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Internet of Things (IoT) holds significant potential for municipal efficiency and effectiveness. It enables subsystems to seamlessly communicate and permits their integration into a connected whole, affording new opportunities for value creation. In this paper, we present a study of municipal litter-bins that have been retrofitted with sensors to convey data on trash volume in each receptacle. Based on interviews, strategy documents, and notes from project meetings, we analyse their implementation from a data quality perspective and reflect on social- and technical issues. The case illustrates the propensity and consequences of overestimating benefits and oversimplifying technical interventions. This paper contributes to our practical understanding of socio-technical implications of technology use in the public sector in general and the deployment of IoT for smart cities in particular.

The 2030 Agenda has pushed practitioners as well as academia to renew their efforts on promotingsustainability, e.g. in how digital technologies can support cities to improve their environmentalperformance. However, as scholars focus their attention on the positive outcomes of implementation,they often neglect the environmental impact of the artefact itself. We present a study of a Green ISimplementation – a municipal Internet of Things (IoT) solution which was expected to decrease thecarbon emissions produced by urban waste collection in Sweden. Using a mixed methods approach,we present qualitative findings from interviews & project meetings as well as quantitative findingsfrom a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). We find that (1) the environmental impact of the connectedlitter-bins – however small – is not necessarily offset by any significant benefits, and (2) the mostsignificant way for the stakeholders to reduce environmental impact is to utilize more ecologicallyfriendly trash bags.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to transform the way we live, work, and learn. Using IoT could thus be a game-changer for municipalities towards sustainability. The Swedish municipality of Södertälje strives to develop IoT concepts and use open data for a sustainable and inclusive society. The goal of this study was to explore how IoT can enable route optimization and placement planning for increased operational efficiency. The goal was also to enhance the knowledge of the environmental and social benefits of IoT systems in the waste collection system in Södertälje. The analysis is based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and interviews. The results show a minor climate change impact for the IoT solutions in the overall smart waste collection system. The major climate impact contributor was instead associated with the trash bags used. Additionally, the study showed that the performance of the system relies on smart planning of the operations and the transportations.

The current digital transformation of society prompts the reshaping of both the private and public sectors and involves technology, organizations, and people. In this paper we explore within which application areas municipalities use IoT and how the implementation of IoT in this context triggers change and enables smarter cities. Based on an interview study of 337 municipalities in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway and Sweden, our study portrays that the public sector is in its early stages of exploring IoT and reveals several application areas within the smart city sphere where new value has been created. Application of IoT was shown to trigger municipal digital transformation by increasing contextual awareness, enabling data-driven value creation, the reimagining of organizational structures, and innovation oriented financing. Such direct and indirect activities and practices were altogether shown to enable smarter cities. For the public sector to reap the benefits of potential digital transformation, it is however imperative to challenge current, and common, work practices. Otherwise, they risk getting caught up in incremental changes. Digital transformation involves radical changes, which in turn require technology to be fully integrated in processes and services and aligned with cultural expectations. Such changes require substantial support and commitment from stakeholders and a pronounced understanding of the value new and emerging technologies create.

Digital transformation is one of the key challenges facing contemporary businesses. The need to leverage digital technology to develop and implement new business models forces firms to reevaluate existing capabilities, structures, and culture in order to identify what technologies are relevant and how they will be enacted in organizational processes and business offerings. More often than not, these profound changes require firms to revisit old truths as they develop strategies that thread the needle between beneficial innovation and harmful disruption. This article uses the Internet of Things (IoT) as a backdrop to demonstrate the concerns associated with transformative technologies and offers five recommendations as to how firms can develop the strategies needed for digital transformation and become digitally conscious: (1) Start small and build on firsthand benefits; (2) team up and create competitive advantage from brand recognition; (3) engage in standardization efforts; (4) take responsibility for data ownership and ethics; and (5) own the change and ensure organization-wide commitment. As such, this article shows that digital transformation should be a top management priority and a defining trait of corporate business strategy, and that by becoming digitally conscious, firms may get a head start on their transformation journey.

Relief efforts for natural and societal crisesrequire a multitude of agencies to effectively and efficiently share information and coordinate their efforts. In 2009, The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency launched a Web-based Information System (WIS) for Information sharing in crisis management. The system has undergone two major revisions and isapplied nation-wide with the intent of aiding inter-agency coordination. The study draws upon Orlikowski and Gash's notion of technological frames to contrast the perspectives of technology users and technology promoters. The study revealed that both stakeholder groups agree onthe potential benefits of the system, but differ in their view on the system itself as well as its application in practice. Furthermore, the study highlights the limitations of dedicated ICT for crisis management as users perceive WIS to be useful in coordinating slow-moving events that involve many different societal actors, yet unwieldy to deploy in a sudden crisis.

The Internet of Things (IoT) brings with it promises of smart cities with improved efficiency, increased transparency, and enhanced public services. However, few studies have empirically and systematically investigated the reasoning behind the decision to adopt IoT within municipal organizations. In this paper we study the adoption and diffusion of IoT in Swedish municipalities. We outline areas of application and perceived value creation and conclude that the main reasons for adoption and diffusion can be traced back to 1) the simplicity of the IoT solution, and 2) clear incentives. Among the municipalities that have not embraced IoT, commonly cited barriers are economic factors and that other, more politically charged, issues take priority. This paper extends our understanding of public sector perception of IoT, as well as provides a comprehensive outlook on drivers for IoT-adoption.

Smart connected industrial products and the Internet of Things (IoT) are transforming the industrial business landscape in a radical way. To reach the full potential of IoT-technologies manufacturing firms are forced to rethink almost every aspect of their value creation process. To utilize this promising digital technology and to cope with the new market conditions of IoT environments, research shows that industrial firms have to make a fundamental shift in value creation logic and break free from the value chain perspective of business. Instead they have to embrace a view where value is co-created within ecosystems in both a vertical and a horizontal manner. By exploring the value creation logic of small and medium sized (SME) Swedish industrial machinery manufacturers, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of how manufacturing firms view their value creation processes and how aligned this logic is to the latest research in IoT. The study found that Swedish industrial machine manufacturers do understand the transformative force of IoT-technologies and see great business opportunities to utilize IoT in their business. The study, however, identified a lack of co-creation and difficulties in embracing an ecosystem perspective. While quick to embrace change on a technical level, respondents still adhere to a firm-centric and linear perspective of value creation, with a strong attachment to the value chain concept. The study suggests that it is not a lack of technical proficiency or engineering know-how, but rather an adherence to goods-dominant logic and attachment to the value chain concept that prevent Swedish SME manufacturers from fully embracing the growing market of industrial IoT. Hence, we see an urgent need for both practitioners and academia to shift their attention from the dazzling potential of cutting-edge technologies to the nitty-gritty business of incorporating co-creation and ecosystem-thinking into current business practices.

IoTguiden kommer ur ett Vinnovaprojekt som har skapat kunskap kring övergången från produkt till tjänst med Sakernas Internet (eng. Internet of Things, IoT) genom att 1) studera befintliga framgångsrika IoT- satsningar hos ett antal svenska företag inom olika branscher och 2) göra en bredare omvärldsanalys och benchmarking. Därigenom har projektet synliggjort möjligheter med IoT och vilka strategier, värdeskapande och roller som återfinns hos företag inom IoT- ekosystemet.

Genom att studera IoT-satsningar vid ett 20-tal svenska företag inom olika branscher har projektet genererat resultat som är generellt applicerbara på alla företag som står inför en transformation baserat på de specifika möjligheter IoT skapar. Resultaten har sammanställts i en skrift, IoTguiden, som innehåller konkreta råd och praktiker. IoTguiden distribueras fritt, både digitalt och som trycksak. Projektet har letts av Umeå universitet med stor vana av liknande utredningsarbete och genom de andra projektaktörerna, Fältcom och Telia Company har god tillgång till fallföretag tryggats. Det här har gjorts för att visa på mångfald och potential för processförbättring, effektivisering och nytt värdeskapande, men också för att lyfta fram vad som är gemensamma nämnare för samtliga som satsar på IoT, oavsett branschtillhörighet.