The 2026 LoRa® Global Ecosystem Forum, held during the International Internet of Things Exhibition (IOTE) 2026 in Shenzhen, once again brought together customers, ecosystem partners, developers, and media from across the industry to explore the future of LoRa technology and the continued growth of its global ecosystem. Despite challenging weather conditions in Shenzhen on the day of the event, the forum drew a strong turnout that reinforced the leadership Semtech has built across the LoRa ecosystem. Adding to the momentum, the Semtech LoRa Plus™ LR2021 received the 2026 25th IOTE Gold Award – Innovative Product Award, further validating the innovation behind this next-generation LoRa platform.
This year's forum captured a clear shift in the ecosystem's focus. Where past conversations centered on understanding the capabilities of LR2021, this year's discussions moved decisively toward real-world deployment business models, commercialization pathways and production-ready solutions built on next-generation LoRa technology.
The 2026 LoRa Global Ecosystem Forum opened with a keynote from Mike Wong, vice president of sales at Semtech, who set the tone with “LoRa Connects the Future Industries and Global Markets.” Henry Huang, vice chair of the LoRa Alliance® Board and CEO of Browan Communications, followed with a look at how LoRaWAN® continues to underpin a thriving global Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. Shahar Feldman, vice president of marketing at Semtech, then took the stage with “LoRa Multi-mode for Physical AI,” detailing how multi-mode LoRa Plus™ radios are enabling physical AI at the edge.
A series of partner sessions followed. Zhao Feng of Rejeee shared large-scale application and deployment experience with LoRa industrial wireless sensing terminals, while Joey Jiang of Seeed Studio discussed bridging the last mile of Edge AI deployment. Hank Zheng of Milesight presented advances in AI-accelerated digital sensing, and Olivier Bernard, Business Development Head at Amazon Sidewalk, outlined how the platform is scaling to reach more than 200 million homes with LoRa serving as one of its integral connectivity layers. Jiabin Tuo of Quectel showcased a combined LoRa and Sidewalk connectivity offering, and Andy Gan of HopeRF covered the convergence of IoT, sensing and AI technologies.
Later in the day, Blaise Paratte, director of technical product management at Semtech, demonstrated how LR2021 and Fast Long-Range Communication (FLRC) are redefining wireless video transmission, while Swaroop Chitturi, product marketing manager at Semtech, joined virtually to deliver “Beyond Reactive Maintenance: LoRa Enabling Predictive Maintenance for Solar Renewable Energy,” exploring how LoRa is powering predictive maintenance for solar energy assets.
Additional ecosystem sessions rounded out the program: Jerry Xie of Appcon presented drone-based mobile gateways extending wide-area IoT coverage; Xu Hai of Hylintech shared LR2021-based video transmission use cases in “From ‘Perception’ to ‘Vision’”; Zhang Hui of Lierda introduced an open-source, multi-mode platform built on LR2021; Ivan Xie of Sowye discussed pairing Wi-Fi and LoRa to reshape smart home development; Archy An of Minew presented multi-protocol terminal architectures centered on LoRa technology; Sky Xu of Ai-Thinker shared a full-stack, end-to-cloud LoRa solution approach; and Qiang Lv of Guodian Gaoke outlined how LoRa and the Tianqi satellite constellation are shaping a global space-air-ground-sea AIoT ecosystem.
The day closed with a panel discussion, “From LoRaWAN to LoRa Plus: Building the Global Connectivity Platform for Future Industries,” featuring Mike Wong alongside panelists from HopeRF, the LoRa Alliance, Amazon, Lierda, Seeed Studio, Milesight, and Appcon. Friend Yu, China Country Manager at Semtech, then closed the forum with a call for continued ecosystem collaboration.
Inside the Semtech Booth: LoRa Ecosystem Innovation on Display
Across the show floor, the Semtech booth once again became a focal point for next-generation LoRa technology, bringing together live demonstrations from Semtech and ecosystem partners alike.
Ecosystem partners showcased innovations spanning video and image transmission, Edge AI connectivity, low-altitude networks, satellite IoT, asset tracking, and intelligent sensing, reflecting both the growing maturity of the ecosystem and the expanding market opportunities that LoRa technology continues to unlock. Highlights included:
LoRa Plus Module Ecosystem
Module partners continue to expand the LoRa Plus ecosystem, making it easier for developers to bring next-generation LoRa designs to market.
Featured Demos at the Semtech Booth
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Long-Range Video Streaming: Teaser demonstrations of the P4 video streaming and Fast Long-Range Communication Intellectual Property (FLRC-IP) video transmission gave attendees an early look at the next generation of long-range video capabilities, while ecosystem partner Hylin showcased its own LR2021-based video transmission solution delivering low-latency performance — underscoring the growing potential of LoRa in industrial inspection, agriculture, security, emergency response, and drone applications.
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High-Speed Image Transfer with the Fast Long-Range Protocol (FLRP): There were two interactive FLRP image transfer demos. One was built around a moving duck game and another with button-and-display controls, showing how the FLRP delivers fast, reliable image transfer over long range. Ecosystem partner Lierda complemented these with a fast color image transfer demonstration on a VGA screen using its AM36 Multimedia Development Kit.
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LR2021 Z-Wave Assisted Video Transfer over FLRC: A Z-Wave-enabled door motion sensor triggered an LR2021-connected camera to capture a five-second video clip, which then transmitted 150KB of data to a monitor via FLRC in under a second. The demo, built on hardware from Trident IoT, showed how LR2021 can fuse motion sensing, video capture and ultra-fast wireless transfer into a single, lightweight security workflow.
The Z-Wave Demo and FLRC Demo with LR2021
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Compact One-Channel Hub: The lightweight One-Channel Hub demo continued to draw attention from visitors exploring simplified, cost-effective LoRaWAN gateway deployments for smaller networks.
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Long-Range Audio & Voice: Ecosystem partner Sicomm brought a live walkie-talkie demonstration to the booth, while NiceRF showcased a 16-channel, full-duplex audio and data wireless demo both illustrating how LoRa technology can deliver reliable, long-range voice communication for emergency response, campus and industrial use cases.
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Edge AI & Amazon Sidewalk: Ecosystem partner Seeed Studio demonstrated an Edge AI solution pairing a camera with a LoRa chip and on-device AI processing, showing how LoRa connectivity can support efficient data collection, event verification and remote upgrades in environments where traditional connectivity is limited. A dedicated Amazon Sidewalk device showcase further highlighted the opportunities in large-scale device connectivity and broad coverage.
Mr. Shahar Feldman captures himself on camera during the Seeed Studio edge AI demo with on-device processing
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LR2021 Ranging, Handheld Devices & Smart Home: Attendees experienced the LR2021 EVK ranging demonstration in action, alongside a Makefire LR2021 handheld terminal and a smart home system from Sowye built on Tuya's platform, rounding out a booth filled with real-world applications built on next-generation LoRa technology.
Partner Demo Showcases
One of the most distinctive features of this year's forum was the breadth of practical applications showcased by ecosystem partners, evidence that the LoRa ecosystem is evolving from individual technology capabilities toward complete, commercially deployable solutions spanning terrestrial, low-altitude and satellite connectivity.
Amazon Sidewalk Ecosystem
Amazon shared the latest developments in Amazon Sidewalk, highlighting opportunities in large-scale device connectivity, simplified deployment, broad coverage, and device-to-cloud communications. The presentation generated significant interest among customers exploring international IoT opportunities.
Video and Image Transmission
Hylin demonstrated an LR2021-based video transmission solution capable of delivering low-latency performance. The live demo drew significant customer interest and highlighted growing potential of LoRa across industrial inspection, agriculture, security, emergency response, and drone applications.
LoRa Connectivity for Edge AI Applications
Seeed Studio showed how LoRa connectivity can support Edge AI deployments by enabling efficient data collection, event verification, image transmission, and remote upgrades in environments where traditional connectivity options are limited.
Low-Altitude Network Applications
Appcon introduced a drone-based mobile gateway solution designed to expand coverage, address communication blind spots and support mobile and emergency data collection, a concept that received strong interest within emerging low-altitude and wide-area IoT applications.
Accelerating LoRa Ecosystem Commercialization
Lierda showcased an LR2021-based open platform ecosystem covering modules, development tools, open hardware, and multiple application solutions, demonstrating the increasing ability of ecosystem partners to accelerate product development and commercialization.
Satellite IoT
Guodian Gaoke presented its Tianqi satellite IoT constellation and related applications, illustrating how satellite connectivity can complement terrestrial networks and provide coverage for maritime, transportation, energy, emergency-response, and remote-area use cases.
Ecosystem and Partner Value: The Roundtable Discussion
The forum further demonstrated the role Semtech plays as an ecosystem enabler, providing an effective platform for customers, distributors, module vendors, design partners, system integrators, and solution providers to exchange requirements, explore partnerships and accelerate solution development.
The roundtable discussion became one of the highlights of the forum. Panelists expressed strong confidence in the long-term commercial potential of the LoRa ecosystem, emphasizing that continued investment in LoRa-based solutions is creating new business opportunities across multiple industries. The session generated enthusiastic audience participation, reinforcing the shared belief that LoRa technology continues to offer a compelling platform for innovation, commercialization and long-term growth.
Media Engagement
A dedicated media group interview followed the Amazon presentation, featuring Mike Wong, Shahar Feldman and Henry Huang, Vice Chair of the Board of the LoRa Alliance. A total of 12 industry editors participated, with media interest focused on:
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LoRa ecosystem development
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Fourth-generation LoRa technologies
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LoRa Plus roadmap
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Amazon Sidewalk
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Satellite IoT
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Global market opportunities
Given the high level of participation and limited interview time, several questions could not be fully addressed during the session.
Beyond the Semtech Booth: LoRa Across the Show Floor
Beyond the traction at the Semtech booth, other LoRa device and module makers exhibited at IOTE 2026 with innovative products spanning multiple industries including personnel trackers, smart plugs, smoke detection sensors, smart building solutions, and industrial sensors, among many others.
MINEW Semi LoRa Module Portfolio displayed at their booth
Personnel Tags enabled by LoRa on display for Industrial Safety Applications
Smart Plug enabled by LoRa and Smart Switch enabled with Tuya ecosystem from SOWYE
Different kinds of Sensors enabled by LoRa for Industries such as Connected Spaces, Industrial Automation, Smart Buildings, etc.
Looking Forward: The Future of the LoRa Ecosystem
The 2026 LoRa Global Ecosystem Forum demonstrated the continued growth and increasing maturity of the LoRa ecosystem. The recognition of LR2021 with the Innovative Product Gold Award at the 25th IOTE 2026, together with the innovative applications showcased by ecosystem partners, provided strong validation of both the product innovation of Semtech and the ecosystem's ability to convert that innovation into market-relevant solutions.
Applications spanning video and image transmission, low-altitude networks, Edge AI connectivity, Amazon Sidewalk, open development platforms, and satellite IoT demonstrated how LoRa technology is expanding into new markets and unlocking new opportunities. Beyond the technology demonstrations and customer engagement, the forum reflected growing ecosystem confidence, stronger partner commitment and increasing market readiness for next-generation LoRa applications.
Strong participation, high-quality customer engagement, broad ecosystem involvement, and positive media interest reinforced the company’s position as both a technology leader and ecosystem enabler. The next priority is to convert this momentum into measurable business outcomes through expanded ecosystem collaboration, new design wins, increased customer adoption, new business opportunities, and sustainable revenue growth.
We would like to thank all speakers, ecosystem partners, customers, media representatives, distributors, and internal teams for their support in making this event a success.
Semtech®, LoRa®, LoRa Alliance®, LoRa Plus™ and the Semtech logo are registered trademarks or service marks of Semtech Corporation or its affiliates. LoRaWAN® is a mark used under license from the LoRa Alliance. Other product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.