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Main current areas of investment
• Smart cities
• Smart metering & grids
• Connected vehicles
• Healthcare
Main Impacts
• Monetary/economic impact: trillions of dollars annually within a decade
• Societal impact: Smart cities – infrastructure, transport and buildings – by improving efficiency
and sustainability of a whole range of urban activities; smart power and water grids (smart
meters)
• Individual impact: e.g. transport safety through “connected vehicles”; population health and
wellbeing can be enhanced, enabling e.g. care at home
Challenges
• Cost needs to fall, reliability needs to improve
• Issues of connectivity, user interfaces and addressing
• Regulatory implications for licensing and spectrum management (access required to 300 MHz-
3GHz but also NFC at 13 MHz or EHF bands, AM/FM bands in VHF range, Wi-Fi and 4G mobile
networks), standards (interoperability e.g. ITU-T’s initiative IoT-GSI), competition (e.g. impact on
competitiveness of different markets, customer lock-in due to fixed SIMs in each device etc…),
security and privacy (“by design” approach desirable)

Chapter 4: Interoperability in the digital In theoretical terms, interoperability functions
ecosystem across four broad layers of complex systems:
technological, data, human and institutional.

At the most basic level, interoperability (or When many people think of interop, they think
“interop”) is the ability to transfer and use of the exchange of data through technological
data and information across different systems, means. But it turns out that the human and
applications, or components. Interop is invisible, institutional aspects of interoperability are often
and yet crucial, to many parts of a highly just as important – and sometimes even more
interconnected, modern society. The fact that important – than the technological aspects.
someone can make a seamless international
telephone call without thinking about things like This chapter offers examples of some of the many
signaling standards or transoceanic cables is a benefits and drawbacks of higher levels of interop.
tribute to interop. So is the fact that one can send The benefits include innovation, competition,
and receive the same e-mail on a mobile phone or choice and access. Drawbacks can include security
in a browser, regardless of device manufacturer or and privacy risks; an increase in homogeneity;
Internet service provider. Importantly, the Internet a decrease in reliability, accountability and
of Things relies on interop. For that reason, it is accessibility; and a threat to certain existing
critical to develop a shared understanding of how business models.
interop functions, the potential costs and benefits
of increased levels of interop, and the variety of The chapter then offers a taxonomy of the
approaches for encouraging interop. various approaches for managing and optimizing
the level of interop. These approaches can be
This chapter begins by offering a framework for deployed either in a unilateral fashion or in more
understanding interop as a concept. Figure 4.0 collaborative ways. Moreover, some approaches
provides an overview of the concept of interop, its can be deployed by the private sector, while
benefits, potential risks and approaches. regulators and other state actors utilize others.
The chapter also considers in depth the unique

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