Samsung makes $1.2 billion investment in IoT applications

Just weeks after acquiring the American cloud service provider Joyent, Samsung further commits itself to IoT through a $1.2 billion investment.

The money will be deployed to develop IoT applications over the course of four years and will be split between internal R&D and investing in external startups. Part of the investment will include a lab in Austin and a research centre in Palo Alto.

To get ahead in IoT, Samsung is launching the National IoT Strategy Dialogue, unveiled today by Samsung’s vice chairman & CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon along with a layout for “Human Centred IoT.”

The initiative will be led by the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center, Global Innovation Center and Samsung Research America and will take a “human-centred approach.”

“If we want innovators everywhere to make use of IoT, we must make sure all tools are open to them. This means technologies that connect to each other, because we know that boundaries around technologies hold back innovation and scale,” said Kwon.

Kwon goes on to warn that different regional regulations may fracture the development of IoT, preventing devices from connecting to each other as well as they could. He encouraged policy makers and industry leaders to embrace openness and collaboration to promote IoT initiatives.

The National IoT Strategy Dialogue will be hosted by the Information Technology Industry Council and will “inform policy makers on enabling the technology to deliver benefits for individuals, communities, innovators and the U.S. economy,” said Kwon.

He adds that connected services are quickly becoming the norm. Since IoT is already being implemented in several areas, Kwon insists that Samsung’s announcement isn’t about first steps. It’s about using IoT to achieve human and social benefits as well.

Related reading: Samsung has its head in the cloud with its latest acquisition

[source]Android Central[/source]