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Smart City Pilot Projects: Exploring the Dimensions and Conditions of Scaling Up
Abstract
In many cities, pilot projects are set up to test new technologies that help to address urban sustainability issues, improve the effectiveness of urban services, and enhance the quality of life of citizens. These projects, often labelled as “smart city” projects, are typically supported by municipalities, funded by subsidies, and run in partnerships. Many of the projects fade out after the pilot stage, and fail to generate scalable solutions that contribute to sustainable urban development. The lack of scaling is widely perceived as a major problem. In this paper, we analyze processes of upscaling, focusing on smart city pilot projects in which several partners—with different missions, agendas, and incentives—join up. We start with a literature review, in which we identify three types of upscaling: roll-out, expansion, and replication, each with its own dynamics and degree of context sensitivity. The typology is further specified in relation to several conditions and requirements that can impact upscaling processes, and illustrated by a descriptive analysis of three smart city pilot projects developed in Amsterdam. The paper ends with conclusions and recommendations on pilot projects and partnership governance, and adds new perspectives on the debate regarding upscaling.
... The literature demonstrates that the successful upscaling of experimentation hinges on stakeholder diversity, governance, and interoperable technical infrastructures, yet challenges like the lack of a comprehensive strategy and skilled talent pool persist (Brynskov et al., 2018;Kuguoglu et al., 2021). Still, despite widespread experimentation, the transition to broader implementation has encountered numerous challenges (van den Buuse et al., 2021;van Winden, van den Buuse, 2017). This complex landscape is defined by governance conditions such as collaboration intensity among partners, the capable municipality, the articulation of public needs, social legitimacy, and perceived technological uncertainty (Bundgaard, Borrás, 2021). ...
... Further complicating the scenario are factors affecting the AioT upscaling processes, encompassing management aspects like top management support and business models, to organizational elements such as culture and agility (Kuguoglu et al., 2021). The affordability and scalability of smart-city projects are considered critical, with economic, regulatory, and technological conditions playing a pivotal role in upscaling potential (Ciuffoletti, 2018;van Winden, van den Buuse, 2017;van den Buuse et al., 2021). The redefinition of key factors by Sista and De Giovanni (2021) into technical, economic, organizational, and stakeholder-related categories further illustrates the multifaceted nature of upscaling challenges. ...
... Therefore, we propose an integrative framework to support a future research agenda that considers the transition from experiments and pilot projects to city-wide implementation. This is key to fostering sustainable urban development and deriving economic, environmental, and social benefits from technological innovations (Mendes, 2021;van Winden, van den Buuse, 2017). ...
Experiments with smart cities have proliferated in recent years, and the issue of upscaling these initiatives has become crucial for public authorities. Despite its importance, the literature barely addresses this issue, especially in public management. Our systematic review aims to uncover factors influencing the scalability and transferability of smart-city experiments to respond to the following research question: How can smart-city initiatives be upscaled to ensure sustainable growth and value creation? We found that digital innovation plays a pivotal role in expanding local initiatives. However, managing scalable and transferable smart-city projects remains under debate. An inte-grative framework is proposed, synthesizing current research and suggesting new directions in public management. It is designed to facilitate a better understanding of how to manage the upscaling and to transfer smart-city initiatives across diverse urban environments, addressing the pressing need for a coherent approach in this rapidly evolving field.
... (1) Stakeholder management for replication: One research gap refers to stakeholders' interaction in upscaling a smart city initiative. Inadequate stakeholder management impairs further engagement and prevents the successful upscaling of a smart city initiative [33]. Smart city KM involves meeting the needs of all relevant stakeholders to ensure successful outcomes [6,34]. ...
... Smart city KM involves meeting the needs of all relevant stakeholders to ensure successful outcomes [6,34]. However, as van Winden and van den Buuse put it, participants in smart city initiatives tend to share their perspectives and ambitions without building mechanisms that facilitate replication and upscaling [33]. (2) Standardization for replication and upscaling: One of these missing mechanisms for replication and upscaling can be standardization since its resulting standards represent benchmarks for functional and technical performances that are lacking [35]. ...
... Given the European path that assigns smart cities the role of a vehicle to achieve decarbonization, climate neutrality, and green energy transition, replication can be seen as facilitating policy instrument [47]. According to van Winden and van den Buuse, replication is part of the scaling process [33]. It is perceived as the consequence of the initial roll-out and successful solution expansion. ...
As cities tackle a variety of recent challenges, such as climate change or resilience against natural hazards, the concept of smart cities has increasingly moved into the spotlight to provide technological solutions as appropriate countermeasures. European policymakers chose the systematic funding of smart city initiatives to incentivize and accelerate innovation and sustainability transitions by disseminating knowledge, data, and information. As this undertaking is complex, there is a pressing need to involve and engage capable stakeholders to successfully implement and operate smart city projects. To ensure the diffusion and effectiveness of these initiatives, activities towards replication and standardization as knowledge management instruments have been applied in some of these research projects. However, there is a knowledge gap on how standardization can be combined with replication efforts. As one possible answer, the lighthouse project Smarter Together has actively integrated standardization in its replication activities, resulting in the development of the CEN Workshop Agreement 17381 for describing and assessing smart city solutions. The analysis of these activities resulted in the development of 11 assumptions, which show the role of standardization as a knowledge carrier for replication activities and as a facilitator for stakeholder engagement. These findings reinforce the chosen and future policy decisions.
... Cities around the world face complex societal issues, such as securing a healthy and safe living environment, deploying sustainable means of transport, and the transition towards renewable energy [1]. Governments have set up smart city projects, through the use of digital technologies and urban data, to address these complex societal issues [2][3][4][5]. These societal issues exceed the scope of government organizations and require that different stakeholders, such as the government, citizens, research institutes, and businesses, collaborate [6][7][8]. ...
... 144). However, different stakeholders might have different interests and expectations, leading to conflicts in collaboration [5,10]. These challenges in collaboration make it difficult for cities to implement digital technologies and capture the promising benefits of smart city practices [6,7,10]. ...
... In contrast, Van Lunenberg et al. [64] demonstrate the importance of the relationship between institutional factors (such as resources and network of stakeholders), structure (the way stakeholders organize their activities), pathway (in terms of mobilizing powerful "patrons" such as managers or politicians), and scaling outcomes. These components could partly explain why smart city projects often remain experimental and have difficulties scaling [5,64]. ...
Smart city projects rely upon dynamic and complex multi-stakeholder collaboration. This collaboration can be challenging. In this study, we use an instrumental lens and argue that tools can help public professionals in dealing with smart governance challenges. Building upon smart governance and collaborative governance models, we conceptualize smart governance as a toolbox. Based on our “smart governance toolbox”, we assess the variety of tools available for professionals to initiate and support multi-stakeholder collaboration by reviewing academic and grey literature. This review results in the identification of a broad range of tools that research and practice have developed. However, we also demonstrate that certain parts of the ‘smart governance toolbox’ remain almost empty: there are few tools for assessing the smart collaborative governance context, facilitating the collaborative structure, tackling technology issues, and measuring outcomes of smart city practices. Future design research should focus on developing instruments needed to make the smart governance toolbox complete.
... To this end, they have often initiated, advocated, and endorsed new technological endeavors in public, private, and research institutions across diverse disciplines such as Germany's third iteration of model Smart Cities projects (Bundesministerium des Innern, für Bau und Heimat, 2021) and Singapore's Smart Nation initiatives (Smart Nation Singapore, 2021). This generates a growing diversity of digital solutions ranging from interactive online dashboards for city statistics to proprietary optimization tools for city logistics, building management, and infrastructure planning (van Winden and van den Buuse, 2017;Komninos et al., 2019). ...
... These solutions, often represented by small-scale pilot projects, require further alignment to implement place-based approaches and to avoid fading out after their trial periods. When implemented suitably, they could be expanded and replicated to establish a flourishing urban modeling ecosystem that addresses urban challenge at various scales (van Winden and van den Buuse, 2017). On the other end, large-scale smart city projects led by one big tech company, such as the now e6-2 Hou Yee Quek et al. ...
... Considering these trends, it is unsurprising that city administrators have already acknowledged the significance of technology in enhancing urban life. They are willing to fund and support a myriad of new and ongoing smart city projects, often small start-ups and experimental projects developed by research organizations, technology and non-technology firms, and individuals (Hollands, 2015;Rabari and Storper, 2015;van Winden and van den Buuse, 2017;Rech et al., 2018;Komninos et al., 2019;Mora and Deakin, 2019). This is a stark contrast to the initial market space dominated by big software firms such as IBM, CISCO, Microsoft, and Oracle (Townsend, 2013;Kitchin, 2014;Grossi and Pianezzi, 2017). ...
Today, technological developments are ever-growing yet fragmented. Alongside inconsistent digital approaches and attitudes across city administrations, such developments have made it difficult to reap the benefits of city digital twins. Bringing together experiences from five research projects, this paper discusses these digital twins based on two digital integration methodologies-systems and semantic integration. We revisit the nature of the underlying technologies, and their implications for interoperability and compatibility in the context of planning processes and smart urbanism. Semantic approaches present a new opportunity for bidirectional data flows that can inform both governance processes and technological systems to co-create, cross-pollinate, and support optimal outcomes. Building on this opportunity, we suggest that considering the technological dimension as a new addition to the trifecta of economic, environmental, and social sustainability goals that guide planning processes, can aid governments to address this conundrum of fragmentation, interoperability, and compatibility. Policy Significance Statement As cities across the globe aspire to become smarter, the rapid pace of siloed technological developments and their growing complexities and pitfalls have become too significant for city administrations and politicians to ignore. This is exacerbated by the novel developments of city digital twins based on a diversity of software and technologies. We scrutinize a variety of digital twins to discern opportunities to address interoperability and compatibility. In overcoming technological lock-ins driven by business interests, we conclude that software developments need to pay greater attention to practical realities. We contend that city administrations would also have to step up to spearhead, rather than sway toward these technologies for their processes.
... Additionally, partnerships with international development agencies and NGOs can provide funding and technical assistance for pilot projects. These projects can serve as proof of concept, demonstrating the feasibility and benefits of sustainable construction on a larger scale (Shen et al., 2016;Shan et al., 2017;Winden & Buuse, 2017). ...
... To foster the adoption of sustainable materials, it is imperative to update building codes and standards to include guidelines for their use. This could involve setting minimum standards for energy efficiency, providing specific guidelines for using local materials, and offering incentives for projects that achieve green building certifications (Shen et al., 2016;Shan et al., 2017;Winden & Buuse, 2017). For example, integrating requirements for bamboo, recycled concrete, and earth-based materials into national building standards could ensure their broader adoption and consistency in application. ...
Sustainable building materials play a crucial role in reducing the carbon footprint of the housing sector, which is significant in Nigeria due to rapid urbanisation and increasing housing demands. This study provides a comprehensive narrative review of 60 published journal articles from 2010 to 2023, focusing on identifying, evaluating, and applying sustainable building materials for low-carbon housing in Nigeria. The review method critically analyses existing literature to highlight the most effective materials and techniques contributing to carbon reduction. Findings reveal that materials such as bamboo, recycled concrete, and earth-based materials show promise in achieving sustainability goals. Additionally, the study underscores the importance of integrating traditional construction practices with modern technologies to enhance environmental performance. The barriers to adopting these materials, including economic constraints, lack of awareness, and policy challenges, are also discussed. The insights derived from this review aim to guide policymakers, architects, and builders in promoting sustainable construction practices.
... This is an admirable aspiration but what capacity actually is, and who precisely is to have it are not explained. There is substantial criticism of smart city prescriptions as being formed at high levels of abstraction [2]; vendor hype [3]; or self-congratulatory assertions [4], causing us skepticism as to whether capacities are sufficiently explicated for theorists and practitioners to apply the capacities and achieve sustainable smart city objectives. We reasoned that if our research could assemble the extant knowledge and set paths for future research that addresses the unanswered aspects of the smart city capacities literature, then smart cities would benefit by way of increased sustained achievement of objectives. ...
... We sought evidence as to whether the components of each capacity are explained sufficiently to inform the actor operationalizing the capacity. Scholars [1,2,28] warn that the smart city literature presents prescriptions notable for their high level of abstraction. We found that the extant literature does not provide sufficient knowledge for those seeking to create and apply the capacity in their organization or ecosystem. ...
Throughout the smart city literature, there are mentions of capacities, the application of which is claimed to result in the sustainable achievement of objectives. Because of the often desperate need for smart city objectives to be met, we sought to understand which were the capacities and whether the components of these capacities are explained sufficiently for them to be effective in practice. We applied a four-stage methodology commencing with a search of multiple databases for smart city capacity knowledge. We next assembled the evidence from the items identified in that search using a thematic analysis that identified the capacity to exploit technology, innovate, collaborate, and orchestrate. Next, we followed the threads of knowledge, iteratively allocating the knowledge to each of the four capacities to a typology of what, why, and who. The fourth stage was a cross-capacity analysis that generated further refinement and identified important factors. We identified that capacities are not sufficiently explained. In addition to the need for more levels of detail as to practical implementation, we identified significant underdevelopment of the literature as to the impact of institutional complexity and the influence of stakeholders. We propose research directed at increasing the effectiveness of capacities, define the concept of smart city capacities, propose a framework of the components of capacities, and draw on established stakeholder theory to create a stakeholder influence research framework.
... White and Burger also introduced a framework for smart city development and demonstrated that the configuration is not fixed, changing instead with context and time [35]. Collaborative dynamics is one of the most relevant factors in smart cities [36], but much of it is still unknown [37]. Specifically, Thabit and Mora determined that common collaboration models do not adequately account for the complexity of real-world cases [24]. ...
... The collaborative governance literature emphasizes that stakeholders may have different or similar interests, goals, and expectations [33]. This can lead to conflict in collaboration [36]. However, information on how to properly organize cross-sector partnerships in smart city projects is limited [5]. ...
Smart cities have emerged as a promising solution to the problems associated with urbanization. However, research that holistically considers diverse stakeholders in smart cities is scarce. This study utilizes data from four types of collaborators (academia, public sector, industry, and civil society actors) to identify key topics and suggest research areas for developing smart cities. We used latent Dirichlet allocation and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers for topic extraction and analysis. The analysis reveals that sustainability and digital platform have received similar levels of interest from academia, industry, and government, whereas governance, resource, and green space are less frequently mentioned than technology-related topics. Hype cycle analysis, which considers public and media expectations, reveals that smart cities experienced rapid growth from 2015 to 2021, but the growth rate has slowed since 2022. This means that a breakthrough improvement in the current situation is required. Accordingly, we propose resolving the unbalanced distribution of topic interests among collaborators, especially in the areas of governance, environment, economy, and healthcare. We expect that our findings will help researchers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders in understanding which topics are underdeveloped in their fields and taking active measures for the future development of smart cities.
... Because of their smaller scale, pilot projects can facilitate intense participation, but often are secluded from the institutional organization. This is why the third dimension is the extent to which a pilot project for a smart city technology is embedded in the institutional context in order to be able to scale it up and deploy it (van Winden & van den Buuse, 2017). This dimension is depicted by the arrows connecting the technology layer and the institutional layer in Figure 1. ...
... Within the present ideas and existing policies (like the participation plan) about moving to a more value-based approach including participation this first phase without citizens seemed to be necessary in order to embed the procurement and its codesign in the institution. The followed approach is strongly embedded in the municipality's institutional context in terms of its procurement and participation policies, but also in terms of departments that would like to deploy future services van Winden & van den Buuse, 2017). Because important elements of the service in this procurement process are delivered by the City of Amsterdam, the involved technology and infrastructure are prepared to be scalable and interoperable with other systems within the organization. ...
... Because of their smaller scale, pilot projects can facilitate intense participation, but often are secluded from the institutional organization. This is why the third dimension is the extent to which a pilot project for a smart city technology is embedded in the institutional context in order to be able to scale it up and deploy it (van Winden & van den Buuse, 2017). This dimension is depicted by the arrows connecting the technology layer and the institutional layer in Figure 1. ...
... Within the present ideas and existing policies (like the participation plan) about moving to a more value-based approach including participation this first phase without citizens seemed to be necessary in order to embed the procurement and its codesign in the institution. The followed approach is strongly embedded in the municipality's institutional context in terms of its procurement and participation policies, but also in terms of departments that would like to deploy future services van Winden & van den Buuse, 2017). Because important elements of the service in this procurement process are delivered by the City of Amsterdam, the involved technology and infrastructure are prepared to be scalable and interoperable with other systems within the organization. ...
... Despite these known barriers to AI adoption limiting the ability to create public value from these technologies (Van Noordt and Misuraca, 2020a), little is still known about how public authorities aim to overcome them (Medaglia et al., 2021;Wirtz et al., 2021). Some public administrations may have conducted successful trials with AI, but face difficulties in scaling up the results across the organization or across organisational boundaries (Alexopoulos et al., 2019;Kuguoglu et al., 2021;Van Winden and van Den Buuse, 2017). In the discourse on AI, the role of government in AI is often only regarded as a regulator in society, or as a facilitator of AI for the private sector, and many of the policies as proposed in national strategies are linked to these two roles (Kuziemski and Misuraca, 2020;Zuiderwijk et al., 2021), leaving limited insights on what governments plan to do to support their own use. ...
Governments have been putting forward various proposals to stimulate and facilitate research on Artificial Intelligence (AI), develop new solutions, and adopt these technologies within their economy and society. Despite this enthusiasm, however, the adoption and deployment of AI technologies within public administrations face many barriers, limiting administrations from drawing on the benefits of these technologies. These barriers include the lack of quality data, ethical concerns, unawareness of what AI could mean, lack of expertise, legal limitations, the need for inter-organisational collaboration, and others. AI strategy documents describe plans and goals to overcome the barriers to introducing AI in societies. Drawing on an analysis of 26 AI national strategy documents in Europe analysed through the policy instrument lens, this study shows that there is a strong focus on initiatives to improve data-related aspects and collaboration with the private sector, and that there are limited initiatives to improve internal capacity or funding.
... As smart cities evolve from small-scale implementations to expansive urban landscapes, there's a surge in data and network traffic. Thus, scalable systems and mechanisms are indispensable for the effective operation of smart cities [58]. ...
The expansion of smart cities, facilitated by digital communications, has resulted in an enhancement of the quality of life and satisfaction among residents. The Internet of Things (IoT) continually generates vast amounts of data, which is subsequently analyzed to offer services to residents. The growth and development of IoT have given rise to a new paradigm. A smart city possesses the ability to consistently monitor and utilize the physical environment, providing intelligent services such as energy, transportation, healthcare, and entertainment for both residents and visitors. Research on the security and privacy of smart cities is increasingly prevalent. These studies highlight the cybersecurity risks and the challenges faced by smart city infrastructure in handling and managing personal data. To effectively uphold individuals’ security and privacy, developers of smart cities must earn the trust of the public. In this article, we delve into the realms of privacy and security within smart city applications. Our comprehensive study commences by introducing architecture and various applications tailored to smart cities. Then, concerns surrounding security and privacy within these applications are thoroughly explored subsequently. Following that, we delve into several research endeavors dedicated to addressing security and privacy issues within smart city applications. Finally, we emphasize our methodology and present a case study illustrating privacy and security in smart city contexts. Our proposal consists of defining an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based framework that allows: Thoroughly documenting penetration attempts and cyberattacks; promptly detecting any deviations from security standards; monitoring malicious behaviors and accurately tracing their sources; and establishing strong controls to effectively repel and prevent such threats. Experimental results using the Edge-IIoTset (Edge Industrial Internet of Things Security Evaluation Test) dataset demonstrated good accuracy. They were compared to related state-of-the-art works, which highlight the relevance of our proposal.
... In the future, it might be needed to reflect on the way NBS can be optimally embedded in the existing Canadian FRM governance system, or if the system itself needs to be further adapted to accommodate novel climate adaptation strategies. Finally, rather than seeing pilot projects as solitary endeavours, they can be seen as building blocks part of a bigger system of initiatives contributing to sustainable climate adaptation strategies [63]. If lessons learned and insights are documented and shared appropriately, pilot projects offer value even when lacking scalability. ...
... Pilot projects: Conducting pilot projects provides local governments with valuable insights into the feasibility, scalability, and potential impact of AI technologies in realworld settings [225]. Pilot initiatives allow for the iterative testing and refinement of AI solutions before full-scale implementation, mitigating risks and optimising resource allocation [226]. ...
In an era marked by rapid technological progress, the pivotal role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly evident across various sectors, including local governments. These governmental bodies are progressively leveraging AI technologies to enhance service delivery to their communities , ranging from simple task automation to more complex engineering endeavours. As more local governments adopt AI, it is imperative to understand the functions, implications, and consequences of these advanced technologies. Despite the growing importance of this domain, a significant gap persists within the scholarly discourse. This study aims to bridge this void by exploring the applications of AI technologies within the context of local government service provision. Through this inquiry, it seeks to generate best practice lessons for local government and smart city initiatives. By conducting a comprehensive review of grey literature, we analysed 262 real-world AI implementations across 170 local governments worldwide. The findings underscore several key points: (a) there has been a consistent upward trajectory in the adoption of AI by local governments over the last decade; (b) local governments from China, the US, and the UK are at the forefront of AI adoption; (c) among local government AI technologies, natural language processing and robotic process automation emerge as the most prevalent ones; (d) local governments primarily deploy AI across 28 distinct services; and (e) information management, back-office work, and transportation and traffic management are leading domains in terms of AI adoption. This study enriches the existing body of knowledge by providing an overview of current AI applications within the sphere of local governance. It offers valuable insights for local government and smart city policymakers and decision-makers considering the adoption, expansion, or refinement of AI technologies in urban service provision. Additionally, it highlights the importance of using these insights to guide the successful integration and optimisation of AI in future local government and smart city projects, ensuring they meet the evolving needs of communities.
... Pilot projects: Conducting pilot projects provides local governments with valuable insights into the feasibility, scalability, and potential impact of AI technologies in realworld settings [225]. Pilot initiatives allow for the iterative testing and refinement of AI solutions before full-scale implementation, mitigating risks and optimising resource allocation [226]. ...
In an era marked by rapid technological progress, the pivotal role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly evident across various sectors, including local governments. These governmental bodies are progressively leveraging AI technologies to enhance service delivery to their communities, ranging from simple task automation to more complex engineering endeavours. As more local governments adopt AI, it is imperative to understand the functions, implications, and consequences of these advanced technologies. Despite the growing importance of this domain, a significant gap persists within the scholarly discourse. This study aims to bridge this void by exploring the applications of AI technologies within the context of local government service provision. Through this inquiry, it seeks to generate best practice lessons for local government and smart city initiatives. By conducting a comprehensive review of grey literature, we analysed 262 real-world AI implementations across 170 local governments worldwide. The findings underscore several key points: (a) there has been a consistent upward trajectory in the adoption of AI by local governments over the last decade; (b) local governments from China, the US, and the UK are at the forefront of AI adoption; (c) among local government AI technologies, natural language processing and robotic process automation emerge as the most prevalent ones; (d) local governments primarily deploy AI across 28 distinct services; and (e) information management, back-office work, and transportation and traffic management are leading domains in terms of AI adoption. This study enriches the existing body of knowledge by providing an overview of current AI applications within the sphere of local governance. It offers valuable insights for local government and smart city policymakers and decision-makers considering the adoption, expansion, or refinement of AI technologies in urban service provision. Additionally, it highlights the importance of using these insights to guide the successful integration and optimisation of AI in future local government and smart city projects, ensuring they meet the evolving needs of communities.
... Government entities commonly support these aforementioned efforts which are typically subsidised and executed via temporary collaborative alliances. Therefore, scalability is often viewed as a sizeable concern [28]. ...
The concept of smart cities has gained significant attention in recent years, as urban areas worldwide seek to leverage technology and innovation to enhance their residents' quality of life. It is agreed that one of the core objectives of the smart cities is the optimisation of quality of life and resident satisfaction. This research endeavours to explore the relationship between smart city rankings and quality of life in four European countries: Germany, France, Italy, and Poland. In doing so, we encountered a multitude of complexities and nuances. While the concept of smart cities holds great promise for urban development and enhancing residents' well-being, the current methodologies for comparing smart cities and assessing quality of life require refinement and standardization. Addressing these challenges will not only advance our understanding of the impact of smart city initiatives but also pave the way for more effective urban planning and policy decisions to improve the overall quality of life in urban areas.
... Over the years, concepts such as reinnovation, reconfiguration, social embedding, innofusion, and generification have been developed to bridge these positions, departing from "spread" and "adoption" oriented researchers alike (Fleck, 1993;Geels et al., 2016;Kohtala et al., 2020;Pollock and Williams, 2008;Rogers, 2003). Yet the recent increase in alternative terms used to discuss the proliferation of new technology-such as upscaling (Wigboldus et al., 2016), roll-out (Van Winden and Van Den Buuse, 2017), distributed participation (Ryghaug Abbreviations: ASHP, Air source heat pump; ASWHP, Air Source to Water heat pump; BOAP, Biographies of artifacts and practices; DIY, Do-it-Yourself; EHP, Exhaust air heat pump; GSHP, Ground source heat pump; HVAC, Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning; SCM, Series of configurational movements; S-RET, Small scale renewable energy technology; S&TS, Science & Technology Studies. and Skjølsvold, 2021), and generalization (Robinson et al., 2022)indicate that scholars do not see the challenge resolved. ...
The detailed studies of adoption and user activities indicate that continuous alterations accompany the proliferation of new technology, yet diffusion theory and system change-oriented frameworks portray the spread of technologies across a social or sociotechnical system with relatively few changes. To better reconcile the two orientations, we introduce a series of configurational movements (SCM) as a conceptual register for the generalization of new technology in society. We elaborate on the SCM with an over-a-decade-long investigation into heat pumps in Finland, one of the globally furthest progressed energy transitions. The process has thus far involved nine configurational movements, each featuring a change in the character of the technology, the ecology of actors relevant to it, and the contexts in which the technology spreads. SCM analysis further surfaces eight user activity types that have shaped how the technology, its deployment, and its markets have evolved: Adoption and routine use, adaption and adjustment, championing, user innovation, community building, peer intermediation, market creation and production of legitimating discourse on heat pumps. In all, the generalization features significant shifts in user practices, the technology, and societal impact throughout the process, not only during its early phases, instilling energy system wide change.
... At the same time, the question of determining priorities inevitably arises when determining the necessity and expediency of the IDT mechanism use for specific urban areas in conditions of limited resources. In modern publications, Russian and foreign, this problem is practically not touched upon, there are separate publications on the problems of prioritizing residential buildings for major repairs [7][8][9]. Thus, the task is to identify and formulate criteria for selecting territories for integrated development and determining the sequence of their transformation. ...
The relevance of the article is determined by the development of projects and programs implementation for the integrated development of territories (IDT) in Russian cities. A necessary condition for the IDT effectiveness as a form of urban development is a methodological basis of the territories selection, involved in the integrated development, taking into account main stakeholders of the urban community: population, city authorities, business. etc. Authors have made an analysis of the current practice of implementing IDT projects in different regions of Russia, positions presented in the expert community on this issue and propose their own approach, according to which the IDT mechanism should be primarily applied to depressed urban areas. The article defines depressive territories, their signs and criteria of allocation. The urban development potential of the territory was assessed, taking into account its significance for the city. As a result of the research, there was proposed an assessment of the economic efficiency of the IDT as an investment project, on the basis of which a decision of its implementation could be made, taking into account necessary and possible participation of city authorities and other stakeholders involved in the process.
... This led cities to a partial implementation of smart city strategies [29]. Therefore, scaling is widely perceived as a major concern [30]. Nevertheless, although the success of a development of a smart city strategy may be related to the capacity of securing funding, smaller cities' achievements have been neglected as a result of the challenge of assessing the current development phase of the smart city concept in each territory and understanding its meaning. ...
Policymakers face numerous challenges in benchmarking and assessing cities’ current development states. This study extends the understandings of previous research to provide a new perspective about how to rank smart cities’ developments by comparing the existing initiatives with city population density (as a proxy of socio-demographic characteristics) and the respective smart city phase. Quantitative analysis was performed to cluster the European Union cities according to the number of existing projects in the literature organized by smart city categories. Furthermore, to allow for the assessment of the city’s state, a composite indicator was developed that takes into consideration the different category weights to ultimately provide a smart city ranking. By clustering the categories using a Principal Component Analysis (PCA), it was possible to relate them with a specific smart city phase. In addition, for a reasonable benchmark, the city’s population density was considered. Moreover, this paper ranks the cities of the European Union and provides insightful information about the development phase of the smart city concept of each territory. The results show that on a normalized scale of 0 to 1000, the largest cities or the ones with most initiatives do not rank first. Furthermore, it shows that in similar socio-demographic contexts, there are variations in the smart city stage. Therefore, applying the contribution and findings of this research can help identify these differences and establish a set of best practices for improving the design and effectiveness of smart city strategies.
... However, such resources should also be available to integrate successful AI into the organisationthese activities also require considerable financial and human resources to facilitate the change, sometimes (much more) than the development (Kuguoglu et al., 2021;Real & Poole, 2004) -yet this is often overlooked or outside the scope of projects, limiting the final take-up and potential for value creation. Many innovations within the public sector often fail to scale up following their development and/or pilot (Kuguoglu et al., 2021;van Winden & van den Buuse, 2017). As a result, many initiatives remain in a small-scale implementation, limiting their potential benefits only to a small scale, or even ending after a period of time. ...
... Furthermore, we were interested in the development of the portfolio over time. Thus, another criterion was that the portfolio is in the development phase with the potential to have a post-portfolio impact on smart city development (Van Doren et al., 2018;Van Winden and van Den Buuse, 2017). ...
Municipalities often collaborate with other stakeholders in smart city projects to develop and implement technological innovations to address complex urban issues. We propose the shared portfolio approach as an alternative way of collaborating , because we have identified possible limitations when the commonly used single-project approach is adopted in complex contexts, such as the smart city context. The portfolio approach enhances flexibility, an embedded focus and cross-project learning, because partners work on multiple projects – either in parallel or in succession – to develop multiple solutions to a specific problem. An in-depth case study is used to illustrate how the shared portfolio approach works. In practice, these insights can be used by public bodies who aim to collaborate in smart city development or by partners who work on smart city projects and wish to continue their collaboration in a portfolio setting. Conceptually, our paper develops a connection between cross-sector partnership literature and smart city literature by revealing how the shared portfolio approach could be an effective way to deal with the complexities of innovation in the smart city context.
... For instance, Barcelona developed social, economic, architectural, governance, transportation, data, and infrastructure services in the beginning during the launch of the first stage of the @BCN Plan. The city was developed to regenerate cities based on citizens' creative ideas and infrastructure advancement for building a global smart city model in a holistic and comprehensive city renewal approach [56,113]. The services developed at the beginning in Barcelona in the Knowledge-Based Urban Development Project, which was an initiated smart city project, have higher weights in the accumulated network results of the weighted degree. ...
The absence of a comprehensive smart city governance model has prompted research into the characteristics of the relationships among cities, services, and stakeholders. This study aims to identify, from the perspectives of governance and sociotechnical systems, the characteristics of conceptually related smart city service implementations based on stakeholder partnerships. Social network analysis was utilized based on existing research datasets. Stakeholders, services, and representative European sustainable smart cities were included in the dataset in relation to this study’s operational definition. The first finding is that the initial conceptually related smart city services are reflected in the accumulated and current characteristics of the smart city services. These depend on stakeholder partnerships, while the network foundation differs between the initial and latter services. The second finding clarifies how different development services depend on stakeholder partnerships and how multiple stakeholders, including local entities, are vital to deal with current challenges in massive urbanizations. The third finding demonstrates the emerging roles of private sectors and some intermediate services in the global network of cities. This study contributes to the management of smart cities by identifying how service development occurs based on stakeholder partnerships and contributes to their theoretical basis by empirically demonstrating the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships to address current urbanization challenges.
... In fact, the lack of integration between stakeholders and absence of leadership tend to promote piecemeal initiatives rather than a holistic strategy implementation [35]. In some cases, even when these small-scale initiatives succeed, it is difficult to replicate their solutions in the rest of the city [36]. ...
Many cities around the world have been looking
for implementation of strategies and projects focused on smart
cities development to move on. However, it does not happen
instantly and without conflicts of interest. In fact, the main
difficulties of a strategy emerge during the implementation
phase, because cities present several limitations of governance,
capabilities, financing tools and so on. An alternative to solve
these issues refers to the creation of a dedicated organizational
structure to lead the collaboration between stakeholders in this
process of urban transformation. Despite their relevance, there
are few studies addressing how these smart cities dedicated
organizations are constituted and structured, what tools and
mechanisms they use and what is their role in the development
of different urban innovation ecosystems are still scarce,
especially with evidence from developing countries. Therefore,
this paper aims to (1) analyze the structure, tools, and
mechanisms of smart city dedicated organizations around the
world and (2) to characterize their role in the governance of
smart city development. Multiple case studies were conducted
based on the documental analysis of websites, reports and
official documents and interviews with directors of six smart city
dedicated organizations from European and Brazilian cities.
From this study, we expect to contribute with propositions and
insights on how to structure a new governance model for smart
cities development in different contexts.
Science and technology parks are major investments that are majorly focused on realizing faster economic growth and innovation. The parks carry great prospects for regional economic diversification. However, over the years, Science and technology parks have encountered challenges that call for proactive management, sound policies and innovativeness. This paper used the Drivers, Pressures, State, Impacts and Response (DPSIR) approach to determine how Africa can leverage science and technology parks to accelerate growth. The study used secondary data from books, scholarly journals and technical reports. After the published sources were collected, an analytical framework was developed with three categories including drivers, pressures and impacts. The results of the study indicate that the main drivers of science and technology parks development are government policy, academic research, urge by countries to keep pace with technology and public private partnerships. It was also established that the parks had impacts such as promoting economic development and sustainability in urban growth as well as improving knowledge transfer from universities to industry. Governments have responded by coming up with policies that support the establishment of these cities. The study recommends that governments and other stakeholders need to invest more in science and technology parks through policies and public private partnerships to accelerate growth in Africa.
Drawing on recent initiatives and Biodiversa-funded projects, the report focuses on three pivotal processes that underpin the uptake of NbS knowledge into policy, practice, and decision-making:
Establishing a shared understanding of what NbS are (taxonomy and definitions) and how their benefits and co-benefits can be measured (indicators, monitoring);
Disseminating NbS knowledge, either by sharing research findings through multiple channels, or by virtual sources of knowledge;
Fostering cooperation through the exchange of experiences, stakeholder engagement, and training programs for researchers and practitioners to enhance their skills in the realm of NbS.
In this paper, the governance and implementation strategies of four pioneer smart city (SC) initiatives are examined in a comparative case study. Drawing on different sources of information (e.g. expert interviews, analysis of SC strategy reports), the history of the individual SC initiative in terms of organisation, instruments, project portfolios, as well as perceived drivers and barriers are analysed and compared with the existing literature. As a result, 4 different generic strategy types are identified: i) the agile type, which focuses on the solution of identified problems without developing a broader organisation and strategy framework, ii) the anchor strategy, in which cities deploy all technologies for a pressing stand-alone application (e.g. smart mobility) and then extend or integrate other applications or fields as needed, iii) the framework strategy, in which cities coordinate and reorganise SC developments in an initiative via a strategy formulation process and the foundation of an SC organisation and finally iv) a platforms strategy, in which cities focus on the development of a IoT and data management platform architecture first, in order to deliver a range of new applications and services. The identified strategies are compared and discussed in terms of how they contribute to urban transition. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential path dependencies and the contributions to the smart city literature.
«Big Data» haben ein großes Potenzial, um die Wertschöpfung effizienter zu gestalten oder um Innovationen hervorzubringen. Daten werden oft an der Schnittstelle zwischen mehreren Akteuren in Business-to-Business-Ökosystemen generiert und sie müssen zwischen den Akteuren geteilt werden. Unternehmen tun sich jedoch schwer damit, Daten in Werte zu transferieren und die Daten im Ökosystem zu teilen. Ursächlich sind weniger technische Gründe als organisationale Rahmenbedingungen. Der Beitrag identifiziert fünf Perspektiven, die Hürden und Voraussetzungen in diesem Prozess darstellen: (1) eine datengetriebene Organisationskultur, (2) Vertrauen zwischen den Akteuren, (3) die Konkretisierung des Wertes von Daten, (4) Datensicherheit und (5) rechtliche und Governance-Aspekte. Eine Fallstudie eines typischen Daten-Ökosystems um ein produzierendes KMU konkretisiert diese Voraussetzungen und Hürden. Es zeigt sich, dass sich Unternehmen, die Daten im Ökosystem teilen möchten, ganzheitlich verändern müssen.
Smart cities use information and information technology to optimize the decision-making process for the enhancement of life quality. In the concept of smart cities, the sustainability approach for the sake of better citizen participation and effective governance has been incorporated. The contextualized framework is a synthesis of the debate, which relies on the integrated data exchange of the interplay between the following relationships: Smart cities need good governance to be sustainable, good governance needs citizen engagement to be effective, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is the main mediator of this nexus. Based on the systematic literature review, the main solution to the debate has been placed the digital citizen participation. Based on this, the focus of this work is to see how government uses its mechanisms to create value for citizens taking into consideration the fact that nowadays technological advancement is being a priority. To elaborate this, it raises questions like what kind of relationship fosters the sustainability of smart cities and how can technology contribute to that; how government deploys ICT to create and/or constrain opportunities for citizens in the decision-making processes; what are the similarities and/or difference in participation between urban and rural areas; and finally, what is the difference in the planning and implementation process. The main result of the research is that the sustainability of smart cities requires accountability measures by the governance and not necessarily to become active themselves. It is derived from the special importance of the clear participatory frame for the citizen, and the main recommendation derived is the special consideration to the context-dependent factors in the smart city.
In Brazil, we observe the first effort to federalize the smart agenda with the publication of the Brazilian Charter for Smart Cities in 2020. Inspired by the German Smart City Chart, it is the result of the mobility and global circulation of smart cities policy. Recognizing that strategic documents are capable of determining policies, projects and public investments, the article proposes to investigate and demystify the discursive practices that legitimize the smart agenda. Thus, critical reflections are proposed about risks and recombination of interests based on the mobility of the smart agenda and federal upscaling in Brazil. A comparative analysis between the two documents revealed the risks of a socio-technical bifurcation, erosion of public value and legitimation of technocratic planning.
In many European cities, urban experimentation is increasingly preferred as a method for testing and disseminating innovations that might ignite a transformation toward more sustainable cities. By both academics and practitioners, these experiments tend to be approached as relatively neutral initiatives through which plural urban stakeholders willfully collaborate, while their success is seen as above all dependent on effective management. For this reason, the political nature of urban experiments, in the sense that they entangle different and often contending stakeholders in their innovation processes, remains relatively unarticulated in both practice and the academic literature. Building on the urban experimentation literature and political theory, this conceptual paper argues that the depoliticization of experimental initiatives is especially problematic for unleashing their transformative potential, which requires revealing the existing power-relations and biases keeping the status quo in place and negotiability of radical alternatives. From this perspective, the paper sketches out four ideal-typical trajectories for experiments as related to their (de)politicization; optimization, blind leap, antagonistic conflict and transformation. Bringing insights from political theory to bear on the urban experimentation literature, we proceed to hypothesize the implications of our ideal-types for urban experiments’ transformative capacities. The paper closes by presenting a future research and policy agenda.
Collaboration is increasingly perceived as essential for digital transformation in the public sector. Transforming services and internal operations through the use of information and communication technologies frequently requires the engagement of multiple stakeholders beyond government agencies. This is particularly important in the specific case of smart city initiatives, which intend to leverage technologies to address complex socio-economic and sustainability challenges in local jurisdictions. In addition, emergent research asserts that community organizations such as public libraries can be strategic partners in these multi-actor efforts but does not adequately assess the determinants of these collaborations for developing smart cities, which may result in significant digital transformation at the local level. Based on public management literature on collaboration, this article contributes to digital transformation research by quantitively testing the antecedents of existing collaborations between public libraries and other stakeholders to develop smart cities. Overall, our findings suggest that leadership, preexisting relationships, and agreement on initial aims significantly impact the extent and effectiveness of public libraries' collaborations in developing smart cities.
Purpose
One prominent force behind sustainable growth is the growth of smart cities. Governments worldwide are beginning to concentrate on the Smart City System (SCS) towards a sustainable future. The construction sector plays a significant role in the development projects for smart cities. Hence, paying attention to research initiatives for smart cities is necessary because of the need for cooperation between the construction industry and SCS in developing countries. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the SCS on the construction industry in Sri Lanka.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a mixed approach comprising a series of expert interviews and two rounds of a questionnaire survey. Content and statistical analyses were used to analyse and validate the empirical data collected during the study.
Findings
The five most significant smart city elements affecting the construction industry were identified: technology and information technology infrastructure, environment, people, economy and governance, along with 15 significant enablers and 17 significant barriers of those smart city elements. Further, 18 significant strategies that can be adopted to overcome the barriers and enhance the enablers of those smart city elements were identified.
Originality/value
This study’s findings reveal that the synergy between the construction industry and the SCS would be a valuable reference for future studies in similar contexts. The construction industry in Sri Lanka will also benefit from the study findings, as the findings would help to improve the link between construction and smart cities. This study significantly benefits the society by revealing cost-effective ways to accelerate construction processes and develop cities sustainably.
This Connexions article links collaboration in smart city projects, a contemporary and undertheorised social challenge, with theories on assemblage thinking, organisation, and public value creation. Using this multidisciplinary lens, we critically analyse smart city theory and expose the inability of prevailing collaborative models to properly account for the complexities of real-world practices. Building on our observations, we formulate a new and more robust theoretical perspective on smart city collaboration, which helps us trigger new research questions that focus on procedural, relational and diversity factors previously ignored.
The smart-city concept is a multi-pronged strategy in addressing the challenges of future urban settlements. This study aimed to identify cities and municipalities beyond Metro Manila, the Philippines’ main seat of political and economic power, that have potential to transform into smart cities over the next two decades. It characterizes the urban settlements of three Luzon regions that serve as spillover for Manila’s economic activities and are home to about third of the national population. Factors that enable or impede development of smart cities, as well as national and local development and urban policies, were gathered and analyzed. Survey and secondary data supported the analysis. In the survey, leadership and governance, vision and goals, and collaboration between private and public agencies emerged as the top three sets of factors “extremely likely” to facilitate smart-city development. Guided by the Philippines’ long-term vision for 2040 and sustainable development pillars, recommended directions include strengthening leadership capacity and championing leaders while ensuring a clear role for the people, private and academic sectors, and proper technology that would enable and sustain smart-city development.KeywordsSmart citiesSustainable urban developmentUrban policies
Collaborative innovation is at the heart of smart city development, yet also notoriously challenging due to fundamental differences between public and private sector actors that need to collaborate, while dealing with high levels of uncertainty. Whereas existing practice-based work on collaborative innovation describes various relevant antecedents, barriers and success factors, this prior work potentially underestimates the true complexity of collaborative innovation initiatives. Therefore, scholars have increasingly called for a more dynamic, theoretical understanding of collaborative innovation. In response to these calls, our study draws on institutional theory to build a dynamic understanding of collaborative innovation for smart city development. Specifically, we conduct a longitudinal in-depth case study to develop a causal loop model, grounded in rich qualitative data, to capture and theorize the key behavioural patterns of a collaborative innovation initiative for smart city development. The model describes how the dynamic interplay between uncertainty, adherence to own institutional logics and governance complexity can both enable and undermine collaborative initiatives. We contribute by developing a dynamic theoretical perspective on collaborative innovation, one that promotes cross-fertilization at the intersection of the smart city theory, organization theory and collaborative innovation literature. Moreover, our findings highlight the important role of organization theory, specifically institutional logics, in explaining the collaborative dynamics of smart city development.
The emerging concept of Smart Cities brings about promises of increased efficiency and performance of urban areas through the use of specialised digital technology. With an aim to promote innovation, this is prompting a wide adoption in high- and low-income economies as most countries embark on strategies to use the concept to boost foreign investment and financial confidence and to showcase national innovation. However, as the demand for the technology inherent in Smart Cities booms, questions arise as to whether the concept is promoted primarily by ICT corporations driven by profit-making and merely equates supply with demand without any other fundamental values for creating a better future. We suggest that Smart City technology needs to be driven by these deeper values and be integrated into delivery of solutions to multiple local and global needs. This chapter explores this conundrum and showcases the need for tailored solutions rather than “off-the-shelf” technology, as is mostly offered by ICT corporations, and outlines how deeper values as set out through UN processes about sustainability and climate resilience are now essential components of how Smart City is imagined. It also introduces the concept of regenerative design that will be needed to guide how Smart City technology is procured and delivered in the future as an integrated approach to the future city.
As the Smart City concept gains traction worldwide through the adoption of the technologies inherent to the concept, the potential increase in urban economic performance through efficiency and liveability levels of cities is welcomed. However, the cost factor associated with the adoption of those technologies is seen as unaffordable to some cities. Financing is increasingly leading to public-private partnerships that can provide the kind of mechanism that is best for delivering smart systems with sustainability outcomes. However, there are growing concerns of data privacy with PPPs. The need for regulatory frameworks that prevent the misuse of data should pave the way to enabling Smart City economic development based on soft and hard infrastructure integration and partnerships.
The challenges and impacts from rapid urbanisation coupled with the impacts of climate change and other global planetary boundary issues are prompting cities to take urgent action toward safeguarding the sustainability of the urban fabric – reducing environmental and social impacts while improving liveability. The advent of sustainability-oriented technology is being recognised as having a predominant role in this process. However, these solutions are often claimed as part of the Smart City technology arsenal when often they have little to do with digital data systems. Thus, the agenda of Smart Cities in the past has claimed digital technology upgrades will automatically help solve sustainability problems; however, the simple provision of more digital capacity does not necessarily mean this will happen. New approaches to sustainability where smart systems are made an integrated part of the metabolism of cities can provide solutions that also can lead to increased liveability levels.
Getting smart city solutions off the ground is not just about developing and applying technology:
it demands new networking and management competencies. Solutions are not developed and
implemented by one single company, but take shape in networks, at the intersection of technologies
and industries, and with the involvement of citizens/end users. For example, when the grid company
wants to introduce smart meters and displays into homes, it must work together with housing
corporations, with citizens, and with technology partners. It needs not only technological and ring
skills, but also the competences to involve communities and communicate effectively. Collaboration
among multiple stakeholders is key in the development of innovative technology-driven solutions for
sustainability in cities.
In this study, we analyse a number of smart city projects in Amsterdam, in their wider context. We analyse smart city projects from a managerial angle. We want to understand how partnerships are formed, how they work, and what challenges they face. We focus on the following questions: How do organisations with different
agendas, collaborate on smart city projects? What challenges do they face? What kind of value is created?
How are risks and returns shared, and how are users involved? What is the upscaling dynamic of smart city
solutions, if any? How can smart city projects be managed professionally?
The goal of this study to establish insight in current practices and lessons learned across a broad
range of smart city projects in Amsterdam in three key themes in urban sustainability: energy,
mobility, and circular economy. The projects analysed here did not develop in isolation, but are
shaped by their context: the Amsterdam region. To interpret smart city projects in Amsterdam, it is
important to have insights into Amsterdam’s wider ‘ecosystem’1 consisting of key players, as well
as relevant policies/ambitions, legal frameworks, network organisations, connectors, and funding
sources. Thus, we also describe and analyse the wider smart city ecosystem.
This paper studies the scalability and replicability of smart grid projects. Currently, most smart grid projects are still in the R & D or demonstration phases. The full roll-out of the tested solutions requires a suitable degree of scalability and replicability to prevent project demonstrators from remaining local experimental exercises. Scalability and replicability are the preliminary requisites to perform scaling-up and replication successfully; therefore, scalability and replicability allow for or at least reduce barriers for the growth and reuse of the results of project demonstrators. The paper proposes factors that influence and condition a project's scalability and replicability. These factors involve technical, economic, regulatory and stakeholder acceptance related aspects, and they describe requirements for scalability and replicability. In order to assess and evaluate the identified scalability and replicability factors, data has been collected from European and national smart grid projects by means of a survey, reflecting the projects' view and results. The evaluation of the factors allows quantifying the status quo of on-going projects with respect to the scalability and replicability, i.e., they provide a feedback on to what extent projects take into account these factors and on whether the projects' results and solutions are actually scalable and replicable.
This study represents two critical steps forward in the area of smart city research and practice. The first is in the form of the development of a comprehensive conceptualization of smart city as a resource for researchers and government practitioners; the second is in the form of the creation of a bridge between smart cities research and practice expertise. City governments increasingly need innovative arrangements to solve a variety of technical, physical, and social problems. "Smart city" could be used to represent efforts that in many ways describe a vision of a city, but there is little clarity about this new concept. This paper proposes a comprehensive conceptualization of smart city, including its main components and several specific elements. Academic literature is used to create a robust framework, while a review of practical tools is used to identify specific elements or aspects not treated in the academic studies, but essential to create an integrative and comprehensive conceptualization of smart city. The paper also provides policy implications and suggests areas for future research in this topic.
This essay interrogates the new forms of experimentation with urban territory emerging as a result of ubiquitous computing infrastructures. We label these protocols “test-bed urbanism.” Smart, sentient, stupid, and speculative all at once, these new methods for spatial development are changing the form, function, economy, and administration of urban life.
In recent years, the Smart City has become a very popular concept amongst policy makers and urban planners. In a nutshell, the Smart City refers to projects and planning strategies that aim to join up new forms of inclusive and low-carbon economic growth based on the knowledge economy through the deployment of information and communication technologies. However, at the same time as new urban Smart interventions are being designed and applied, insufficient attention has been paid to how these strategies are inserted into the wider political economy and, in particular, the political ecology of urban transformation. Therefore, in this paper we critically explore the implementation of the Smart City, tracing how the ‘environment’ and environmental concerns have become an organising principle in Barcelona’s Smart City strategy. Through an urban political ecology prism we aim to critically reflect upon the contradictions of the actually existing Smart City in Barcelona and how Smart discourses and practices might be intentionally or unintentionally mobilised in ways that serve to depoliticise urban redevelopment and environmental management. The paper stresses the need to repoliticise the debates on the Smart City and put citizens back at the centre of the urban debate.
This paper argues that contemporary smart city visions based on ITs (information and tele- communication technologies) configure
complex socio-technical challenges that can benefit from strategic niche management to foster two key processes: technological
learning and societal embedding. Moreover, it studies the extent to which those processes started to unfold in two paradigmatic
cases of smart city pilots ‘from scratch’: Songdo (South Korea) and PlanIT Valley (Portugal). The rationale and potentials
of the two pilots as arenas for socio-technical experimentation and global niche formation are analysed, as well as the tensions
and bottlenecks involved in nurturing socially rich innovation ecosystems and in maintaining social and political support
over time.
On 4 November 2011, the trademark ‘smarter cities’ was officially registered as belonging to IBM. This was an important milestone in a struggle between IT companies over visibility and legitimacy in the smart city market. Drawing on actor-network theory and critical planning theory, the paper analyzes IBM's smarter city campaign and finds it to be storytelling, aimed at making the company an ‘obligatory passage point’ in the implementation of urban technologies. Our argument unfolds in three parts. We first trace the emergence of the term ‘smart city’ in the public sphere. Secondly, we show that IBM's influential story about smart cities is far from novel but rather mobilizes and revisits two long-standing tropes: systems thinking and utopianism. Finally, we conclude, first by addressing two critical questions raised by this discourse: technocratic reductionism and the introduction of new moral imperatives in urban management; and second, by calling for the crafting of alternative smart city stories.
Caofeidian International Eco-City, in North-East China, is among several large-scale new eco-city initiatives currently in development across Asia. Built from scratch across an area of 74 km2, with an expected population of 800,000 by 2020, the city's plan boasts an abundance of urban sustainability features, from integrated public transport services and advanced water and waste recycling systems, to public parks and an extensive wetland area. This article uses the historical and conceptual perspective of “techno-city” to analyze the city's urban technology features. It highlights the relationship between the city and its hinterland, discusses the focus on science and technology driving the city's concept, and explores the international, modernist design language used. In doing so, the analysis points to several key tensions and contradictions at work, including a disconnect between the city's green technology focus and the high-carbon heavy industry of the surrounding area, and a lack of engagement with the local culture and community. Caofeidian Eco-City exhibits several features of twentieth-century techno-cities, although these are re-cast within the twenty-first-century context of global climate change policy and China's ongoing rapid urbanization processes.
A conceptual challenge in exploring the role of trust in interorganizational exchange is translating an inherently individual-level concept-trust-to the organizational-level outcome of performance. We define interpersonal and interorganizational trust as distinct constructs and draw on theories of interorganizational relations to derive a model of exchange performance. Specifically, we investigate the role of trust in interfirm exchange at two levels of analysis and assess its effects on negotiation costs, conflict, and ultimately performance. Propositions were tested with data from a sample of 107 buyer-supplier interfirm relationships in the electrical equipment manufacturing industry using a structural equation model. The results indicate that interpersonal and interorganizational trust are related but distinct constructs, and play different roles in affecting negotiation processes and exchange performance. Further, the hypotheses linking trust to performance receive some support, although the precise nature of the link is somewhat different than initially proposed. Overall, the results show that trust in interorganizational exchange relations clearly matters.
We have a clear idea today about the necessity and usefulness of making cities smarter, the potential market size, and trials and tests. However, it seems that business around Smart Cities is having difficulties taking off and is thus running short of projected potentials. This article looks into why this is the case and proposes a procedure to make smart cities happen based on big data exploitation through the API stores concept. To this end, we first review involved stakeholders and the ecosystem at large. We then propose a viable approach to scale business within that ecosystem. We also describe the available ICT technologies and finally exemplify all findings by means of a sustainable smart city application. Over the course of the article, we draw two major observations, which are seen to facilitate sustainable smart city development. First, independent smart city departments (or the equivalent) need to emerge, much like today's well accepted IT departments, which clearly decouple the political element of the improved city servicing from the underlying technologies. Second, a coherent three-phase smart city rollout is vital, where in phase 1 utility and revenues are generated; in phase 2 only-utility service is also supported; and in phase 3, in addition, a fun/leisure dimension is permitted.
Technological change is a central feature of modern societies and a powerful source for social change. There is an urgent task to direct these new technologies towards sustainability, but society lacks perspectives, instruments and policies to accomplish this. There is no blueprint for a sustainable future, and it is necessary to experiment with alternative paths that seem promising. Various new transport technologies promise to bring sustainability benefits. But as this book shows, important lessons are often overlooked because the experiments are not designed to challenge the basic assumptions about established patterns of transport choices. Learning how to organise the process of innovation implementation is essential if the maximum impact is to be achieved - it is here that strategic niche management offers new perspectives. The book uses a series of eight recent experiments with electric vehicles, carsharing schemes, bicycle pools and fleet management to illustrate the means by which technological change must be closely linked to social change if successful implementation is to take place. The basic divide between proponents of technological fixes and those in favour of behavioural change needs to be bridged, perhaps indicating a third way. © 2002 Remco Hoogma, René Kemp, Johan Schot and Bernhard Truffer.
This article discusses how Mobile Application Clusters can be developed through competitions for innovative applications. The Smart City services that are developed in competitions benefit both the Mobile Application Cluster and the citizens. The function of the competition mechanism to encourage the development of new mobile applications utilizing Open Data is described with examples from the Helsinki Region. Porter’s model of determinants of national competitive advantage is used as a framework to describe the forces driving the ongoing developments towards the Mobile Application Cluster. In particular the paper explores the interaction between the cluster determinants of Porter’s model with regard to the externalities made by the linkages between the parties in the emerging cluster. In the two competitions for Open Data applications that the paper discusses innovation is supported by a policy-like instrument: an urban competition on open data, which is driven forward through the Living Labs approach to innovation. The two competitions launched in the Helsinki Region are aimed at developing mobile applications by utilizing open data. The paper shows how a Living Lab functions as an innovation intermediary where the competitions are utilized in developing a Smart City.
Information and communication technology is changing the way in which cities organise policymaking and urban growth. Smart Cities base their strategy on the use of information and communication technologies in several fields such as economy, environment, mobility and governance to transform the city infrastructure and services. This paper draws on the city of Barcelona and intends to analyse its transformation from a traditional agglomeration to a twenty-first century metropolis. The case of Barcelona is of special interest due to its apparent desire, reflected by its current policies regarding urban planning, to be considered as a leading metropolis in Europe. Hence, an assessment of the Smart City initiative will cast light on the current status of Barcelona’s urban policy and its urban policy of Barcelona and its future directions. This article analyses Barcelona’s transformation in the areas of Smart City management; drivers, bottlenecks, conditions and assets. First, it presents the existing literature on Barcelona’s Smart City initiative. Then, the case study analysis is presented with the Barcelona Smart City model. After describing this model, we further explore the main components of the Smart City strategy of Barcelona in terms of Smart districts, living labs, initiatives, e-Services, infrastructures and Open Data. This paper also reveals certain benefits and challenges related to this initiative and its future directions. The results of the case study analysis indicate that Barcelona has been effectively implementing the Smart City strategy with an aim to be a Smart City model for the world.
Debates about the future of urban development in many Western countries have been increasingly influenced by discussions of smart cities. Yet despite numerous examples of this 'urban labelling' phenomenon, we know surprisingly little about so-called smart cities, particularly in terms of what the label ideologically reveals as well as hides. Due to its lack of definitional precision, not to mention an underlying self-congratulatory tendency, the main thrust of this article is to provide a preliminary critical polemic against some of the more rhetorical aspects of smart cities. The primary focus is on the labelling process adopted by some designated smart cities, with a view to problematizing a range of elements that supposedly characterize this new urban form, as well as question some of the underlying assumptions/contradictions hidden within the concept. To aid this critique, the article explores to what extent labelled smart cities can be understood as a high-tech variation of the 'entrepreneurial city', as well as speculates on some general principles which would make them more progressive and inclusive.
Competition in the information age often takes the form of a standards war: a battle for market dominance between incompatible technologies. A company's success or failure can easily hinge on its ability to wage such a standards war. Standards wars are especially bitter in markets with strong network effects, where consumers place great value on compatibility and interconnection with each other. These markets tend to exhibit positive feedback and "tip" to a single winner. Based on a study of dozens of standards wars going back over 100 years, this article offers a "battle guide" for waging a standards war. After classifying standards wars and identifying seven key assets that firms can use to successfully establish a new technology, the authors recommend three tactics in standards battles: building alliances, exploiting first-mover advantages, and managing consumer expectations.
Sustained organizational performance depends on top management teams effectively exploring and exploiting. These strategic agendas are, however, associated with contradictory organizational architectures. Using the literature on paradox, contradictions, and conflict, we develop a model of managing strategic contradictions that is associated with paradoxical cognition-senior leaders and/or their teams (a) articulating a paradoxical frame, (b) differentiating between the strategy and architecture for the existing product and those for innovation, and (c) integrating between those strategies and architectures. We further argue that the locus of paradox in top management teams resides either with the senior leader or with the entire team. We identify a set of top management team conditions that facilitates a team's ability to engage in paradoxical cognitive processes.
This study surveys a broad spectrum of US manufacturer and service firms to examine the effect of tacit knowledge transfer on firm innovation capability. The authors present a set of hypotheses concerning the relationships between inter-firm relationship strength and tacitness of knowledge transfer, extent of tacit knowledge transfer and innovation capability, and innovation capability and innovation performance based on the theory of knowledge. Moderating roles of firm collaborative experience and firm size on the relationship between inter-firm relationship strength and the extent of tacit knowledge transfer are considered. Empirical results generally support the predictions from the theory and managerial implications are included.
We develop a contingency view of process management's influence on both technological Innovation and organizational adaptation. We argue that while process management activities are beneficial for organizations in stable contexts, they are fundamentally inconsistent with all but incremental innovation and change. But dynamic capabilities are rooted In both exploitative and exploratory activities. We argue that process management activities must be buffered from exploratory activities and that ambidextrous organizational forms provide the complex contexts for these inconsistent activities to coexist.
Scaling up of development interventions is much debated today as a way to improve their impact and effectiveness. Based on a review of scaling up literature and practice, this paper develops a framework for the key dynamics that allow the scaling up process to happen. The authors explore the possible approaches and paths to scaling up, the drivers of expansion and of replication, the space that has to be created for interventions to grow, and the role of evaluation and of careful planning and implementation. They draw a number of lessons for the development analyst and practitioner. More than anything else, scaling up is about political and organizational leadership, about vision, values and mindset, and about incentives and accountability - all oriented to make scaling up a central element of individual, institutional, national and international development efforts. The paper concludes by highlighting some implications for aid and aid donors.
Do firms balance exploration and exploitation in their alliance formation decisions, and if so, why and how? We argue that absorptive capacity and organizational inertia impose conflicting pressures for exploration and exploitation with respect to the value chain function of alliances, the attributes of partners, and partners' network positions. Although path dependencies reinforce either exploration or exploitation within each of these domains, we find that firms balance their tendencies to explore and exploit over time and across domains.
A quasi-evolutionary model of socio-technical transitions is described in which regimes face selection pressures continuously. Differentiated transition contexts determine the form and direction of regime change in response to these pressures. The articulation of pressures, and the degree to which responses are coordinated and based on resources available within the regime, define the transition context. Four alternative contexts are described: endogenous renewal; re-orientation of trajectories; emergent transformation and purposive transitions. Agency and power in the governance of regime transformation are analysed. Power to affect change depends on regime membership, the distribution of resources for change and expectations.
Organizational ambidexterity has emerged as a new research paradigm in organization theory, yet several issues fundamental to this debate remain controversial. We explore four central tensions here: Should organizations achieve ambidexterity through differentiation or through integration? Does ambidexterity occur at the individual or organizational level? Must organizations take a static or dynamic perspective on ambidexterity? Finally, can ambidexterity arise internally, or do firms have to externalize some processes? We provide an overview of the seven articles included in this special issue and suggest several avenues for future research.
Achieving exploitation and exploration enables success, even survival, but raises challenging tensions. Ambidextrous organizations excel at exploiting existing products to enable incremental innovation and at exploring new opportunities to foster more radical innovation, yet related research is limited. Largely conceptual, anecdotal, or single case studies offer architectural or contextual approaches. Architectural ambidexterity proposes dual structures and strategies to differentiate efforts, focusing actors on one or the other form of innovation. In contrast, contextual approaches use behavioral and social means to integrate exploitation and exploration. To develop a more comprehensive model, we sought to learn from five, ambidextrous firms that lead the product design industry. Results offer an alternative framework for examining exploitation-exploration tensions and their management. More specifically, we present nested paradoxes of innovation: strategic intent (profit-breakthroughs), customer orientation (tight-loose coupling), and personal drivers (discipline-passion). Building from innovation and paradox literature, we theorize how integration and differentiation tactics help manage these interwoven paradoxes and fuel virtuous cycles of ambidexterity. Further, managing paradoxes becomes a shared responsibility, not only of top management, but across organizational levels.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look at some of the factors that influence the transfer of tacit knowledge between two product development partners.
Design/methodology/approach
Research involved the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data was based on 13 interviews with various individuals, representing three companies, charged with integrating external technology. The quantitative portion of the data was collected through an online survey. The survey was executed by soliciting responses from managers of 39 discreet projects involving various types of external technology integration, representing five different companies.
Findings
The paper provides evidence that trust, early involvement, and due diligence influence the extent of meeting technology transfer expectations and tacit knowledge transfer expectations. It also finds that the subject of tacit knowledge transfer, content and process, is poorly understood. While managers and project leaders saw the value of tacit knowledge, there were different perceptions of the goals successful knowledge transfer and a lack of processes to manage its process. While project managers may feel that they have tacit knowledge transfer in hand, they have not managed to transfer the knowledge needed for long‐term product management.
Research limitations/implications
There are a number of limitations affecting the scope of these findings. For one, our survey respondents were all project or product managers. Future research should include a broader base of participants, both horizontally and vertically. Second, interviews and surveys were confined to a total of five US companies in three industries. Future research would benefit from a larger sample size, as well as greater sample diversity in terms of firm size, industry, and cultural context. Lastly, the measure of tacit knowledge transfer needs additional validation.
Practical implications
The paper offers several recommendations to help managers begin to think of tacit knowledge as an independent entity and manage it accordingly.
Originality/value
This paper offers empirical support for some of the factors that influence the extent of meeting technology and tacit knowledge transfer expectations. Moreover, it offers a unique model that highlights how different levels of an organizational hierarchy are governed by significantly different goals and expectations with regard to tacit knowledge transfer.
Community-driven development boasts many islands of success, but these have not scaled up to cover entire countries. Binswanger and Aiyar examine the possible obstacles to scaling up, and possible solutions. They consider the theoretical case for community-driven development and case studies of success in both sectoral and multisectoral programs. Obstacles to scaling up include high economic and fiscal costs, adverse institutional barriers, problems associated with the co-production of outputs by different actors on the basis of subsidiarity, lack of adaptation to the local context using field-tested manuals, and lack of scaling-up logistics. The authors consider ways of reducing economic and fiscal costs, overcoming hostile institutional barriers, overcoming problems of co-production, adapting to the local context with field testing, and providing scaling-up logistics. Detailed annexes and checklists provide a guide to program design, diagnostics, and tools.
The increased acceptance and use of computerized GIS and digital data sets in private and public organizations in the United States has been in recent years further encouraged by the Federal initiatives which promote sharing of geographic data. In spite of the obvious benefits in terms of efficiency and effectiveness to be derived from sharing geographic information both within and between organizations, the idea continues to be resisted, leading to inefficiencies from duplication of data collection and storage. Using case-study methodology, we examine in this research the mechanisms and behavioral factors that can facilitate or inhibit the willingness of organizations to share GIS and databases. Five cases, including organizations with varied levels of joint GIS and database activities, were studied to determine the characteristics underlying successful interorganizational GIS. Our findings offer a number of suggestions for organizations seeking to derive maximum benefits from the interorganizational GIS activities.
We develop a contingency view of process management's influence on both technological innovation and organizational adaptation. We argue that while process management activities are beneficial for organizations in stable contexts, they are fundamentally inconsistent with all but incremental innovation and change. But dynamic capabilities are rooted in both exploitative and exploratory activities. We argue that process management activities must be buffered from exploratory activities and that ambidextrous organizational forms provide the complex contexts for these inconsistent activities to coexist.
Background: The energy supply of the Meppel district Nieuwveense landen is based on biogas cogeneration, district heating, and ground source heat pumps. A centrally located combined heat and power engine (CHP) converts biogas from the municipal wastewater treatment facility into electricity for heat pumps and heat for district heating purposes. Development of the urban district is influenced by the current economic and building decline. For the district heating energy concept, a migration strategy for the required infrastructure is required. The migration spans the district’s small-scale starting phase involving 40 houses up to a scale of 176 houses. Methods: An optimization model which maximizes profitability is developed which includes data from district heating and cooling demand patterns. Results: With the optimization model, optimal CHP size, boiler size, and operational hours are determined for various scenarios. Conclusions: From the scenario analysis, a migration strategy is developed which starts with a simple system concept supported by boilers to a larger system which includes a CHP. Sustainability in terms of CO 2 emission savings of the energy concept is compared with other possible energy concepts.
How do organizations survive in the face of change? Underlying this question is a rich debate about whether organizations can adapt—and if so how. One perspective, organizational ecology, presents evidence suggesting that most organizations are largely inert and ultimately fail. A second perspective argues that some firms do learn and adapt to shifting environmental contexts. Recently, this latter view has coalesced around two themes. The first, based on research in strategy suggests that dynamic capabilities, the ability of a firm to reconfigure assets and existing capabilities, explains long-term competitive advantage. The second, based on organizational design, argues that ambidexterity, the ability of a firm to simultaneously explore and exploit, enables a firm to adapt over time. In this paper, we review and integrate these comparatively new research streams and identify a set of propositions that suggest how ambidexterity acts as a dynamic capability. We suggest that efficiency and innovation need not be strategic tradeoffs and highlight the substantive role of senior teams in building dynamic capabilities.
The concept of smart city is getting more and more relevant for both academics and policy makers. Despite this, there is still confusion about what a smart city is, as several similar terms are often used interchangeably. This paper aims at clarifying the meaning of the word “smart” in the context of cities through an approach based on an in-depth literature review of relevant studies as well as official documents of international institutions. It also identifies the main dimensions and elements characterizing a smart city. The different metrics of urban smartness are reviewed to show the need for a shared definition of what constitutes a smart city, which are its features, and how it performs in comparison to traditional cities. Furthermore, performance measures and initiatives in a few smart cities are identified.
Building cities from scratch has continued unabated since the latter half of the twentieth century despite some of these planned cities achieving global infamy for their failures. These endeavors are, in part, due to a persistent belief by governments that newly constructed cities can set their nations on a fast path to the future. Today, challenges posed both by global climate change and increased urbanization have widened this platform from projects almost exclusively of developing nations to include those in the developed world. Today we talk of the eco-city, a local solution to a global crisis. If completion is successfully fast-tracked, the resultant eco-city will position its respective nation at the forefront of innovation in what is effectively a global race: the resultant city can be exported as a model both locally and globally. In this regard, the envisioning and building of Songdo in South Korea may not be unique. Songdo is a city underway on flat land created from wetland reclamation. As part of the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ), Songdo's development has benefited from opportunistic circumstances that has led to its pursuit of becoming a “Ubiquitous Eco-City.” The green infrastructure of the new city is to be enhanced by the provision of extra services that combine information and communication technologies as well as digital networks to ideally create harmony among the environment, society, and technology. Songdo, as planned, will position South Korea among a group of leading nations, and possibly at the forefront of new city development, potentially producing a model for export.
Although foresighting has gained widespread acceptance in the context of strategy formulation in industry and governments, its actual impact on technology development remains unclear. The authors propose the approach of strategic niche management in order to couple longterm visions more tightly with short-term and medium-term action. Such coupling, they argue, is strengthened by developing technological niches: i.e. protected spaces in which learning about the technology takes place and its embedding in society can be observed and tested before large-scale diffusion begins. Real-world experiments with new technologies are a major instrument for developing technological niches. Empirical illustration is taken from recent attempts at sustainable technology development in the realm of individual transportation. Many foresighting exercises have identified the electrification of the vehicle drive train as a promising route. Three major experiments with alternative approaches to the electrification of carsbattery-run vehicles, hybrid vehicles and fuel cell vehicleswill be compared with regard to the coupling of viewing and doing. Based on the analysis of these examples, the authors claim that the development of scenarios without an explicit dedication to taking action risks the generation of more confusion than guidance; similarly, experimentation without taking a long-term view will result in very mediocre results, with limited practical impact on sustainable development.
Smart cities have rapidly become a hot topic within technology communities, and promise both improved delivery of services to end users and reduced environmental impact in an era of unprecedented urbanization. Both large hightech companies and grassroots citizen-led initiatives have begun exploring the potential of these technologies. Significant barriers remain to the successful rollout and deployment of business models outlined for smart city applications and services, however. Most of these barriers pertain to an ongoing battle between two main schools of thought for system architecture, ICT and telecommunications, proposed for data management and service creation. Both of these system architectures represent a certain type of value chain and the legacy perspective of the respective players that wish to enter the smart city arena. Smart cities services, however, utilize components of both the ICT industry and mobile telecommunications industries, and do not benefit from the current binary perspective of system architecture. The business models suggested for the development of smart cities require a longterm strategic view of system architecture evolution. This article discusses the architectural evolution required to ensure that the rollout and deployment of smart city technologies is smooth through acknowledging and integrating the strengths of both the system architectures proposed.
This article presents a theoretical framework for the analysis of platform business models that involve public actors, and city governments in particular, in the value network. It starts from an established business model framework and expands it to include an additional set of parameters required to successfully perform an analysis of the business models of new (mostly digital) services offered by cities. It then applies this framework to several divergent cases from the mobile services sector in which city governments are involved as part of their efforts to become "smarter cities".
Prior research on ambidexterity has limited its concern to balancing exploration and exploitation via particular modes of operation. Acknowledging the interplay of tendencies to explore versus exploit via the internal organization, alliance, and acquisition modes, we claim that balancing these tendencies within each mode undermines firm performance because of conflicting routines, negative transfer, and limited specialization. Nevertheless, by exploring in one mode and exploiting in another, i.e., balancing across modes, a firm can avoid some of these impediments. Thus, we advance ambidexterity research by asserting that balance across modes enhances performance more than balance within modes. Our analysis of 190 U.S.-based software firms further reveals that exploring via externally oriented modes such as acquisitions or alliances, while exploiting via internal organization, enhances these firms' performance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Jim March's framework of exploration and exploitation has drawn substantial interest from scholars studying phenomena such as organizational learning, knowledge management, innovation, organizational design, and strategic alliances. This framework has become an essential lens for interpreting various behaviors and outcomes within and across organizations. Despite its straightforwardness, this framework has generated debates concerning the definition of exploration and exploitation, and their measurement, antecedents, and consequences. We critically review the growing literature on exploration and exploitation, discuss various perspectives, raise conceptual and empirical concerns, underscore challenges for further development of this literature, and provide directions for future research.
The unsustainability of the present trajctories of technical change in sectors such as transport and agriculture is widely recognized. It is far from clear, however, how a transition to more sustainable modes of development may be achieved. Sustainable technologies that fulful important user requirements in terms of performance and price are most often not available on the market. Ideas of what might be more sustainable technologies exist, but the long development times, uncertainty about market demand and social gains, and the need for change at different levels in organization, technology, infastructure and the wider social and institutional context-provide a great barrier. This raises the question of how the potential of more sustainable technologies and modes of development may be exploited. In this article we describe how technical change is locked into dominant technological regimes, and present a perspective, called strategic niche management, on how to expedite a transition into a new regime. The perspective consists of the creation and/or management of nichesfor promising technologies.
Non-linearity and changes in the direction of technological trajectories, are related to changes in cognitive rules and expectations that guide technical search and development activities. To explain such changes, the article uses the literature on niche development, which highlights interactions between learning processes, network building and expectations. A long-term case study on Dutch biogas development illustrates how these interactions explain non-linearity, but the case study also shows the importance of external regime dynamics. It is concluded that non-linearity and changes in niche expectations are related to both internal learning processes and external developments.
Examines the correlation between the exploration of new possibilities and the exploitation of old certainties in organizational learning. Also discusses the difficulty in balancing resource management between gaining new information about alternatives to improve future returns (i.e., exploration) and using information currently available to improve present returns (i.e., exploitation). Two models which evaluate the formation and use of knowledge in organizations are developed. The first is a model of mutual learning in a closed system having fixed organizational membership and stability. The second is a model which considers the ways in which competitive advantage is affected by knowledge accumulation. The analysis indicates that the choice to rapidly develop exploitation over exploration might be effective in the short term, but is potentially detrimental to the firm in the long term. (SFL)
This article addresses the topic of radical innovation, making two additions to the strategic niche management (SNM) approach, which conceptualises how innovations cross the ‘valley of death’. First, it articulates the theoretical foundations of SNM, theorizing the connections between social constructivist and evolutionary theories of technical change. Second, the resulting socio-cognitive evolution perspective is used to explain the different patterns in biogas development in the Netherlands and Denmark. In both countries, biogas experienced ups and downs, but the timing and shape of developments differ. A longitudinal, comparative case analysis shows that the socio-cognitive evolution perspective is useful in explaining these differences.
This paper discusses how the approach of Strategic Niche Management (SNM) relates to proximity advantages in innovation processes as identified in the geography of innovation literature. The latter claims that the locations where innovation emerge and thrive are not coincidental, but that they follow certain patterns and explanatory logics. Such specific attention for explaining locations is not explicitly present in SNM, although this literature makes claims about the importance of experimentation in local settings, and local and global dynamics. Hence a confrontation of both literatures is thought to be promising. The paper draws on a theoretical discussion and a case study about aquifer thermal energy storage to conclude (1) that there is sufficient evidence for proximity dimensions in niche development; (2) that taking proximity dimensions seriously in SNM helps to unpack processes of upscaling and aggregation; (3) that literature on proximity and innovation can benefit from a more agency-based and dynamic perspective on proximity advantages; and (4) that there is a bias in proximity literature towards advantages of proximity while neglecting potential disadvantages for innovation, aggregation and upscaling.
Purpose
– This article seeks to clarify the role of knowledge management in innovation as an aid to addressing this complexity. The article seeks to identify the drivers for application of knowledge management in innovation. It also details the nature of the role of knowledge management in innovation as well as its value proposition.
Design/methodology/approach
– The methodology used was literature research and some personal experiences and interpretations.
Findings
– In the fast changing business world of today, innovation has become the mainstay of organizations. The nature of global economic growth has been changed by the speed of innovation, which has been made possible by rapidly evolving technology, shorter product lifecycles and a higher rate of new product development. The complexity of innovation has been increased by growth in the amount of knowledge available to organizations.
Originality/value
– Innovation is extremely dependent on the availability of knowledge and therefore the complexity created by the explosion of richness and reach of knowledge has to be recognized and managed to ensure successful innovation.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of tacit knowledge within innovative organizations. It addresses what organizations can do to promote knowledge sharing in order to improve successful innovation. Compared to available research material on explicit knowledge, the use of tacit knowledge within companies is relatively unexplored. The use of tacit knowledge is assessed with special emphasis on its significance and implications in the innovation process.
Design/methodology/approach
Existing research is structured with the objective of examining how companies make use of tacit knowledge. Key levers for tacit knowledge management are identified and the positive impact of tacit knowledge on innovation success disclosed.
Findings
The role of tacit knowledge in innovation management is analysed. Creation, availability and transfer of tacit knowledge within an organization are highlighted. Competitive advantage will be gained when companies value their tacit knowledge because explicit knowledge is knowledge we are already aware of and is public by its nature. Tacit knowledge can be the source of a huge range of opportunities and potentials that constitute discovery and creativity.
Practical implications
As this paper focuses on the transfer of tacit knowledge, barriers to successful knowledge transfer are described and success factors are explored which help to secure and improve the transfer of tacit knowledge.
Originality/value
It is proven that tacit knowledge has a crucial influence on the success of innovation processes in companies and plays a vital role as a company resource and success factor.