Leading technology analyst firm Transforma Insights unveils its key ‘Transition Topics’ that will shape the Internet of Things landscape during 2026. Sponsorship opportunities for Position Papers and Virtual Briefings are available.
Every year Transforma Insights publishes its list of IoT ‘Transition Topics’ highlighting where we expect to see seismic change occurring during the year. This year the list focuses on the intersection of AI and IoT, the persistent challenge of regulation, the trend towards greater localisation, and the impact of a shifting connectivity technology landscape.
The Transition Topics will form the basis of a significant part of the research agenda for the Transforma Insights Advisory Service in 2026, as well as sponsored Position Papers and Virtual Briefings.
For the coming year we have defined a set of Transition Topics encompassing both new areas and evolutions of some themes explored in previous years. The topics will be:
The use of video cameras and increasingly capable computer vision libraries will drive significant growth in the accessibility and use of video analytics and sensing. We will examine the key use cases, market opportunity and how it can be most optimally addressed.
IoT suppliers are increasingly looking at how to make use of AI for the purposes of optimising their own products and adding additional features, for instance for anomaly detection, fault resolution or connectivity orchestration. We will explore emerging best practice across a range of elements in IoT propositions.
The cellular technology landscape is quite fragmented, albeit with each technology optimised for different use cases. With 2G/3G switch-off, potentially some LTE switch-off on the horizon, new Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) and 5G-standalone (5G SA) functionality coming on stream, 5G RedCap and eRedCap developments, and growing misgivings about NB-IoT, changes are coming to the landscape. Across a series of Key Topic Insight reports we will provide our expectations of how each of them might evolve.
The use of an additional piece of middleware to abstract and manage cellular (and other) connections across multiple connectivity management platforms (CMPs) is increasingly common, not least driven by the use of SGP.32. We will examine the market landscape and likely implications for how enterprises adopt and consume connectivity.
There have been several changes to the regulatory landscape in recent years, including related to data sovereignty, tariffs, cybersecurity and vendor selection. We will examine how the changes will have an impact on the vendor landscape, how services are delivered and how adopters need to react.
Several factors, including regulation (e.g. permanent roaming, data sovereignty or know-your-customer rules) and optimisation of service delivery, are driving the need for solutions to be localised in various ways, whether that be in terms of local hosting of network infrastructure, cellular connectivity localisation, or compliance with local regulations (such as know-your-customer). We will look at how those issues might be addressed.
Transforma Insights has published a series of reports about the impact of SGP.32 in 2025. With the technology finally set to arrive in late 2025, we will explore the realities of how it is being delivered and forecast the market adoption relative to other approaches to delivering cellular-based IoT.
IoT suppliers are looking increasingly carefully (or should be) at how they optimise market segmentation, partner programmes, channel strategies, product positioning and other go-to-market elements to grow their market share. We will delve into best practice, including from outside IoT, to make recommendation on how to optimise these approaches.
New developments in IoT hardware will drive down the cost and complexity of delivering solutions, opening up new market opportunities. We will examine the impact of the latest developments in IoT hardware, such as energy harvesting, the deployment of edge compute on low power devices, developments in edge computing, iSIM, and the demand for hybrid connectivity modules (e.g. including NTN, Wi-Fi HaLow and much more).
The connected cars is undergoing a pronounced change, to software-defined vehicle (SDV). We will explore various aspects of this change, including how services are supported (e.g. telematics, infotainment, Wi-Fi) and the different tools for doing it. This will include considerations of factors such as developments in network connectivity, the evolving platforms for the delivery of connected car services, standardisation initiatives related to vehicle telematics, and the integration of the car with a wider ecosystem (e.g. V2V and V2X).
The Transforma Insights team will use the IoT Transition Topics as a key input to its research agenda, publishing Key Topic Insight Reports and other publications to the subscribers to our multi-client Advisory Service. We also plan to produce a set of public content, available for free, around the themes, any of which has associated sponsorship opportunities for technology vendors, allowing them to associate their brand with Transforma Insights’ external discussion of the topic through short reports, events and social media campaigns.
The sponsorship of one of the IoT Transition Topics will comprise the following:
If you would like to know more about the sponsorship opportunities associated with these IoT Transition Topics, please contact our Sales Team.
