Next Big Things in Tech

FOR THE PAST YEAR, THE TECH WORLD and pretty much everyone else has been enraptured by generative AI.

- MARK SULLIVAN, ROB PEGORARO, HARRY MCCRACKEN, JESSICA BURSZTYNSKY

Innovations in large language models and chatbots continue to power progress in everything from fitness to edtech. But that's not to suggest that advancement is only being delivered via Al; as the 117 honorees in this year's Next Big Things in Tech show, improvements to blockchain platforms, data storage, and more are revolutionizing the economy.

Wiliot 

EXCELLENCE IN INNOVATION

MORE THAN A DECADE AFTER THE "INTERNET OF THINGS" EMERGED AS A SOLUTION TO ALL MANNER OF SUPPLY-CHAIN PROBLEMS, WILIOT HAS INTRODUCED ITS TINY SMART STAMPS THAT CAN BE ATTACHED TO NEARLY ANYTHING AND MAY FINALLY BRING THE IOT PROMISE TO FRUITION.

THE "INTERNET OF THINGS" MAY NO longer be the term du jour, in part because the idea failed to meet its original promise of connecting billions of dumb objects to the cloud in service of mitigating all manner of potential supply-chain disruptions. But IoT technology remains a key to confronting some of our biggest business and environmental challenges. Wiliot makes an inexpensive Bluetooth beacon tag that can be attached to everything from food to drugs to apparel, enabling real-time tracking of location and condition. The stamp-size tag - powered by radio waves in the environment - contains an Arm processor and a radio, and it continually sends signal data collected from its various sensors to the Wiliot cloud for analysis. The results can be viewed via an app. In one use case, a COVID vaccine maker affixed a Wiliot tag to its vials to make sure the vaccine remained cool enough to retain its potency. Wiliot recently introduced sensors that can monitor humidity levels, which could help protect a range of products, from produce to electronics.