IoT Assignment Completed! Report on Barriers to U.S. IoT Adoption – Source:www.nist.gov

The 16 members of the NIST-managed Internet of Things (IoT) Advisory Board have completed their report on barriers to the U.S. receiving the benefits of IoT adoption, along with their recommendations for overcoming those barriers. As Benson Chan (Chair) and Dan Caprio (Vice Chair) of the IoT Advisory Board state in the report: 

“The United States is in the early stages of a profound transformation, one that is driven by economic, societal, and cultural innovations brought about by the IoT. These innovations intertwine connectivity and digital innovation with the opportunity to drive a revolutionary metamorphosis across all parts of our nation.”

One of the impediments to IoT adoption today is lack of trust in IoT. The IoT Advisory Board’s report included the following findings among the 26 total findings about IoT adoption identified in the report: 

• Insufficient skilled workers are available to develop, integrate, deploy, operate, and maintain IoT devices, systems, and applications.
• IoT systems depend on chips sourced through vulnerable global supply chains.
• Establishing trust in IoT requires a multi-dimensional ecosystem perspective, extending beyond cybersecurity and privacy.
• Privacy concerns undermine trust in IoT and are a significant barrier to widescale adoption.
• IoT cybersecurity concerns are a major barrier to widescale adoption.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) is critical to unlocking and accelerating the value of IoT, but significant challenges must be addressed.

In response to the report findings, the IoT Advisory Board made 104 recommendations grouped into six themes, below:

While every theme included recommendations related to cybersecurity, privacy, interoperability, and standards (either in general or in addressing sector specific concerns), the “Establish Trust” theme and “Fostering an IoT Ready Workforce” themes highlighted these areas in a fundamental way. 

As the IoT Advisory Board report states, “Establishing trust in IoT is crucial for widespread adoption and public confidence. Secure, private, and reliable operation of interconnected devices is essential to achieve such trust… Trust is earned and kept when IoT devices and systems remain secure from unauthorized access, data is kept safe and used as intended, algorithms are accurate and explainable, and produced outcomes are safe, consistent, and reliable.” The recommendations across this theme focus on addressing the range of cybersecurity, privacy and supply chain integrity challenges across the IoT ecosystem. 

The “Fostering an IoT Ready Workforce” theme calls to “integrate the future IoT workforce’s needs into existing initiatives and programs, collaborating with industry, academia, and state and local governments to align educational and training efforts with the evolving demands of the IoT sector, ensuring a well-prepared and adaptable workforce.” As this report was under development, the lack of a skilled workforce came up as a challenge to IoT adoption in multiple market sectors (from manufacturing to implementing smart communities to agriculture). The Report recommendations focus on the need for a workforce with cybersecurity and privacy expertise and the skills needed to integrate and maintain IoT products in complex environments. 

This report has been delivered to the IoT Federal Working Group for their review and consideration, and NIST encourages those interested in the transformational possibilities of IoT to review the report. 

We thank the IoT Advisory Board for their hard work over the last two years and look forward to an exciting IoT-enabled future! 

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