This post originally appeared on Charlotte Business Journal.

The Internet of Things is coming to Charlotte.

NC RIoT, a network of technologists, engineers, entrepreneurs and professional tinkerers, is hosting an event in the Queen City for the first time August 2.

NC RoIT recently hosted an event at the Durham Bulls' stadium that focused on sports, fitness and wearables.The Internet of Things refers to the increasing connectivity between all of our devices. This brings the ability to control them remotely and gather huge amounts of data for analysis.

NC RoIT recently hosted an event at the Durham Bulls’ stadium

Tom Snyder, executive director of NC RIoT, says Charlotte has an important role to play in the growing Internet of Things space.

“There actually is a nice entrepreneurial community forming in Charlotte, and I think it’s under appreciated,” Snyder says. “If we can raise some awareness to that area, that’s good for the state. Charlotte is also a national leader in financial services, and technology touches that sector like any other.”

Dan Roselli, managing director of QC FinTech and an advocate for the entrepreneurial space, will speak about the intersection of financial technology and IoT at the event. Other speakers include Jeffrey Sural, from the N.C. Department of Information Technology, state Sen. Jeff Jackson (D-Mecklenburg) and Raj Lanka from Meridian IT.

The evening will kick off with a networking opportunity at 6 p.m. at UNC Charlotte’s uptown campus. The program is about an hour long. The event is open to the public at no charge with complimentary food and beverages. There ismore information on RIoT’s meetup page, where interested parties can RSVP.

RIoT’s sponsors include Bridgera, Renesas, Tago, IBM, NCIDEA and SAS, among others. The organization is run from the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina in Wake Forest.

The nonprofit organization’s mission is to “create a community that captures IoT opportunities locally, nationally and globally,” according to its website. The Internet of Things is “the concept of basically connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet,” according to Forbes.

Snyder says the group’s events in other cities around the state usually draw between 200 and 450 people. Snyder joined the organization full time this spring. He believes North Carolina could be a hub for the Internet of Things industry.

Hilary Burns covers banking and financial services for the Charlotte Business Journal.