Economic Algorithms for the Management of Resources in Computer Systems

Cloud computing and distributed Grid computations in the e-science and commercial spheres are beginning to make accessible huge amounts of computing power with “just in time” availability. However, the economic models surrounding these systems are static and uniform, with charging models that, for web-based cloud systems work on a price per unit per hour basis, whilst for educational type resources, fixed contractual arrangements and multi-year projects are more prevalent. The common place practice of using just-in-time capacity planning and variable pricing algorithms, such as those pioneered by airlines like EasyJet, tells us that the cost of delivering these services and the price that should be paid for them is a much more complex beast. Future Grid and Cloud Computing computations will be enabled by participants trading resources in order to construct bundles of goods or services in both new commercial arenas and the more well established “e-science” experiments in science, engineering and, now emerging, social sciences. A combinatorial auction (CA) is a natural choice for determining the optimal allocation for a bundle of required goods and services, but the space and time dimensions that characterise a Grid compute cloud would appear to indicate they are incompatible. This thesis proposes that an analogue of a physical commodities market is more appropriate for distributed resource allocation and that there is a class of bundling problems whose complexity properties appear to make the utilisation of a CA impractical. We therefore compare the two techniques for resource bundling and investigate the crossover point, to enrich our understanding of how combinatorial auctions and distributed markets may be used together to improve distributed resource allocation practices.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Economic algorithms for the management of resources in computer systems

Cloud computing and distributed Grid computations in the e-science and commercial spheres are beginning to make accessible huge amounts of computing power with “just in time” availability. However, the economic models surrounding these systems are static and uniform, with charging models that, for web-based cloud systems work on a price per unit per hour basis, whilst for educational type resources, fixed contractual arrangements and multi-year projects are more prevalent. The common place practice of using just-in-time capacity planning and variable pricing algorithms, such as those pioneered by airlines like EasyJet, tells us that the cost of delivering these services and the price that should be paid for them is a much more complex beast. Future Grid and Cloud Computing computations will be enabled by participants trading resources in order to construct bundles of goods or services in both new commercial arenas and the more well established “e-science” experiments in science, engineering and, now emerging, social sciences. A combinatorial auction (CA) is a natural choice for determining the optimal allocation for a bundle of required goods and services, but the space and time dimensions that characterise a Grid compute cloud would appear to indicate they are incompatible. This thesis proposes that an analogue of a physical commodities market is more appropriate for distributed resource allocation and that there is a class of bundling problems whose complexity properties appear to make the utilisation of a CA impractical. We therefore compare the two techniques for resource bundling and investigate the crossover point, to enrich our understanding of how combinatorial auctions and distributed markets may be used together to improve distributed resource allocation practices.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations and the Corporate Form

It has been suggested that the development of decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) will lead to a paradigm shift in the way we perceive businesses. DAOs ostensibly eliminate agency costs due to the absence of a board of directors, automated governance mechanisms and transparency provided by the blockchain upon which the DAO is launched. This article undertakes a comparative analysis between DAOs and corporations and questions whether DAOs really do improve the corporate form. Using a corporate governance and legal realist lens, this article suggests that a number of the purported benefits of DAOs are overly simplified. Moreover, there are several practical and legal obstacles that technological advancements and improved engineering must overcome before DAOs become a viable, mainstream organisational structure. Balancing the inevitable improvement in technology against these significant obstacles, this article predicts an incremental integration of DAOs into society through a hybrid approach, involving interim legal solutions and varying degrees of automation and decentralisation

The Innovation Interface: Business model innovation for electric vehicle futures

There is huge potential to link electric vehicles, local energy systems, and personal mobility in the city. By doing so we can improve air quality, tackle climate change, and grow new business models. Business model innovation is needed because new technologies and engineering innovations are currently far ahead of the energy system’s ability to accommodate them. This report explores new business models that can work across the auto industry, transport infrastructure and energy systems

Business models as systemic instruments for the evolution of traditional districts?

This paper aims to explore the potential role of Innovation Intermediaries in the evolution of a traditional cluster toward a service-oriented perspective. In particular, we will highlight the generative function of business models, here as market devices, in stimulating the co- evolution of Intermediary and target firms’ strategies.Business Models, Innovation Intermediaries, Entrepreneurship, Manufacturing, Systemic Instruments

Sustainable Development Report: Blockchain, the Web3 & the SDGs

This is an output paper of the applied research that was conducted between July 2018 - October 2019 funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and conducted by the Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and RCE Vienna (Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development).Series: Working Paper Series / Institute for Cryptoeconomics / Interdisciplinary Researc

Sustainable Development Report: Blockchain, the Web3 & the SDGs

This is an output paper of the applied research that was conducted between July 2018 - October 2019 funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and conducted by the Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and RCE Vienna (Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development).Series: Working Paper Series / Institute for Cryptoeconomics / Interdisciplinary Researc

A Systematic Literature Review of Peer-to-Peer, Community Self-Consumption, and Transactive Energy Market Models

Capper, T., Gorbatcheva, A., Mustafa, M. A., Bahloul, M., Schwidtal, J. M., Chitchyan, R., Andoni, M., Robu, V., Montakhabi, M., Scott, I., Francis, C., Mbavarira, T., Espana, J. M., & Kiesling, L. (2021). A Systematic Literature Review of Peer-to-Peer, Community Self-Consumption, and Transactive Energy Market Models. Social Science Research Network (SSRN), Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3959620Peer-to-peer and transactive energy markets, and community or collective self-consumption offer new models for trading energy locally. Over the past 10 years there has been significant growth in the amount of academic literature and trial projects examining how these energy trading models might function. This systematic literature review of 139 peer-reviewed journal articles examines the market designs used in these energy trading models. The Business Ecosystem Architecture Modelling framework is used to extract information about the market models used in the literature and identify differences and similarities between the models. This paper identifies six archetypal market designs and three archetypal auction mechanisms used in markets presented in the reviewed literature. It classifies the types of commodities being traded, the benefits of the markets and other features such as the types of grid models. Finally, this paper identifies five evidence gaps which need future research before these markets can be widely adopted.publishersversionpublishe