Bridging the Interoperability Gap of the Internet of Things

The objective of the BIG IoT project is to ignite vibrant Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems. This will be achieved by bridging the current interoperability gap between the vertically-oriented IoT platforms and by creating marketplaces for IoT services and applications.

The current interoperability gap will be addressed by defining a generic, unified Web API for smart object platforms, the BIG IoT API. The establishment of a marketplace where platform, application, and service providers can monetize their assets will introduce an incentive to grant access to formerly closed systems and lower market entry barriers for developers. The number of connected smart objects will exceed the number of humans using the Internet in the near future. With the here proposed approach based on the generic BIG IoT API, an IoT ecosystem will come to life, as it will offer a functionally rich, but at the same time easy way to discover, access, control, manage, and secure smart objects.

The BIG IoT consortium is well suited to reach the outlined goals. Among the partners are smart object platform providers (e.g., CSI, Vodafone, VMZ, Wolfsburg AG) who will implement the BIG IoT API. Smart object manufacturers (Bosch, econais) will implement the BIG IoT API on the device level. ATOS, as an IT service provider with experience in the development and operation of B2B marketplace infrastructures, will implement the BIG IoT marketplace. Large enterprises from different domains (Bosch, SEAT, Siemens, Vodafone) will contribute requirements and will design the architecture and API from their perspectives. Four universities (Clausthal University of Technology, National University of Ireland Galway, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Aalborg University) with excellent expertise from across Europe will help to transfer the state of the art into the state of the practice and solve the open research challenges.