Photos: IoT Impact 2023 brings together data-enabled productivity, sustainability and trust opportunities

Held at the Sydney International Convention Centre on May 23, IoT Impact is the annual conference of IoT Alliance Australia, Australia's peak IoT industry body, and showcases IoT use cases, case studies and expert insights.

The event was an opportunity for people from all industries, government, academia and other organisations, and technology providers, to step outside their industry bubbles and learn how others are harnessing data from IoT.

The overarching focus areas were sustainability, productivity and trust.

Sessions covered smart places, manufacturing, energy, sustainability, remote IoT connectivity, circular economy, digital trust, construction, agriculture, workforce skills, fair and safe IoT, asset mamagement, digital twins, disaster resilience and other topics.

Gold and silver sponsors of the event were Telstra, Thinxtra, Inmarsat, ASUS, ENE.HUB, LiXia, ifm,  Australian Computer Society, Meshed and Myriota - many of which took to the stage to speak about key issues.

The event included speakers from Transport for NSW, Endeavour Energy, Circular Australia, Incitec Pivot, Rockwell Automation, Bluescope Steel, Laing O'Rourke, Victoria's Level Crossing Removal Project, Telstra, NBN, Tassal, and Thinxtra.

Also sponsoring the event was Entech Electronics, Simoco Wireless Solutions, We-Online, CSIRO, Würth Elektronik, DiGiCOR, Successful Endeavors, SAPHI Engineering, inTechnology, Milesight, Tata Communications, Leveltec Engineering, Logic Wireless, Optus, Akamai and the University of Wollongong.

Pictured above is IoT Alliance Australia CEO Frank Zeichner, who opened the event by talking about what is needed to achieve a "data smart Australia".

The event finished with the presentation of the 2023 IoT Awards.

Click the arrows on the photo above to see more IoT Impact conference photos.

Deloitte Partner Allan Mills spoke about the evolving ESG disclosure and regulatory landscape and implications for the IoT ecosystem.

This compelling discussion about facial recognition, data collection in public spaces, privacy and trust featured Susan Skuodas of the Sydney Olympic Park Authority (left), Emily Rucker of Transport for NSW (right) and Adam Beck of ENE.HUB (middle).

Inmarsat's Carl Statham spoke about how satellites are being used in environmental sustainability projects.

One of several takeaways from the IoT Impact session featuring Jemena's Pratham Bhandari and Mark Dragar, Telstra's Charles Ridler and IoT Alliance Australia's Frank Zeichner, was the importance of Australia's IoT partner ecosystem in enabling ambitious IoT projects.

They spoke about how the electricity and gas company found new ways to monitor its gas meters, and the vision and thinking behind the project.

Another takeaway - the need for long-term vision to enable this digital transformation.

Hosted by NSW Smart Sensing Network’s Peter Runcie, this IoT Impact session focussed on how IoT can improve natural disaster resilience. It featured National Hazards Research Australia’s Deborah Bunker, NSW Rural Fire Service’s Melissa O’Halloran (pictured), Illawarra Shoalhaven Joint Organisation’s Nicole Parsons and LiXiA’s Ian Atkinson.

The session focused on how IoT solutions can provide real-time data and insights to support early warning systems, evacuation plans and disaster response efforts, and examined this from a government, emergency services, IoT industry and research academia perspective.

Sam Dimarco, General Manager, Segments & Stakeholder Relations, Regional & Remote, nbn, speaks in a panel discussion about remote IoT connectivity.

Ali Abbas, Chief Circular Engineer, Circular Australia speaks in a session about the data needed in a circular economy. On the right is Wendy Hird, Sustainability Manager at  Liverpool Hospital.

On the topic of building digital workforce skills, the audience heard from the Australian Computer Society’s David Cook, RMIT Online’s Nic Cola and Digital Skills Organisation’s Ross Raeburn, in a discussion moderated by Deloitte Access Economics’ Rhiannon Yetsenga. 

"To have a bold ambition is important" - Barry Irvin, Chair of the Regional Circularity Cooperative and Chair of Bega Group, laid out the vision for "Australia’s first circular net zero footprint", the Bega Valley Circular Economy Initiative.

Irvin unpacked the thinking behind the initiative, which aims to bring together a diverse range of collaborators to harness data to help demonstrate the circular economy opportunity.

For technology companies (and others) with energy, water, farming, waste, sustainability and related issues on their agenda, this will be one to watch.

Thinxtra's Nicholas Lambrou (right) spoke about asset management, an IoT productivity sweet spot. Thinxtra helped CouriersPlease address the challenge of increased demand during COVID-19 lockdowns, by deploying an IoT-enabled asset track and trace solution.

From left, Rockwell Automation’s Bob Hicks, BlueScope Steel's Colin Robertson, Coolon LED Lighting’s Tim Cosgrove, Mineral Technologies’ Alex de Andrade and ifm’s Freddie Coertze discussed strategies for adapting to disruptive technologies and how manufacturers can thrive in the digital age.

Inmarsat’s Carl Statham speaks in a panel session about data as a pathway to sustainability. also pictured, from left, is IoTAA Founding Director Mike Briers, Incitec Pivot Limited’s Karen Durand and BWD Strategic’s Derryn Heilbuth.

They discussed tracking and analysing data related to energy, emissions, waste, water and biodiversity to enable companies and individuals to make more informed decisions about their impacts, operations, value chains and consumption patterns.

IoT Alliance Australia Chairman David Spence gives the closing address.