IoTCrawler · Project

A Search Engine for IoT Devices That Finds and Connects Sensors Across Platforms

digitalPilotedTRL 6

Imagine you have thousands of sensors, cameras, and smart devices scattered across your factories, buildings, and city infrastructure — but they all speak different languages and live in separate systems. IoTCrawler built what is essentially a Google for IoT: it crawls, indexes, and lets you search across all those devices and their data, no matter what platform they sit on. It also bakes in privacy and security so you are not exposing sensitive data while doing it. The team tested this with real use cases in smart energy, smart cities, and Industry 4.0 settings.

By the numbers

consortium partners

countries represented in consortium

50%

industry partner ratio

total project deliverables

demo deliverables with working prototypes

demonstration domains (Industry 4.0, Social IoT, Smart City, Smart Energy)

The business problem

What needed solving

Companies running IoT infrastructure face a growing nightmare: sensors and devices from different vendors, installed at different times, on incompatible platforms, generating data that cannot be searched or combined. Finding what data you actually have — let alone using it — requires manual integration work that scales poorly. This fragmentation turns what should be a connected system into isolated islands of information.

The solution

What was built

The team built a cross-platform IoT discovery, crawling, and search engine with built-in privacy and security. Concrete outputs include working prototypes for end-user evaluation (real MVPs from selected use cases) and showcase prototypes demonstrated in real working environments with viable business models, across 24 total deliverables.

Audience

Who needs this

Energy utilities managing distributed renewable energy assets from multiple vendorsCity governments or smart city technology providers integrating diverse urban sensor networksFactory operators struggling to connect machines and sensors from different manufacturersIoT platform companies looking to add cross-platform search and discovery capabilitiesFacility management companies running buildings with mixed legacy and modern IoT systems

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Smart Energy & Utilities

enterprise

Target: Energy utility or grid operator managing distributed renewable assets

If you are an energy utility dealing with hundreds of solar panels, wind turbines, and smart meters from different vendors on different platforms — this project developed a cross-platform IoT discovery and search engine that lets you find, integrate, and query all your sensor data from one place. The system was demonstrated in smart energy scenarios with privacy controls built in, meaning you can consolidate your operational view without exposing sensitive grid data.

Smart City Infrastructure

enterprise

Target: City administration or municipal technology provider

If you are a city technology provider struggling to integrate traffic sensors, air quality monitors, and public lighting systems that were installed by different vendors over different years — this project built adaptive crawling and indexing tools that automatically discover and catalog IoT devices across your city. It was tested in smart city use cases with 10 consortium partners across 5 countries contributing real-world validation.

Industrial Manufacturing

mid-size

Target: Factory operator or industrial IoT platform provider

If you are a factory operator running dozens of machines with sensors from different manufacturers that cannot talk to each other — this project created semantic search and integration tools specifically demonstrated for Industry 4.0 scenarios. The working prototypes let you discover and connect legacy and new equipment data streams without replacing your existing systems.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to implement this IoT search and integration system?

The project does not publish pricing or licensing costs. Since IoTCrawler provides open APIs and generic enablers, initial integration costs would depend on your existing IoT infrastructure complexity. Contact the consortium for deployment pricing.

Can this scale to industrial-level deployments with thousands of devices?

The project was specifically designed for large-scale distributed IoT systems. Deliverables include prototypes tested in real working environments across Industry 4.0, smart city, and smart energy scenarios with 10 partners across 5 countries contributing to validation.

What is the IP situation — can I license this technology?

IoTCrawler committed to providing open and generic enablers and APIs, and extending the product lines of its industry and SME partners. The consortium includes 5 industry partners (2 SMEs) who were involved in commercialization planning. Contact the coordinator for specific licensing terms.

How does this handle privacy and security of IoT data?

Privacy and security were core design requirements, not add-ons. The project developed adaptive, privacy-aware and secure algorithms for crawling, indexing, and search across distributed IoT systems. This is built into the architecture rather than layered on top.

How long would integration with our existing systems take?

The platform was designed for interoperability with both legacy and new systems through dynamic and reconfigurable solutions. The project delivered 24 deliverables including integration prototypes, but exact deployment timelines depend on your current IoT landscape complexity.

Does this work with our existing IoT platforms or do we need to replace them?

IoTCrawler was built specifically to work across different existing platforms — not to replace them. It focuses on integration and interoperability, with adaptive discovery and integration of data and services from both legacy and new systems.

Consortium

Who built it

The IoTCrawler consortium brings together 10 partners from 5 countries (Austria, Germany, Denmark, Spain, UK), with a healthy 50% industry ratio — meaning half the team comes from companies that need this technology to work in practice, not just in theory. The consortium includes 2 SMEs alongside 4 universities and larger industry players, coordinated by Universidad de Murcia in Spain. This mix of academic depth and commercial drive is reflected in the deliverables: the team did not just publish papers, they built prototypes tested in real environments with business models attached. The multi-country spread also means the technology was validated across different regulatory and infrastructure contexts.

UNIVERSIDAD DE MURCIACoordinator · ES
AARHUS UNIVERSITETparticipant · DK
ODIN SOLUTIONS SOCIEDAD LIMITADAparticipant · ES
SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT OESTERREICHparticipant · AT
DIGITAL WORX GMBHparticipant · DE
STIFTUNG FACHHOCHSCHULE OSNABRUCKparticipant · DE
NEC LABORATORIES EUROPE GMBHparticipant · DE
AGT GROUP (R&D) GMBHparticipant · DE
AARHUS KOMMUNEparticipant · DK
UNIVERSITY OF SURREYparticipant · UK

How to reach the team

Universidad de Murcia (Spain) — reach out to the IoT/Computer Science department for coordinator contact

Order a report on this consortium See UNIVERSIDAD DE MURCIA profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore how IoTCrawler's cross-platform IoT search technology could solve your device integration challenges? SciTransfer can connect you directly with the research team and help evaluate fit for your use case.

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