The advent of a global digital society is leading to the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the creation of connected objects. Many of these connected objects contain sensors of all kinds that have grown exponentially over the past 15 years. At the same time, servers and data centers have grown exponentially, with an equally exponential growth in energy consumption. To avoid reaching an insurmountable global energy limitation within 20 years, the integration of microelectronic systems will have to be increased and their energy consumption reduced by a factor of up to 100. All facets of microelectronics, mainly elementary devices, design and circuit architectures, are concerned. This will only be possible by also adapting human resources, i.e. teaching methods to train technicians, engineers and doctors capable of meeting the challenges. This paper deals with the context of connected sensors, their energy consumption and the new challenges on future technologies of connected objects, as well as the strategy developed by the French microelectronics teaching network to train future specialists able to face the challenges. © 2020, Institute of Electrostatics. All rights reserved.