• After years of dialogue with Indian authorities, supported by SBS/DIGITAL SME expert Massimo Vanetti, India has officially adopted oneM2M as a nationwide standard

• A global cooperation between standardisation organisations led by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), oneM2M is a comprehensive framework for IoT and machine-to-machine communication

• The adoption of oneM2M is a great opportunity to access the Indian market for European SMEs who have worked with the standard for years—and could also help the fight against climate change

Brussels/New Delhi, 21 October 2020 (SBS/DIGITAL SME). On 17 September, India’s Telecom Engineering Centre published an important and consequential decision. The Centre officially adopted oneM2M specifications as national standards for the IoT/machine-to-machine (M2M) ecosystem in India. In other words, oneM2M will be the foundation of the future economy of one of the biggest countries in the world This is a result of the strategic collaboration between Europe (ETSI & Eurostat) and India (TSDSI & CSO) on ICT standardisation. It was also decisively championed by SBS/DIGITAL SME Expert Massimo Vanetti, who travelled to India twice to promote oneM2M. And it brings massive opportunities for Indian and European SMEs alike.

A success for small businesses from Barcelona to Bangalore

oneM2M is an international standard that was strongly influenced by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), which developed many of its technical specifications. ETSI and other European Standardisation Organisations have a clear mandate to develop and adapt European standards in an open, inclusive, and SME-friendly way based on the principles of Regulation EU 1025/2012. These principles are reflected in oneM2M, which affirms Europe’s values in international standards.

Through the work of Small Business Standards (SBS), especially DIGITAL SME Expert Massimo Vanetti, the perspective of SMEs is strongly reflected in oneM2M’s technical specifications. oneM2M’s SME-friendliness is manifest in two important aspects:

• Independence: oneM2M is outside the control of single stakeholders, which allows multiple parties to provide independent solutions. This benefits SMEs by allowing them to invest more resources into innovation on top of this existing standard instead of in the technical specifications themselves.
• Flexibility: SMEs who intend to adopt (industrial) IoT solutions can choose the ones they deem most suitable for their needs, given that—due to the oneM2M standard—a  later change of provider will not necessitate a redesign of the whole project. This helps SMEs to comply with requirements at reasonable costs.

In the context of India’s adoption of oneM2M, Mr Vanetti advocated for the standard on several occasions. As a speaker at the C-DOT Foundation Day in August 2019, he detailed how oneM2M would help Indian SMEs to grow their business by enabling interoperable and scalable IoT solutions in an enormous domestic market.

Picture 1: SBS/DIGITAL SME Expert Massimo Vanetti at the CDOT Foundation Day in India (August 2019. Copyright: India-EU ICT Standardisation Collaboration. Source: https://www.indiaeu-ictstandards.in/c-dot-foundation-day/onem2m-high-level-workshop-25-august-2019-585/)

But the economic benefit will not be limited to Indian SMEs. Due to their early adoption of oneM2M, many European SMEs can now access the Indian market with their tried-and-tested IoT solutions.

A sustainable standard: oneM2M enables green building management

ICT standards are an integral component of Europe’s twin transition towards a green and digital economy as they provide a “common language” to comply with environmental goals. International adoption of the oneM2M standard is a practical manifestation of Europe’s leadership in the digital age. With billions of connected devices over the globe, oneM2M can help different stakeholders to share data and help to efficiently reach environmental goals.

An example for this is the SABINA project, which delivers innovative, data-driven energy services for smart connected buildings. Building on ICT standards and data sharing protocols, SABINA’s solutions can improve buildings’ energy management and communicate with distribution network operators and aggregators to provide them with real and accurate data on consumption and flexibility. By doing so, both consumers and providers can efficiently use renewable energy resources like thermal energy, control costs, and reduce gas-emissions. SABINA has identified oneM2M as a solid framework that can enable secure and reliable data transfers among the energy infrastructure and building appliances.

India’s adoption of oneM2M as a national standard is a veritable success story—for Standardisation, for India, for Europe, for SMEs, and for the environment. It shows how cooperation between different players pays off. “Standing on the shoulders of giants” allows innovative SMEs all over the world to innovate, grow, and tackle the challenges we are collectively facing.