EDACafe Industry Predictions for 2024 – LoRa Alliance

By Donna Moore, CEO and chairwoman, LoRa Alliance^®

Market Confidence in LoRaWAN^® Is Flourishing

Donna Moore

 Looking back on 2023, it was truly the year that LoRaWAN matured. The LoRaWAN standard itself is supported by the strongest LPWAN device ecosystem, the strongest supplier ecosystem, and the strongest certification program. Ultimately, this drives market confidence in LoRaWAN deployments and boosts the global IoT sector as a whole.

In my travels this year to a variety of IoT and vertical market events, I observed how end customers are learning about other companies’ successful LoRaWAN deployments, which allows them to recognize the value of LoRaWAN because they personally can witness these successful outcomes. Real-world examples help the market understand the issues LoRaWAN can solve, its ease of deployment, and its strong ROI––quickly. Experiencing these real-world deployments is accelerating decision-making globally and driving global LoRaWAN adoption.

This energy and excitement that has continued to build this year will drive LoRaWAN and IoT forward in 2024. Digital transformation will continue to grow, and this is where IoT will shine. Smart utilities, smart buildings, and smart cities will remain a key focus for the LoRa Alliance in the coming year, as these markets are ideally suited to LoRaWAN’s strengths: long range, low power, ability to transmit through metal and concrete, easy integration with legacy or other wireless technologies, and more.

At the same time, continuous enhancements to the LoRaWAN standard allow users to embrace new opportunities for LPWAN technologies in the coming year. One trend we anticipate is that the adoption of global roaming will grow significantly to support logistics and transport applications. Related to that, another major trend is the rapid growth in using LoRaWAN via satellite, building on LoRaWAN’s early leadership position in this space. LoRaWAN provides connectivity in hard-to-reach locations, using low power and at a low cost, which is enabling satellites to deliver full global coverage––and all the benefits that brings to IoT connectivity. These developments support other key markets like smart agriculture, smart logistics, and smart industry, which often take place in locations where limited connectivity options are feasible.

The global industrial evolution to Industry 5.0 will continue. It takes Industry 4.0 beyond just improving efficiency and productivity to encompass sustainability and quality-of-life priorities. Some examples of this are new regulations focused on health and safety and data privacy, as well as how businesses and individuals can use technology to reduce P&C insurance premiums. LoRaWAN has a strong track record of use to support people and the planet, while still allowing businesses to profit, which is driving Industry 5.0 goals forward.

A final aspect of IoT that will continue to grow in 2024 is the need for talent. Technology industries worldwide continue to face workforce shortages, and IoT is no exception. To be successful in 2024, technologies will need two things: the first is the ability to recognize skilled technical professionals, and the second is the need to deliver true end-to-end solutions. The LoRaWAN ecosystem continues to address both requirements in the coming year. First, we launched the LoRaWAN Accredited Professional program, which recognizes developers and engineers who have superior knowledge of the standard, giving end users trust that their vendors know what they are doing. Second, the Alliance’s highly collaborative ecosystem brings together the full IoT value chain to deliver end-to-end solutions, thereby continuing to build trust and help end users simplify and accelerate their deployments.

I look forward to following these trends in the coming year and working with LoRa Alliance member companies to continue to drive the LoRaWAN standard and overcome any new challenges we may face.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 10th, 2024 at 12:29 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.