Samsung Electronics plans to spend $1.2 billion over four years on US-based Internet of Things (IoT) R&D and investments, as it announced the formation of a lobby group with Intel.

Vice chairman and CEO, Oh-Hyun Kwon, said the industry must “start talking and thinking differently about IoT,” with a “human-centered approach”.

He gave an example of IoT’s impact: “Today, IoT is changing individual lives – helping people to age in their own homes. But tomorrow, using IoT, we can give the same independence to millions of Americans. We can keep people out of hospitals and nursing homes. As our populations live longer, these benefits and cost savings for society cannot be ignored.”

Kwon also said the industry should focus on being open and collaborative, enabling innovators everywhere to make use of IoT.

He also warned that sector-specific regulations would fragment the development of IoT, impeding devices and platforms from connecting to each other.

The initiative will be led by the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center, Global Innovation Center and Samsung Research America.

Samsung, Intel create IoT lobby group

The joint programme set up by Samsung and Intel will bring together like-minded industry partners and organisations to develop strategic recommendations for US policy makers on IoT.

The initiative will be managed by the Information Technology Industry Council.

Among its focus areas, it will lay the foundation for industry to make recommendations to drive US IoT infrastructure investment; facilitate interoperability; foster security; promote global consensus-based standards and best practices; leverage public-private partnerships; and enable IoT innovation to flourish, Samsung said.

Last week, Samsung announced a deal to acquire cloud provider Joyent, as part of its efforts to bolster the technology platform underpinning its mobile and IoT services.

Back in May, the firm was revealed as the network partner for SK Telecom’s IoT network based on Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technology LoRa.

Samsung talked up the deal as being the “world’s first commercial IoT-dedicated nationwide LoRaWAN network”.