INTERNET OF THINGS IN SERVICE INNOVATION

The last decade has witnessed rapid growth of Internet of Things (IoT) literatures by scientists from technology domains such as computer science, telecommunication and engineering, but very few studies have been done by sociologists, and even fewer by economic geographers in service research. The great impact that IoT will bring to service offerings and its spatial consequence is disproportionate to how much research has been done in this area. The paper aims to understand how the adoption of IoT affects the spatial ramification of service offerings and service business. After the theoretical framework and research method, part three explains what the implications of IoT in service context are, why and how IoT enables innovation in services and the current obstacles. Part four further discusses what could be the spatial ramification with the case of China emerging IoT industry in the city of Wuxi.