For the past decade, researchers have worked on something called device handoff, aiming for more efficient communication among devices across a network. In 2020, our smart home appliances will increasingly collaborate on the backend.

For example, Innit’s platform lets kitchen appliances talk to one another, even if your appliances come from several different brands. In 2019, Innit teamed up with Google Home Hub and other smart displays to further connect your kitchen.

There are lots of other options: the Bosch Home Connect smart kitchen line connects to Nest Protect. If you forget that pizza in the oven and it starts to catch fire, your Nest smoke detector will tell the oven to turn itself off.

In the coming year, we’ll see more integrations across brands and appliances.