Smart manufacturing looks set to drive growth in the industrial IoT market over the next five years.

According to a recent study by Jupiter Research, the number of Industrial IoT connections will increase from 17.7 billion in 2020 to 36.8 billion in 2025, representing an overall growth rate of 207%. 

The new research, Industrial IoT: Future Market Outlook, Technology Analysis & Key Players 2020-2025, predicts that 5G and LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) networks will play vital roles in creating service offerings to the manufacturing industry.

These technologies will also enable the realisation of the ‘smart factory’ concept, in which real-time data transmission and high connection densities allow highly autonomous operations for manufacturers, researchers said.

Private 5G services will also be a crucial step in maximising the value of a smart factory to service users, by leveraging the technology to enable superior levels of autonomy amongst operations. These networks should be valuable to manufacturers when used for the transmission of large amounts of data in environments with a high density of connections, Juniper said, and where significant levels of data are generated. 

The report said that this would enable large-scale manufacturers to reduce operational spend through efficiency gains.

The research predicts that over 80% of global Industrial IoT market value will be attributable to software spend by 2025, reaching $216 billion. Software tools leveraging machine learning for enhanced data analysis and the identification of network vulnerabilities are now essential to connected manufacturing operations.

“Manufacturers must exercise caution when implementing IoT technology; resisting the temptation to introduce connectivity to all aspects of operations. Instead, manufacturers must focus on the collection of data on the most valuable areas to drive efficiency gains,” said research author Scarlett Woodford.