Web of Things | Business Ecosystems | W3C

Web of Things

Bridging disparate technology stacks to allow devices to work together and achieve scale, thus enabling the potential of the Internet of Things by eliminating fragmentation and fostering interoperability.

The web is the platform to simplify IoT application development, increase interoperability, and reduce costs

The Web of Things (WoT) seeks to counter the fragmentation of the Internet of Things (IoT) by using and extending existing, standardized Web technologies. By providing standardized metadata and other re-usable technological building blocks, W3C WoT enables easy integration across IoT platforms and application domains.

The Web of Things complements existing IoT ecosystems to reduce the cost and risk for suppliers and consumers of applications that create value by combining multiple devices and information services. 

Get more background about the Web of Things in the documentation area and check out upcoming events.

Write to us to join W3C and start contributing to the work Watch Web of Things videos

This video created in partnership with Siemens and Intel introduces what the "Web of Things" is and does

Active groups

These groups work hand in hand to advance to counter the fragmentation of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Web of ThingsWorking group

The Web of Things seeks to counter the fragmentation of the IoT through standard complementing building blocks (e.g., metadata and APIs) that enable easy integration across IoT platforms and application domains. Visit the Web of Things Working Group

Web of ThingsInterest group

The mission of the Web of Things Interest Group is to counter the fragmentation of the Internet of Things by complementing available standards through Web technology capable of interconnecting existing Internet of Things platforms, devices, gateways, and cloud services. We aim to reduce costs through the global reach of Web standards, to enable open markets of services, and to unleash the power of the network effect. As a W3C Interest Group, we are seeking to build a deeper understanding of the Web of Things by investigating consumer, industrial, environmental, energy management, and smart city scenarios. This is intended to identify demand for further standards-track work within W3C working groups and to better align with the established W3C liaisons. Visit the Web of Things Interest Group

Web Thing ProtocolCommunity group

The mission of this group is to define a common protocol for communicating with connected devices over the web, to enable ad-hoc interoperability on the Web of Things. Deliverables of the group may include use cases, requirements and specifications. The group will collaborate with the W3C Web of Things Interest Group and Working Group to ensure any specifications complement or extend the “Web of Things (WoT) Thing Description” specification. Objectives:
  1. Define a WebSocket sub-protocol for the Web of Things, using the W3C “Web of Things (WoT) Thing Description” data model and operations
  2. Define an HTTP protocol binding for the Web of Things (or support the Web of Things Working Group in defining this protocol binding and ensuring consistency with the WebSocket sub-protocol where appropriate)
  3. Evaluate other potential Web of Things protocol bindings (e.g. CoAP)
See the proposed Community Group Charter for more information. Visit the Web Thing Protocol Community Group

Web of ThingsCommunity group

The goal of Web of Things Community Group is to accelerate the community activities around the recommendations and notes published by the WoT Working Group and Interest Group. This group does not publish Specifications. Visit the Web of Things Community Group

Web of Things JapaneseCommunity group

The mission of the Web of Things Japanese Community Group includes the following:
  • to facilitate focused discussion in Japanese on the Web of Things specifications and related specifications
  • to gather comments and questions in Japanese about those specifications
  • to collect information about specific use cases in Japanese for technologies defined in those specifications
  • to report the results of its activities as a group back to the Web of Things Working Group/Interest Group, the W3C membership and the Web community.
This group will not publish any specifications. Visit the Web of Things Japanese Community Group

Why join?

Since 1994, we have been leading the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth of the web.

By joining these groups, you have the ability to discuss and drive the standards produced by W3C. The conversations occurring in the groups concern both current and future standards, constantly aiming to make the web a better place. You have the ability to take part in guiding the future of the web.

Our values revolve around building the web for all

The social value of the web is that it enables human communication, commerce, and opportunities to share knowledge. One of W3C's primary goals is to make these benefits available to all people, whatever their hardware, software, network infrastructure, native language, culture, geographical location, or physical or mental ability.

Recent activities in the Web of Things community

Find out more via recent stories, news, workshops, talks or events.

W3C Members

58 member organizations are involved in the web of things ecosystem, including:

Tencent
Alibaba Group
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
The Open University
Fujitsu Limited
Stiftelsen for internetinfrastruktur (IIS)
View all members participating in the web of things ecosystem

Ways to get involved:

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