“With billions of connected devices, we now have the potential to reshape society, the economy and the environment,” said SAP chief executive Bill McDermott.

“SAP Hana is the data platform we knew would unlock the Internet of Things. Today SAP is making another bold investment to help our customers seize the benefits of live business. Only SAP empowers businesses to innovate from the core to the edges to the networks.”

SAP will develop systems that apply machine learning techniques to the collected data and integrate the results with core business applications across broad areas, including agribusiness, infrastructure and energy, health, defence, manufacturing, consumer and transportation industries.

Industry 4.0 collaborations will be run from a series of SAP IoT labs that "are intended as lighthouse locations and primary access points for IoT research, development, proof-of-concept modelling and incubation, with IoT showcases, thought leadership, expertise and infrastructure for strategy and product co-innovation".

Planned locations include Berlin, Johannesburg, Munich, Palo Alto, Sao Leopoldo and Shanghai.

To accelerate its IoT efforts, SAP has acquired Plat.One — an Italian company with a portfolio that simplifies complex IoT deployments — and Fedem Technology, a Norwegian company with expertise in advanced engineering analysis.