NIST Publishes Internet Of Things Advisory Board Report

In 2021, Congress created the Internet of Things Advisory Board (IoTAB) within the Department of Commerce and charged it with providing advice to the Internet of Things Federal Working Group, a collaboration of Federal stakeholders providing recommendations and a Report to Congress regarding IoT adoption. As a part of this effort, in October 2024 the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) within the Department of Commerce published the Internet of Things Advisory Board Report. The IoTAB report assesses the challenges associated with IoT and makes recommendations for the Working Group's consideration that the Board believes would position U.S. leadership to seize economic and societal opportunities stemming from the adoption of IoT.

The report notes that using IoT to integrate the physical with the digital and connecting devices, systems, and people would result in technology generally, and IoT specifically, serving as a powerful tool for humanity. The IoTAB report further explains that widescale adoption and scaling of IoT would boost economic growth, increase public safety, create a more sustainable planet, individualize healthcare, foster equitable quality of life and well-being, and facilitate autonomous operations of U.S. critical infrastructure.

For example, the addition of sensors and actuators to the internet creates value by enabling traditional tasks to be performed in innovative ways and by making new possibilities achievable. According to the Board, asset tracking, equipment condition monitoring, predictive maintenance, and autonomous operations are only a few instances that illustrate how IoT can transform existing processes and foster new opportunities.

However, according to the IoTAB, the adoption of IoT across industry, communities, and society has not evolved to its full potential due to multiple interconnected challenges. These challenges include a lack of leadership and coordination, the lack of a U.S. National IoT strategy, lack of trust, technology, and infrastructure, as well as gaps in regulation, potential cybersecurity concerns, and supply chain considerations. To address these challenges, the report provides 24 key recommendations organized around six major themes. These themes are Government Leadership, Modernizing IoT Infrastructure, Establishing Trust in IoT, Fostering an IoT-ready Workforce, Facilitating Industry Adoption of IoT, and Unlocking an IoT-Enabled Economy.

The key IoTAB recommendations within these themes are:

Government Leadership Recommendations

• Congress and the Executive Branch should work together to establish a United States national strategy for taking full advantage of the opportunity presented by IoT.
• Congress should accelerate IoT technology innovation to support an evolving IoT.
• The Executive Branch should promote international collaboration in IoT adoption to share knowledge, best practices, and resources; harmonize standards, policies, and regulations; and facilitate trade.
• The Executive Branch should lead by example by specifying, procuring, and adopting IoT by federal agencies for its internal use.

Modernizing IoT Infrastructure Recommendations

• The Executive Branch should promote collaborative development across industries to adopt existing industry standards and protocols that enable IoT interoperability.
• The Executive Branch should establish methods to foster interoperability for IoT technology to the greatest extent possible, through the use of consistent models, protocols, application interfaces, and schemas.
• The Executive Branch should expand and improve programs that ensure sufficient availability, reliability, quality of service and connectivity to support IoT in all areas of the country.
• The Executive Branch should encourage businesses and organizations to embark on initiatives to digitalize and transform their operations and processes in order to take advantage of IoT and the IoT-enabled economy.

Establishing Trust in IoT Recommendations

• NIST should continue to provide specific and consistent cybersecurity guidance for IoT providers and adopters to ensure secure operations in a whole-of-government approach.
• Congress should pass comprehensive federal privacy legislation.
• The Executive Branch should support trusted IoT architectures and infrastructure that enable supply chain provenance, and traceability of IoT systems starting from chip design and manufacturing.

Fostering a IoT-ready Workforce Recommendation

• Congress and the Executive Branch should integrate the needs of the future IoT workforce into existing initiatives and programs with industry, academia and state and local government efforts.

Facilitating Industry Adoption of IoT Recommendations

• Congress should consider new financial models for sustaining and supporting programs when evaluating IoT project feasibility in federal grants.
• Congress and the Executive Branch should develop a comprehensive Agricultural IoT Strategy.
• Congress and the Executive Branch should implement specific actions to further promote IoT adoption through smart cities and communities.
• The Executive Branch should promote IoT adoption that will improve public safety.
• Congress and the Executive Branch should promote IoT adoption in the health care industry.
• Congress and the Executive Branch should promote IoT adoption that will improve sustainability and environmental monitoring.
• Congress and the Executive Branch should promote IoT adoption in Smart Transit and Transportation.

Promoting an IoT-Enabled Economy Recommendations

• The Executive Branch should monitor and evaluate progress of IoT adoption for supply chain logistics.
• The Executive Branch should facilitate public-private partnerships (PPPs) focused on IoT adoption to advance collaboration and knowledge sharing between government agencies, businesses, technology providers, and academia developing end-to-end IoT solutions in supply chain logistics.
• The Executive Branch should actively facilitate and support the adoption of AI in IoT applications to improve decision-making, optimize resource utilization, and enhance productivity.
• Congress and the Executive Branch should provide overarching regulatory guidance for the unmanned aerial systems (drone) industry.
• The Executive Branch should promote, facilitate, and monitor equity in the accessibility, realization and distribution of value and benefits created from the adoption and use of IoT

Moreover, each of these key recommendations includes multiple subordinate enabling recommendations intended to facilitate adoption.

The IoTAB concludes that the economic, societal, and cultural innovations of IoT are driving a "fourth industrial revolution." As such, the adoption of IoT is a national and strategic imperative for the U.S. and requires a "whole of government" effort to accelerate IoT along the six themes the report identifies. Maintaining U.S. leadership on IoT issues is key to winning in other emerging tech areas, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Regardless of the board's recommendations, it is clear that IoT has the potential to dramatically impact tech developments. As such, countries and companies that take this into consideration are likely better positioned to capitalize on these developments. Moreover, the NIST's publication of the report emphasizes the influence early IoT adoption can have on future developments.

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