The document traces the evolution of IoT from early industrial applications to a global phenomenon and multi-billion dollar economy. It discusses how IoT originated in industrial machine monitoring and control and was later consumerized with smartphones and smart home devices. Now nearly every device and aspect of life is becoming connected, generating immense amounts of data. Significant challenges remain around areas like data processing, security, and user experience. Belgium is actively involved in IoT through enterprises, startups, industry clusters and research centers working in areas like smart homes, connected objects, and more. By 2020, analysts predict there will be 50 billion devices connected to the Internet, further reducing the divide between real and virtual worlds.