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The top auto-parts manufacturer in the world — according to the June 26, 2017 issue of Automotive News — is Bosch Auto Parts($PRIVATE:BOSCH). Most cars sold today have a Bosch part somewhere in them and the company saw €78.1 billion in revenue just last year. The German-based company is also a supplier of numerous other products including technology, appliances and power tools.



Bosch was founded in 1886. The company hasn’t excelled for over 125 years by remaining idle: research and development is a big part of its strategy with a budget of €7.3 billion on R&D alone.



So what's next for Bosch? It looks like it may be IOT - Internet of Things - and crypto.

If we take a look at the hiring plans for IOT positons at Bosch there was a sharp increase in jobs related to Internet of Things last fall.

That timeframe is especially significant because on Oct. 17, 2017, it was announced that Bosch had partnered with a top 10-crypto currency (by market cap) called IOTA. IOTA is a Tangle-based crypto currency with the goal of being the default protocol between all devices in the Internet of things (IOT). The release explained:

“IOTA and Bosch have been in dialog about the convergence between the Internet-of-Things and IOTA’s Distributed Ledger Technology since late 2015 and built up a strong relationship,” says David Sønstebø, founder of the IOTA Foundation. “Our official collaboration on this laboratory for exploring this overlap cements both entities’ goal of enabling an open and secure IoT ecosystem.”

It's a lofty goal, but with Bosch on board and with the number of connected devices – cars, door locks, toys, refrigerators, smart TVs, and now car parts — it only makes sense that there would be a push for a universal protocol.

DISCLOSURE: The author of this article has investments in IOTA.