Postal Sector Overview and Dynamics

This paper analyzes the change in the postal sector over the past 20 years and in particular the strategic drivers that are transforming the postal services industries such as institutional, market and technological developments. Taking the argument from here this paper defines the four major response strategies of postal operators all across the world to analyse how different firms and countries are reacting to the challenges of increased competition and changing consumer behaviour, also in preparation to impending liberalisation of postal markets. Finally the paper looks at the emerging and dominating influence of information technology on the postal services industry. The analysis indicates that while the past changes have been driven mainly by deregulation policies, future changes, are likely to be driven by the information and communication technologies (ICT). Moreover the paper explores the dual role of ICT both as a change driver and as an opportunity for historical postal operators to successfully transform into modern adaptive enterprises, thereby turning the threat of ICTs into an opportunity to become high-technology services firms.

Digital Governance Drivers and Challenges for Resilience in AI-Driven Innovation of Public Sector

Gianluca Carlo Misuraca, Gianluigi Viscusi

Digitalization is not anymore an emergent phenomenon but the actual shape of everyday life interactions and transactions (Degryse 2016; Tilson et al. 2010; Yoo 2013). Compared to the private sector, where businesses have deployed initiatives to change their infrastructure, governance, and business models to create and exploit value from their digital assets, the public sector is still tied up to a consideration of technology as something separated to public sector reform and policy making. Accordingly, it is still preeminent in the public sector the focus on what can be considered the e-government rhetoric legacy, namely the provision of information and communication technology (ICT) enabled services mainly involving the public administration alone and the translation of administrative procedures in digital format. This view is still present in most countries having officially claimed the adoption of an open government stance towards their initiatives: the result is, in the best case, an efficient public administration, yet still neither inclusive nor fully open, in terms of transparency and accountability (Misuraca and Viscusi 2014). Moreover, the rhetoric is now encompassing the debate on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for innovating public sector services and decision-making (Androutsopoulou et al. 2019; van Noordt and Misuraca 2019; Sun and Medaglia 2019) with a new emphasis on the need for a governance of AI and not by AI (Sun and Medaglia 2019, p. 378) that resonates the former claims about governance of ICTs vs. governance by ICTs (Misuraca and Viscusi 2015). Thus, although some kind of public value can be gained (Benington 2011; Benington and Moore 2011), the switch to social value from co-production (Alford 2011; Cordella et al. 2018) by involving citizens and external actors is still an ongoing challenge for public administrations willing to have a role in social innovation through the appropriate exploitation of the unprecedented amount of data available from information production, inside and outside public sector information systems (Viscusi & Batini, 2016). This is particularly relevant when thinking about the use of crowdsourcing for deliberation, regulatory reviews, and policy initiatives (Aitamurto and Landemore 2016; Brabham 2009; Lodge and Wegrich 2015), the development of open innovation in the public sector (Viscusi et al. 2015) as well as the emergent challenges of using, e.g., machine learning for deciding on welfare issues (Reisman et al. 2018; West et al. 2019). Taking these issues into account, this article aims to contribute to the theoretical debate on the relationships between digital governance and social innovation, and their impact on policy making for creating and capturing value from effective solutions addressing societal challenges. In particular, we question the drivers and challenges specifically considering growing number of national strategies for innovation driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and the consequent wave of investments. To this end a conceptual model is presented aiming, on the one hand, to connect key dimensions and value drivers of digital governance for Pre-ICIS Workshop on E-Government, Munich, Germany 2019 1 Digital Governance in AI-Driven Innovation of Public Sector social innovation and complex systems methods for policy making; on the other hand, to position AI national initiatives with regard to welfare state initiatives. The model is expected to be applied to the analysis of case studied of AI-driven innovation initiatives in Europe to assess their impact on social innovation. To this end, first a conceptual model is presented aiming, on the one hand, to connect key dimensions and value drivers of digital governance for social innovation (Misuraca, Pasi, et al. 2018; Misuraca and Viscusi 2015) and complex systems methods for policy making formerly introduced by one of the authors in a framework called i-Frame (Misuraca, Geppert, et al. 2018); on the other hand, to position AI national initiatives with regard to welfare state initiatives for an appropriate analysis of their premises and effects. The paper concludes outlining future research directions and policy implications.

2019

Environmental impacts and benefits of information and communication technology infrastructure and services, using process and input-output life cycle assessment

Yves Jon Césare Loerincik

Sustainable development and the Information Society are two concepts that are not commonly associated. However, both could have a major impact on the other. Information and communication technologies (ICT) may have important negative impacts on the environment. At the same time, ICT can also bring improvements. To provide guidance on how ICT devices and applications can be oriented towards positive effects, new methodology and tools are needed to understand and assess these various effects. In that respect, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a pertinent approach, potentially enabling a holistic and in-depth analysis. This thesis proposes to develop appropriate Life Cycle tools and methodology and to apply them to measure the sustainability of ICT devices and of their applications. Specific objectives are: to explore the possibilities of combining Process LCA (PLCA) and Input-Output LCA (IOLCA), and to develop an operational method for ICT applications; to apply the developed method to assess the direct impacts of a computer network, including software and maintenance and developing strategies, to account for the high renewal rate in ICT technologies; to extend the method to consider not only negative impacts, but also benefits of ICT; to develop a method to address effects on lifestyles and rebound effects, and apply it to assess the impacts and benefits of innovative ICT services; Chapter 1 is a short introduction describing the environmental impacts of ICT and how this work addresses them. Chapter 2 presents the main methodological developments: It looks in detail at how PLCA and IOLCA can be compared and used in a complementary way. A method is developed to compare the two approaches in detail and to evaluate the cut-offs processes – the processes that are not traditionally considered in a PLCA – of two specific ecoinvent processes. The conclusions are that a full integration of PLCA and IOLCA remains difficult with our present level of knowledge. IOLCA could be use to complement PLCA when no other evaluation is available, but IOLCA should also be used as a quality check for PLCA and to determine priorities. Chapter 3 assesses comprehensively the environmental impacts of the computer network of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. The LCA shows that the computers have the highest environmental impact, but also that short-term technology changes can reduce significantly their impact. The use phase dominates the impacts, but the production phase is also significant. Finally, using the Input-Output (IO) approach leads us to the conclusion that the service-linked contribution included in the total cost of ownership - that is, all of the costs associated with the computer network - has a significant impact on the environment. Chapter 4 evaluates the impacts and benefits of the ICT application to help the management of urban networks. The CREM, in Switzerland, uses a telemonitoring system to assess the water, electricity, district heating, and natural gas networks to increase the efficiency of their management. We want to know how the environmental and economical costs of the infrastructure and its maintenance compare with the savings. An LCA has been performed using a tiered hybrid approach. It shows that the savings overcome largely the cost and environmental impacts of the infrastructure. Chapter 5 analyses an innovative service developed by France Telecom. The visiophonic station enables the substitution of physical interviews by virtual interviews. A PLCA of the service shows that the saved km due to the shift from physical to virtual interviews dominates the effects on the environment and that the potential savings are therefore important. However, depending on what is consumed when using the time and financial resources made available by the service, the related impacts counterbalance the savings. Rebound effects must therefore be considered, studied, and addressed in the development as well as the implementation of new ICT services. Chapter 6 concludes with recommendations towards environmental beneficial uses of ICT and identifies what is needed for the necessary further LCA developments.

EPFL2006

The link between innovation and finance

Cristiano Zazzara

This thesis comprises three essays on the relationship between innovation and finance. Although previous research has acknowledged the multi-faceted nature of innovation, this thesis unpacks its constituent elements, compares alternative drivers of innovation — focusing on the role of financial variables —, and explores when each of these drivers is important relative to the others. Evidence is based on survey data on Italian manufacturing firms over the years 1995-2003. The main contribution of this dissertation is to show how innovation at the firm level varies across different dimensions, documenting several robust empirical regularities, which must be accounted for. The first essay explores the determinants of various characteristics on the propensity to innovate in the Italian manufacturing sector. First, we concentrate on firms characteristics, and include in the study age of firm, size of firm, export shares of revenues and group membership. Second, we examine industry characteristics, such as type of industry in terms of technology level and market concentration. We also test the impact of characteristics of the firm's geographical area, including an indicator of financial development for the firm region. We finally extend our model including financial variables at the firm level in order to evaluate the association between profitability & risk and innovation. The second essay further examines the determinants of innovation, focusing on why firms develop product innovations rather than process innovation, or product and process innovations simultaneously. Empirical studies have highlighted the different impact of product and process innovation on various factors (such as, for example, international competitiveness, the level of employment and the types of skills used, and on the profit rate of firms). However, little is known from either a theoretical or an empirical point of view about the determinants of these different types of innovation. The third essay examines the question of whether access to credit is empirically more difficult for innovative firms than for those undertaking traditional investment projects. The idea that market financing of innovative projects is likely to encounter severe obstacles is not new. Indeed, it dates back at least to Schumpeter's defence of monopoly power since it not only guarantees that innovative firms can internalise the benefits of their innovations, but also provides funding for future innovative projects. Testing this proposition requires information on the innovative content of a given firm and on the limits to borrowing it encounters. Using the above mentioned survey data, we are able to identify credit constrained firms and use this information to make inferences on bank's lending strategies towards firms whose investment projects differ according to expected return and riskiness.

EPFL2008