Studies in Trade and Investment: The Development Impact of Information Technology in Trade Facilitation

International trade has been, and continues to be, one of the most important factors in the growth and development of the Republic of Korea. Because of the importance of trade, the Republic of Korea has always been interested in ways of making trade easier and faster. By the late 1990s, the Republic of Korea was one of the most "wired" countries in the world. Given the rapid pace of IT adoption, it made sense for the Republic of Korea to utilize IT for customs procedures and trade facilitation. The Government of the Republic of Korea vigorously pursued extensive use of IT for cargo clearance in order to reduce transaction costs and regulatory burden for traders, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).Trade facilitation, ICT, IT, SMEs, international trade, customs, the Republic of Korea

Big Data and the Internet of Things

Advances in sensing and computing capabilities are making it possible to embed increasing computing power in small devices. This has enabled the sensing devices not just to passively capture data at very high resolution but also to take sophisticated actions in response. Combined with advances in communication, this is resulting in an ecosystem of highly interconnected devices referred to as the Internet of Things - IoT. In conjunction, the advances in machine learning have allowed building models on this ever increasing amounts of data. Consequently, devices all the way from heavy assets such as aircraft engines to wearables such as health monitors can all now not only generate massive amounts of data but can draw back on aggregate analytics to "improve" their performance over time. Big data analytics has been identified as a key enabler for the IoT. In this chapter, we discuss various avenues of the IoT where big data analytics either is already making a significant impact or is on the cusp of doing so. We also discuss social implications and areas of concern.Comment: 33 pages. draft of upcoming book chapter in Japkowicz and Stefanowski (eds.) Big Data Analysis: New algorithms for a new society, Springer Series on Studies in Big Data, to appea

Ubiquitous Computing. Summary

Ubiquitous computing - the complex electronic networking of things that communicate - is considered a promising innovation path worldwide. Intensive R&D activities and political strategies are aimed at promoting practical technologies and applications. Where do we currently stand on the path to the "Internet of Things"? Which practical projects already show the potential that can be exploited by implementing the basic idea of ubiquitous computing? What technical, legal and social challenges must be overcome to achieve this - and what can be the contribution of politics? In the light of these questions, the authors analyse the status quo and the perspectives of ubiquitous computing and illustrate their findings with examples from trade, logistics and health care, among others. the fascinating "Brownie technology" of ubiquitous computing must, however, still be comprehensively made fit by those involved in business, society and politics if its applications are really to become economically attractive, socially acceptable and helpful in overcoming social problems