In 2025, the eco Internet of Things Competence Group further strengthened its role as a practical platform for guidance, networking and knowledge transfer relating to the Internet of Things. A key development was the new leadership of the Competence Group: since 2025, Dr Michael Opitz (Arthur D. Little) and Giovanni Coppa (RISE) have shaped the Group’s work and provided fresh impetus at the interface between industry, digitalisation and regulation.

In terms of content, the focus was particularly on the growing demands for security and compliance. For instance, together with the Security Competence Group, eco brought key challenges of IT/OT security for industrial applications to the agenda at the “Security meets Operational Technology” event in Cologne in May 2025.

With the webinar “EU Data Law at a Glance for IoT Companies”, the Competence Group, together with Dr Jens Eckhardt, also provided practical guidance on the implications of the Data Act, AI Act and Cyber Resilience Act for IoT business models. This work was complemented by further expert insights into IIoT success factors, smart grids as the foundation for Industry 4.0, as well as illustrative practical examples of energy-efficient and everyday IoT applications.

In this way, the IoT Competence Group 2025 has contributed to bringing technological opportunities, regulatory requirements and practical feasibility closer together.