At this year's IoT Solutions World Congress (IOTSWC), held alongside the Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress, one message was clear: Internet of things (IoT) is here, delivering proven performance.
Described as "the leading global event focused on the transformative power of IoT, AI and digital transformation," the 2025 event drew more than 11,000 attendees and over 250 exhibitors from around the world. Exhibitors ranged from startups to established companies like ST Microelectronics, Orange Spain and LoRa Alliance. Keynotes, technical tracks and exhibitions focused on industrial use cases, sustainability and the practical application of emerging technologies, including a full-day program from the LoRa Alliance on building Massive IoT with LoRaWAN.
Steady growth
IoT adoption has grown steadily in recent years, with the latest projections indicating even stronger growth ahead. According to Transforma Insights IoT Connections Forecast 2023-2034, updated in May 2025, IoT connections are expected to reach 19.8 billion by the end of 2025 and more than double to 40.6 billion by the end of 2034.
Key growth drivers include technology advancements and the accelerating development of new use cases. New IoT applications across vertical markets like smart cities, connected healthcare and smart manufacturing contribute to IoT's growth.
Three main themes dominated this year's program:
- Digital transformation strategy
- Emerging technologies and processes
- Work in adverse environments
The sessions focused on issues like how AI generates economic returns, how process optimization drives sustainability, the energy transition and more. Presentations had a strong focus on sharing success stories, many of which demonstrated how disruptive technologies are enhancing business models. As part of the Congress, the LoRa Alliance organized a full-day track on "Building Massive IoT with LoRaWAN," which showcased success stories, implementation options and end-user experiences of this leading low-power open and wireless communication technology that transmits data between IoT devices.
Most exhibitors focused on their IoT solutions, many of which showcased the use of IoT in industrial digital transformation. There was also a strong focus on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Other event highlights included the Free Trade Zone Consortium's presentation of its DFactory facilities to facilitate the development of Industry 4.0. Widely visited show floor areas included the StartUp Pavilion, showcasing the most groundbreaking startups, and the LoRaWAN Pavilion.
LoRaWAN in the spotlight
Watteco showcased its comprehensive portfolio of LoRaWAN products during the IOTSWC event. Source: LoRa Alliance The most discussed technology at IOTSWC was LoRaWAN, a low-power wireless protocol designed for long-range communication between connected devices. The LoRa Alliance's dedicated track highlighted case studies and deployment insights from across the globe, illustrating the technology's value proposition and real-world impact of IoT.
The keynote opened the session with deployment data: more than 110 million LoRaWAN devices are now in the field. Zenner leads with 9.3 million devices deployed, while Veolia has rolled out 5 million connected water meters. Alliance members like Actility and The Things Industries report compound annual growth rates of 40% to 50%.
Other session highlights included:
- MachineQ, a Comcast company, shared that it has achieved a significant return on investment (ROI) by saving 85.5 million minutes of employee time through cold-chain monitoring for a global food service brand. It also shared how an international pharmaceutical company saved $11 million annually thanks to asset tracking and power monitoring.
- Browan's LoRaWAN-connected indoor AI-powered tracking solution has been successfully deployed across several sites, showcasing the versatility and reliability of IoT technology.
- Netmore and Yorkshire Water presented the details of their water metering project, emphasizing the practical applications of IoT in utility management.
- Aritium's hospital management system at the Central University Hospital of Asturias enhances operational efficiency and patient care in medical facilities, achieving ROI with just 116 sensors.
Swisscom’s real-time flight tracking demo during the IOTSCW event in Barcelona, Spain. Source: LoRa Alliance Key deployments shared include:
- Verizon Wireless' IoT solutions rely on LoRaWAN for facility management at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
- TWTG's deployment is in Europe's largest oil refinery, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where Shell operates.
- Zenner's city-wide network in Hamburg, Germany, serves smart city use cases.
- Projects that showcased the use of LoRaWAN to serve people and the planet included: Search and rescue operations across France; More than 600,000 panic buttons operational in U.S. schools, hotels and hospitals; Forest fire sensors that detect fires within minutes of ignition; Over 35 wildlife parks across 10 African countries that use the IoT to track rhinos, elephants, rangers and tourist vehicles.
On the show floor
LoRaWAN's presence extended beyond the Alliance's dedicated pavilion. In total, 39 LoRa Alliance members exhibited solutions throughout the venue. Live demos included:
- Swisscom showed real-time asset tracking in a highly remote location. Its solution combines its terrestrial networks with EchoStar Mobile's GEO-based satellite network.
- EchoStar Mobile's partner, Ibex, built an AI camera to perform local image processing, such as counting people or detecting forest fires. The device is connected directly to the satellite using LoRaWAN and acts as a LoRaWAN relay for the other devices on the ground.
- Zenner introduced "Metering as a Service," which reduces customers' financial burden and helps get projects off the ground faster.
- Senarch displayed a solar-powered LoRaWAN gateway with a satellite backhaul, allowing it to connect highly remote areas and even urban environments in case of emergencies (like Barcelona's massive outage a few weeks ago).
- Semtech showed its new, solar-powered LoRaWAN reference implementation, eliminating the need for batteries.
- One company shared how it emulated LoRaWAN on an NB-IoT sensor so it could feed the data stream to the LoRaWAN core network and application infrastructure — another clear sign of LoRaWAN establishing itself as the choice of LPWAN technology.
Recognizing best-of-breed IoT technologies
The service awards from the LoRa Alliance include Semtech, Kerlink, Zenner and Swisscom during the IOTSCW event in Barcelona. Source: LoRa Alliance The event included the 2025 Industry Solutions Awards, designed to recognize companies that contribute to the digital transformation of the industry. This year's winners included:
- Sustainability Award: Algofait's water optimization system for seafood farming (France)
- Excellence for Industry 4.0: Efizum/Banc d'Ajuda Tecnològica's digital twin system (Catalan)
- Cybersecurity Award: i2Cat's security protocol analyzer (Catalan)
- Connectivity Award: Myriota's IOT satellites (Australia)
- Best Emerging Company: Aritium Technologies for its AI-based LoRaWAN IoT solutions for healthcare (Asturias)
- Co-located this year were the LoRa Alliance Contribution Awards, which recognize member companies and individual members for outstanding contributions to the LoRa Alliance. This year’s winners were:
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Julien Catalano, Kerlink, and Miguel Luis, Semtech
- Corporate Award: Kerlink
- Leadership Award: Rémi Demerlé, Semtech and Ralph Stillinger, ZENNER
- Distinguished Service Award: Joachim Ernst, Swisscom, Henry Huang, Browan Communications, and Richard Sanders, ZENNER
Final takeaways
The 2025 IoT Solutions World Congress provided tangible evidence that IoT is no longer a promise, but an active and growing force widely deployed across various industries. The maturity of IoT technology was evident throughout the event and illustrated by numerous success stories and large-scale deployments worldwide that range from utilities and retail to emergency response, wildlife conservation and everything in between.
As IoT accelerates, the fact that LoRaWAN plays a key role is also evident. A mature technology with several hundreds of high-performance products ready for deployment, LoRaWAN has become the leading connectivity technology for IoT.
Ultimately, the success stories shared in Barcelona confirm that Massive IoT is accelerating faster than ever, with market-ready solutions poised to bring IoT to the mainstream.
