If the much-hyped “Internet of Things” is to reach its full envisioned potential, many believe there needs to be a recognized set of open standards that will enable technologists and developers to work together to connect devices and systems. To that end, Google announced it is establishing an open innovation and research program with plans to develop and formalize the research, standards, security, privacy and systems to help realize a fully “connected” society.

“We plan to bring together a community of academics, Google experts, and potentially other parties to pursue an open and shared mission in this area,” said Google, in a blog post co-authored by Internet pioneer Vint Cerf.

Google is announcing an open call for research proposals — for the “Open Web of Things Expedition” — that address “novel interactions, usable security models, and new approaches for open standards and evolution of protocols.”

“The submission deadline is January 21, 2015, with successful proposals expected to be filtered out by spring,” reports VentureBeat. “In addition to providing financial support, Google said it will serve up access to many of its own technologies to help with the research, including hardware, software, and other related systems.”