Externalising, sharing and comparing perceptions in design

There is a need for organisations and the leaders within them to explore, recognise, build and exploit new capabilities. Some of this ‘new’ capability could be better utilisation of the resources already at their disposal. For example, highly skilled designers and engineers. This paper explores the notion of knowledge models in design with two driving motivations. Firstly, a new urgency in the light of the forth industrial revolution, from a digitisation perspective: can we integrate designer’s thoughts with AI. Secondly, a longer-standing concern, from the point of view of the inherent need to communicate and express and model clearly in achieve the objective of design. An analysis of the role of models in design is presented before a potential new approach is proposed

Innovation landscape and challenges of smart technologies and systems - a European perspective

Latest developments in smart sensor and actuator technologies are expected to lead to a revolution in future manufacturing systems’ abilities and efficiency, often referred to as Industry 4.0. Smart technologies with higher degrees of autonomy will be essential to achieve the next breakthrough in both agility and productivity. However, the technologies will also bring substantial design and integration challenges and novelty risks to manufacturing businesses. The aim of this paper is to analyse the current landscape and to identify the challenges for introducing smart technologies into manufacturing systems in Europe. Expert knowledge from both industrial and academic practitioners in the field was extracted using an online survey. Feedback from a workshop was used to triangulate and extend the survey results. The findings indicate three main challenges for the ubiquitous implementation of smart technologies in manufacturing are: i) the perceived risk of novel technologies, ii) the complexity of integration, and iii) the consideration of human factors. Recommendations are made based on these findings to transform the landscape for smart manufacturing

Knowledge Management in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Mapping the Literature and Scoping Future Avenues

Due to increased competitive pressure, modern organizations tend to rely on knowledge and its exploitation to sustain a long-term advantage. This calls for a precise understanding of knowledge management (KM) processes and, specifically, how knowledge is created, shared/transferred, acquired, stored/retrieved, and applied throughout an organizational system. However, since the beginning of the new millennium, such KM processes have been deeply affected and molded by the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, also called Industry 4.0, which involves the interconnectedness of machines and their ability to learn and share data autonomously. For this reason, the present study investigates the intellectual structure and trends of KM in Industry 4.0. Bibliometric analysis and a systematic literature review are conducted on a total of 90 relevant articles. The results reveal 6 clusters of keywords, subsequently explored via a systematic literature review to identify potential stream of this emergent field and future research avenues capable of producing meaningful advances in managerial knowledge of Industry 4.0 and its consequences

Fostering Smart Cities through ICT Driven Policy-Making: Expected Outcomes and Impacts of DAREED Project

YesThe concept of smart city is emerging as a key strategy to tackle the problems generated by the urban population growth and rapid development. It is widely recognised that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) play a key role in addressing some of the urban societal challenges such as improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. Although there are various ICT tools providing intelligence and services relating to energy consumption and monitoring processes, they mostly tend to work in isolation. Therefore, this paper presents the outcomes and impacts of the concept of DAREED which aims to deliver an integrated ICT service platform to drive energy efficiency and low carbon activities at neighbourhood, city and district levels. Furthermore, the research highlights the need for ICT-driven policy making using platforms such as DAREED in the context of e-Government. This paper contributes to the current understandings of e-Government literature in terms of how ICT can help public authorities and stakeholders such as policy makers to achieve and drive energy efficiency. From a practical stance, the paper offers valuable insights to public administrations on how ICT can be used to address pressing societal challenges such as efficient energy use and facilitate better policy making

Innovation Policy Roadmapping for the Future Finnish Smart City Digital Twins : Towards Finland National Digital Twin Programme

Smart City Digital Twins (SCDTs) emerge as a transforming concept with the ability to redefine the future of cities in the fast-paced evolving landscape of urban development. This qualitative futures research explores thoroughly into the complex interaction of socio-technical dynamics in the Finnish setting, investigating the several ways SCDTs might revolutionise urban spaces and create resilience. By utilizing Innovation Policy Roadmapping (IPRM) method for the first time on SCDTs, it reveals the diverse capacities of SCDTs across domains such as urban planning, scenario developing, What-IF analysis, and public involvement through a rigorous examination of academic literature and multi-level analysis of expert interviews. The research emphasises the critical role of policymakers and sectoral actors in building an environment that allows Finnish SCDTs to survive in the face of technological improvements. Furthermore, it emphasises the convergence of SCDTs and Futures Studies approaches, giving a visionary path to adaptable and forward-thinking urban futures. The contributions of this study extend beyond the scope of Finnish SCDTs, giving inspiration for sustainable smart city transformations, potential foundational insights towards Finland National Digital Twin Programme and paving the way for the incorporation of futures studies methodologies and digital twins to mitigate uncertainties and create resilient urban futures. Longitudinal impact assessments, real-time citizen-centric foresight applications via SCDT, and the investigation of SCDTs' role in disaster mitigation and social well-being are among the identified future research directions, providing a comprehensive roadmap for leveraging SCDTs as transformative tools for building sustainable urban futures

3D Printing and intellectual property futures

This report contains socio-legal research conducted on the relationship between 3D printing and intellectual property (IP) at the current point in time and in potential future scenarios, through the use of horizon-scanning methods in six countries—China, France, India, Russia, Singapore and the UK - to build a rich picture of this issue, comprising both developed and emerging economies

SME strategic regeneration: building a holistic framework for decision-making in managing growth uncertainties and market volatilities for SMEs in Malaysia

This qualitative multiple case study research suggests an empirical approach with vantage points of Strategic Management, Strategic Innovations and Strategic Foresight perspectives to foster holistic decision-making for SME firms’ Strategic Regeneration impetuses at the onset of external environmental turbulence and discontinuous change. The study’s inductive approach focuses on a sensemaking approach for ‘meaningful’ discourse between SMEs’ owner-managers and its key stakeholders via institutionalising Dynamic Capabilities and ‘future-preparedness’ to read, recognise and react to strategic shifts concerning firm orientations in dealing with growth uncertainties and market volatilities at critical stages of the firm’s lifecycles. Four basic rationales for holistic decision-making framework were established based on critical review of the extant literature: (i) establishing strategic posture on Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous (VUCA) environments and crisis interventions; (ii) improving the management of strategic decisions and integrated resources; (iii) developing proficiency and focus on future strategic orientations; and (iv) implementing time-bounded pathways for strategy paradigms. In highly uncertain and volatile economic environments, anticipating change impetus and corollaries via a structured and dynamic platform to expound ambidexterity in strategy and strategic decision-making implementations were found to be purposeful and useful for SME firm’s strategic reform activities.Three case study impact clusters were compared with unit of analysis: (a) strategic postures; (b) strategic regeneration horizons; and (c) dynamic capability. This was accomplished via ten Malaysian SME firms sampled from five different industry/sectors for primary data collection. Through a set of 24 semi-structured interview questionnaires and use of interview templates, ten carefully selected key informants were fully interviewed and transcriptions were analysed using eleven thematic codes. The validation of seven research propositions developed for this study generated a coherent response with associated findings with contextual relevance and significance to the research aims and objectives. The conceptualisation of the ‘SME Strategic Regeneration’ framework further expounded recommendations on adoption of maturity model and strategic decision management best-practices to ‘rapidly’ improve strategy outcomes and efficacies, particularly for SMEs with highly turbulent crisis and acutely affected firms. Illustrated results from multiple case studies complemented the discovery of business recovery initiatives in Malaysian SMEs in several aspects, exhibiting valuable insights for further development and investigation. Findings from this study serves as the precursor to development of proponents to holistic decision-making and future-preparedness, for rapid and practical adoption by SMEs to tackle strategic issues of business continuity and sustainability throughout their active lifecycles, analogous to its maturity and evolution. Nonetheless, scarcity of research specific to Malaysian SMEs on this topic entails further development of future research into strategic decision management and strategy paradigms specific to SME domains