The Internet of Things presents a A$30 billion opportunity for Australia’s technology sector by 2023, with in particular the rise in IoT hardware, software, services and comms systems driving an unprecedented growth rate.

This is one key finding of Australia’s IoT Opportunity: Driving Future Growth – a report released by the ACS, the professional association for Australia’s ICT sector. Other findings included that in five key sectors – construction, mining, healthcare, manufacturing and agriculture – IoT has the potential to recharge Australia’s stagnant productivity growth.

According to the study, those sectors have the potential to realise a 2% per annum growth in productivity, equivalent to between A$194 and A$308 billion in GDP over the next 8-18 years.

“Agriculture and resources continue to dominate Australia’s exports, and we do well exporting education to the rest of the world,” said ACS president Yohan Ramasundara. “Technology wise however, there isn’t anything SMART in our top ten exports. [But] IoT provides an opportunity to change all that”.

Ramasundara said that as IoT has matured, the highest value of an IoT offering no longer centers on sensors and actuators rather advances in artificial intelligence.

“We often hear that data is the new fuel for the digital economy, it is however crude oil, and needs to be refined,” the ACS president added. “Artificial Intelligence via software applications is the refinement process, and it is here where Australian can become a market leader developing scalable solutions that can be taken to the rest of the world.”