Industrial Internet of Things: Unleashing the Potential of Connected Products and Services

The report argues that the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) will fundamentally transform industrial sectors—including manufacturing, energy, and agriculture—by shifting business models from selling products to delivering measurable outcomes. While near-term gains are found in operational efficiency and predictive maintenance, long-term disruption will emerge through the 'outcome economy' and a blended human-machine workforce. The document identifies cybersecurity, lack of interoperability, and a digital talent gap as primary barriers, recommending that stakeholders collaborate on security standards, digital infrastructure, and workforce reskilling.

• The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is expected to dramatically alter industrial sectors such as manufacturing, energy, agriculture, and transportation, which collectively represent nearly two-thirds of global GDP.
• The evolution of the Industrial Internet is projected to occur in four phases: starting with operational efficiency, moving to new products and services, then to the outcome economy, and finally to an autonomous, pull economy.
• The 'outcome economy' represents a structural shift where businesses compete on their ability to deliver quantifiable, measurable results to customers rather than selling physical products or services.
• Near-term adoption of IIoT is primarily driven by the desire to optimize asset utilization and create new revenue streams, with predictive maintenance and remote asset management being the most cited applications.
• Security and interoperability are identified as the most significant hurdles to IIoT adoption, with 76% of survey respondents viewing the likelihood of cyberattacks as very or extremely high.
• The IIoT will lead to a 'blended workforce' where humans and machines collaborate, replacing lower-skilled repetitive jobs with new high-skilled roles such as medical robot designers and grid optimization engineers.
• Emerging markets have a unique opportunity to 'leapfrog' developed nations by integrating state-of-the-art sensors and connectivity directly into new infrastructure projects, avoiding the costly retrofitting required in older economies.
• The report recommends that public policy-makers update data protection and liability policies to facilitate transborder data flow and revisit regulations in sectors like healthcare and utilities to encourage digital investment.

APA

World Economic Forum (2015). Industrial Internet of Things: Unleashing the Potential of Connected Products and Services. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEFUSA_IndustrialInternet_Report2015.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Industrial Internet of Things: Unleashing the Potential of Connected Products and Services. 2015. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEFUSA_IndustrialInternet_Report2015.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Industrial Internet of Things: Unleashing the Potential of Connected Products and Services |date=January 2015 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEFUSA_IndustrialInternet_Report2015.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2015industrial, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Industrial Internet of Things: Unleashing the Potential of Connected Products and Services}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2015}, month = jan, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEFUSA_IndustrialInternet_Report2015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }