Dubai: Investment in Internet of Things (IoT) hardware, software, services and connectivity this year in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region will grow by 17.86 per cent to $6.6 billion (Dh24 billion) compared to $5.6 billion last year.
IoT is defined as the network of devices that are connected to the internet and can be controlled remotely.
Wale Babalola, a research analyst at International Data Corporation, said that manufacturing and transportation are the vertical industries leading the way in terms of investment in the region, and with both expected to spend an estimated $1.1 billion each in 2016.
The next largest industry — utilities — is expected to see investments of almost $800 million this year.
IoT is defined as the network of devices that are connected to the internet and can be controlled remotely.
He said that the investment in the UAE is expected to increase by 23.74 per cent to $436.8 million this year compared to $353 million last year. The total investment in MEA IoT is expected to cross more than $14.3 billion in 2020. IoT solution deployments across the region will continue to see increased adoption rates, both in the public and private sectors, as stakeholders begin to realise an immediate return on their investments.
Smart grid
Babalola said that freight monitoring will receive the greatest level of investment till the forecast 2020 period, followed by smart grid (electricity) and manufacturing operations. In addition to these use cases, remote health monitoring, smart buildings, and smart home concepts will see significant levels of investment over the next few years. The greatest revenue growth over the 2016—2020 forecast period are smart buildings, insurance telematics, and smart grid (gas).
“IoT solution deployments across MEA will continue to see increased adoption rates, both in the public and private sectors, as stakeholders begin to realise an immediate return on their investments,” he said. Moreover, he said the growing development of purpose-built IoT platforms and the continuing proliferation of smart devices will serve as catalysts for IoT adoption across the region’s industry spectrum.
While manufacturing and transportation will lead the way in terms of overall IoT investments in the MEA region, he said that six industries will see IoT spending levels increase by more than 100 per cent over the 2016—2020 forecast period — construction, consumer, insurance, manufacturing, retail, and telecommunications. Cross-industry investments, which represent use cases common to all industries, are also forecast to see revenues more than double during this period.
3D printing
Naji Atta Allah, head of architecture, engineering, construction and manufacturing at Autodesk Middle East, said that technology is changing and it is changing at a “quicker rate” than expected.
“So, some of the things that are changing are around how we make things. The 3D printing has been around for more than 30 years, but it is gaining critical mass now as computers and hardware are much stronger,” he said.
Some of the technologies which were futuristic are real now. In the future, “we will see a connection between what is real and what is virtual and adding more intelligence from the virtual world,” he said.
Marcus Torchia, a research manager for IoT at IDC, said that the long-term opportunity for IoT vendors is helping to identify and create immediate and residual benefits for end users through their technologies.
“We see strong opportunities across many industries. For example, in highly instrumented verticals like manufacturing and transportation, large data sets are used to optimise operational processes and extend the life of high-capital cost assets. In other sectors like health care and consumer, IoT technology is being used to produce benefits that improve quality of life,” he said.
