Australia is lagging behind many nations in the application of IoT to both smart homes and smart cities, and leadership needs to come from the Government, says Frost & Sullivan.
The research company is preparing to publish, later this year, separate reports on smart cities and smart homes and according to Audrey William, head of research for the ICT Practice in ANZ, the company’s research has shown Australia to well behind on both counts.
“I think Australia is lagging behind,” William told IoTAustralia. “We are working on a report about the connected home, and in North America it is absolutely there, but you don’t hear of it in Australia. And countries in Europe and Scandinavia are way more advanced than Australia.”
According to William, “The housing industry needs to go through a complete overhaul to ensure that very new home in Australia has the IoT element in it. But IoT is so complex that it cannot take off on its own. It is directly linked to government and to industry coming together and saying ‘This is the way we want ot do it.’ And we are not seeing that in Australia.
The technology is there. Even the telcos are gearing up for IoT, but it has got to be an industry push.”
Telstra gearing up for IoT
She said that telcos, especially Telstra, were gearing up to support IoT, but without Government leadership she did not expect many of their plans to emerge.
“I see Telstra as being at the forefront of IoT thinking and vision. When I interview guys from the IoT team, they do a lot of work with Silicon Valley. So there is a lot of thought leadership within Telstra. They know what is needed to make smart cities and a smart home.
“They even told us they are starting to put plans and packages together. But for the number to grow so that every city becomes smart and connected, the industry has to push it and the government has to push it. … For IoT to take off it must be government led and government driven.”
William said the standout example of a nation that had embraced, and was implanting ,the IoT vision was Singapore. “I speak to a lot of people around the world and when I ask then to name one country that has got the formula right, it is definitely Singapore. The vision is there for what the city should look like in in three, five and 10 years.”
She added: “My discussions for the IoT in the home report, and work we’ve done in that area for a client, all point us to Singapore.”
“The government must be very proactive. That is what everyone is saying about IoT in Australia,” William concluded.
William present on IoT in her Think Tank session at the Frost & Sullivan’s 2015 Growth, Innovation & Leadership Congress New Zealand summit in Auckland on 27 August.
