IoT, Data and Connectivity Drive Business and Sustainability

Vision 2030:
A connected future
How the Internet of Things, data and connectivity
can drive business and a sustainable future

The Internet of
Things, data and
connectivity can
drive business and a
sustainable future
2

Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 04
Key findings ...................................................................................................................... 08
Future vision 2030 ............................................................................................................. 17
Barriers .............................................................................................................................. 34
Opportunities .................................................................................................................... 50
Businesses can make it happen: Recommendations
……………………………....................62
What next?...........................................................................................................................71
Appendix ………..................................................................................................................74
3

Introduction
5
Businesses are aware of the great
potential for the Internet of Things (IoT),
data and connectivity to drive a
sustainable future and make companies
more resilient – but currently struggle
to turn this into meaningful action.
By 2020, 4.1 billion people will be online,
amounting to more than half the world’s
population. Digital technology has already
transformed both industry and the human
experience, and its continuing
exponential growth means that the future
is both uncertain and filled with
opportunity.
This unprecedented level of access to
information opens the door to new and
exciting opportunities in many different
areas of people’s lives, not just in the way
we consume, but also the way we restore
the world around us. Nearly all
governments and corporations now
recognize the importance of securing a
sustainable future for the generations
ahead. Businesses, governments and
citizens are also increasingly partnering to
create a better, safer, cleaner and
prosperous future and driving solutions,
such as the circular economy, citizen-
driven democracies and digital
healthcare.
The opportunities are enormous and,
as is very often the case, still waiting to
be imagined.
What are the possibilities for digital
technologies to support, if not lead,
both sustainable outcomes and
economic growth for governments,
enterprises and citizens?
How can new technologies like IoT,
data and connectivity help us
overcome climate change, resource
shortages and other sustainability
challenges, while tackling the very
problems they themselves create,
such as e-waste and increasing
energy demand?

Introduction
Research Survey of 250 Executives
6
To understand the vital importance of technology for
sustainability and business, Forum for the Future
(Forum)
and Wipro Digital conducted qualitative interviews with
industry experts and surveyed more than 250 C-level
executives, vice presidents and senior public sector
leaders across industries in the United Kingdom and
the United States to explore the possibilities these new
technologies offer to drive systemic change for a
more sustainable future.
The research found that data and connectivity are the
top strategic priority for executives, while sustainability
is ranked as the
second priority.

Our research shows action on
sustainability tends to be incremental
and unambitious.
Data and IoT remain untapped
resources for supporting and
strengthening sustainability initiatives.
Introduction
7
The survey also found that the
vast majority of leaders surveyed
were aware of the potential
contributions IoT, data and
connectivity can make towards a
sustainable future. These leaders
made a clear connection between
sustainability and long-term
business success, with two-thirds
rating a plentiful supply of natural
resources to support their enterprise
as their biggest benefit.
Most strikingly from the research,
however, was that only half the
number of respondents were
actually translating this awareness
into practice, even with knowing the
benefits. They are yet to fully grasp
the connection between their two top
priorities of data and connectivity
and sustainability.
This report describes how IoT, data
and connectivity can help business
and government enterprises build
better, more sustainable systems
that provide the key services that
their consumers and citizens rely
on. Based on interviews and
conversations with experts, this
report envisions an achievable
future that employs technology to
benefit sustainability and enterprise
outcomes. It also identifies existing
barriers that
can be overcome if businesses
collectively act on them, and
showcases existing opportunities to
achieve this vision today.
This research aims to provoke
thought among readers and
act as a catalyst for practical
action from public and private
enterprises to make digital
technology a powerful accelerator
for sustainability and better
business outcomes.

AWARENESS
awareness of the potential
for data and connectivity to
contribute to a sustainable
future is high or very high
in their industries
POTENTIAL
confident that IoT is
contributing to a
sustainable future, and will
continue to do so in five
years’ time
PRIORITY
ranked data and
connectivity as a top five
strategic priority, with
sustainability a close
second at 76%
50%
use data and connectivity to
support sustainability efforts
9
Key Findings:
IoT, data and connectivity
The untapped
potential
The survey revealed that CEOs
and VPs from 250 global
companies see great potential in
data and connectivity, and strongly
believe it will contribute to a
sustainable future.
However, despite recognizing
sustainability as a high strategic
priority, most stated that their
businesses currently use data and
connectivity primarily for short-term
gains, such as operational
efficiencies and cost reduction,
rather than for driving
sustainability. 65%
use data and connectivity to make
operations more efficient
93% 98% 80%

2
Key Findings
10
This report summarizes the
findings from the qualitative
interviews and survey, and
provides a future vision that
draws on these insights, as well
as additional desk research, to
imagine what’s possible.
The report highlights the areas of
opportunity experts and business
leaders see in data
and connectivity to drive a
sustainable future, as well as the
barriers that may hinder progress.
It concludes with some concrete
implications for business, with
questions that act as thought-
starters on how to turn the vision
into reality.
A core finding of the survey is
that 93% of respondents see
great potential in IoT, data and
connectivity in helping to deliver
a sustainable future. However,
the expert interviews have
shown that, even if the
technological tools needed to
transform systems and make
them sustainable are already
available, they are not yet being
applied for this purpose. Greater
proactivity and collaboration
between businesses,
governments and people is
needed to enable the system
change we need.

11
Key Findings:
Future Vision 2030
A brighter, fairer and more prosperous
future for all is within reach if we can
realize the potential of IoT, data and
connectivity.
This vision is generated using Forum’s
future techniques and imagines a
not-too-distant future where ultra-
transparent business operations,
meaningful and tailored data flows and
data-enabled infrastructures have paved
the way to a connected society governed
by informed, responsible and empowered
citizens and businesses.

12
Key Findings:
Barriers
Businesses can be the catalysts for
a connected, sustainable future by
scaling up the technological
opportunities; but, as the expert
interviews revealed, even when
ambition is high, it is not yet being
translated into meaningful action.
The research uncovered a number
of obstacles hindering the potential:
Unfulfilled potential:
Data and connectivity are primarily being
used for operational efficiencies, rather than
strategic growth and sustainability
opportunities, like driving product and service
innovation, creating new business models
and improving brand value.
More respondents use data and connectivity
half or more of the time to make operations
more efficient than to support sustainability
efforts (65% vs 52%).
Security risks:
Digital security and privacy issues are
inhibiting people, businesses and
governments from opening up their data.
Gartner’s research suggest that 25% of cyber
attacks will involve IoT devices by 2020.
Unfulfilled potential | Security risks

13
Key Findings:
Barriers
The digital divide:
Access to technology and data skills
are not shared equally between
demographics and geographies.
Only 31% of the population in
developing countries had internet
access in 2014, compared with 80%
in high income countries.
Rebound effect:
As the availability of data-enabled products
and services grows exponentially, so too
does the corresponding energy demand and
electronic waste production.
42m tonnes of electronic waste was
produced in 2014 globally,4 by then it was
predicted that it could rise to 65m in 2017.
Lack of common tech standards:
Since advances in technology happen
faster than legislation can keep up with
them, there is a lack of necessary
governance for technologies, such as
artificial intelligence.
“It is a political decision on how to use
data. IoT itself won't make the change.”
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino,
Founder of Designswarm
The digital divide | Rebound effect | Lack of common tech standards
13

Key Findings:
Opportunities
Businesses can be the catalysts for a
connected, sustainable future by
scaling up the technological
opportunities; but, as the expert
interviews revealed, even when
ambition is high, it is not yet being
translated into meaningful action. The
research uncovered a number of
obstacles hindering the potential:
Open data infrastructures:
Platforms that offer access to various kinds
of data are essential for enabling better data
flows and collaboration, data integration and
the meaningful analysis
of data.
“Treating data as infrastructure and opening
up access to it will have as profound an
impact on our society as providing
electricity.”
Gavin Starks, founding CEO of Open
Data Institute
Data integration:
Information generated through the connection
of various data sources
offers the incentive to link silos and
drive exponential innovation.
“The problem is not solved by technology
alone but by designing for complexity.
Connecting people together to identify and
solve problems together is key.”
Usman Haque, CEO and founder
of the thingful.net
Open data infrastructures | Data integration
14

Key Findings:
Opportunities
Digital citizenship:
A movement of using data to inform
and empower citizens, and enable
them to express their voices and ideas
to shape the future they want.
“Businesses need to see their role as a
way to help people function through
technology as citizens.”
Jon Alexander, founder of New
Citizenship Project
Tracking for transparency:
New data monitoring technologies and
distributed databases can increase the
reliability of data flows, leading to increased
digital trust, robust decision making and
transparent and resilient
supply chains.
“Disclosure is a lever for change, but needs
to come together with other levers if it is to be
successful.”
Mark Gough, Executive Director of Natural
Capital Coalition
Globalizing empathy:
New technologies such as AR and VR may
enable people to better understand global
challenges and to engage more deeply in
situations that, before, felt far away in terms
of location and lifestyle. 49% of total
respondents see virtual reality as a key
strategic priority of their business. Among
agribusinesses, this figure is 63%.
Digital citizenship | Tracking for transparency | Globalizing empathy
15

• Collaborate and share projects and budgets across
departments such as Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing,
Research & Development, etc.
• See beyond operational efficiency
• Be a driver of new tech governance
• Avoid rebound effects
• Enable open data infrastructures and data integration
• Empower responsible digital citizens
• Build trust and resilience with data-enabled transparency
• Use data and connectivity to unlock behaviour change
Key Findings:
How Businesses can make it happen
16

2
Future Vision 2030
18
The research shows how IoT,
data and connectivity can make
a powerful contribution to the
system-level change needed to
get to a sustainable future. To
see how the opportunities could
combine and scale, insights
from the research have been
explored using Forum’s futures
techniques to envision an
aspirational future to work
towards that is connected,
sustainable and prosperous.
Confidence is very high (98%)
among business leaders that IoT
is contributing to a sustainable
future and will continue to do so in
five years’ time.

19
Even the most closed businesses
share some of their data. Governments
are trying to strengthen the emerging
open data culture by offering tax
benefits
for companies complying with open
data standards.
Sharing information about new
developments and innovative solutions
has become prevalent among start-ups
that have reached a global presence
over the last decade, with some far-
reaching benefits. Low-income
communities, for example, have used
the open source platform, Wiki-house,
to make homes anywhere with local
materials using digital fabrication tools
such as 3D printing and laser cutting.
Each part of the house can be
customized to people's desires and
weather needs.
Data assets are the new currency
impacting economic growth, with progress
accelerated through platforms for data
collaboration, augmenting business and
societal intelligence. To
be part of this new market, a larger
percentage of businesses’ information
needs to be accessible to the public
and government.
As a sign of the times, 30% of countries
are now ruled by an open democracy,
which allows decentralized collaboration
and citizen-driven decision making. In
another sign of change, data science
degrees are now the most popular choice
for university students.
How a world enabled by IoT, data and connectivity could look
Vision 2030:A connected future
Open data society

20
Changing consumer behaviours,
enabled by digital products and
services, have created expectations
for more openness and
transparency from businesses.
Meanwhile, different countries have
diverse approaches to data privacy.
Some leave it to the market to solve
societal needs, while others rely
on civil society movements to
influence policy making on issues
such as how much data companies
can store and use.
Securing personal data is a permanent
concern because of data breaches,
cyber attacks and abuse of personally
identifiable information in the past. As a
result, people are paying for extra
secure data and encrypted services.
However, there has been a positive shift
towards a more shared data value
approach, whereby businesses share
the value created through personal data
sharing with their customers by giving
“cash back for data” or providing
additional personalised services.
Technologies such as blockchain have
enabled full traceability into global supply
chains, allowing the circular economy to scale
up and share resources around the globe.
Having greater awareness of where products
come from has influenced buying habits, and
local produce is more valued than ever
before.
Corporate transparency

21
Health has improved overall, and life
expectancy is now over 100 years.
Preventative action and early diagnosis
is made increasingly possible thanks to
sophisticated micro body sensors used
to monitor even minor bodily changes.
Personal devices like mobile phones are
linked to these intravenous micro sensors,
and act like personal trainers and doctors,
informing people when to exercise, diet or
come in for a doctor’s specialist
appointment.
Some families own full-kit bathroom care
systems, which take samples of every
family member and recognize individual
samples via DNA, retina scanning and
fingerprint lighting. The data is captured,
stored and shared with doctors in real
time to provide holistic information about
an individual, including screening for
serious disease.
The phenomenon of 3D-printed organs and
self-genetic modification of under-
performing organs is growing, increasing
life-expectancy among people that can
afford it.
Digital wellbeing

22
Resource volatility (characterized by
higher material, distribution and
production costs) and digital services
have changed the way people interact
and consume. Reduced material
consumption has created experiential
services to grow. Drone-cinema, for
example, offers ultra-sensorial
experiences in which the user sits
virtually within a high-speed drone and
sees the planet from space in real time.
Shopping is mainly based on virtual
experiences, where data is used to drive
awareness of pertinent environmental
issues that are a consequence of 20th
century over-consumption. Many stores
now have mini-fabrication laboratories,
which have laser-cutting, 3D-printing and
material-recycling capabilities. These
“local loop” stores act as a hub for the
circular economy, which is how
businesses are fostering customer loyalty;
some days more “pre-loved” products are
returned than new ones sold due to new
bring-back incentives.
Regenerative design practices are the
starting point for new products. Packaging,
for example, comes from recovered sea
plastic, urban biofuels are produced from
local restaurant waste and construction
materials are often developed from
abundant plastic waste.
New types of consumption

23
Businesses’ previous zero-waste
approaches to resources have evolved
into the realm of net positive. Companies
now specify how their products are
“regenerating life” and enhancing local
ecosystems, which drives a completely
new relationship between business and
communities.
Developments in motion energy provide
a good example. Today, it is possible to
capture motion energy from people
cycling, walking or even just watching
football. In a regular stadium, there are
enough people moving between sitting
and standing to power the venue’s
entire energy needs. The more goals
and excitement during the game, the
more the fans move and the greater the
amount of energy produced.
Manufacturing firms and other businesses
are able to operate completely closed loop,
thanks largely to the optimized use of
resources, which relies largely on sensors
and other data to inform production
decisions and maximize “waste” use. Often
this means working with other businesses
within the sector to enable a more
collaborative approach to material flow,
wealth creation and positive impact.
Regenerative fabrication

24
A renewed relationship has formed
between government and civic society,
mainly enabled by open data and
sustainability goals. Proposed
legislation to protect workers' rights
using human quotas have reduced
concerns about prosperity and job loss,
which emerged from a more automated
society. Although most lower-skilled
jobs have been replaced by machines,
the Industrial Internet Revolution
provided people with fresh skills
through online education and created
new types of jobs, such as medical
robot designers and grid optimization
engineers.
Citizens continuously share data captured
through sensors on their mobile phones,
cars, clothes, etc., including information on
air quality, noise, traffic, crime, transport and
sustainable behaviour. This data is used in a
plethora of ways, including as leverage for
policy change and also as a way of telling
businesses and governments that a
particular service or product they are
responsible for is faulty. Access to transport,
traffic and crime data, as a further example,
makes it possible to name and shame car
brands contributing the most to
environmental pollution or praise other
brands for perfect safety records, to discover
which roads need a redesign for better traffic
circulation and to identify which city areas
need increased policing.
Democracy has evolved. Representation
is more accurate, elections are more
frequent and decision-making options are
more direct, thanks to a new mechanism
through which citizens select trusted
proxy representatives to specialized
topics.
Smart cities, smart citizens

25
Many jobs have been replaced by
automation, but measures have been
put in place, such as shorter working
weeks and universal basic income, to
maintain purpose, income and work life
balance for as many people as
possible.
Businesses are automating as much as
possible, and it’s not just manual labor
that’s being affected: traditional
knowledge-based jobs are also
experiencing the change, with newly
automated professions including law and
medicine. Today, people can undergo a
“pre-doc” appointment from the comfort of
their own home and receive an automated
95% accurate diagnosis and treatment
plan. The new “U-Law” system enables
users to analyze their court case based
on written law, thereby reducing the cost
of lawyers to the public.
The concept of the office has also changed
consequently, with people working
anywhere and everywhere. It is now
commonplace for employees to work
remotely for companies while being
physically based in other countries.
The growth of virtual working in certain
parts of the economy combined with
automated processes (such as automated
PAs) is freeing up real estate, which is
having a positive impact in terms of saving
water, electricity and commuting time.
Future of work

26
Businesses are competing to build a
reputation for having the most
regenerative solutions at the best
prices. Consumers are no longer
spending time analyzing the cost-
benefit relationship of every purchase;
instead, these decisions are being
made by apps using algorithms tailored
to customer experiences and based on
research by independent auditors, who
employ data scientists to validate
product-service experiences and
marketing claims. As a result, people
are buying better-fit brands and
achieving more sustainable lifestyles.
Visualizing data in real time has
changed habits. End-of-life
information built into everyday
products, for example, has decreased
landfill waste, as consumers are
made aware of how to reuse or
recycle materials. Other data
platforms help businesses to sell
surplus materials and waste to
flourishing new industries, such as
urban biofuels and innovative
construction materials.
Digital scrutiny

Getting to the vision:
Accelerating system level change
27
The Future vision describes a world
where IoT, data and connectivity
could play a significant role in a
better future for all.
These technologies also present
profound opportunities to get us to that
future – using new information flows
and innovation to accelerate the
system change needed. We have also
explored how IoT, data and
connectivity could enable a different
future by contributing to system level
change.

28
Systems perspective on the opportunities
Technology’s potential to be a disruptive force for good
The future needs new,
sustainable systems that work for
businesses and people. If we are
to achieve better economic,
social and environmental
outcomes for all, we need to
redesign how we work, live,
produce food, access energy, use
resources and even the way we
govern ourselves. New
technology solutions have
far-reaching consequences on
systems and can be a great
enabler for positive change
because of their disruptive
impact on business as usual.
Forum for the Future uses the multi-level
perspective (see page 29) to describe how
major shifts and disruptions happen. When
“big picture” pressures, like changing
political values or major technological
improvements, combine with niche
innovations, like blockchain or sharing
models, business as usual (see “Regime”
on page 29) is open to change.
IoT, data and connectivity are at the heart
of this system change right now – they are
disrupting industries, reshaping the social
landscape and providing multiple niche
innovations. They are changing how people
live and work and how they interact socially
and culturally. They are even having an
impact on who has political power and how
that power is expressed.

29

30
For this to be a positive disruption that grows
economies and takes the world’s food, energy
and other systems in a sustainable direction, we
need to harness these technologies to drive
better business, social and environmental
outcomes.

31
New information flows can reshape how our systems operate
We have an opportunity to
distribute and harness the
potential of data in completely new
ways. People and communities can
use this information as inspiration
to innovate and reshape the
systems we work in together.
Forum has identified eight system-level
change strategies that provide the biggest
levers to shift a system (page 32).
Technology can play a role in almost all of
the strategies, but our research shows that
IoT, data and connectivity are best placed
to support two of them:
Providing equitable information flows and
structures and creating new (disruptive)
innovations and better products/services.
If channeled for behaviour change, they
may support culture, mindset and social
values, but that needs to be seen.
These strategies work in tandem, so for
anyone wanting to capture opportunities for
change across a specific system,
technology will need to be complemented
by other strategies.

32
Eight change strategies that can reshape how systems operate
Support the culture,
mindset and social
values needed
Create the right incentives,
business models and financing
Create new (disruptive) innovations
and better products/services
Influence to shift goals through
future-focused political and
economic goals and policies
Ensure a route for innovation into,
or replacing, the mainstream
Provide equitable information
flows and structures
Develop appropriate
measures and standards
Harness trends for a robust
case for change

33
New information flows can reshape how our systems operate
“Many of the interactions in systems operate through
the flow of information. Information holds systems
together and plays a great role in determining how
they operate.”
Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in systems – A primer

2
Barriers
35
Our future vision is being held
back by major barriers, according
to several business leaders and
industry experts. The only way to
maximize the potential of data and
connectivity for a sustainable and
prosperous future, and the system
change needed to get there, is to
understand these barriers, and to
overcome them. We can see some
Signals of Change today, that
show inspiring examples of how
these barriers are addressed
today.
The following barriers were
identified through the qualitative
interviews with industry experts, the
quantitative survey of business
leaders and additional desk
research by Forum for
the Future:
• Unfilled potential
• Security risks
• Data monopolies
• Digital divide
• Rebound effects
• Lack of common standards

Unfulfilled potential
Big wins go wanting as businesses fail to join up the dots
36
More than half of the business
leaders who took part in the survey
say their companies primarily use
data and connectivity to improve
operational efficiency (see survey
results, right). This makes perfect
sense for cutting costs, but likely
ignores far greater benefits.
Experts in the research believe
transformational solutions are rare, and
that IoT, data and connectivity solutions
are not yet being used to their full
potential. Bigger impacts stand to be
made by using data and connectivity for
strategic sustainability and business
opportunities, such as driving
sustainable product and service
innovation, creating restorative
business models and driving
shared value.
Businesses need to exploit this potential if
they are to drive the solutions necessary for
a sustainable future and create long-term
benefits for people, planet and profit.
This links to another issue: to tackle the
biggest challenges, the tech industry needs
to rethink what it understands as problems.
While tech CEOs invest heavily in space
tourism and promise utopia, our planetary
problems, such as climate change and
resource shortages, remain severe and
unsolved.

The biggest benefits of IoT, Data and Connectivity
21%
26%
27%
34%
40%
46%
47%
58%
Mitigate climate change
Improve nature and communities
Sustainable consumption
New business models
Lower costs
Product and service innovations
Safety and security
Operational efficiencies
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
37
To really take advantage of the
wondrous potential IoT, data
and connectivity offer requires
a shift of mindset and the
willingness of businesses,
governments and people to
channel technology’s power
in the right direction.
Key Benefits of IoT, data and connectivity

“If we continue to pitch our perk-based
products and services as ‘game-changing
solutions to global problems,’ we will only
demonstrate to the rest of the world how
out of touch we (Silicon Valley) are.”
Blog from Riva-Melissa Tez,
Co-founder, Permutation Ventures
51% use data and
connectivity to make
operations more efficient
40% use it to support
sustainability efforts
“Having a common language and
asking the question about what we
are going to change with this, becomes
a fundamental part of
every data project.”
Mark Gough – Executive Director of
Natural Capital Coalition
“Technology is not the limiting factor in
solving the problems. What I am
finding more challenging are the
organizational operations and political
will.”
Tim Wilkinson UNEP – Head of
Programme Informatics
Signals of change
38
Fairphone is the first phone manufacturer whose
business model is built on ethical and sustainable
practices and consumption. The Fairphone 2 is a
modular phone boasting long-lasting design that
encourages reuse and recycling behaviours and
the promise of good working conditions across its
supply chain.
The Tech for Good community features media
content that demonstrates technology’s potential for
delivering positive outcomes. It celebrates where
tech is being used and developed, reveals the impact
it is having and encourages debate around the
issues.
Dell is one of the first companies to follow a net
positive strategy, and has set itself the goal that, by
2020, “the good that will come from our technology
will be 10x what it takes to create
and use it.”

Security risks
Fears over online security threaten the promise of open data
39
Cisco estimates that by 2030, 500
billion computers and objects will be
connected to the internet6. But having
more connected devices presents new
security risks.
In October 2016, a massive internet
outage woke the world up to the threat
from cyberattacks, as many popular sites,
including Twitter, Amazon, Tumblr,
Reddit, Spotify and Netflix, were forced
offline. In May 2017, cyberattack
WannaCry hit companies around the
globe and forced the UK’s NHS to close
seven hospitals, affecting everything from
A&E to ambulances. If people were not
worried about their online security before,
they are now.
The risk of further cyberattacks creates a
significant barrier to scaling up the
opportunities data sharing offers, both in
terms of helping to create a sustainable
future and also improving the lives of
consumers through personalized digital
services, convenience and connectivity.
Clearly, the combination of having hundreds
of billions of connected objects and
inadequate security protection presents a
significant risk to users’ privacy and their
trust in companies’ products and services.
Gartner predicts that more than 25% of
cyberattacks will involve IoT devices by
2020.
Businesses need to invest large sums if
they are to properly prepare for the
inevitable proliferation of sophisticated
cyberattacks to avoid costs and reputation
loss and build trust with their customers.
Interestingly, data and connectivity could
also play a part in the solution to their own
problem. Agencies that adequately utilize
big data analytics see improvements in
cybersecurity. 84% of agencies studied
reported their organization had
successfully thwarted a cybersecurity
attack with big data analytics, and 90%
said they saw a decline in security
breaches.

“Opening data will not be effective if it
necessarily involves risks to individual
privacy. It is therefore critical to develop
effective approaches to balance these
benefits and risks, enabling cities to
release open data without unduly
compromising sensitive information.”
Green, Ben, Gabe Cunningham, Ariel
Ekblaw, Paul Kominers, Andrew
Linzer, and Susan Crawford. 2017.
Open Data Privacy (2017). Berkman
Klein Center for Internet & Society
Research Publication
“People need both greater
understanding and control over
their own data.”
Gavin Starks, Founding CEO
of Open Data Institute
Security risks
Signals of change
40
Messaging service WhatsApp offers an end-to-end
encryption service on all of the messages created on
the app.
Private cyber security start-up CrowdStrike,
which raised $100m in May 2017 and is now
valued at more than $1bn, anticipates a surge in
demand in the wake of the WannaCry attack that
ripped through organizations around the world
(Financial Times).
GovCERT is the Danish government’s computer
emergency response team. It monitors the networks
of government institutions and utility companies, and
tracks the movement of data in and out of those
networks, recording every IP address, reading every
packet and measuring
how long the connections last.

Data monopolies
Creating new silos in business and society
41
Data and connectivity could help
people to understand society and
ecosystems better, but this requires
data integration from different
sources. To turn these insights into
innovative business opportunities,
strong multidisciplinary collaboration
is required between tech experts,
R&D and sustainability teams.
Part of this involves developing more
sophisticated ways to make sense out of
data. If this doesn’t happen, businesses are
left taking decisions or implementing
solutions from a limited perspective, which
can lead to unintended consequences.
To see more disruptive and systemic
solutions, businesses need to collaborate
much more, both internally and externally.
Without data collaboration and sharing,
“data giants” like Amazon and Google will
own most of the world’s data assets.
The survey revealed that internal
collaboration between departments
responsible for sustainability and IoT or data
and connectivity could be stronger, with only
32% of respondents saying collaboration is
significant.
The good news, however, is that when
sustainability is seen as a strategic
opportunity, the cross-functional discipline is
one of the key drivers of this collaboration.

47% of respondents said that
sustainability is one of the top three key
drivers of inter-departmental
collaboration
Data monopolies
Signals of change
42
Datacoup calls itself the first personal data marketplace
where users get a share of the money generated by
selling information about themselves. It allows users to
pick which data they want to sell and get paid monthly by
credit card.
People.IO is a start-up that allows users to license their
data, allowing them effectively to request rewards from
named brands that have been given permission to
engage at specific times and frequency.

Data monopolies
Signals of change
43
Improving collaboration from “some” to “significant” between departments responsible for
sustainability, IoT, data and connectivity could potentially help to reduce data monopolies.
32%
56%
9%
2%
26%
63%
7%
2%
33%
58%
5% 4%
27%
50%
23%
0
23%
63%
13%
0
46%
49%
4%
0
31%
54%
11%
3%
Significant collaboration Some collaboration Minimal collaboration No collaboration at all
All
Consumer packaged goods
Manufacturing
Utilties
Agribusiness
Multinational Tech
Local/Central Gov
Industries

The digital divide
Skills and access gaps hint at even greater inequality
44
Numbers, data and information alone
are not going to solve the world’s
biggest sustainability issues. Taking
a “technology will save us” approach
to systemic problems will clash with
the complex reality of today's
problems. If the right questions are
not being asked about what those
problems actually are, we will only
ever make incremental progress.
The ability to capitalize on data and use it
for meaningful applications was a
reoccurring concern among the experts.
Skills in understanding and analyzing data is
therefore key. Data literacy - the ability to
understand data and to use it in meaningful
ways - is seen as a core skill that needs to
be established within all aspects of society,
including institutions, governments,
businesses and schools.
To ensure that the opportunities offered by
data and connectivity are fully exploited,
everyone must have the same skills and
opportunities to access them. But this is not
currently the case; while access to data via
the internet and computers in developed
countries is commonplace, access in other
parts of the world remains limited, widening
the so-called digital divide (The World Bank
has mapped the global spread of digital
technologies in its Digital Adoption Index).
To illustrate this point, only 31% of the
population in developing countries had
internet access in 2014, compared with 80%
in high income countries.

The digital divide
Signals of change
45
Jana’s mission is to make the internet free for
the next billion users. The start-up enables
mobile connectivity in emerging markets by
leveraging advertising to offset high data costs.
Africa Code Week provides coding education to
Africa's youth, empowering them to drive the
continent's economic development.
Microsoft has recently launched a training
programme in the UK that aims to teach people
digital skills to ensure the country remains one
of the global leaders in cloud computing,
artificial intelligence and other next-generation
technologies. In 2014, Intel launched a similar
scheme in India, which includes modules on
digital literacy, financial inclusion, healthcare
and cleanliness in five Indian languages.
“There’s never been a better time to be
a worker with special skills or the right
education, because these people can
use technology to create and capture
value. But there’s never been a worse
time to be a worker with only ‘ordinary’
skills and abilities to offer, because
computers, robots, and other digital
technologies are acquiring these skills
and abilities at an extraordinary rate.”
E. Brynjolfsson and A. McAfee write
in The Second Machine Age
“We live in a networked age
which many find confusing and
disempowering. We need to help
enable public understand and
debate about the use of data for
social, environmental, and
economic benefit.”

Rebound effects
Innovation and the vicious consumption cycle
46
As technology production has become
cheaper over the last decade, sensors
and other tech gadgets have driven
unsustainable consumption patterns.
The phrase “the internet of useless
things” was coined in response to the
growing disillusionment felt in some
quarters over the proliferation of
pointless technological devices.
The HAPIFork is among many products
to fuel the critics’ frustration. This
Bluetooth-connected fork lights up and
vibrates if users eat too quickly, and
measures how long it takes them to eat
their meal and how much time they are
taking between bites.
Countless other new technology-driven
consumer products are adding to the
problems of waste, resource use and other
environmental issues, and solving very little,
if anything, in return.
What we need to see instead is technology
that is more human-shaped and human-
proofed – solving real challenges and
serving real human needs.
E-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream
on Earth, leading to major health and
environmental risks. For example, the
average life expectancy in Agbogbloshie in
Ghana, a global electronics dumpsite, is just
23 years.10
Data and connectivity also have a high
energy bill. While it is predicted that data will
grow by up to 10 times by 202511, the
energy demand and (depending on the
energy source) resulting CO2 emissions
from data centers is also rising.
Already, data centers consume 1.2%
of global power.12
The experts in the research suggest the
most important first step is to address what
happens to a product at the end of its life
during the design phase. A good example of
where this has already been done is the
Fairphone, whose manufacturer offers repair
tutorials as well as selling spare parts to
ensure the phone lasts as long as possible.

Rebound effects
Signals of change
47
The Restart project and iFIXIT are driving a self-
repair movement in the electronics sector,
encouraging people to fix their devices themselves
so that the lifecycle of the devices is extended.
Apple’s data centres are powered by 100%
renewable energy.
WoeLab is an African fab-lab and incubator-
accelerator for boosting both open native hardware
technology projects and international approaches to
digital solidarity.
“The cost of sensors and other
technologies went down, but we still
don’t see more intelligent solutions. This
is a missed opportunity.”
Dr. Daniel Schien, Lecturer in
Computer Science at Bristol
University

Lack of common tech standards
New standards, principles and collaboration are required
48
Tech governance and interoperability
has historically been unable to keep
pace with innovation. But without
common or joint standards and
systems that work with each other, it
will be hard to channel technology
towards systems change, which may
lead to far-reaching unintended
consequences.
Some emergent technologies, such as
Blockchain, are already trying to provide
new solutions, including peer-to-peer
reviews as new governance structures.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine
Learning hold great promise and
opportunity to mine data and connectivity
for even greater insights and outcomes.
At the same time, common standards
and behaviours for AI have yet to be
established.
In 2015, Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, the
founders of Google DeepMind and dozens
of other researchers signed an open
letter13 calling for robust investigations
into the impact of AI and ways to ensure it
remains a benign tool at humanity's
disposal.

Lack of common tech standards
Signals of change
49
A new Silicon Valley-coalition supported by
companies including Apple, Amazon, Google,
Facebook, IBM and Microsoft announced the
formation of a non-profit organization dedicated to
investigating the trustworthiness and reliability of AI
technologies and similar matters. The coalition also
aims to create new standards for the technology,
informing societal and ethical best practice for AI
research.
“It is a political decision on how to use
data. IoT itself won't make the change.”
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino,
Founder of Designswarm

2
51
Opportunities
Industry experts identified
substantial opportunities for
IoT, data and connectivity to
drive positive impact and
meaningful action. If we can
overcome the barriers and
bridge the gap between
awareness and action, business
can capitalize on these
opportunities for commercial
and sustainability gains.
The following key opportunities
were identified through desk
research, interviews with
industry experts and the
quantitative survey of
business leaders:
• Open data infrastructures
• Data integration
• Digital participation
• Tracking for transparency
• Globalizing empathy

Open data infrastructures
Freeing information flows for collaboration
52
The opportunities:
• Enable the right context for disruptive
and open innovation
• Increase transparency and democracy
• Provide equal access to information
• Facilitate resource sharing
and reuse
Open data infrastructures were flagged by
experts as a key priority area, and the basis
for maximizing the potential data and
connectivity offer. They work by allowing
data to be freely available online for anyone
to use and republish for any purpose, and
are driven by technologies like application
program interfaces (APIs). Google was a
pioneer of open APIs, making software
available to developers to improve services
for everyone.
An increased adoption of open source
and data principles has encouraged
governments and businesses to start
opening up their data sets to the public,
driving transparency and establishing the
foundations for data collaboration and
integration.
More open and shared data about
environmental and social issues could be a
great driver of citizen-led innovation, since it
allows for the creative application of
information that can create real impact. This
is already being seen in the Crowd2Map
Tanzania initiative.
Open data is also a basic requirement for
driving forward the circular economy, which
is dependent on shared data flows in order
to identify opportunities for resource sharing
and reuse. Start-ups such as Globechain
and Environmate already use digital
platforms to connect industries to drive
resource reuse.
Open data could help take this even further,
enabling infrastructures to take them to
scale.

Open data infrastructures
Opportunities in action
53
Crowd2Map Tanzania is a crowd-sourced initiative
aimed at creating a comprehensive map of rural
Tanzania for everyone to use. Better maps helped
over 2,000 vulnerable women gain access to help
centres last year.
The London Borough of Camden has formally
launched a multipurpose open data platform featuring
over 300 different datasets on everything from
parking bays and planning applications to housing
stock and road accidents. It has had over 1.7m page
views since it was trialled in 2015.
SF72 is San Francisco’s hub for emergency
preparation. The platform connects people in
emergencies, informs visitors about what to do in an
emergency and offers useful guides on how to get
prepared.
“Open data and open access to sharable
data will have a profound an impact on our
society: we need to treat it as part of our
infrastructure.”

Data integration
Freeing information flows for collaboration
54
The opportunities:
• More impact through contextual
data analysis
• Greater efficiency savings
• Drive innovation through
co-created data sets
• Better understand complex
environmental and social issues
with new and more robust insights
and evidence
Public and private sectors remain
isolated. They don’t share information
flows, so the possibilities for processing
data remain limited. Driving integration
(e.g. by combining data sets, analyzing
them and sharing new insights for action)
between different organizations is the next
frontier to funnel new trusted solutions
that can impact a sector in a more
systemic way.
Experts believe the information generated
through multiple data sources offers the
incentive to connect silos and be the
enabler of efficiencies, exponential
innovation and the creation of a more
resilient civilization.
Having a more holistic overview of data
may also serve to increase our
understanding of the complexity of
ecosystems and sustainability challenges,
as is already being seen
in Griffith Institute’s Twitter for
Science project and Syngenta’s crop trait
analysis.

Data integration
55
Transport for London (TfL) has a long history of
opening its data with other parties. According to the
government body, it has saved between £15m-
£42m since 2009, when it opened raw
data to the app market, rather than developing apps
in-house.
Twitter for Science is a project led by the Griffith
Institute for Tourism that uses big data analytics to
test whether it is feasible to use “human sensors” —
posts from social media — to gauge the health of
ecosystems when combined with other data sets.
The research team is trying to monitor
environmental conditions at the Great Barrier Reef
in real time using tweets from Twitter, in addition to
meteorological data, tourism statistics, water quality
reports and coral cover, among other variables. The
approach uses sentiment analysis, applying AI
techniques such as natural process learning and
machine learning to extract the relevant ecological
information.
Syngenta has been using publicly available data in its R&D
for some time. Alongside data related to land, weather and
soil conditions, it uses biological data that has been
published openly to build a detailed understanding of crop
(and pest) traits, such as tolerance of environmental
pressures and resistance to viruses.
60% of respondents believe data and connectivity
will be of some help in restoring ecosystems, with
higher agreement from CPGs, government and
agribusiness.
“Today there are silos of funding, silos of
institutions, silos of stockholders… Technology
can bridge all the silos and can help us work up a
holistic approach for our challenges. We don't
need to eliminate the silos – just connect them
more effectively. Technology is the only way to
accomplish that integration.”
Storm Cunningham, author of The Restoration
Economy and publisher of Revitalization News
“We need to embrace network
thinking — applying the
possibilities of big data in the
physical world.”
Gavin Starks, Founding
CEO of Open Data Institute

Digital participation
Empowering people to take action
56
The opportunities:
• Help people feel more empowered
and responsible
• Improve democratic systems
• Promote a synergistic relationship
between
• businesses and people
Technology is a major enabler for people
who want to create change. The New
Citizenship Project calls this phenomenon
“civic tech,” whereby technology helps
people to function as engaged citizens, not
just as consumers (e.g. through involving
them in participatory democracy, budgeting
and innovation processes). Forward-thinking
companies are now realizing it is better to
understand consumers as people and
citizens.
Citizen innovation is driven by increasing
access to a diverse range of technologies.
Data platforms, for example, can enable
a rapid prototyping process of detecting
a problem, developing a solution, reaching
out to a community in need and launching a
pilot.
Technological solutions and methodologies
for communities to collaboratively assemble,
deploy and maintain citizen-led campaigns to
capture, share and make sense of open data
about their environment are thriving across
the globe. Governments are investing in
ways to harness this to build resilient
democracies and understand how
participatory governance can have an impact.
For businesses, this is an opportunity to
create a very different type of relationship,
whereby people are much more involved in a
company’s activities and have a say in
product and service development. Bringing
people into the process and making them
part of the innovation business can create
long-lasting value and drive trust and brand
loyalty.

Digital participation
57
Smart Citizen is a community platform for
researchers, schools, citizens, science and
developers to generate participatory processes for
people living in cities.
Portugal has announced the world’s first
participatory budget on a national scale. The project
will let people submit ideas for what the government
should spend its money on, and then vote on which
ideas are adopted.
Your Priorities is an eDemocracy web application
designed by the non-profit Citizens Foundation
to drive online dialogues between citizens and
authorities.
Democracy Earth is an open source and
decentralized democratic governance protocol for
any organization using blockchain to build digital
trust.
42% of government respondents think
communities are ecosystems that could be
restored though data and connectivity.
“Businesses need to see their role as a way to help
people function through technology as citizens, not
just as consumers. This is the only way tech can help
people develop a sense of agency in the world, and
embrace rather than reject it.”
Jon Alexander, founding partner of New
Citizenship Project

Tracking for transparency
Informed consumers and resilient business
58
The opportunities:
• Increase visibility of impacts
• Develop more resilient and efficient
supply chains and cities
• Create new products and services
• Better inform consumers
• Elicit behaviour change
Companies are increasingly using sensors
and wireless technologies to capture data at
all stages of a product's lifecycle to drive
operational efficiencies. Some are using the
technology to create new revenue streams
and others to improve transparency and help
make impact more measurable. Start-up
Provenance, for example, recently managed
to track fish from catch to supermarket using
sensors and blockchain.
Sensor-enabled tracking and monitoring
can also be a valuable asset in the
protection of ecosystems, as is being seen
in an initiative to chart human movements
in endangered rhino reserve grounds and
another to track illegal burning of forests.
Applied to human behavior, sensors and
trackers may help to drive sustainable
action by getting more information on
people’s lifestyles, choices and habits.
The application of heath sensors and
trackers to monitor fitness levels and
health information is already a huge
market; the e-health market is projected to
reach $308 billion by 2022. In the future,
people may increasingly also track their
carbon footprint, resource usage, etc.
through sensors and trackers in the same
way.
Vice-versa, product-integrated chips can be
an active driver of sustainable living choices
by informing consumers (e.g. about end of
life, reuse and recycling options), as well as
having an educational effect about issues
like climate change (see box). In the UK, the
rollout of smart meters is already increasing
awareness of resource use among
householders while helping utilities
companies to create a more resilient and
efficient grid. Data-enabled transparency is
seen as a potential game changer for supply
chain management, making supply chains
more resilient and closed-loop.

Tracking for transparency
59
Provenance is a platform that empowers greater
transparency by tracing the origins and histories of
products. Using blockchain as a base of its service,
it helps companies to easily gather and verify
product stories, keeping people connected to
physical things.
Global Forest Watch is an open data platform used
by the governments of Indonesia and Singapore to
crack down on illegal burning by pulp and paper
companies.
The Ethiopian Productive Safety Net Program,
normally used as a regular cash-transfer for poor
households, scaled up from 6.5 to 9.6 million
beneficiaries within two months after the 2011
drought by using satellite-based technology to
quickly pre-evaluate the drought situation.
53% of respondents claim the greatest
benefit of IoT, data and connectivity is
making operations more efficient.
“Data could bring light to our over-consumption patterns and
highlight global versus local issues.”
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, Founder of
Designswarm

Globalizing empathy
As an enabler of behaviour change
60
The opportunities:
• Bring important but distant
environmental and social issues
closer to people
• Elicit behaviour change
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are
currently applied mostly in the gaming industry;
however, there is much potential for social and
environmental applications through their ability to
create empathy for distant and simulated situations.
In the future, VR may enable people to better
understand global challenges, and to engage more
deeply in situations that before felt far away in terms
of location and lifestyle. We are already getting a
glimpse of VR’s potential through online platforms
such as Google Tango.
VR is just one example of how data and
connectivity technologies can help drive the
awareness of environmental issues.
The growth of automation and artificial
intelligence (AI) are also hot topics today.
Progress in each field has the potential to
significantly alter our current way of life, and there
are valid concerns as to whether their inexorable
rise will do more harm than good.
One thing that is for certain is that robots driven by
algorithms are not susceptible to the sort of whims,
inclinations and negative behaviours that mankind
is. While automation and AI certainly offer the
benefit of helping to rule out the human error factor,
they also have the potential to help us live more
sustainable lives automatically.

Globalizing empathy
61
With Project Syria, VR Journalist Nonny de la
Peña places participants in Aleppo during a rocket
blast and, later, in a refugee camp through VR with
her experience. Further, she has put people on the
virtual streets of Los Angeles to understand hunger
and on the virtual U.S.-Mexico border to live the
story of a man beaten to death by U.S. Border
Patrol agents.
Tribal planet creates online engagement platforms
around global issues including education,
sustainability, health and equality. The aim is to
empower citizens from around the world to engage,
learn, discover and collaborate in helping to solve
the greatest challenges facing our world today.
Pokemon Go - an augmented reality smartphone
game - has had a notable behavioural impact on
gamers. People reported being more active using
the game, and there are signs that it has had a
positive impact on users’ mental health status,
reducing depression and anxiety.
49% of business leaders
see VR as a key strategic
priority for their business.
63% of agribusinesses
see VR as a key
strategic priority for
their business.

62
Businesses can make it happen:
Recommendations

2
Seven recommendations
63
There are substantial
opportunities in IoT, data and
connectivity to be used for
sustainability – providing
commercial, social and
environmental benefits.
Business must play a key role
in using these technologies to
move us towards the future
vision, and support the change
needed to get there
We recommend companies and
government start by thinking
about the implications and how
they might be part of the
solution. Here are some ideas to
get started:
• See beyond operational
efficiency
• Be a driver of common tech
standards
• Avoid rebound effects
• Enable open data
infrastructures and data
integration
• Empower responsible digital
citizens
• Build trust and resilience with
data-enabled transparency
• Use data and connectivity to
unlock behaviour change

64
There is a tendency among
businesses to use data and
connectivity primarily for operational
efficiencies. The trouble with this
approach is that they miss out on the
long-term benefits afforded by
focusing on sustainability. Seeing the
long-term value of IoT, data and
connectivity will help to create new
and disruptive innovations for the
change required.
• What new revenue streams could you
unlock by developing new business models
and/or services drawing on data and
connectivity of your existing products?
• How closely linked are your R&D,
technology and sustainability teams?
Be strategic, collaborate, think systemically.
How to drive system change:
See beyond operational efficiency

65
Businesses and government need to
join the conversation about
governance of technology, and help
develop appropriate measures and
standards that ensure technology is
channelled for the greater good.
• Can you push for new standards or
positive lobbying to create equal access
to technology and the internet?
• Can you get involved in the creation of
ethical tech standards or principles
within your industry to ensure tech is
deployed in the right way?
• Could it be time to introduce human
quotas in your organization?
• How can government work together with
industry to develop standards that are
effective?
Be a driver of common tech standards

66
To avoid reputational risks and create
the foundations for all opportunity
areas to scale, companies need to
mitigate the negative impacts of
increased data and connectivity.
• Has your business put net positive goals
in place yet?
• Do you know your data footprint?
• With whom can you collaborate on the
e-waste challenge?
• How do you encourage renewable
energy use in your own operations and
beyond?
• How can you map your externalities and
start thinking about how data and
connectivity may be an enabler for better
environmental accounting?
Avoid rebound effects

67
Opening up your organization’s data
assets can help to drive cross-industry
collaboration around global
challenges, generate new insights and
push innovation forward. Open data
infrastructures can also be an
accelerator of equitable information
flows and structures, helping to scale
all opportunity areas. It is important to
remember, however, that collaboration
is not just about opening access to the
data, but actively stimulating a sharing
mindset between data owners.
• Do you have data assets that could be
useful for public use and create shared
data value?
• How could you provide people (internally
and externally) with new digital skills and
improve data literacy through your
business activities and/or partnerships?
• Could you partner up with other
organizations for data collaboration,
deriving new opportunities for data
analysis and insights?
• What are your underutilized data assets,
and who could you partner with to make
them more valuable?
• Could your business pioneer a new
approach to data ownership?
• Has your government implemented open
data platform yet?
• Does your government invest into open
data infrastructure yet?
Integrate, empower, build trust to unlock behaviour change.
Enable open data infrastructures and data integration

68
Organizations looking to scale up the
opportunities presented by “new
citizenship” need to understand
consumers as people and citizens.
They must explore how this will
change the perspective of the
organization and influence the way it
innovates. This will also lead to the
right culture needed for system
change.
• What might be the benefits of starting to
discuss difficult decisions with people
openly and publically?
• How could you make civil society key
decision makers within your
organization?
• How can you engage customers to be
part of R&D processes, and let them
decide what products and services they
really need to improve their lives?
• What shifts may a citizen approach
mean for political participation and
increased democracy?
Empower responsible digital citizens

69
Consumers are increasingly
demanding that brands be transparent
about their business operations. Data
and connectivity can help businesses
build trust with customers by offering
full insight into their supply chains
while supporting the right social
values for system change.
• How can your business experiment with
new technologies like blockchain to drive
transparency of your supply chain?
• Can you join or design data platforms that
enable better information and resource
flows within and outside of your
organization?
• How can you collaborate with other
organizations to develop new data sets
which uncover fresh insights into
environmental and societal restoration?
• How can governments use the
opportunities of data and connectivity to
give more transparency into political
decisions and increase participation,
especially the younger generations, in
political activities?
Build trust and resilience with data-enabled transparency

70
Engaging customers into sustainability
issues is not easy. Data and
connectivity solutions, such as VR,
have the potential to engage customers
in fun and exciting ways, thereby
creating incentives for sustainable
lifestyles and driving
the right mindsets required for
system change.
• Could you take customers on a VR
narrated journey through your business’s
operations, giving them
new insights into how you work
behind the scenes?
• How can you use data visualization
and gamification to help people
explore important issues such as climate
change, deforestation or
ocean pollution?
Use data and connectivity to unlock behaviour change

2
Start your journey
72
As this report has shown, IoT, data
and connectivity have the ability to
change how our systems operate. It
is up to every business and
government to decide whether they
want these systems to be open,
transparent, democratic, connected
and collaborative – or closed,
isolated, and contributing to
unsustainability.
This report set out to provide some
ways for companies to achieve their
business outcomes and start their
journey towards a connected future in
which data and connectivity empower
people to shape the world they want,
encourage better consumption habits
and drive equal opportunities for all.
There are many opportunities for
businesses to show thought
leadership and create business
advantage through digital
technology. However, all of the
issues this report mentions are
complex. How an individual
company takes advantage of
these opportunities will therefore
depend on that organisation’s
unique market position, product
portfolio and core competencies.

Forum for the Future
and Wipro Digital
are here to help
73
Please feel free to contact either:
Forum for the Future:
Technology Catalyst Team
technologycatalyst@forumforthefuture.org
Wipro Digital:
Alex Beal, Global Head of Marketing
digital.contact@wipro.com

2
About this report
75
United by their passion for
realizing the full potential of
technology to transform the
world for the better, Forum for
the Future (Forum) and Wipro
Digital have teamed up to
explore the ways the Internet
of Things (IoT), data and
connectivity can have a positive
impact for a sustainable future.
This report set out to provide
some ways for companies
to achieve their business
outcomes and start their journey
towards a connected future in
which data and connectivity
empower people to shape the
world they want, encourage better
consumption habits and drive
equal opportunities for all.
Drawing on Forum’s expertise in
sustainability and system
innovation, and Wipro Digital’s
proficiency in strategy, design
and technology, this joint
research report looks at how
much IoT, data and connectivity
have so far been applied to
sustainability, and the scope for
doing more in the future.

Methodology
76
The research was made up
of qualitative interviews
carried out by Forum with
industry experts and a
quantitative survey, managed
by Coleman Parkes
Research.
The interviews were held with external
opinion formers, including designers,
data experts, entrepreneurs and think
tanks, to explore the opportunities for
– and the barriers to - driving a more
sustainable future through data and
connectivity. The experts also
provided additional contextual
understanding of future impacts and
challenges, as well as offering some
provocative and forward-thinking
insights. A full list of interviewees can
be found in the Appendix.
The survey looked at how business
leaders perceive IoT, data and
connectivity’s potential for helping to
create a more sustainable future.
During the research, 250 C-suite
executives and Vice Presidents, who
between them had responsible for
data and connectivity/IoT, data
analytics, innovation and
sustainability, were asked about the
opportunities and barriers they see
for IoT, data and connectivity to drive
sustainability. The respondents were
based in the UK or the US and
represented the following five
sectors: consumer packaged goods
(43 respondents), manufacturing
(55), utilities (30), agribusiness (30),
multinational tech industries (57),
and local/central government (35).

List of interviewees
77
The researchers would like
to thank the interviewees for
sharing their thinking:
Gavin Starks – Founding CEO, Open Data Institute
Jon Alexander – Founding Partner, New Citizenship Project
Carlo Ratti – Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Founder, Carlo Ratti Associati
Storm Cunningham – Author, The Restoration Economy and Publisher, Revitalization News
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino – Founder, Designswarm
Dr. Daniel Schien – Lecturer in Computer Science, Bristol University
Usman Haque – CEO and Founder, Thingful.net
Mark Gough – Executive Director, Natural Capital Coalition
Chris Sandom – Professor, Sussex University
Annelisa Grigg – Head of Programme Business and Biodiversity, UNEP-WCMC
David Plumb – Digital and Business Director, Telefonica UK
Tim Wilkinson UNEP – Head of Programme Informatics
Jayraj Nair – Vice President and Global Head IoT, Wipro Digital

References
78
1. Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) 2017
2. Gartner, Forecast: IoT Security, Worldwide, 2016
3. ITU, ICT facts 2014
4. United Nations University, The Global E-waste Monitor 2014: Quantities, Flows and Resources
5. ec.europa.eu, E-waste to reach 65.4 million tonnes annually by 2017 according to StEP
6. cisco.com
7. Gartner, Forecast: IoT Security, Worldwide, 2016
8. MeriTalk’s report, Navigating the Cybersecurity Equation
9. World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends
10. gizmogul.com
11. IDC, Data Age 2025
12. The Data Centre Journal, industry outlook: data center energy efficiency, 2014
13. futureoflife.org, An Open Letter, Research Priorities for Robust and Beneficial Artificial Intelligence
14. Science Direct, Frank W. Geels, The multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions: Responses to seven criticisms
15. Grand View Research Inc., eHealth Market Projected To Reach USD 308.0 Billion By 2022, 2016

Glossary
79
Data and connectivity: Data and connectivity offer a new infrastructure that present new opportunities and risks for
businesses, society and the planet.
Internet of Things (IoT): Network of connected physical objects, such as objects, buildings, cars and more, that can exchange
data through embedded sensors, electronics, software, and connectivity.
Restoration: to return something to its former state. This could be a place, a species or an ecosystem, for example.
Ecosystem: a complex network or interconnected system, such as oceans, deserts, and also human communities.
Sustainability: Forum understands sustainability as a combination of environmental and social issues. In this report
‘sustainability’ is taken to mean all areas of sustainable development, including social, economic and environmental.
Restorative business models: Business models that help business to succeed in giving back more to social and
environmental ecosystems than they take from them. This approach also have been referred to as net positive.

About Forum for the Future
80
Forum for the Future
(Forum) is an international
non-profit with a purpose to
accelerate the big shift
towards a sustainable
future by catalysing change
in whole systems.
We are experts in delivering practical
system design, including futures tools
and techniques. Our core activity is
delivering system change projects,
learning from them and equipping
others to do the same. Our
partnerships support that work –
helping organizations develop the
strategies to address complex
challenges and equip our partner
contacts personally to drive big
change. Today we work with hundreds
of organizations through our offices in
London, New York, Mumbai and
Singapore, and create impact through
the businesses, governments, NGOs
and Trusts we partner with.
New technology solutions like the
Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain,
big data, synthetic biology, social
media, automation and artificial
intelligence (AI) will have far-
reaching consequences on our
systems. These technologies are
creating both opportunity and risk to
the sustainability challenges we are
trying to tackle at Forum.
Our vision is for the disruption driven
by technology to be positive for
society and the environment - taking
our food, energy and other systems
in a sustainable direction. That
means harnessing technology for
the good.
At Forum, we are exploring three key
questions:
• How might technology accelerate
solutions to specific sustainability
challenges, such as climate change
and sustainable nutrition?
• How might we harness specific
technologies like blockchain and AI for
sustainability?
• How might we understand the
downsides and unintended
consequences of new technologies,
and proactively manage them?
This report looks at how we can harness
the specific technologies of the IoT, data
and connectivity for sustainability.
If you would like to know more about
how we work with our technology
partners, please contact:
m.rose@forumforthefuture.org (UK) or
r.bautista@forumforthefuture.org (US).

About Wipro Digital
81
Business today needs to be
redesigned and rebuilt for a world
where experience defines value,
velocity determines growth and
scale is achieved not by big and
few but by small and many. The
businesses that will succeed
today are the ones that will offer
new sources of values, deliver a
delightful customer experience,
adapt at high velocity and tap
innovation globally. IoT, data and
connectivity, when combined
with new ways of working and
enterprise transformation, are
key enablers of business
tomorrow.
Wipro Digital, together with our
colleagues at Designit and across
Wipro, combines strategic design with
strategic technology to help you make
your future. Learn more at
wiprodigital.com or @WiproDigital

IoT, Data and Connectivity Drive Business and Sustainability

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