Not many years ago, when a new IoT concept was to be created and the system should be constructed, the designers had to start from scratch or base it on previous experiences.

In recent years however, many reference architectures have been created giving the designers a head start. These architecture deal with both concept, design, stakeholder inclusion, and operational challenges, such that the reader can quickly map the tasks needed to develop an IoT system, and understand the requirements put on each individual task. Therefore, the availability of reference architectures provides a de-risk of the development process and a faster time from idea to concept. Among the reference architecture can be mentioned:

- IoT-A Deliverable D1.5 Final architectural reference model for the IoT
- ISO/IEC 30141:2018 Internet-of-things(IoT) reference architecture
- IIC: The Industrial internet of Things, Volume G1: Reference architecture
- IEEE P2413 Standard for an Architectural Framework for the Internet of Things (IoT)

Each of these have their individual strengths and weaknesses, but common to them all is that they assist the developers in the development process for creating novel and state of the art IoT products and services.