The IoT industry embraces new opportunities for value release as the 15th Five-Year Plan kicks off, with proposals from the Two Sessions focusing on multi-scenario implementation and standard development. As the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), the Internet of Things (IoT) industry has reached a new turning point in its development, shifting its logic from scale expansion to deep value release.

The draft outline of the plan and relevant deployments by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology position IoT as the core of new-type infrastructure and a key foundation for new quality productive forces. At the 2026 National Two Sessions, deputies and members put forward numerous motions and proposals focusing on the application of IoT in multiple scenarios such as intelligent connected vehicles, low-altitude economy, and smart energy, as well as the construction of a standard system, pointing out the direction for the high-quality development of the industry.

It is learned that the core impacts of the 15th Five-Year Plan on the IoT industry are concentrated in four dimensions: infrastructure upgrade, independent technological breakthroughs, data value reconstruction, and deep scenario penetration.

In terms of infrastructure, China will promote the construction of 5G-A Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) networks, planning to deploy 500,000 base stations. Meanwhile, it will accelerate 6G research and development and the deployment of satellite Internet constellations, carry out commercial trials of satellite IoT, drive the network to upgrade from “simple connection” to an integrated entity of “sensing + connection”, and fill the coverage gaps in remote areas, oceans, low-altitude spaces and other regions.

On the technology front, special funds will focus on tackling bottlenecks in key areas such as sensors and chips, promote the deep integration of IoT with AI and big data, and set development goals: the number of mobile IoT terminal connections will exceed 3.6 billion by 2027, and the industrial scale will surpass 8 trillion yuan by 2030.

In terms of data value, by promoting data right confirmation, valuation and trading, cultivating industry-level data middle platforms, and popularizing technologies such as federated learning, IoT will be transformed from a “cost center” to a “value center”, giving birth to new profit points.

In the field of scenario application, the implementation of the industrial Internet innovation and development project will promote the large-scale application of IoT in manufacturing, energy, healthcare and other fields. This will not only accelerate the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry but also enable consumer scenarios such as smart homes and intelligent connected vehicles to achieve an upgrade to “active services”.

At the 2026 National Two Sessions, although no special motion on IoT was issued, deputies and members, in combination with the requirements for new-type infrastructure and new quality productive forces development under the 15th Five-Year Plan, put forward a series of targeted suggestions focusing on IoT scenario applications and industrial development, covering multiple core fields.

From the perspective of industrial development trends, in the first three years of the 15th Five-Year Plan, IoT will be deeply integrated with computing power networks and satellite Internet, with ISAC, satellite IoT, and data assetization becoming core tracks.Industry insiders suggest that enterprises should make arrangements from three levels: technology, scenarios, and compliance. They should increase R&D investment in core technologies such as 5G-A ISAC and low-power sensors, focus on policy dividend areas such as industrial Internet and low-altitude economy to build integrated solutions, and at the same time, make early arrangements for data security and privacy computing to adapt to the upcoming IoT data governance standards and seize new opportunities for industrial value release.