’The sky’s the limit’

"The Internet of Things and the new digital revolution" is the specialist field of ETH Zurich Professor Friedemann Mattern. He sets out his vision of a networked future in the interview. In a publication in 2010 you talked about the Internet of Things vision. How far are we?. Friedemann Mattern: In actual fact six years ago, the idea of things of the world communicating with each other and with us via internet was still a vision - and at the time sounded a bit crazy and unnecessary. But two technological developments took off very rapidly - on the one hand, smartphones with their apps, and on the other hand, communication technologies over short distances requiring very little energy. Smartphones can now communicate with the supermarket checkout, vending machines order supplies from the internet automatically, and red lights light up on bicycle helmets when the bicycle brakes.