800 research outputs found
Challenges of building digital repositories in Africa: A case study of best practise
Creating the sustainable means to safeguard and make the African scientific memory evolutive for future generations make challenges regarding preservation and knowledge sharing most acute. Then, many initiatives have been developed to generate synergies at a national and regional level in order to raise awareness in the urgent need to implement policies and programs to safeguard and valorize the rich African historical, scholarly and cultural heritage.
But, despite resolutions and recommendations outlining road maps to root out the continent from isolation regarding the internationally networked system of knowledge production and sharing, there are now few relevant African contents freely accessible. And this, in spite of the existing potential and huge progress made in ICT outputs. In the general African context, with limited economic resources, one can therefore understand why such challenges are of urgent pressure.
1 - Challenges attached to the preservation and valorization of African scholarly contents.
2 - Presenting a case study of best practice: the digital repository of IFAN Ch A Diop
Economics of Data Systematic Review for Planning Strategies in the InsurTech industry
The knowledge of data enables exploring how value is created from data. Organizationsâ strategic planning becomes easier if the value of data is understood and adopted. Unless managers know how to use data, its exploitable value remains limited. Previous studies assessed either data dimensions such as volume, variety, velocity, veracity and granularity, or data management processes. However, many of these topics have been treated with a technical approach and only a few focused on the data value in management, strategy, and planning. The ubiquitous of data has allowed insurance incumbents and startups to exploit technologies, from which InsurTech, leveraging a unique data-driven proposition and often gaining a competitive advantage. The paper aims to explore the economics of data, enabling to strategically plan data management practices. It contributes to the management and strategy literature with an evidence-based systematic literature review that embraces the value generated by knowing data sources, data types, extended data dimensions, analyzes enabling technologies, and extends data management practices for reaching organizationsâ objectives in the InsurTech empirical context. In addition to further avenues of research, it provides managers with a theoretical data-valorization framework for data strategic planning, and institutions an overview for guiding the digital transformation. The novelty of this paper is the comprehensive focus on the economics of data at the intersection between traditional and emerging business models.The knowledge of data enables exploring how value is created from data. Organizationsâ strategic planning becomes easier if the value of data is understood and adopted. Unless managers know how to use data, its exploitable value remains limited. Previous studies assessed either data dimensions such as volume, variety, velocity, veracity and granularity, or data management processes. However, many of these topics have been treated with a technical approach and only a few focused on the data value in management, strategy, and planning. The ubiquitous of data has allowed insurance incumbents and startups to exploit technologies, from which InsurTech, leveraging a unique data-driven proposition and often gaining a competitive advantage. The paper aims to explore the economics of data, enabling to strategically plan data management practices. It contributes to the management and strategy literature with an evidence-based systematic literature review that embraces the value generated by knowing data sources, data types, extended data dimensions, analyzes enabling technologies, and extends data management practices for reaching organizationsâ objectives in the InsurTech empirical context. In addition to further avenues of research, it provides managers with a theoretical data-valorization framework for data strategic planning, and institutions an overview for guiding the digital transformation. The novelty of this paper is the comprehensive focus on the economics of data at the intersection between traditional and emerging business models
Digital and Strategic Innovation for Alpine Health Tourism
This open access book presents a set of practical tools and collaborative solutions in multi-disciplinary settings to foster the Alpine Space health tourism industryâs innovation and competitiveness. The proposed solutions emerge as the result of the synergy among health, environment, tourism, digital, policy and strategy professionals. The approach underlines the pivotal role of a sustainable and ecomedical use of Alpine natural resources for health tourism destinations, and highlights the need of integrating aspects of natural resourcesâ healing effects, a shared knowledge of Alpine assets through digital solutions, and frames strategic approaches for the long-term development of the sector. The volume exploits the results of the three-years long EU research project HEALPS 2, which involved several stakeholders from the health tourism, healthcare and sustainable tourism industries. This book is relevant for health tourism destinations and facilities (hotels, clinics, wellness and spa companies), regional and local authorities (policy makers), business support organizations, researchers involved in digital healthcare and geoinformatics
Digital and Strategic Innovation for Alpine Health Tourism
This open access book presents a set of practical tools and collaborative solutions in multi-disciplinary settings to foster the Alpine Space health tourism industryâs innovation and competitiveness. The proposed solutions emerge as the result of the synergy among health, environment, tourism, digital, policy and strategy professionals. The approach underlines the pivotal role of a sustainable and ecomedical use of Alpine natural resources for health tourism destinations, and highlights the need of integrating aspects of natural resourcesâ healing effects, a shared knowledge of Alpine assets through digital solutions, and frames strategic approaches for the long-term development of the sector.
The volume exploits the results of the three-years long EU research project HEALPS 2, which involved several stakeholders from the health tourism, healthcare and sustainable tourism industries. This book is relevant for health tourism destinations and facilities (hotels, clinics, wellness and spa companies), regional and local authorities (policy makers), business support organizations, researchers involved in digital healthcare and geoinformatics
PHENIX A Circular Economy Business Model Case
The aim of the R2Ï project is to find and analyze sustainable business models for circular economy in a variety of industrial sectors. Then, it aims to develop propositions that will support such business models. This report develops the case of Phenix, a French company in the food sector, illustrative of a successful circular business model.
Phenix was created in 2014 by two entrepreneurs, Jean Moreau and Baptiste Corval and went through a steady growth, now having 18 regional offices in France and 3 international ones in Copenhagen, Lisbon and Madrid. The companyâs global mission is to âunleash the potential of wasteâ. With an initial focus on food-waste, Phenix has set up a digital platform that works as an intermediary connecting waste âsuppliersâ (mainly retailers) and waste receivers (mostly charities). Through this service, Phenix prevents food close to expiration date from being wasted, and turns such waste into food donations. Beyond its matchmaking platform, Phenix also provides partners with a secured supply chain. Phenix achieves âtriple bottom lineâ value creation, by helping retailers to reduce the cost of food waste (economic benefit), enabling charities to get free access to food donations (social benefit), and helping society to reduce the overall amount of food waste produced in our economic system (environmental & circular economy benefit). It is, therefore, an example of a âmission-driven platformâ, built on a hybrid model that combines business, social and environmental value creation.
Presently, Phenix works with more than a thousand supermarket clients, has 100 full-time employees and helps to distribute over 40 000 meals per day. Phenix business model is circular by design. The organization offers a service to secure the recovery of unsold food products. Doing so, it organizes a circular sourcing for charities and helps retailers managing their products end-of-life. Because Phenix acts as a service provider, it does not generate waste but rather helps other organizations reduce their own.
As a multisided platform, Phenix has developed a distinct pricing scheme to address each side of the platform. Phenix revenue model is based on monetizing the supply-side of the platform, through a fixed commission on the waste-management gains achieved by distributors using the platform. On the other side of the platform (demand side), Phenix organizes free access to food for social charities, thus achieving a social benefit and facilitating the growth of the platform.
The French legal framework offered a favorable context for the development of a profitable business model for Phenix. As part of this regulatory framework, an existing tax incentive introduced in 1981 under the âColuche lawâ providing for a 60% tax deduction for food retailers and producers who donate foodstuffs instead of generating waste. Through its secured supply chain, Phenix organizes traceability, secures savings for retailers and can charge a commission on the total savings on waste management, making the business model viable.
As a fast growing and profitable start-up, the company is currently exploring different opportunities for geographical diversification in other European and non-European countries. The company is also currently engaged in processes of horizontal diversification to expand its services to new types of waste, and explores how to improve its current offer through digital solutions.
While the company strategic position appears quite robust, few points of attention need to be considered: the business model remains dependent on favorable regulations, it remains labor intensive and new market acquisitions require large investments. Yet, new technology such as big data or IoT can radically improve the modelâs cost-efficiency. Lobbying skills and network effects can protect the regulatory framework and diversification strategy to other resources (non-food wastes) and new skills (consulting) can strengthen the business model.
Beyond the strategic analysis of the company, this case study has significant implications for public regulators. It first highlights the central role of public regulation in the innovation process. And it illustrates the hypothesis of Porter and Van der Linde, according to which properly crafted environmental regulations not only help to reduce environmental externalities, but they can also lead to profits for innovative companies (Porter & Linde, 1995). Overall our results points toward a mix between a regulatory framework and private dynamics of innovation to create successful circular business model. On the innovation side, the case shows how mission-driven platforms can reconfigure stakeholder relations in a given business ecosystem and improve operational efficiency of these relations in order to decrease waste and increase re-useThis project has received funding from the European Unionâs Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 73037
Digital and Strategic Innovation for Alpine Health Tourism
This open access book presents a set of practical tools and collaborative solutions in multi-disciplinary settings to foster the Alpine Space health tourism industryâs innovation and competitiveness. The proposed solutions emerge as the result of the synergy among health, environment, tourism, digital, policy and strategy professionals. The approach underlines the pivotal role of a sustainable and ecomedical use of Alpine natural resources for health tourism destinations, and highlights the need of integrating aspects of natural resourcesâ healing effects, a shared knowledge of Alpine assets through digital solutions, and frames strategic approaches for the long-term development of the sector. The volume exploits the results of the three-years long EU research project HEALPS 2, which involved several stakeholders from the health tourism, healthcare and sustainable tourism industries. This book is relevant for health tourism destinations and facilities (hotels, clinics, wellness and spa companies), regional and local authorities (policy makers), business support organizations, researchers involved in digital healthcare and geoinformatics
Analysis of PortugalÂŽs macroenvironment in the view of digital transformation of smes using the peste framework - exploration of technological factors
The digital transformation has revolutionized entire sectors in
recent years. Yet, SMEs struggle to successfully implement such
profound organizational transformations, endangering their
competitiveness in the long term. Scholars study internal,
company-related factors almost exclusively, whereas external
factors are sparsely considered. Therefore, this thesis applies the
PESTE framework to investigate external factors affecting the
digital transformation of Portuguese SMEs. The following
section explores technological factors (knowledge transfer and
digital infrastructure and connectivity) in Portugal, analyzing the
external environment on SMEs' digital transformation. Based on
these findings, recommendations were developed, including
interdisciplinary data collection processes, innovation hubs,
tailored training, and trust seal
The energy center initiative at politecnico di torino: practical experiences on energy efficiency measures in the municipality of torino
Urban districts should evolve towards a more sustainable infrastructure and greener energy carriers. The utmost challenge is the smart integration and control, within the existing infrastructure, of new information and energy technologies (such as sensors, appliances, electric and thermal power and storage devices) that are able to provide multi-services based on multi-actors and multi and interchangeable energy carriers. In recent years, the Municipality of Torino represents an experimental scenario, in which practical experiences in the below-areas have taken place through a number of projects: 1. energy efficiency in building; 2. smart energy grids management and smart metering; 3. biowaste-to-energy: mixed urban/industrial waste management with enhanced energy recovery from biogas. This work provides an overview and update on the most interesting initiatives of smart energy management in the urban context of Torino, with an analysis and quantification of the advantages gained in terms of energy and environmental efficiency
Architecture and the Built Environment:
This publication provides an overview of TU Delftâs most significant research achievements in the field of architecture and the built environment during the years 2010â2012. It is the first presentation of the joint research portfolio of the Faculty of Architecture and OTB Research Institute since their integration into the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. As such the portfolio holds a strong promise for the future. In a time when the economy seems to be finally picking up and in which such societal issues as energy, climate and ageing are more prominent than ever before, there are plenty of fields for us to explore in the next three years
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