LeWeb Paris: bring on the Internet of Things

Imagine that everything you owned could talk to one another. Your fridge could update the shopping list on your cellphone to let you know your milk was about to expire, your house could start heating itself just before you got home in winter, or your pot plants could tweet you when they need more water. When more devices are connected to the internet, interesting things become possible.

This space on the edge of future tech and current reality is the theme for this year’s LeWeb Paris. The tech conference, which takes place from 4-6 December, is bringing together speakers from around the world to discuss the Internet of Things (IoT) and what it will mean to have billions of connected devices sending and sharing information on an increased scale.

Some of the speakers include Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom, SoundCloud founder and CEO Alexander Ljung, Evernote CEO Phil Libin, App.net co-founder Dalton Caldwell and Nest Labs’ Tony Fadell.

The conference’s founders, Geraldine and Loic Le Muer, hope this year’s LeWeb will examine the effect the Internet of Things will have on a range of industries, and the requirements needed for when vast numbers of inanimate objects switch on and become more intelligent. There are a few ways the conference hopes to unpack the ideas behind the IoT:

It is said that the “Internet of Things” will likely be one of the most important technological advances of this century. By 2020, an estimated 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet. This hyperconnected world is fueling the creation of an IoT that will bring devices, systems and people closer together. It’s about a melding of the physical world and the virtual world.

The LeWeb program will explore IoT from all of these angles. We will see the hottest new technologies, learn how entrepreneurs are adapting and talk to industry visionaries about whether or not they think this next version of the internet is truly the second Renaissance.

Lauren Granger is currently in Paris covering LeWeb.