Micro-billing framework for IoT: Research & Technological foundations

In traditional product companies, creating value meant identifying enduring customer needs and manufacturing well-engineered solutions. Two hundred and fifty years after the start of the Industrial Revolution, this pattern of activity plays out every day in a connected world where products are no longer one-and-done. Making money is not anymore limited to physical product sales; other downstream revenue streams become possible (e.g., service-based information, Apps). Nonetheless, it is still challenging to stimulate the IoT market by enabling IoT stakeholders (from organizations to an individual persons) to make money out of the information that surrounds them. Generally speaking, there is a lack of micro-billing frameworks and platforms that enable IoT stakeholders to publish/discover, and potentially sell/buy relevant and useful IoT information items. This paper discusses important aspects that need to be considered when investigating and developing such a framework/platform. A high-level requirement analysis is then carried out to identify key technological and scientific building blocks for laying the foundation of an innovative micro-billing framework named IoTBnB (IoT puBlication aNd Billing).