The Internet connects not only people: machines communicate with one another online as well. The rapidly developing “Internet of things” will soon become part of our everyday lives.

“First telecommunications cables connected computers located in different places, then wireless networks and smartphones formed a network of people. Now it is time for an Internet of things,” summarises Professor Sasu Tarkoma from the Department of Computer Science of the University of Helsinki, when discussing the history of telecommunications.

The “Internet of things” refers to a system where various objects and devices communicate with each other. In practice, this can refer, for example, to a postal parcel whose journey can be monitored thanks to an ID tag or microchip attached to it.

A new research project entitled The Internet of Things was recently launched in Finland with EUR 6 million funding from the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation as well as other contributors. The project partners include seventeen companies, seven institutes of higher education and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.