Canada has areas to improve before it can benefit from IoT: report

Canada is in a good position to be an “early mover” of Internet of Things (IoT) adoption, but it’s still falling behind in key areas required for forward momentum, according to a new report from the Public Policy Forum. In the December report published on the Public Policy Forum’s website Wednesday, the Canadian think tank identified recommendations “for governments, business and post-secondary institutions that will allow consumers and businesses to take advantage of the opportunities provided by IoT.” The review of “key issues and opportunities of IoT and data analytics in Canada” was completed in partnership with Canada’s Digital Policy Forum, LoyaltyOne Co., Facebook Inc., Shopify Inc. and the federal government through roundtable discussions and one-on-one interviews. “Canada is in an excellent position to capture value from IoT,” the report said, because the country has “a low cost of doing business in the high-tech sector, world-class education institutions and a highly skilled workforce.” But Canadians are trailing U.S. and Asia Pacific businesses and domestic executives “are having difficulty understanding how to deploy IoT technology in their organizations.” Canada also has to catch up “when it comes to the advanced connectivity infrastructure necessary for the coming wave of connected devices,” the report said, particularly with making the switch to the newer IPv6 protocol for IP addresses. “To ensure we meet the highest connectivity standards, Canada must increase its IPv6-enabled broadband adoption,” the report said. According to the latest statistics collected by Alphabet Inc.’s Google about IPv6 connectivity among Google users around the world, Canada is currently sitting at 17.15 per cent adoption, compared to 32.93 per cent in the United States. Germany has an adoption rate of 29 per cent, while the United Kingdom sits at nearly 19 per cent. The report also noted that while the leaders in the private sector will need to drive a lot of IoT growth, the public sector will have a role to play in addressing the associated risks and challenges. “Governments will also have to assess whether they will wait for the private sector to move forward on infrastructure needs, or take a proactive stance: to accelerate IoT adoption, correct market failures or revisit approaches to public goods like the radio spectrum,” it said.

Canada has areas to improve before it can benefit from IoT: report

Brief | January 5, 2017

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Canada has areas to improve before it can benefit from IoT: report

Brief | January 5, 2017

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