Search Results (34)

Decisions made during the design phase of mechatronic systems have a considerable influence on their entire life cycle. The persistent calls for environmental protection are driven by global megatrends promoting sustainability. Hence, opting for eco-designed mechatronic systems is now a fundamental cornerstone of manufacturers’ strategies. This paper is a generalization of the environmental assessment step of a sustainable design methodology applied to mechatronic systems with structural design freeze, which is only relevant for a limited set of admissible mechatronic solutions. The approach is adapted to cover any dimension of admissible solutions using hierarchical timed colored Petri nets (hierarchical TCPN) and simplified life cycle assessments (SLCAs). First, the SLCAs results are integrated into the hierarchical TCPN model. Next, a weighting process is introduced to ensure the classification of the heterogeneous impact categories derived from SLCAs according to agreed impact reduction criteria. Then, the candidate ecological solution and its design environmental matrix (DEM) are determined via simulations. The methodology is implemented using a regenerative braking system (RBS) with frozen structural specifications, focusing on its production phase and using CPN tools and OpenLCA software. It enables the selection of the candidate ecological RBS among a large set of admissible solutions. This selection is established without interrupting the normal design process but simply by adding an extra step. Full article

This study explores how higher education institutions (HEIs) can foster the relevance of education for sustainable development (ESD) and strategic human resource development for a holistic sustainability transformation. Sharing a case example, it discusses how sustainable and responsible research, development and innovation (RDI) competences can be recognised, described and acknowledged to support the contextualised application of ESD and human resource development in one HEI of the INVEST university alliance and its stakeholders. It compares education professionals’ and stakeholders’ views on current and future competence needs and investigates inter-organisational competence development practices. The methodology encompasses a qualitative and interpretive case study based on focus group interviews. The results on the current sustainable competences indicated that HEI and stakeholder respondents identified disciplinary competences as the most important competence cluster followed by systems-thinking, strategies-thinking and integration competences. Although HEIs and stakeholders jointly regard disciplinary competences as most critical for the future, they have considerably different perspectives on the megatrends influencing these needs and the overall spectrum of the required competences. This study provides methodological means for contextualising sustainability competences and enhancing stakeholder-informed competence development. The results may serve as a point of reference for aligning higher education curricula and human resource development with ESD for more sustainable higher education. Full article

Sustainable development is implemented not only at the global level, but primarily in local environments. Shaping the space of river valleys becomes particularly important in the face of climate change and growing water deficit. The article therefore addresses the issue of the social perception of water management in the context of climate change. The aim was to answer the questions: what is the social awareness of water management in the face of climate change, and what sustainable solutions are socially accepted? The research was carried out in the south-eastern part of Poland, in the Podkarpackie and Lublin voivodeships. The diagnostic survey method, an original survey form, and the CAWI technique were used. The study group analyzed the perception of global, negative megatrends, and challenges related to water retention in the context of climate change. The task was to identify respondents’ awareness of new sustainable management methods in river valleys. Due to the fact that the studied area is largely agricultural, differences in the perception of the studied items were sought, depending on the place of residence. It was assumed that inhabitants of rural areas have greater contact with nature, which may change their perception, and differences were looked for depending on the region of residence. Differences in the perceptions of the studied phenomena were also searched for, depending on the respondent’s sex. The calculations show that the place of residence (urban–rural) and the regions (Podkarpackie–Lublin voivodeships) do not differentiate the perceptions of most of the examined items. However, sex primarily affects the perception of global megatrends and the perception of climate change. The results indicate the respondents’ lack of awareness about natural forms of water retention. Respondents expected the implementation of outdated technical forms of flood protection. Expectations focused mainly on flood embankments and large dam reservoirs. There was strong belief among respondents regarding global megatrends and their impacts on social and economic life. A knowledge deficit was identified in relation to sustainable management methods in river valleys that favor water retention. Full article

Background: The pulp and paper industry (P&PI) is undergoing significant disruption driven by global megatrends that necessitate advanced tools for predicting future behavior and adapting strategies accordingly. Methods: This work utilizes a multi-criteria framework to quantify the effects of digitalization, changes in social behavior, and sustainability as three major megatrends transforming the P&PI industry, with a specific focus on hygiene tissue products. Thus, the research combines a comprehensive literature review, insights from a Delphi study, and topic modeling to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the present and future impacts of these global megatrends. Results: The findings suggest an urgent need to identify alternative raw materials to prevent potential supply chain disruptions. Moreover, due to shifts in social behavior, it becomes critical for businesses to substantiate their sustainability claims with hard data to avoid the risk of a “greenwashing” perception among consumers. Conclusions: This study provides decision support for strategic planning by highlighting actionable insights, quantitative predictions, and trend analysis, alongside the examination of consumer and market trends. It aims to incorporate diverse stakeholder perspectives and criteria into decision-making processes, thereby enriching the strategic planning and sustainability efforts within the P&PI industry. Full article

As major hubs for energy and resource consumption and carbon emissions, cities are at the forefront of the discussion on the impacts of megatrends, such as demographic changes, technological advancements, and the shift toward climate neutrality. Despite growing literature suggesting pathways for cities to cope with these challenges, the intersection between circular economy and urban agriculture for sustainable urban development has been little explored, especially concerning practical applications. To bridge this gap, this study aimed to explore the role of urban agriculture in promoting the circularity of resources at the city level. Aarhus, in Denmark, and Ås, in Norway, provide the empirical context for this discussion that uncovers the barriers that impact the successful implementation of C-E practices in the context of UA and delves into how these obstacles challenge cities in transitioning to circular and sustainable food production models. Using a case study approach and qualitative data sources, the findings suggest that while urban agriculture demonstrates potential in reducing resource consumption, it requires further evidence-based research and clear monitoring tools to assess its environmental impact and economic viability. Obstacles to urban agriculture implementation include regulatory challenges, social acceptance of waste, high investment costs, and limited recognition of its indirect impacts. Concerning recommendations, local governance and public policies were found to play a central role in fostering circular urban agriculture by promoting collaboration, fostering innovation, developing regulatory frameworks, and showcasing successful examples. Full article

Manufacturing companies face significant challenges due to rapid changes in globalized markets and open economies, which are experiencing mega-trends such as urbanization, globalization, and individualization. For sustainable growth, advanced technology is necessary. However, selecting technology is a difficult task due to the wide variety of options in the market. Technology has become a fundamental strategic factor for the growth and profitability of companies. The main objective of this paper is to propose a model and a methodological proposal for technology selection in the context of Industry 4.0 manufacturing. The proposed methodology is divided into three stages: The first stage is of knowledge and intervention, which allows for the socialization of the model and data collection. The second stage is the operational stage, where a hybrid method of FAHP and FANP is used to determine the weights of the factors considered. Lastly, the third stage is the analysis and evaluation stage, where the analysis, discussion, and evaluation of the results take place. To validate the proposed model, the methodology was applied to two case studies in Chilean industrial companies. The results obtained through the FAHP and FANP algorithms enabled decision makers to manage and select the most suitable technology from the wide variety of options available in today’s markets. Full article

Digitization is a megatrend that shapes the economy and society, driving major transformations. Enterprises, as the most important microeconomic entities, are critical carriers for society in conducting digital transformation and practicing sustainable development to achieve socioeconomic and environmental sustainability. Exploring the relationship and mechanisms between digital transformation and sustainable corporate development is crucial. This study investigates the influence of digital transformation on sustainable corporate development as well as its moderating mechanisms. A two-way fixed effects model is used on a research sample of Chinese A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2010 to 2020. Three methods are used for robustness testing to alleviate endogeneity issues. The empirical results show that digital transformation can significantly enhance sustainable corporate development, whereas empowered management and highly educated employees are essential complementary human resources that effectively strengthen the contribution of digitalization to sustainability. Additionally, internal controls are internal drivers that have a positive moderating effect on the digital transformation to improve corporate sustainability. This study reveals that digital transformation is an important tool for promoting corporate sustainability, broadening the literature in related fields, and providing insights for corporate management and government policymakers to advance corporate sustainability. Full article

A megatrend in the business environment poised at practically entrenching sustainability while ensuring global business competitiveness is viewed as a circular economy. At the firm level, circular economy practices distinguish firms for excellent product and service delivery, thus ensuring competitive advantage. The construction firm of the future will practice circular economy while adopting sustainable technology. This study is focused on assessing organisational growth transition among small and medium construction enterprises. A quantitative approach was adopted and structured questionnaires were administered among SME construction firms. The findings reveal the critical factors affecting organisational growth and transition in achieving a circular economy include availability of logistics infrastructure and firm’s market share, among others. Factor analysis indicated PCA extractions showing the component’s rotation indicating four structure components in the variables. The study named the four clusters required for achieving organisational growth transition as: firm positioning for competitive advantage, personnel management, service delivery and government policy and support. The study provides a foundation for other organisational growth transition studies stemming from circular economy adoption among construction industry SMEs. Full article

Rural areas in Europe have been undergoing structural change for years, resulting in strong functional differentiation and fragmentation into prosperous and structurally weak areas. Rural areas are as diverse as the challenges they face. Not only various megatrends but also social, economic, technological, ecological, and political trends influence and shape the development of rural areas. In order to understand the problems and causes of the current development of rural areas, this paper provides a differentiated trend analysis for rural areas at the European level. A content analysis of more than 70 EU-funded project reports on rural areas and rural development is carried out. The aim is to identify trends and their drivers over the last decade and to summarize opportunities and challenges for successful rural regeneration. These external and overarching trends, particularly in the context of a sustainable transition, renewable energies, the emergence of new technologies and growing awareness of environmental impacts, offer rural areas more opportunities than ever before. The interplay between external incentives (e.g., European Union policies) and endogenous regional development (e.g., local actors) is crucial for the successful exploitation of these opportunities for rural regeneration. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the employee lifecycle management (ELM) sphere, leading to the adoption of new human resource (HR) technologies and policies. This study investigates the impact of megatrends, artificial intelligence, digital technologies, and innovation on ELM and human resource management (HRM) policies in China, Russia, and Indonesia. Data were collected through structured interviews and publicly available information from companies in these countries between 2021 and 2022. The study evaluates the effects of artificial intelligence (AI), digital transformation (DT), and innovations on the sustainable development of ELM and identifies differences in technological responses to ELM in companies depending on their level of digital maturity. The results show that the majority of companies have continued the process of ELM digital transformation, but the percentage varies based on the scope of activity, labor, and readiness of the country to implement new technologies. The study reveals that large companies in each analyzed country with over 10,000 employees have a greater need and opportunity to implement HR digital transformation, whereas small companies with up to 100 people can operate without automation. In addition, the findings of this study provide propositions for designing how AI and innovations contribute to ELM. This article contributes to the current debate in the literature by substantiating the positive impact of AI, digital technology, and innovation on ELM and HRM strategies, offering practical applications for companies to improve productivity. Overall, this study highlights the importance of adopting innovative HR technologies in response to global challenges and workplace trends. Full article

This paper examines the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to address societal megatrends, with a specific focus on OpenAI’s Generative Pre-Trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3). To do this, we conducted an analysis using GPT-3 in order to explore the benefits of AI for digitalization, urbanization, globalization, climate change, automation and mobility, global health issues, and the aging population. We also looked at emerging markets as well as sustainability in this study. Interaction with GPT-3 was conducted solely through prompt questions, and generated responses were analyzed. Our results indicate that AI can significantly improve our understanding of these megatrends by providing insights into how they develop over time and which solutions could be implemented. Further research is needed to determine how effective AI will be in addressing them successfully, but initial findings are encouraging. Our discussion focuses on the implications of our findings for society going forward and suggests that further investigation should be conducted into how best to utilize new technologies such as GPT-3 when tackling these challenges. Lastly, we conclude that, while there is still much work left to do before any tangible effects can be seen from utilizing AI tools such as GPT-3 on societal megatrends, early indications suggest it may have a positive impact if used correctly. Full article

This paper describes the present and the future of the energy sector in relation to the dominant and constantly evolving form of the global economic system. These considerations have their starting point in transformations of the energy sector in prosumer capitalism, which has dramatically changed the picture of the global economy in recent years. Subsequently, a futuristic approach is applied to determine the role and importance of energy from renewable sources for further human development. The main objective of the paper is to explain the current situation of the energy sector in prosumer capitalism and to extrapolate these relationships for the future, considering the need to enter the path of sustainable development to eliminate the global warming processes and climate changes. A review of the existing scientific literature was applied as the research method. The historical wave concept, proposed by Toffler, was found to be highly useful because of its high potential in futurology, where it enables one to study megatrends. The Fourth Wave was linked to prosumer capitalism, and it provided the base for defining the next ones: the Fifth Wave of Computing (ecosocialism) and the Sixth Wave in the form of technological and energy communism (solar communism). It also turned out that the key to solving mankind’s energy problems lies in the global mean entropy budget. The literature review shows that founding the global energy system on solar radiation is the only known method for eliminating the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, which is the source of global warming and, consequently, of climate change. Therefore, the second law of thermodynamics provides a physical, economic, and logical justification for introducing a new and ultimate management form—solar communism—by 2050. Full article

This research systematically analyzes the effects that global megatrends, digitalizing economy, and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic are having on the transformation of professional career management and changing professional skills for achieving career purposes and tasks, providing a competent approach to the labor market. It also suggests a sustainable career management process for people to prepare career goals, objectives, and ambitions in the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Following this aim, the secondary analysis of the literature reviewed aided in offering important information to satisfy the original research targets and aims. Thus, the study maintained an exploratory and deductive research design to analyze the qualitative data gathered on the phenomenon of professional career management under the digital transformation in Asian countries. The analysis reveals that some megatrends have transformed how professional career development occurs. This paper is novel because it provides a critical assessment of the global megatrends and the impact of the digital economy related to professional career management transformation, with specific emphasis on Asian countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the paper redounds the extant literature, making a significant contribution to the current debate in the literature. Additionally, it is expected to contribute to the sustainable development of the labor market in Asian countries based on system research and converging the concepts of transformation processes in professional career management affected by megatrends with theoretical and methodological support. Full article

The Digital Transformation (DX) megatrend is fundamentally disrupting and changing the nature of work, business, and industry at a rapid pace. Although the notion of DX has garnered much research interest from practitioners, scholarship on this topic is somehow lagging behind, possibly because of the lack of theoretical frameworks on DX. Recently, most Japanese firms have begun to use diverse digital technologies to sustain their competitive advantages. However, the return of investment on digital technologies has not been as high as expected for some firms. Furthermore, as the visions of Industry 5.0 describe sustainable, resilient, and human-centered future factories that will require smart and resilient capabilities both from next-generation manufacturing systems and human operators, it is necessary to design resilient human–machine collaborations within factories. To this end, this paper presents a research model between DX technologies and scientific problem-solving in terms of deduction, induction, and abduction inference structures as an approach to resilient human–machine collaborations. The purpose of this research is to analyze the difference in the utilization pattern of the digital technology of American, German, and Japanese firms based on three types of decision-making methods. Next, we apply this framework in a comparative case study of two Japanese firms and one German firm, where we find that there is a difference in DX technologies utilization among the Japanese and German firms. We assert that the utilization of IoT technology in the United States and Germany is pursuing IoT with the aim of autonomous control, whereas Japanese firms prioritize robot–human collaboration. Finally, we discuss how our findings contribute to the burgeoning field of resilient human–machine collaborations by showing the distinct roles of deduction, induction, and abduction inference structures. Furthermore, our research contributes to international comparative studies to identify the difference in national IT utilization. Lessons and implications are discussed. Full article

The food system has direct impacts on our health both at individual and planetary levels; however, there is a need to make it more sustainable. Many communities in the Nordic-Arctic region are faced with challenges that arise from the need to protect natural resources due to increased activities that are fostered by tourism in the region. In this paper, we explore the interrelated factors that can sustainably support the food system in the region. A better understanding of these associated challenges in a complex food system from production to consumption is required. In order to ensure sustainability in the future, it will be necessary to explore the impacts of food tourism while responding to megatrends in the society. It is important that the natural resources in the communities of this region are better preserved for the next generation. Traditional knowledge and digital solutions can be harnessed to support food security and sovereignty that can empower local communities of the Nordic-Arctic region without compromising their heritage and sustainability. Full article