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Examining the Role of IoT and Cloud Computing in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals
Abstract
In the pursuit of global sustainability, the combination of the internet of things (IoT) and cloud computing (CC) emerges as a powerful catalyst. This integration plays a crucial role in addressing the significant challenges outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and promises positive impacts across various sectors. This exploration thoroughly examines the connections between IoT and CC, uncovering their potential contributions to sustainable development. As the authors explore this topic, they highlight how these advanced technologies pave the way for a more interconnected and sustainable future, providing solutions to complex issues such as healthcare, clean energy, and climate action. This chapter aims to present a more detailed understanding of the implications and applications of integrating IoT and CC for global sustainability in a clear and accessible manner.
Purpose
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is in the midst of a transformative economic vision, aiming to diversify its economy and reduce dependency on oil revenues. Adopting modern technological solutions like Cloud Accounting Information Systems (AIS) is pivotal in this regard. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of Cloud AIS on achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a quantitative research strategy and bootstrapping to analyze data from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) industrial sector using partial least squares structural equation modeling.
Findings
The study findings provide substantial evidence supporting the positive impact of Cloud AIS on achieving SDG 8. Significant relationships were identified between infrastructure readiness and Cloud AIS utilization, the critical role of data quality in driving Cloud AIS utilization and the significance of security compliance in influencing Cloud AIS utilization. In addition, the quality of service providers was demonstrated to be a crucial factor for effective Cloud AIS implementation. This study also established that infrastructure readiness significantly influences the attainment of SDG 8.
Practical implications
The practical implications of this study provide actionable insights for decision-makers in the KSA industrial sector. Leveraging Cloud AIS effectively will enable organizations to enhance operational efficiencies, promote inclusive economic growth and contribute significantly to achieving SDG 8.
Originality/value
This study contributes significantly to the existing literature by delving into the impact of Cloud AIS on achieving SDG 8, specifically in the context of the KSA – an area that has not been extensively studied.
Internet of things (IoT) applications in smart agricultural systems vary from monitoring climate conditions, automating irrigation systems, greenhouse automation, crop monitoring and management, and crop prediction, up to end-to-end autonomous farm management systems. One of the main challenges to the advancement of IoT systems for the agricultural domain is the lack of training data under operational environmental conditions. Most of the current designs are based on simulations and artificially generated data. Therefore, the essential first step is studying and understanding the finely tuned and highly sensitive mechanism plants have developed to sense, respond, and adapt to changes in their environment, and their behavior under field and controlled systems. Therefore, this study was designed to achieve two specific objectives; to develop low-cost IoT components from basic building blocks, and to study the performance of the developed systems, and generate real-time experimental data, with and without plants. Low-cost IoT devices developed locally were used to convert existing basic polytunnels to semi-controlled and monitoring-only polytunnels. Their performances were analyzed and compared with each other based on several matrices while maintaining the planted tomato variety and agronomic practices similar. The developed system performed as expected suggesting the possibility of commercial applications and research purposes.
This paper explores how to improve the sustainability of smart cities from a design perspective, by combining concepts of sustainable design with the Internet of Things and ecosystems. The paper uses a combination of the literature, cases, and model building to develop the research. First, the article analyzes six elements (human, environment, society, economy, and culture) and four dimensions (space, resources, management, and platform) that constitute a sustainable design system for smart cities and constructs a system model based on this analysis; then, the strategy for sustainable design in smart cities is discussed from the perspectives of management and spatial planning by combining CIM and specific cases. The study highlights the importance of prioritizing people and balancing the “people-environment-society-economy-culture” system using technology across the dimensions of management, space, resources, and platform. Moreover, based on the CIM platform, the sustainable design of smart cities can be considered in terms of urban management and spatial planning, enabling people, environment, society, economy, culture, space, resources, and platform to form a smart ecological system and enhance the sustainability of smart cities.
Sustainable Engineering education must provide cyber-physical and distributed systems competencies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The COVID-19 pandemic caused profound impacts arising from a traditional on-site teaching model rupture and demanded distance learning for engineering students. In this context, we considered the following Research Questions (RQ): How can Project Based Learning (PjBL) be applied in hardware and software courses from the Engineering curriculum to foster practical activities during the COVID-19 pandemic? Is the student performance in the fully remote offering comparable to the face-to-face offering? (RQ1); Which Sustainable Development Goals are related to the Engineering students’ project themes? (RQ2). Regarding RQ1, we present how PjBL was applied in first-, third- and fifth-year Computer Engineering Courses to support 31 projects of 81 future engineers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Student grades in a Software Engineering course indicate no relevant differences between student performance in remote and face-to-face offerings. Regarding RQ2, most Computer Engineering students from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo in 2020 and 2021 decided to create projects related to SDG 3—Good Health and Well-being, SDG 8—Decent Work and Economic Growth and SDG 11—Sustainable Cities and Communities. Most projects were related to health and well-being, which was an expected behavior according to how health issues were brought into highlight during the pandemic.
This paper presents a scalable IoT architecture based on the edge–fog–cloud paradigm for monitoring the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) parameters in public buildings. Nowadays, IEQ monitoring systems are becoming important for several reasons: (1) to ensure that temperature and humidity conditions are adequate, improving the comfort and productivity of the occupants; (2) to introduce actions to reduce energy consumption, contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); and (3) to guarantee the quality of the air—a key concern due to the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic. Two kinds of nodes compose the proposed architecture; these are the so-called: (1) smart IEQ sensor nodes, responsible for acquiring indoor environmental measures locally, and (2) the IEQ concentrators, responsible for collecting the data from smart sensor nodes distributed along the facilities. The IEQ concentrators are also responsible for configuring the acquisition system locally, logging the acquired local data, analyzing the information, and connecting to cloud applications. The presented architecture has been designed using low-cost open-source hardware and software—specifically, single board computers and microcontrollers such as Raspberry Pis and Arduino boards. WiFi and TCP/IP communication technologies were selected, since they are typically available in corporative buildings, benefiting from already available communication infrastructures. The application layer was implemented with MQTT. A prototype was built and deployed at the Faculty of Engineering of Vitoria-Gasteiz, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), using the existing network infrastructure. This prototype allowed for collecting data within different academic scenarios. Finally, a smart sensor node was designed including low-cost sensors to measure temperature, humidity, eCO2, and VOC.
This study aims to investigate the potential transformation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan, China, to meet the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) by adopting Industry 4.0. Taiwan is performing excellently at the core of Industry 4.0, information technology competence; however, we are curious if the competence required is available and acquainted by SMEs for achieving SDGs. As the consulting staff of the government, we hypothesized that adopting Industry 4.0 would lead to the success of sustainability. The analytical methodology is the model of technology, organization, and environment (TOE). We conducted the questionnaire survey to test if the adoption of Industry 4.0 will guarantee the success of sustainability. A systemic approach is employed to develop and parametrize the final model between adopting Industry 4.0 and sustainability, using structural equation modeling (SEM). Finally, we found a significant gap for Taiwanese SMEs to achieve sustainability via Industry 4.0 because only three hypotheses are supported: organizational resource availability influences Industry 4.0 adoption, investment costs impact sustainability, and external support pushes the adoption of Industry 4.0. We propose some possible solutions for the government to help SMEs reach the achievement of SDGs.
Sustainable development, which has become the priority study of architectural design, is receiving increasing attention with global climate change. At the same time, the building industry is urgently changing towards intelligent and digitalized tendencies. As a result, Building Information Modeling (BIM) and the Internet of Things (IoT) make crucial contributions to the transforming process. However, there is little knowledge of the integration of BIM–IoT in sustainable building from a macro perspective. Moreover, most existing research adopts a literature review method and lacks objective quantitative analysis. Few papers use bibliometric analysis to study the respective BIM and IoT research fields. Furthermore, few studies use Citespace software tools to analyze the integrated application of BIM–IoT. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the research frontiers and knowledge structure in BIM–IoT integration and the relationship between BIM-IoT and sustainable building and explore the research hotspots, trends, and future research directions. A quick and objective method was proposed to understand the research status of these new and rapidly developing fields. This paper uses topic search in the web of science core collection to obtain relevant literature and then uses Citespace for bibliometric analysis based on the literature review. Controlled terms and subject terms statistics from the Engineering Index core database search results are also used to briefly examine the fields’ research frontiers and hotspots as obtained from Citespace. The results show that: (1) The research on BIM–IoT integration focuses on building intelligence with BIM as the basis of application, and research on BIM–IoT integration within the field of sustainable building is currently focused on the first three phases of the life cycle. (2) The development of sustainable buildings needs to be considered on its human and social dimensions. BIM provides a platform for sharing information and communication among stakeholders involved in the building’s entire life cycle. At the same time, IoT allows occupants to better participate in buildings’ sustainable design and decision making. (3) In the future, more emerging technologies such as cloud computing and big data are required to better promote sustainable buildings and thus realize the construction of sustainable smart cities. At the same time, researchers should also pay attention to the sustainable transformation of existing buildings.
Today, blockchain is becoming more popular in academia and industry because it is a distributed, decentralised technology which is changing many industries in terms of security, building trust, etc. A few blockchain applications are banking, insurance, logistics, transportation, etc. Many insurance companies have been thinking about how blockchain could help them be more efficient. There is still a lot of hype about this immutable technology, even though it has not been utilised to its full potential. Insurers have to decide whether or not to use blockchain, just like many other businesses do. This technology keeps a distributed ledger on each blockchain node, making it more secure and transparent. The blockchain network can operate smart contracts and convince others to agree, so criminals cannot make mistakes. On another side, the Internet of Things (IoT) might make a real-time application work faster through its automation. With the integration of blockchain and IoT, there will always be a problem with technology regarding IoT devices and mining the blockchain. This paper gives a real-time view of blockchain—IoT-based applications for Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0. The last few sections discuss essential topics such as open issues, challenges, and research opportunities for future researchers to expand research in blockchain—IoT-based applications.
The current outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic has affected education across the world. To meet the current challenges posed by COVID19, educational institutions (schools, colleges and universities) need to be more efficient in providing quality educational services virtually. Cloud computing and Internet of things (IOT) are such technologies that accomplishes this. In this work, we review the recent works related to the cloud technology and IOT in education system and explores its various benefits and challenges. Furthermore, this article examines recent work on the potential scope of IoT in the Education Sector.KeywordsCloud computingVirtual learningInternet of ThingsOnline teachingVirtual classesSmart device
The newly connected globe has the potential to become a more environmentally friendly and sustainable place if more efficiencies can be brought to various industries. We will look at examples of how the Internet of Things technology is helping to improve the world. Relatively recently, the technology of the fourth industrial revolution has given rise to the characteristics of things constantly expanding, and everything, including people, things, people, and the environment, is connected based on the Internet. In particular, the network structure is connected to various Internet of Things devices and transitioning from wired to wireless. Gateways both within and outside the smart home can now be used to control other devices, in contrast to users who previously owned each device individually. However, due to these changes, the environment is now susceptible to attacks from the outside. For example, when an attacker gains access to a gateway, he can attempt various attacks, such as port scans, OS and service detection, and denial of service assaults on Internet of Things devices. As a result, the findings of the study reveal the influence of IoT technology, which has the potential to improve environmental monitoring to enhance environmental safety.
Smart farming is a development that has emphasized information and communication technology used in machinery, equipment, and sensors in network-based hi-tech farm supervision cycles. Innovative technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing are anticipated to inspire growth and initiate the use of robots and artificial intelligence in farming. Such ground-breaking deviations are unsettling current agriculture approaches, while also presenting a range of challenges. This paper investigates the tools and equipment used in applications of wireless sensors in IoT agriculture, and the anticipated challenges faced when merging technology with conventional farming activities. Furthermore, this technical knowledge is helpful to growers during crop periods from sowing to harvest; and applications in both packing and transport are also investigated.
Financial management is a critical aspect of firms that entails the strategic planning, direction, and control of financial endeavors. Risk assessment, fraud detection, wealth management, online transactions, customized bond scheme, customer retention, virtual assistant, and so on are already a few of the critical areas where Industry 4.0 technologies intervention are highly required for managing firms finance. It has been identified from the previous studies that they are limited studies that has addressed the significance and application of integrating of Industry 4.0 technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, big data, robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Digital twin, and Metaverse. With the motivation from above aspects, this study aims to discuss the role of these technologies in the area of financial management of a firm. Based up on the analysis, it has been concluded that these technologies assist to credit risk management based on real-time data; financial data analytics of risk assessment, digital finance, digital auditing, fraud detection, AI and IoT based virtual assistants. This study recommended that digital technologies be deeply integrated into the financial sector to improve service quality and accessibility, as well as the creation of innovative rules that allow for healthy competition among market participants.
Kisekka, I.; Afshar, A.; Hessels, T.; Taraghi, M.; Hessari, B.; Tourian, M.J.; Duan, Z. Crop Water Productivity Mapping and Benchmarking Using Remote Sensing and Google Earth Engine Cloud Computing. Remote Sens. 2022, 14, 4934. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/rs14194934 Academic Editor: Aitazaz A. Farooque
The Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations strive to maximize development needs, while minimizing environmental deterioration, without jeopardizing the needs of future generations. Nevertheless, due to urbanization, the escalating trend in natural-resource use, particularly electricity and water, is currently a crucial challenge for sustainable development. One of the promising options is the smart home, which is an extension of building automation with smart characteristics in monitoring, analyzing, controlling, and cloud computing with networked smart devices. Due to the lack of appropriate infrastructure and conscious consumption, its global adoption in the construction industry remains low. We present a technical feasibility of a multi-functional experimental smart home to support the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations in terms of water and energy conservation. The layered architecture of the cloud platform with an application program interface enables seamless integration of heterogeneous smart-home technologies and data sources. Use cases demonstrated its capacity to conserve electrical energy and water resources in support of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Aside from that, the smart home’s electricity self-consumption of at least three autonomy days was confirmed with zero emissions and electricity bills, and a reduced supply-water consumption.
At this time, efforts are being made on a worldwide scale to accomplish sustainable development objectives. It has, thus, now become essential to investigate the part of technology in the accomplishment of these Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as this will enable us to circumvent any potential conflicts that may arise. The importance of wastewater management in the accomplishment of these goals has been highlighted in the study. The research focuses on the role of fourth industrial revolution in meeting the Sustainable Goals for 2030. Given that water is the most important resource on the planet and since 11 of the 17 Sustainable Goals are directly related to having access to clean water, effective water management is the most fundamental need for achieving these goals. The age of Industry 4.0 has ushered in a variety of new solutions in many industrial sectors, including manufacturing, water, energy, healthcare, and electronics. This paper examines the present creative solutions in water treatment from an Industry-4.0 viewpoint, focusing on big data, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and several other technologies. The study has correlated the various concepts of Industry 4.0 along with water and wastewater management and also discusses the prior work carried out in this field with help of different technologies. In addition to proposing a way for explaining the operation of I4.0 in water treatment through a systematic diagram, the paper makes suggestions for further research as well.
Datennutzung, Vernetzung, Automatisierung und Autonomisierung: Die Digitalisierung ist omnipräsent. Aber wozu dient Digitalisierung? Sie ist kein Selbstzweck. Sie soll den Menschen dienen, ihnen zu mehr Wohlstand verhelfen. Wohlstand kann mit quantitativen und qualitativen Indikatoren gemessen werden. In jedem Fall ist mehr und gerecht verteilter Wohlstand nur möglich, wenn die ökonomische, soziale und ökologische
Nachhaltigkeit gewährleistet wird. Eine Digitalisierung, die zu mehr und gerecht verteiltem Wohlstand führt, ist eine nachhaltige Digitalisierung. Sie ist eine Digitalisierung, die so gestaltet ist, dass Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft langfristig von ihr profitieren. Dieses Policy Paper entwickelt eben dieses Konzept der nachhaltigen Digitalisierung.
Countries are working into making agriculture more sustainable by integrating different technologies to enhance its operation. Implementing improvements in irrigation systems is crucial for the water-use efficiency and works as a contributor to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the United Nations specifically Goal 6 and Target 6.4. This paper aims to highlight the contribution of SMART irrigation using Internet of Things (IoT) and sensory systems in relation to the SDGs. The study is based on a qualitative design along with focusing on secondary data collection method. Automated irrigation systems are essential for conservation of water, this improvement could have a vital role in minimizing water usage. Agriculture and farming techniques is also linked with IoT and automation, to make the whole processes much more effective and efficient. Sensory systems helped farmers better understand their crops and reduced the environmental impacts and conserve resources. Through these advanced systems effective soil and weather monitoring takes place along with efficient water management. Irrigation systems have been determined as positive contributor toward optimized irrigation systems that could enhance the use of continuous research and development which focus on enhancing the sustainable operations and cost reduction. Lastly, the challenges and benefits for the implementation of sensory based irrigation systems are discussed. This review will assist researchers and farmers to better understand irrigation techniques and provide an adequate approach would be sufficient to carry out irrigation related activities.
Keyword: Irrigation, Sustainable Development Goals, IoT, Smart Irrigation, Agriculture, Sensors, Water use efficiency, SDG 6.
Sustainability is a major challenge in agri-food systems. Digital technologies, such as Internet of Things (IoT) hold substantial promises for attaining the sustainability goals of the economy, environment and society at large. However, in practice it is difficult to evaluate to which extent these technologies contribute to sustainable development raising doubts about their impact. This paper demonstrates a stepwise approach that allows for measuring and monitoring IoT contribution to sustainability in a real-life context. The UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) underpin the principles of the approach by a typology and by framing the sustainability impact in terms of business opportunities. The approach has been developed and evaluated by 33 use cases in the EU-funded IoF2020 project. The research illustrates how the measurement and monitoring tool is applied in 5 of these use cases from different agricultural subsectors showing how the approach is applied and validated. The results indicate an overall positive impact of IoT on improving sustainability, although these results are also partly determined by other influential external factors that cannot be easily discerned in a practical situation. The main contribution of this approach is the set of instruments for practitioners to measure and monitor the impact of fast-changing technologies such as IoT to sustainability in a real-life context. This set of instruments can also be used by other stakeholders in large IoT projects where strategic sustainability objectives should be supported by IoT solutions. The stepwise approach is easy to communicate and supports stakeholders such as farmers in decision-making, but also policy makers and investors in funding projects.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain (BC), and the internet of things (IoT) has had significant applications in the advancement of sustainability research. This review examines how these digital transformations drive natural and human systems, as well as which industry sectors have been applying them to advance sustainability. We adopted qualitative research methods, including a bibliometric analysis, in which we screened 960 publications to identify the leading sectors that apply AI/BC/IoT, and a content analysis to identify how each sector uses AI/BC/IoT to advance sustainability. We identified “smart city”, “energy system”, and “supply chain” as key leading sectors. Of these technologies, IoT received the most real-world applications in the “smart city” sector under the dimensions of “smart environment” and “smart mobility” and provided applications resolving energy consumption in the “energy system” sector. AI effectively resolved scheduling, prediction, and monitoring for both the “smart city” and “energy system” sectors. BC remained highly theoretical for “supply chain”, with limited applications. The technological integration of AI and IoT is a research trend for the “smart city” and “energy system” sectors, while BC and IoT is proposed for the “supply chain”. We observed a surge in AI/BC/IoT sustainability research since 2016 and a new research trend—technological integration—since 2020. Collectively, six of the United Nation’s seventeen sustainable development goals (i.e., 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13) have been the most widely involved with these technologies.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is currently being developed by large corporations, and governments all over the world are yearning for it. AI isn’t a futuristic concept; it is already here, and it is being implemented in a range of industries. Finance, national security, health care, criminal justice, transportation, and smart cities are all examples of this. There are countless examples of AI having a substantial impact on the world and complementing human abilities. However, due to the immense societal ramifications of these technologies, AI is on the verge of disrupting a host of industries, so the technique by which AI systems are created must be better understood. The goal of the study was to look at what it meant to be human-centred, how to create human-centred AI, and what considerations should be made for human-centred AI to achieve sustainability and the SDGs. Using a systematic literature review technique, the study discovered that a human-centred AI strategy strives to create and implement AI systems in ways that benefit mankind and serve their interests. The study also found that a human-in-the-loop concept should be used to develop procedures for creating human-centred AI, as well as other initiatives, such as the promotion of AI accountability, encouraging businesses to use autonomy wisely, to motivate businesses to be aware of human and algorithmic biases, to ensure that businesses prioritize customers, and form multicultural teams to tackle AI research. The study concluded with policy recommendations for human-centred AI to help accomplish the SDGs, including expanding government AI investments, addressing data and algorithm biases, and resolving data access issues, among other things.
The Industry 4.0 concept proposes that new cutting-edge technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), will grow. The acceptance of IoT in the circular economy (CE) is still in its infancy, despite its enormous potential. In the face of growing environmental affairs, IoT based Industry 4.0 technologies are altering CE practices and existing business models, according to the World Economic Forum. This research investigates the function of IoT-based Industry 4.0 in circular CE practices, as well as their impact on economic and environmental performance, which in turn influences overall organizational performance. China-based enterprises provide information for the study, which includes data from 300 companies. Utilizing a structural equation modeling framework known as partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The major findings are presented in the study: (I) the IoT significantly improves the activities of the CE; (II) the IoT significantly improves the practices of the CE; and (III) the IoT meaningfully advances the practices of CE (green manufacturing, circular design, remanufacturing, and recycling). Moreover, the findings shows that environmentally friendly business practices help enhance environmental performance of firm, while also stimulating their economic performance; and improved environmental performance has a significant positive influence on firm performance. This research lays the groundwork for contributing nations/companies to attain economic and long-term sustainability goals at the same time by incorporating IoT-based Industry 4.0 technology into CE practices.
Purpose
All firms' business models are based on their interdependencies with other parties in their ecosystems. The Internet of Things (IoT) is beginning to fundamentally disrupt the agri-food industry, forcing the ecosystem to change. When an ecosystem is transforming, the interdependencies among its actors can create friction. Technology providers and core actors should consider these interdependencies as they update their strategies for value creation and capture. The purpose of the present research is to consider what it might take for agri-food firms to capitalize on these interdependencies by moving from traditional business models to business models based on collaboration and open innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
The present paper draws on data from four online focus groups that we created to discuss how to co-create the business models agri-food firms need in a constantly changing environment. The paper presents an application of phenomenon-driven research (PDR), an engaged methodology. The study method enables novel pathways to develop and implement innovative solutions. This study draws on the interaction of theory and practice and involves multiple stakeholders with varying roles in the agri-food ecosystem.
Findings
The authors found that any open innovation setup in agri-food needs to constantly reconfigure itself to balance the needs of farmers and the needs of the market. This interplay can only support the IoT-enabled ecosystem if continuous interaction and negotiation occur among various stakeholders of the food system. When the farmers' needs and the market's needs are aligned, the space for developing a collaborative and open business model is prepared.
Originality/value
The insights gained from this study inspire action and commitment to common goals when developing collaboration-based business models (CBMs). The paper offers insights for players in the agri-food industry who are considering CBMs in the course of digital transformation.
Waste management directly and indirectly contributes to all sustainable development goals. Hence, the modernisation of the current ineffective management system through Industry 4.0-compatible technologies is urgently needed. Inspired by the fourth industrial revaluation, this study explores the potential application of waste management 4.0 in a local government area in Perth, Western Australia. The study considers a systematic literature review as part of an exploratory investigation of the current applications and practices of Industry 4.0 in the waste industry. Moreover, the study develops and tests a machine learning model to identify and measure household waste contamination as a waste management 4.0 case study application. The study reveals that waste management 4.0 offers various opportunities and sustainability benefits in reducing costs, improving efficiency in the supply chain and material flow, and reducing as well as eliminating waste by achieving holistic circular economy goals. The significant barriers and challenges involve initial investments in developing and maintaining waste management 4.0 technology, platform and data acquisition. The proof-of-concept case study on the machine learning model detects selected waste with considerable precision (over 70% for selected items). The number and quality of the labelled data significantly influences the model’s accuracy. The data on waste contamination are essential for local governments to explore household waste recycling practices besides developing effective waste education and communication methods. The study concludes that waste management 4.0 can be an effective tool for acquiring real-time data; however, overcoming the current limitations needs to be addressed before applying waste management 4.0 into practice.
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out to improve the quality of life of people in developed, emerging, and developing countries by covering social and economic aspects, with a focus on environmental sustainability. At the same time, data-driven technologies influence our lives in all areas and have caused fundamental economical and societal changes. This study presents a comprehensive literature review on how data-driven approaches have enabled or inhibited the successful achievement of the 17 SDGs to date. Our findings show that data-driven analytics and tools contribute to achieving the 17 SDGs, e.g., by making information more reliable, supporting better-informed decision-making, implementing data-based policies, prioritizing actions, and optimizing the allocation of resources. Based on a qualitative content analysis, results were aggregated into a conceptual framework, including the following categories: (1) uses of data-driven methods (e.g., monitoring, measurement, mapping or modeling, forecasting, risk assessment, and planning purposes), (2) resulting positive effects, (3) arising challenges, and (4) recommendations for action to overcome these challenges. Despite positive effects and versatile applications, problems such as data gaps, data biases, high energy consumption of computational resources, ethical concerns, privacy, ownership, and security issues stand in the way of achieving the 17 SDGs.
As urbanized areas continue to expand rapidly across all continents, the United Nations adopted in 2015 the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, aimed at shaping a sustainable future for city dwellers. Earth Observation (EO) satellite data can provide at a fine scale, essential urban land use information for computing SDG 11 indicators in order to complement or even replace inaccurate or invalid existing spatial datasets. This study proposes an EO-based approach for extracting large scale information regarding urban open spaces (UOS) and land allocated to streets (LAS) at the city level, for calculating SDG indicator 11.7.1. The research workflow was developed over the Athens metropolitan area in Greece using deep learning classification models for processing PlanetScope and Sentinel-1 imagery, employing freely-available cloud environments offered by Google. The LAS model exhibited satisfactory results while the best experiment performance for mapping UOS, considering both PlanetScope and Sentinel-1 data, yielded high commission errors, however, the cross-validation analysis with the UOS area of OpenStreetMap exhibited a total overlap of 67.38%, suggesting that our workflow is suitable for creating a “potential” UOS layer. The methodology developed herein can serve as a roadmap for the calculation of indicator 11.7.1 through national statistical offices when spatial data are absent or unreliable.
The impact of new digital technologies creates challenges for the digital transformation process in company sustainability areas. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of contribution of digital-transformation-enabling technologies to company sustainability areas of three pulp and paper manufacturing companies in Brazil and relate it to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through a systematic literature review based on the PRISMA method, we sought to assess the key concepts of sustainability and the implementation of digital transformation (DT) through its enabling digital technologies. A field study was conducted in three Brazilian pulp and paper companies to assess the degree of contribution. They are leading companies in the paper and cellulose industry in Brazil. The results obtained indicate that the companies in this sample are still in a growth process regarding the use of digital technologies in their sustainability areas. Only one digital technology, cloud computing, appears relevant in one of the companies studied, which differs from the theoretical framework presented by the literature. To achieve the SDGs goals, countries, especially emerging ones, need to develop their technologies and their business and improve the results that relate to sustainability. The research method applied in this study can be replicated to other companies where the impact of digital transformation technologies on company sustainability is critical.
The Internet of Things (IoT) adoption affects different sectors immensely, especially during Covid-19. This study mainly examines the benefits and challenges experienced in Bangladesh's education, and corporate and service sectors while using IoT services during COVID-19. Data collection was performed using a convenient random sampling method and distributing questions online. Two hundred sixty completed responses were analyzed, where 40% of responses were from the education sector, and 60% were from the corporate and service sector. The research method was quantitative and empirical. The study reveals that people find saving time the most potential, whereas, in the corporate and service sector, the topmost benefit of using IoT services is that it helps strictly maintain physical distance. Conversely, the most significant challenges people face in both sectors are that the IoT increases social distance and reduces individual communication. Nevertheless, people in both sectors have a positive attitude towards using IoT in the future. The findings have practical implications for business professionals, academic scholars, and other associated parties keen to identify IoT impact during the pandemic.
Purpose
The study aims to map the links between Industry 4.0 (I-4.0) technologies and circular economy (CE) for sustainable operations and their role to achieving the selected number of sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a systematic literature review method to identify 76 primary studies that were published between January 2010 and December 2020. The authors synthesized the existing literature using Scopus database to investigate I-4.0 technologies and CE to select SDGs.
Findings
The findings of the study bridge the gap in the literature at the intersection between I-4.0 and sustainable operations in line with the regenerate, share, optimize, loop, virtualize and exchange (ReSOLVE) framework leading to CE practices. Further, the study also depicts the CE practices leading to the select SDGs (“SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation,” “SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy,” “SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure,” “SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production” and “SDG 13: Climate Action”). The study proposes a conceptual framework based on the linkages above, which can help organizations to realign their management practices, thereby achieving specific SDGs.
Originality/value
The originality of the study is substantiated by a unique I-4.0-sustainable operations-CE-SDGs (ISOCES) framework that integrates I-4.0 and CE for sustainable development. The framework is unique, as it is based on an in-depth and systematic review of the literature that maps the links between I-4.0, CE and sustainability.
In the last few years, while the COVID-19 pandemic affects food supply chains around the world, the agriculture sector also has faced many global problems, such as global warming, environmental pollution, climate change, and weather disasters. It has known that technological opportunities are available for human beings to get out of these predicaments, solving the interconnections between food-water-energyclimate nexus, and achieving agricultural transformation from traditional to digital.
The aim of this review is to gain holistic solutions in a systematic
view, based on water-energy-food resources to agricultural digital
transformation that will play role in sustainable development. The
transition from primitive to digital is given with road maps covering
agricultural and industrial revolutions at four stages on timeline. Digital agriculture combined under precision agriculture and Agriculture 4.0 are handled based on domains covering monitoring, control, prediction, and logistics. Digital technologies are explained with application examples such as the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, decision support systems, etc. Wearable sensor technologies, real-time monitoring systems tracking whole conditions of animals in livestock, the IoT-based irrigation and fertilization systems that help enhance the efficiency of irrigation processes and minimize water and fertilizer losses in agricultural fields and greenhouses, blockchain-based electronic agriculture, and solutions based on drones and robotics that
reduce herbicide and pesticide use are handled systematically. Moreover, renewable energy technologies to be provided synergy between technologies such as agrivoltaics and aquavoltaics combining food and energy production in rural are explained, besides solar-powered pivot and drip irrigation systems and environmental monitoring systems. As a result, for a sustainable future, technological innovations that increase crop productivity and improve crop quality, protect the environment, provide efficient resource use and decrease input costs can help us facing in agriculture of today overwhelm many the economic, social, and environmental challenges.
The concept of smart city evolved with the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in various sub-systems and processes in urban environment. The development of the smart cities is the best possible solution to major urban issues. It contributes towards economic and social development of the residents. It aims to provide the cordial environment in the domains of healthcare, education, transportation, power generation and dissipation, security, living, industry, etc., to the inhabitants to make their lives comfortable. Sustainability of these services is another major objective in a smart city framework. Along with the true realization of the idea of a smart city, advanced computational and communication technologies are contributing hugely towards its sustainable development. Communication technologies act as backbone to ensure connectivity at the various levels in a smart city framework. Novel smart city solutions for different application domains are designed and deployed by the industry using advanced computational technologies like IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Big Data and Cloud Computing. In this work, authors discuss the concept of smart city, its architecture and sustainability. Different operational domains in a smart city ecosystem are elaborated. The cyber physical aspect of the smart cities is discussed in brief. The role of various computational and communication technologies in the sustainable development of smart cities is presented. Limiting factors in the deployment of various advanced technologies in different smart city domains are highlighted. Security issues associated with the technological sustainable development of different smart city services along with existing solutions are discussed. The article is concluded by highlighting the future research directions.
The United Nations 2030 Agenda has emphasized the potential of digital technology to enhance sustainability performance, assuming that digital transformation can enable firms’ convergence toward the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite this, the literature is unclear regarding whether there is a positive relationship between digitalization and sustainability, as the effects of digital transformation are controversial. The main goal of this study was to assess the hypothesis that digital technology contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals within the UN 2030 Agenda. To test this hypothesis, a textual analysis was performed to assess Italian firms’ digitalization efforts; the obtained results were then related to the selected firms’ ESG scores using a regression analysis. The analysis focused on Italian FTSE MIB listed firms for the period 2016–2019. The findings show a positive relation between digitalization and Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting the relevance of digital technology in implementing the sustainability agenda.
A smart city is an urbanization region that collects data using several digital and physical devices. The information collected from such devices is used efficiently to manage revenues, resources, and assets, etc., while the information obtained from such devices is utilized to boost performance throughout the city. Cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) applications could help smart cities that contain information gathered from citizens, devices, homes, and other things. This information is processed and analyzed to monitor and manage transportation networks, electric utilities, resources management, water supply systems, waste management, crime detection, security mechanisms, proficiency, digital library, healthcare facilities, and other opportunities. A cloud service provider offers public cloud services that can update the IoT environment, enabling third-party activities to embed IoT data within electronic devices executing on the IoT. In this paper, the author explored cloud-based IoT applications and their roles in smart cities.
Recently, Internet of Things (IoT) deployments have shown their potential for aiding the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Concerns regarding how the IoT can specifically drive SDGs 6, 11 and 9 in developing countries have been raised with respect to the challenges of deploying licensed and unlicensed low-power wide area network (LPWAN) IoT technologies and their opportunities for IoT consumers and service providers. With IoT infrastructure and protocols being ubiquitous and each being proposed for different SDGs, we review and compare the various performance characteristics of LoRaWAN and NB-IoT networks. From the performance analysis of our networks, NB-IoT, one of the standardised promising cellular IoT solutions for developing countries, is more expensive and less energy-efficient than LoRaWAN. Utilising the same user equipment (UE), NB-IoT consumed an excess of 2 mAh of power for joining the network and 1.7 mAh more for a 44-byte uplink message compared to LoRaWAN. However, NB-IoT has the advantage of reliably and securely delivering higher network connection capacity in IoT use cases, leveraging existing cellular infrastructure. With a maximum throughput of 264 bps at 837 ms measured latency, NB-IoT outperformed LoRaWAN and proved robust for machine-type communications. These findings will help IoT consumers and service providers understand the performance differences and deployment challenges of NB-IoT and LoRaWAN and establish new research directions to tackle IoT issues in developing countries. With Nigeria as a case study, for consumers and organisations at a crossroads in their long-term deployment decisions, the proposed LPWAN integrated architecture is an example of the deployment opportunities for consumer and industrial IoT applications in developing countries.
COVID-19 has not affected all countries equally: developing countries have been more disadvantaged by the pandemic. Regarding global development, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a step back in the path to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs most negatively affected by the pandemic are identified here. Then using the SDGs as a reference, this research explores the new challenges faced by developing countries and the impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) after COVID-19’s emergence. Successful Internet of Things for Development (IoT4D) projects, in relation to the SDGs, are highlighted. Challenges of the IoT4D in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic have been identified and the new social and technical challenges emerged as consequence of the pandemic have been studied. IoT solutions carried out in developing countries during the pandemic have been identified and reviewed. Finally, this work concludes that the future of IoT4D in the wake of the COVID-19 should focus on the use of low-cost IoT on the most affected SDGs by the pandemic: education, health, and work. After an exhaustive study, the Intelligent Internet of Things (IIoT) has been identified as a key actor in the pandemic wake, with a leading role in the health sector. The proposed approach included an exhaustive study of the new role of the Internet of Things for Development for achieving the SDGs in our forever changed world.
Non-residential buildings contribute to around 20% of the total energy consumed in Europe. This consumption continues to increase globally. Smart building proposals (focused on Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB), air quality monitoring, energy saving with thermal comfort, etc.) were already necessary before 2020, and the pandemic has made this research and development area more essential. Furthermore, the need to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and obtain technological solutions based on the Internet of Things (IoT) requires holistic contributions through real installations that serve as spaces for measuring, testing, study and research. This article proposes a “measure–analyse–decide and act” methodology to quantify the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) for university buildings as a reference environment for energy efficiency and COVID-19 prevention models. Two conceptual spaces (physical and digital) within two dimensions (users and infrastructures) are designated over an IoT three-level model (information acquisition, interoperable communication, and data-driven decision). An IoT ecosystem (sensoriZAR) was implemented as a proof-of-concept of a smart campus at the University of Zaragoza, Spain. Focused on CO2 and energy consumption monitoring, the results showed effectiveness through real installations, demonstrating the IoT potential as SDG-enabling technologies. These contributions allow not only experimental lab tests (from the authors’ expertise in several specialties of Industrial, Mechanical, Design, Thermal, Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Telecommunication Engineering) but also a reference model for direct application in academic works, research projects and institutional initiatives, extendable to professional environments, buildings and cities.
Recent developments in manufacturing processes and automation have led to the new industrial revolution termed "Industry 4.0". Industry 4.0 can be considered as a broad domain which includes: data management, manufacturing competitiveness, production processes and efficiency. The term Industry 4.0 includes a variety of key enabling technologies i.e., cyber physical systems, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, big data analytics and digital twins which can be considered as the major contributors to automated and digital manufacturing environments. Sustainability can be considered as the core of business strategy which is highlighted in the United Nations (UN) Sustainability 2030 agenda and includes smart manufacturing, energy efficient buildings and low-impact industrialization. Industry 4.0 technologies help to achieve sustainability in business practices. However, very limited studies reported about the extensive reviews on these two research areas. This study uses a systematic literature review approach to find out the current research progress and future research potential of Industry 4.0 technologies to achieve manufacturing sustainability. The role and impact of different Industry 4.0 technologies for manufacturing sustainability is discussed in detail. The findings of this study provide new research scopes and future research directions in different research areas of Industry 4.0 which will be valuable for industry and academia in order to achieve manufacturing sustainability with Industry 4.0 technologies.
The lack of transparency and traceability in food supply chains (FSCs) is raising concerns among consumers and stakeholders about food information credibility, food quality, and safety. Insufficient records, a lack of digitalization and standardization of processes, and information exchange are some of the most critical challenges, which can be tackled with disruptive technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and distributed ledger technologies (DLTs). Studies provide evidence that novel technological and sustainable practices in FSCs are necessary. This paper aims to describe current practical applications of DLTs and IoT in FSCs, investigating the challenges of implementation, and potentials for future research directions, thus contributing to achievement of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Within a systematic literature review, the content of 69 academic publications was analyzed, describing aspects of implementation and measures to address the challenges of scalability, security, and privacy of DLT, and IoT solutions. The challenges of high costs, standardization, regulation, interoperability, and energy consumption of DLT solutions were also classified as highly relevant, but were not widely addressed in literature. The application of DLTs in FSCs can potentially contribute to 6 strategic SDGs, providing synergies and possibilities for more sustainable, traceable, and transparent FSCs.
We live in complex times in the health, social, political, and energy spheres, and we must be aware of and implement new trends in intelligent social health systems powered by the Internet of Things (IoT). Sustainable development, energy efficiency, and public health are interrelated parameters that can transform a system or an environment for the benefit of people and the planet. The integration of sensors and smart devices should promote energy efficiency and ensure that sustainable development goals are met. This work is carried out according to a mixed approach, with a literature review and an analysis of the impact of the Sustainable Development Goals on the applications of the Internet of Things and smart systems. In the analysis of results, the following questions are answered about these systems and applications: a) Are IoT applications key to the improvement of people’s health and the environment? b) Are there research and case studies implemented in cities or territories that demonstrate the effectiveness of IoT applications and their benefits to public health? c) What sustainable development indicators and objectives can be assessed in the applications and projects analyzed?
Industry 4.0 has been identified as a major contributor to the era of digitalisation. Its implications for sustainable development have gained widespread attention from the perspectives of the triple bottom line, sustainable business models and circular economy. The purpose of this paper is to map the broad field of sustainable development and investigate the key research areas which comprises the aforementioned perspectives under Industry 4.0 framework. A systematic mapping review was conducted by searching five databases for relevant literature published between 1st January 2012 and 17th April 2020. The search yielded 4,291 papers of which 81 were identified as primary papers relevant to the research herein. The primary findings are that the majority of sustainability research focuses on conceptual analysis, and the Internet of Things is dominantly cited with an emphasis on achieving the triple bottom line benefits. Sustainable development in the Industry 4.0 context contributes to circular economic objectives by achieving social, economic, and environmental benefits. Triple bottom line studies mainly focus on Industry 4.0 adoption and implementation, sustainable supply chains, smart and sustainable cities, and smart factories. Circular economy and sustainable business models as emerging research themes that focus on Industry 4.0 adoption and implementation, as well as sustainable supply chains. Our analysis consolidates emerging research patterns areas in both the Industry 4.0 and sustainability literature. Furthermore, it identifies salient research gaps and suggests future research.
In the literature, quite limited research exists on the subject of Society 5.0. The present study examined the existence of Society 5.0 and the effectiveness of Industry 4.0 and evaluated the efficiency of United Nations Development Goals (SDGs) in this process, especially in Turkey. The research was carried out based on data obtained through a survey form with 30 questions which was conducted with 335 academicians working at Kafkas University. The data were analyzed by means of exploratory factor analysis with the SPSS program, confirmatory factor analysis with AMOS, and structural equation modeling with Smart PLS. The analysis results indicated that SDG9, SDG10, SDG11, SDG12, SDG13, and SDG14 had a low influence (i.e., R2: 0.172) on the application of Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0. Moreover, it was observed that the participants were heavily affected by order of the day and gave responses to the questions with that impact. The study also revealed that Turkey did not have a leading philosophy in the field of Society 5.0 and Industry 4.0 and made progress by concentrating on out-dated processes.
The emerging of the fourth industrial revolution, also known as Industry 4.0 (I4.0), from the advancement in several technologies is viewed not only to promote economic growth, but also to enable a greener future. The 2030 Agenda of the United Nations for sustainable development sets out clear goals for the industry to foster the economy, while preserving social well-being and ecological validity. However, the influence of I4.0 technologies on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) has not been conclusively or systematically investigated. By understanding the link between the I4.0 technologies and the SDGs, researchers can better support policymakers to consider the technological advancement in updating and harmonizing policies and strategies in different sectors (i.e., education, industry, and governmental) with the SDGs. To address this gap, academic experts in this paper have investigated the influence of I4.0 technologies on the sustainability targets identified by the UN. Key I4.0 element technologies have been classified to enable a quantitative mapping with the 17 SDGs. The results indicate that the majority of the I4.0 technologies can contribute positively to achieving the UN agenda. It was also found that the effects of the technologies on individual goals varies between direct and strong, and indirect and weak influences. The main insights and lessons learned from the mapping are provided to support future policy.
Digital transformation refers to the unprecedented disruptions in society, industry, and organizations stimulated by advances in digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Presently, there is a lack of studies to map digital transformation in the environmental sustainability domain. This paper identifies the disruptions driven by digital transformation in the environmental sustainability domain through a systematic literature review. The results present a framework that outlines the transformations in four key areas: pollution control, waste management, sustainable production, and urban sustainability. The transformations in each key area are divided into further sub-categories. This study proposes an agenda for future research in terms of organizational capabilities, performance, and digital transformation strategy regarding environmental sustainability.
The COVID-19 pandemic before mass vaccination can be restrained only by the limitation of contacts between people, which makes the digital economy a key condition for survival. More than half of the world's population lives in urban areas, and many cities have already transformed into "smart" digital/virtual hubs. Digital services ensure city life safe without an economy lockout and unemployment. Urban society strives to be safe, sustainable, well-being, and healthy. We set the task to construct a hybrid sociological and technological concept of a smart city with matched solutions, complementary to each other. Our modeling with the elaborated digital architectures and with the bionic solution for ensuring sufficient data governance showed that a smart city in comparison with the traditional city is tightly interconnected inside like a social "organism". Society has entered a decisive decade during which the world will change by moving closer towards SDGs targets 2030 as well as by the transformation of cities and their digital infrastructures. It is important to recognize the large vector of sociological transformation as smart cities are just a transition phase to human-centered personal space or smart home. The "atomization" of the world urban population raises the gap problem in achieving SDGs because of different approaches to constructing digital architectures for smart cities or smart homes in countries. The strategy of creating smart cities should bring each citizen closer to SDGs at the individual level, laying in the personal space the principles of sustainable development and wellness of personality.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11625-020-00889-5.
The industry has entered on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the so-called Industry 4.0, with global markets and strong competition, some traditional manufacturing firms are implementing new maintenance innovations and policies, based on digitalisation and data driven approach, but also based on servitisation. The implementation of these new equipment maintenance business models, could require new organisational approach at different levels. Different sorts of integration are arranged, in vertical with a flat structure of intelligent, flexible and autonomous units working integrated, in horizontal with a strong external and internal supply chain integration, and in transverse, with an integrated approach that link internal and external stakeholders. A new prescriptive maintenance business model for equipment exploiting digitalisation opportunities, including stakeholder relationship is proposed. Different perspectives such as organisational, innovation and sustainability have been adopted to discuss the implications of the proposal. The social value potentially gained as well as the alignment with the SDGs are discussed as well.
The list of Sustainable Development Goals created by the United Nations include good health and well-being as one of its primary objectives. Pollution is a concern worldwide, and pollution levels inside buildings (homes or workplaces) can be higher than outdoors. To alleviate this problem and improve air quality, ornamental plants can be used. This paper presents the application of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to develop a system called P4L, an acronym for “Plants for Life”. The objective of P4L is the automated care of potted plants to improve air quality and make the indoor environments of a building healthier. This IoT-based system (IoTS) has been developed through low-cost Arduino-compatible components. In addition, the Test-Driven Development Methodology for IoT-based Systems (TDDM4IoTS) has been used to guide P4L development. In fact, this article shows the result of the application of this methodology (phase by phase), with the help of the Test-Driven Development Tool for IoT-based Systems (TDDT4IoTS), which supports the aforementioned methodology, to develop P4L. To validate the methodology, we conducted a survey among developers that have used it, the results of which show that it is efficient and covers all aspects of IoTS development.
In the current global trend, financial organizations strive extensively towards smartening finance to derive the benefits of digitalization. In such an effort, Financial Technology (Fintech) involves usage of several contemporary disruptive technologies such as AI, 5G/6G, Blockchain, Metaverse, IoT, etc., in financial industry to add value to the customer services. By the inception of technology, several major financial services and processes such as lending, verification, fraud detection, quality maintenance, credit scoring, and many more will be simplified and augmented. However, there is a need for research and innovation of disruptive financial products and the enabling ecosystem of technologies. Consequently, several tech-giants have focused their attention on Fintech to introduce Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions. In this manuscript, firstly, we envision the future trends and driving applications of Fintech that would emerge during 2030. Further, we attempt to provide a high-level framework of the enablers of Fintech including IoT, 5G, Digital twins and Metaverse for certain use cases. In addition, we provide directions for future Fintech research while anticipating the challenges ahead.
Smart cities will undoubtedly be the distinguishing characteristic of human geography in the twenty-first century. Throughout 1.3 million people move to cities every week around the world, and it is estimated that by 2040, cities will house 65 percent of the world's population. While the world's largest cities now contribute for 60% of global GDP, this percentage will continue to climb as cities get larger and smarter. According to experts, cities will account for up to 80% of future economic development in developing regions. Smart cities are no longer the wave of the future; they have here and are rapidly expanding as the Internet of Things (IoT) grows. With dozens of towns throughout the world, the smart city sector is expected to grow into a massive business as time goes on. Cities have been an increasingly crucial engine of the global economy and wealth over time. As a result, it is critical to guarantee that they are optimized to maximize efficiency and sustainability while also ensuring that each citizen's quality of life is improved. We can describe the need for smart cities through this project, and it also shows us how IoT technology and smart city enablers may be deployed in urban settings to help cities perform better for their residents and achieve overall sustainable growth. This initiative will educate urban planners, researchers, ICT professionals, and other city officials about the facilitators of IoT for smart cities and their long-term growth.
In spite of increasing adoption of Cloud Computing (CC) by organizations in developed countries, the rate of adoption of the technology in sub-Saharan Africa has stagnated, although it has the potential to accelerate the speed of digital transformation. This paper contributes to the extant literature in this light by examining how the institutional environment influences the adoption of cloud computing. We investigated the role of mimetic, coercive and normative institutional pressures in predicting adoption outcomes of cloud computing among organizations in the region. After testing three main hypotheses and ten corollaries, and analyzing data collected from seventy-nine organizations with the partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), the study found that the institutional pressures (mimetic, coercive and normative) explain 27% of the variance in cloud computing adoption. The mimetic – CC adoption path coefficient of 0.35 made the biggest contribution to the model while the normative – CC adoption path was the least contributor with a path coefficient of 0.18. The findings explain the determinants of adoption of CC in environments of low adoption and institutional challenges.