The Internet of Things (IoT) is being held back by divergent approaches that result in data silos, high costs, investment risks and reduced market opportunities. To realize the potential and unleash the network effect, W3C is focusing on the role of Web technologies for a platform of platforms as a basis for services spanning IoT platforms from microcontrollers to cloud-based server farms. Shared semantics are essential for discovery, interoperability, scaling and layering on top of existing protocols and platforms. For this purpose, metadata can be classified into: things, security, and communications, where things are considered to be virtual representations (software objects) for physical or abstract entities. Thing descriptions are modeled in terms of W3C's resource description framework (RDF). This includes the semantics for what kind of thing it is, and the data models for its events, properties and actions. The underlying protocols are free to use whichever communication patterns are appropriate to the context according to the constraints described by the given metadata. W3C is exploring the use of lightweight representations of metadata that are easy to author and process, even on resource constrained devices. The aim is to evolve the web from a web of pages to a "Web of Things."

How to find a "thing" in the Internet of Things (IoT) haystack? The answer to this question will be the key challenge that IoT users and developers are facing now and will face in the future. Current models for IoT are focused heavily on developing vertical solutions limited by hardware and software platforms and support. With the estimated explosion of IoT in the coming years as predicted by Cisco, IBM and Gartner, there is a need to rethink how IoT can deliver value to the end-user. A paradigm shift is required in the underlying fundamentals of current IoT developments to enable a wider notion of "thing" discovery as well as discovery of relevant data and context on the IoT. Discovery will allow users to build IoT apps, services and applications using "smart things" without the need for a priori knowledge of things. In this article, we look at the current state of IoT and argue for paradigm shift addressing why and how discovery can make a significant impact for the future of IoT and moreover, become a necessary component for IoT success story.

We are witnessing these days the rise of always-on, connected devices, systems and environments. This might well represent the basis for the emerging digital economy. This symposium brings in diverse points of views trying to synthesize the most likely future of Internet of Things (IoT).