During the past 15 years, the Internet revolution has redefined businessto-
consumer (B2C) industries such as media, retail and financial services.
In the next 10 years, the Internet of Things revolution will dramatically alter
manufacturing, energy, agriculture, transportation and other industrial sectors of
the economy which, together, account for nearly two-thirds of the global gross
domestic product (GDP). It will also fundamentally transform how people will
work through new interactions between humans and machines.
Dubbed the Industrial Internet (of Things), this latest wave of technological
change will bring unprecedented opportunities, along with new risks, to business
and society. It will combine the global reach of the Internet with a new ability
to directly control the physical world, including the machines, factories and
infrastructure that define the modern landscape. However, like the Internet was
in the late 1990s, the Industrial Internet is currently in its early stages. Many
important questions remain, including how it will impact existing industries,
value chains, business models and workforces, and what actions business and
government leaders need to take now to ensure long-term success.
To address these and other questions facing business and government leaders,
the World Economic Forum’s IT Governors launched the Industrial Internet
initiative at the Annual Meeting 2014 in Davos, Switzerland. During the last eight
months, the project team has developed a guiding framework and conducted
a series of research activities, including in-person workshops, virtual working
group sessions, interviews of key thought leaders, and a survey of innovators
and early adopters around the world (information about this research can be
found in Appendix A).