IoTFuse 2017 Conference Showcases the Growing Strength of Minnesota's Internet of Things (IoT) Economy

MINNEAPOLIS, April 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Minnesota's Internet of Things (IoT) community will gather for a one-day conference on Friday, April 21, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. More than 900 entrepreneurs, business leaders, marketers, inventors, digital experts, electrical engineers, software engineers, and data scientists will have access to four dozen presentations by leading innovators at IoTFuse, the largest community-run conference in the United States dedicated to the Internet of Things technology space.

According to multiple sources, there are around 6.3 billion "things" connected to the Internet today – from thermostats in your home or office to wearable fitness devices, as well as smarter factories, farms, cities, hospitals and retail establishments. Due to the wide reaching potential benefit across multiple industries that internet-connected devices provide, the number of connected devices is expected to climb to more than 20 billion in the next three years. The IoT represents an economic shift and a tremendous opportunity for developers, entrepreneurs, and product leaders to develop breakthrough, problem solving products and services that increase connectivity with work, home, and play. The IoTFuse conference offers a chance for IoT professionals in the Upper Midwest to gather and learn from each other in an open, collaborative environment.

Hosted by IoTFuse, a 501(c)3 non-profit based in Minnesota, the IoTFuse conference is open to anyone with a passion for building  the Internet of Things, and a desire to grow the IoT industry in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. To register, visit iotfuse.com. The conference is being sponsored by Digi International, Microsoft, ATEK, Arrow, Bayshore, Runtime.io, and Open Systems Technologies, among other sponsors. Cost to attend is $99, or $149 the day-of the conference. Seating is limited.

Among the innovators speaking, IoTFuse will feature presentations from Otto Doll, CIO of the City of Minneapolis; Ben Frayman, Senior Smarthome Merchant for Best Buy; and Bruce Shapiro, a well-known digital artist, as well as internationally-recognized speaker Topher White, founder of Rainforest Connection, will keynote the conference.

One of the main attractions of the IoTFuse annual conference will be the Garden One Project, a connected urban garden (8 feet in diameter) in which the entire growing process (watering, light, humidity, temperature, etc.) can be controlled remotely through the use of IoT digital devices. IoTFuse used an open source design created by the Danish design firm Space 10, called The Growroom for the structure of this project to test the idea of creating an indoor garden monitored by IoT devices and systems. While the Garden One Project uses IoT to connect with plants, it also symbolizes the connection between IoT and other things such as factories, nature, and human beings.

"The purpose of the Garden One Project is to show people what's possible with IoT technology," says Paul Seim, one of the organizers of the IoTFuse conference. "IoT is no longer pie in the sky future tech. It's here now. And a growing number of Minnesota companies, large and small, are involved in developing marketable products that will change our work, home and play environments – including how we eat."

According to one of the founders of IoTFuse, Patrick Delaney, Minnesota is an emerging hot spot for the IoT industry. There are a number of companies, both large and small that have either a current or future need to use IoT technology in their business units, including Ecolab, Best Buy, Target, 3M, Medtronic, Pentair, as well as many manufacturing and agricultural companies across the state.

Meanwhile, there is an extremely dense network of companies and business units both large and small which invent, engineer and produce IoT technology and software including Digi International, OST, Honeywell, The Nerdery, Nimbelink, Exosite, Augusto, ATEK, etc. Start-ups and smaller IoT provider companies within the IoT space which have come out of Minnesota include: SmartThings, Particle, 75F, BinaryBridge, Hidrate, Lab651, New Boundary Technologies and Reemo, among many others.

The conference organizers believe that the IoT economy within Minnesota offers the potential to employ tens of thousands of people and produce billions in revenue. From an academic perspective, the University of Minnesota and the University of Saint Thomas offer courses in IoT technology.

About IoTFuse
IoTFuse is a professional network of makers, innovators, and business leaders in the Internet of Things space. Based in Minneapolis, IoTFuse is the largest group of its kind in the United States.  IoTFuse organizes the annual IoTFuse conference as well as monthly "user group" style meetings and a yearly IoT makeathon in October. To learn more about IoTFuse or to check out our calendar of events, visit www.iotfuse.com.

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SOURCE IoTFuse

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