THE THINGS INDUSTRIES BV

Their core work

The Things Industries BV is the commercial entity behind The Things Network — one of the world's largest open LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) IoT networks. They build and operate low-power, long-range wireless network infrastructure that allows connected sensors and devices to transmit data across cities and regions without cellular contracts or WiFi dependency. In EU projects, they contributed both as a live network infrastructure provider — bringing actual deployed connectivity to smart city and IoT pilots — and as a market development actor accelerating the commercial uptake of IoT technology across European businesses. Their core value is rare: they do not just design IoT systems in theory, they operate one at scale.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both H2020 projects fall within a compressed two-year window (2016–2018), which limits meaningful longitudinal analysis. The trajectory that can be read is a shift from infrastructure participant to market actor: CPaaS.io had them contributing network connectivity to a smart city platform led by others, while FITT-iN saw them step into the coordinator role with an explicit commercialization mandate. This suggests that by 2018 they had moved beyond proving the technology and were focused on growing their ecosystem and customer base — a natural progression for a platform company reaching early maturity.

Their trajectory points toward ecosystem and market development rather than pure R&D — a partner best suited for pilots that need real network infrastructure plus commercial deployment experience, not early-stage basic research.

How they like to work

TTN has operated in both coordinator and participant roles within their small H2020 portfolio, showing comfort on both sides of a consortium. Their partnerships are small and targeted — 6 unique partners across 4 countries — consistent with a company that joins consortia where its live network is a functional asset rather than a theoretical contribution. They are unlikely to be a consortium hub managing many partners; they are more valuable as a specialist node that brings deployable infrastructure to projects that need it.

TTN's H2020 activity involved 6 unique consortium partners across 4 countries, indicating compact, purpose-built collaborations rather than broad multi-stakeholder networks. Their geographic reach appears primarily Northern and Western European, consistent with the footprint of The Things Network community at the time.

What sets them apart

Most ICT SMEs in EU research projects contribute knowledge or software prototypes; The Things Industries contributes a live, operating IoT network that pilot projects can actually use. This is a meaningful differentiator for consortia building smart city, environmental monitoring, or industrial IoT demonstrators that need real connectivity, not a sandbox simulation. For any project where the gap between lab and field deployment is the core challenge, TTN removes that gap on day one.

Highlights from their portfolio

• FITT-iN
  TTN served as project coordinator — and the title explicitly names their own network as the vehicle for accelerating IoT market adoption, making this the clearest expression of their commercial mission in the H2020 portfolio.
• CPaaS.io
  Largest budget project (EUR 173,250) and their entry into EU-funded research, positioning their LoRaWAN network as a component of an open, integrated city-scale service platform.