Recap: That was the Things Conference 2026 in Amsterdam
Published: 08. Oct 2026
Almost a decade of IoT and LoRaWAN – what comes next?
The Things Conference (TTC) brings the international LoRaWAN community together in Amsterdam every year. It is a place to exchange experiences, discuss current developments and look ahead to the future of connected technologies.
Once again, the conference highlighted just how much the IoT landscape has evolved over the past years. At the same time, it raises the question of which topics will shape the next phase and what opportunities this will create in practice.
This year, we as ZENNER were there in person and looked back on our own LoRaWAN journey in a presentation. We also explored how the wireless standard has evolved over the past ten years.
Personally, I took away three key points from the two days at TTC:
1. It is time to take stock.
The IoT market, and LoRaWAN with it, continue to grow and reach even larger scales. Perhaps not quite as dynamically as many of us had once hoped, but the scale of the development is becoming increasingly tangible. With our LoRaWAN network, we are showing that IoT implementations can reach a scale of several million devices. This is a significant milestone for an ecosystem that started out under very different circumstances.
2. There are many ways to get from A to B
There are some exciting applications out there, from IoT glasses and robots to edge AI solutions and much more. But when it comes to scaling (at least for now) one thing is crucial: no wireless technology is equally suited to every use case. LoRaWAN is increasingly proving its value as part of the basic infrastructure for IoT. Particularly thanks to an ecosystem that has evolved, become established and gained practical experience over more than ten years.
3. The transformation is about more than just technology
The presentation by my colleague Boris Stöckermann on ZENNER’s history reminded me of this once again: The transformation from a traditional water meter manufacturer into a provider of modular digital infrastructure is remarkable. For us, IoT and LoRaWAN are an important foundation for this transformation.
For me, this is perhaps the most interesting takeaway: The real value of IoT lies not only in the technology. It lies in how entire ecosystems, companies and infrastructures are transformed as a result.
And after TTC, I am even more convinced that the next chapter of IoT and LoRaWAN will be about scaling what has already been built.
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