The Things Conference returned to De Kromhouthal in Amsterdam on Sept. 22-23, 2026, for its ninth edition, under the theme “Put Your Demo Where Your Mouth Is.” What started in 2018 as a community built around LoRaWAN® has grown into a cross-technology gathering for the Internet of Things (IoT) and edge ecosystem, with LoRaWAN, cellular IoT, edge artificial intelligence (AI), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and more all sharing the same floor.
Semtech was part of the program from start to finish, with live LR2021 demos at our booth, multiple keynotes, two ecosystem panels, hands-on workshops, and a panel on diversity in IoT. Here is a look back at what we showed and shared, with links to the session recordings so you can catch up.
The Semtech team and booth at The Things Conference 2026, Amsterdam
LR2021 Demos at the Semtech Booth
1. Long Range Image Transfer with LR2021 and FLRP-Burst
A low-power camera node sent a full image over long range powered by the LR2021 and the newly released Fast Long-Range Protocol (FLRP)-Burst, which combines the range of LoRa® with the speed of Fast Long-Range Communication (FLRC). The same demo was the basis for our hands-on workshop, so visitors could see it live on the booth and then run it themselves.
2. Z-Wave Assisted Video Transfer over FLRC on LR2021
A Z-Wave-enabled door motion sensor triggered an LR2021-connected camera to record a five-second video. That clip, around 150 kilobytes of data, reached the monitor via FLRC in under a second. First shown at Embedded World, the demo, built on hardware from Trident IoT, shows how LR2021 brings multi-protocol flexibility to everyday security workflows.
3. Amazon Sidewalk Device Showcase
A static display of Amazon Sidewalk devices showed visitors the growing range of products bringing Sidewalk connectivity to market.
4. LoRa Alliance Network Discovery on LR2021
A first look at Network Discovery on LR2021, the new capability the LoRa Alliance® is crafting to simplify advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and automatic meter reading (AMR) deployments, was previewed in the LoRa Alliance pod hosted at the Semtech booth.
Keynotes: How the LoRa Ecosystem and LR2021 Extend Range and Data Rate
Olivier Beaujard, senior director of the LoRa ecosystem at Semtech and chair of the LoRa Alliance Board, opened the Semtech keynote track with The Ecosystem Behind LoRa’s Success. His talk traced how a growing, collaborative and highly innovative open ecosystem turned LoRa technology from a radio technology into the world’s leading low power wide area network (LPWAN) standard, unlocking real-world impact across smart cities, agriculture, utilities, logistics, and industrial IoT.
Semtech integrated circuits (ICs) now support multi-protocol capability, with Z-Wave being one of them. Olivier is at the forefront of this innovation and also represents Semtech on the Z-Wave Alliance board of directors. He took part in The Truth About IoT Protocols, which looked at where Z-Wave Long Range, LoRaWAN and other wireless technologies really work.
Catch up on Olivier’s sessions:
- The Truth About IoT Protocols: Where Z-Wave Long Range, LoRaWAN and Other Wireless Technologies Really Work
- The Ecosystem Behind LoRa’s Success
Sebastien Lebreton, director of product management at Semtech, followed with Long Range – Low Power and High Data Rate: No Longer an Oxymoron. Industry adopters often assume that long range, low power and high data rate are mutually exclusive, and Semtech has shown otherwise with FLRC and FLRP-Burst. Semtech has long delivered low power wireless devices that, combined with the long range of LoRa technology, power today’s LoRaWAN ecosystem for low data rate, long range communications. Sebastien showed how the newest generation, LoRa Plus™ LR2021, extends that range advantage into the Mbps data rate, bringing range and consumption together at a level beyond the present state of the art for the first time. He detailed how Semtech research and development (R&D) made this possible, how the synergies between LoRa technology and FLRC are being harnessed to deliver a new smart wireless protocol and which use cases and application scenarios it now opens.
Catch up on Sebastien’s session:
Amazon Sidewalk and LoRaWAN: Expanding Connectivity at Scale
Semtech ICs are among the preferred hardware options for Amazon Sidewalk, and this panel put hardware and protocol side by side. Søren Lorentzen, global business development & go-to-market leader for Amazon Sidewalk, joined Shahar Feldman, vice president of wireless IC product marketing at Semtech, for a discussion on the next chapter of IoT, moderated by Michelle Lozada, vice president of corporate marketing at Semtech.
The conversation covered how Amazon Sidewalk and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are expanding connectivity at scale, why LoRaWAN remains a cornerstone of the LPWAN ecosystem and how the complementary strengths of the two technologies create new opportunities for developers, enterprises and solution providers. The panel closed on the shared goal of enabling seamless device connectivity and laying the foundation for Physical AI.
Catch up on the session:
Smart Water Metering Panel: Why LoRaWAN Wins the Connectivity Evaluation
Water utilities issuing smart water AMI tenders face a bewildering array of connectivity options, each promising interoperability, reliability and low total cost of ownership. This panel brought together network operators, meter original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and connectivity architects to unpack what separates winning proposals from the rest. Joining the discussion were Stéphane Comignan of Veolia, Frederik Oliver of Netmore and Vishal Mungra of Itron.
The panelists examined how Open Metering System (OMS) compliance, reversibility (utility-owned versus carrier-owned networks) and multi-vendor interoperability translate into concrete tender scoring criteria. They discussed why a mature multi-vendor ecosystem, spanning chipsets, modules, network infrastructure, and meter OEMs, drives down costs and de-risks long-term supply. They also shared real deployment data on network capacity planning and service-level agreement (SLA) guarantees, and contrasted the open ecosystem model of LoRaWAN with proprietary and cellular alternatives. Attendees left with a practical framework for evaluating connectivity bids beyond marketing claims.
How Does FLRP-Burst on LR2021 Deliver Long Range at High Data Rate?
Saad Skali, senior product manager of wireless ICs at Semtech, led a two-part hands-on workshop, FLRP-burst for Long Range at High Data Rate: Business Rationale & Technical Hands-On, showing how FLRP combines LoRa technology and FLRC to resolve the trade-off between speed, range and power. The focus was on use cases where battery-powered devices need to move large files over long distances.
Participants were walked through the Image Transfer demo code and the exact steps to run it live on standard LR2021 evaluation kits (EVKs): a low-power camera node sending a full image over long range. Attendees came away with FLRP running on real hardware and a clear view of where it fits in their next design.
Women in IoT Panel: Career On-Ramps and What Needs to Change
Semtech also presented a panel that asked a more specific question than “why does diversity matter”: how do women actually get into IoT? Whether through engineering, or through marketing, executive, partnerships, and ecosystem roles, the panel traced the real on-ramps, including the paths that led each speaker here, the moments that almost closed the door and what needs to change to open it wider for the next person. The panel was characterized by an intense and insightful Q&A session.
The panel featured Michelle Lozada, Fabienne Maire (director of business development at TEKTELIC), Carlo Tinella, Annalena Zottmann (business development and partners manager at Diehl), Dr. Maroua Taghouti (co-founder and CTO of bitteiler GmbH), Laura Bueno (IoT consultant at Schwarz Digits), and Miriam Surro (computer engineer, entrepreneur, and co-founder and CEO of MiDo).
Watch the panel:
What’s Next for LoRa Plus and FLRP After The Things Conference 2026
The Things Conference 2026 reinforced a message that ran across our sessions: The strength of LoRa technology comes from its ecosystem, and the next chapter is about extending that ecosystem into higher data rates with LoRa Plus and FLRP and into new connectivity partnerships such as Amazon Sidewalk. A big thank you to The Things Industries for hosting, to our partners and panelists for the open conversations and to everyone who stopped by to see the demos for themselves.
To learn more about LoRa Plus and FLRP, visit semtech.com/lora.
Semtech®, the Semtech logo, LoRa®, and LoRa Alliance® are registered trademarks or service marks, and LoRa Plus™ and the LoRa Plus logo are 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.