be trusted and adopted at scale, its 

users must be able to understand and assess the AI algorithm’s 

decision-making processes, its alignment and precision to target 

outcomes under a variety of planned and unplanned conditions 

and its consistency in creating and acting on the outcomes.

 As IoT adoption scales and the number of devices grow, IoT will 

transition from devices working individually to create individual 

outcomes to a collection of IoT devices working together to create 

an overall greater outcome. Collective intelligence is relatively new 

and the technology is still immature.

 Human-AI collaboration requires both to “work together as 

partners to achieve a common goal, sharing a mutual 

understanding of the abilities and respective roles of each 

other”. Successful collaboration requires the development of new 

techniques, methods and components to enable a tightly coupled 

perception-action integration.

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Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Research to support IoT evolution

Research Cross Industry: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

RCI5: Hyperconnected communications networks

 Spectrum sharing and management

 Network infrastructure to support AI and complex IoT 

applications

 Fault tolerant and resilient network infrastructure

 Self-defending adaptive network security

 There is a finite amount of wireless spectrum available for IoT 

applications. In dense urban environments, this can become 

problematic as the number of IoT devices scale up and data traffic 

volumes grow, leading to network congestion and radio frequency 

interference.

 AI and autonomous IoT applications impose high performance 

requirements for communications networks. Further research and 

innovation are necessary to develop the network to meet these 

needs.

 As additional IoT devices with varying levels of quality and 

performance levels are integrated into the network, they introduce 

faults that could disrupt operations. During operation, some devices 

may be capable of tolerating errors, while others propagate errors. 

Some devices are operating with the latest firmware updates, while 

others are running outdated versions or cannot be patched. Finally, 

the IoT devices may be operating in networks that may be outdated, 

misconfigured or incompatible.

 IoT devices introduce new attack surfaces that can be exploited to 

breach the network. To be successful, self-defending and adaptive 

networks must “be effective in an unstructured, unstable, rapidly 

changing, chaotic, adversarial environments; able to learn in real-time 

and under extreme time constraints, using only a few observations 

that are potentially erroneous, of uncertain accuracy and meaning, or 

even intentionally misleading and deceptive.”

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Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: Research to support IoT evolution

Research Cross Industry: Technology and Infrastructure Recommendations

RCI6: Human centric ambient IoT

 Design for human-AI interaction

 Trust in human-AI interactions

 Accessibility and inclusion

 For replicable and successful collaboration with humans 

and AI systems, continued research is necessary to 

understand how humans can most effectively augment AI 

systems, how AI systems can enhance what humans do 

best and how to redesign operations and algorithms to 

support the collaboration.

 Human-AI collaboration breaks down or becomes less 

productive if one or both sides do not execute as 

expected. Humans may not trust the outputs of AI or its 

ability to execute.

 To be inclusive and accessible to as many people as 

possible, a connected society must develop interaction 

models and user interfaces that are intuitive, easy to use 

and program and consistent with the way people expect 

to interact with human-AI and IoT systems.

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Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Capability: Model to assess IoT technology impact on economy

Data Analysis Steps

Industry Trends and Challenges

Industry Specific IoT Use Cases 

IoT Technical Challenges

IoT Non-Technical Challenges

Economic Analysis 

Policy and R&D Opportunities

Data Source Desk Research Industry/Vendor Interviews Industry/Vendor Surveys 

SoT Economic 

Model

Refresh Frequency

12 – 24 Months

12 Months

12 Months

12 Months

12 Months

12 – 24 Months

• Work from this research has 

led to the development of an 

approach and economic model 

quantifying impact of specific 

IoT technology areas and 

industries

• Model and analyses can be 

used to support IoT technology 

investment and policy planning 

and development

• Gaps and analyses are “point in 

time” and should be updated 

to assess new gaps and track 

progress of IoT integration into 

the national economy

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Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

Draft Recommendations: (RCI7)

• Consider refreshing and building on the existing model and method to support policy and technology 

research and development priorities in support of the national IoT strategy:

• Refresh the economic impact and assess progress toward the implementation of the national IoT strategy 

over the next five to ten years

• Facilitate IoT adoption in other industries (not covered by current research) by identifying key IoT technology 

research gaps

• Assess the economic impact of addressing emerging technology gaps as IoT continues to evolve to keep the 

United States competitive and ahead of its international economic rivals

• Justification

• Analyses are “point in time” and outdated upon publication. IoT and industry continue to evolve

• Quantification of economic impact over time to support policy goals and priorities in the development of the 

national IoT strategy

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Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io

Appendix
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io Source: Strategy of Things

All industries: Monte Carlo main assumptions to see overlap
Strategy of Things® LLC 1305 Franklin Street, Suite 507, Oakland, CA 94612 www.strategyofthings.io

Thank you!

www.strategyofthings.io

NIST Project website: 

www.strategyofthings.io/nist

Benson Chan

IoT Research and Gap Analysis Lead

benson@strategyofthings.io

925-699-7562

Renil Paramel

Project and Engagement Lead

renil@strategyofthings.io

415-846-9448

Christopher Reberger

Economic Modeling and Investment Lead

christopher@strategyofthings.io

646-767-7380

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