Wednesday, October 26, 2016 marks the day when North Carolina officially staked their claim as a serious player in the new Internet of Things economy.

RIoT XIII Demo Night crested 800 attendees at the Raleigh Convention Center. The event was in partnership with the All Things Open conference, which RIoT also assisted in creating IoT focused panels and content during the conference.
Attendees walked the entire 2nd floor of the building to witness 60 companies displaying over 100 IoT demos. The lines of demo stations ran the full length from Dawson Street to Fayetteville Street and covered the entire spectrum of IoT development: software, hardware, analytics, security, privacy, connectivity, and design.

The companies represented newly minted startups, venture and Kickstarter backed businesses, and international heavyweights like Samsung, ST Micro, Arrow, and IBM.

And there were more:

  • Wind River’s massive 18 wheeler big rig closed down a city street and gave attendees an intimate look at their IoT portfolio.
  • AthloTech shared their connected soccer ball.
  • Lumenus displayed intelligent running and cycling apparel.
  • MiPayway demonstrated mobile payment.
  • MultiTech, Connected Development and Sigfox demonstrated solutions for the next generation IoT wireless networks built by Sigfox and Lora. These networks and 5G will play a critical role in helping North Carolina become a national leader in smart city services.

Plus, RIoTers also witnessed the PTC’s NASCAR ride shredding Cabarrus Street. This full blown race car, outfitted with a few hundred sensors, laid rubber while transmitting back the car’s vitals to the race team. PTC displayed those vitals back onto the exterior walls of the convention center. This event was serious fun.

We did share big news about RIoT that evening. We quickly outgrew calling ourselves “Raleigh Internet of Things” in 2014, and expanded to NC RIoT. We’ve since outgrown that moniker, and refer to ourselves simply as “RIoT”. The reason: we’re beginning our national expansion with two upcoming out of state events. RIoT heads to Orlando for the IEEE sensors conference this week. We then head to Atlanta in mid-January for our first RIoT event in Georgia.

Our second big announcement is the launch of RIoT Labs, a co-working facility and IoT lab space in partnership with HQ Raleigh. We’ll provide physical space, equipment, and mentorship to the IoT startup community. We’re already in the process of selecting our initial round of participating companies.

More info on that later.

It’s important to weave these two developments into a common thread. The Internet of Things is a global phenomenon. To continue establishing ourselves as a premiere destination of IoT talent, research, business development, and investment, we must expand our scope. This takes the place of physically heading to new locations. It also requires RIoT to lead the charge in building the IoT economy in our state by fostering company development and growth.

Having the support of our sponsors, the entire RIoT community, and NC IDEA’s Ecosystem Partner Grant gives us the muscle we need to continue down this path.

RIoT’s next event is Developer Day II, which takes place on December 6th at the Wake Tech campus. We design this half day event for engineers and developers to take a deep dive into IoT technologies. We’ll post registration this week on ncriot.org.

For more information about next generation IoT networks and upcoming live sites, contact Larry Steffann at larry.steffann@wirelesscenter-nc.org

Companies interested in joining RIoT Labs or Developer Day II can reach out to Tom Snyder, RIoT’s Executive Director at tom@ncriot.org.

Note: Matthew Davis is co-founder of RIoT.