Smart products
Encyclopedia
Recent innovations in mobile and sensor technologies allow for creating a digital
representation of almost any physical entity and its parameters over time at any place. RFID
technologies, for instance, are used to ground digital representations, which are used to track
and geo-reference physical entities. In general, physical worlds and digital representations
become tightly interconnected, so that manipulations in either would have effect on the other.
Integration of information and communication technologies into products anywhere and anytime enable new forms of mobile marketing
in respect to situated marketing communication, dynamic pricing
models and dynamic product differentiation
models. As Fano and Gershman state: “Technology enables service providers to make the location of their customers the location of their business” .
Smart products are specializations of hybrid products
with physical realizations of product categories and digital product descriptions
that provide the following characteristics:
The vision of smart products poses questions relevant to various research areas, including Marketing
, Product Engineering
, Computer Science
, Artificial Intelligence
, Economics
, Communication Science, Media economics
, Cognitive Science
, Consumer Psychology, Innovation Management
and many more.
Since smart products combine a physical product with additional services, they are a form of product service system
.
Gershenfeld, N., Krikorian, R., Cohen, D. (2004): The Internet of Things. Scientific American 291(4), 2004, pp. 76 – 81.
Maass, W. & Filler, A. (2007): Tip 'n Tell: Product-Centered Mobile Reasoning Support for Tangible Shopping , Proc. of MSWFB 2007: Making Semantics Work For Business, part of 1st European Semantic Technology Conference, Vienna, Austria, 2007.
Schmitt, C.; Fischbach, K.; Schoder, D. (2006): Towards Ambient Business - Value-added Services through an Open Object Information Infrastructure, in: Proceedings of the CollECTeR Europe 2006, pp 141 -148.
representation of almost any physical entity and its parameters over time at any place. RFID
technologies, for instance, are used to ground digital representations, which are used to track
and geo-reference physical entities. In general, physical worlds and digital representations
become tightly interconnected, so that manipulations in either would have effect on the other.
Integration of information and communication technologies into products anywhere and anytime enable new forms of mobile marketing
Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing can refer to one of two categories of interest. First, and relatively new, is meant to describe marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a cell phone using SMS Marketing....
in respect to situated marketing communication, dynamic pricing
Pricing
Pricing is the process of determining what a company will receive in exchange for its products. Pricing factors are manufacturing cost, market place, competition, market condition, and quality of product. Pricing is also a key variable in microeconomic price allocation theory. Pricing is a...
models and dynamic product differentiation
Product differentiation
In economics and marketing, product differentiation is the process of distinguishing a product or offering from others, to make it more attractive to a particular target market. This involves differentiating it from competitors' products as well as a firm's own product offerings...
models. As Fano and Gershman state: “Technology enables service providers to make the location of their customers the location of their business” .
Smart products are specializations of hybrid products
with physical realizations of product categories and digital product descriptions
that provide the following characteristics:
- SituatedSituatedIn artificial intelligence and cognitive science, the term situated refers to an agent which is embedded in an environment. The term situated is commonly used to refer to robots, but some researchers argue that software agents can also be situated if:...
: recognition and processing of situational and community contexts - Personalized: tailoring to buyer’s and consumer’s needs and affects
- Adaptive: change according to buyer’s and consumer’s responses and tasks
- Pro-active: attempt to anticipate buyer’s and consumer’s plans and intentionIntentionIntention is an agent's specific purpose in performing an action or series of actions, the end or goal that is aimed at. Outcomes that are unanticipated or unforeseen are known as unintended consequences....
s - Business aware: considering business and legal constraints
- Location aware: considering functional performing and restricted location choice
- Network capable: ability to communicate and bundle (product bundlingProduct bundlingProduct bundling is a marketing strategy that involves offering several products for sale as one combined product. This strategy is very common in the software business , in the cable television industry Product bundling is a marketing strategy that involves offering several products for sale as...
) with another product (business)Product (business)In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
or product sets
The vision of smart products poses questions relevant to various research areas, including Marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
, Product Engineering
Product engineering
Product engineering refers to the process of designing and developing a device, assembly, or system such that it be produced as an item for sale through some production manufacturing process. Product engineering usually entails activity dealing with issues of cost, producibility, quality,...
, Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
, Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, Communication Science, Media economics
Media economics
Media economics embodies economic theoretical and practical economic questions specific to media of all types. Of particular concern to media economics are the economic polices and practices of media companies and disciples including journalism and the news industry, film production, entertainment...
, Cognitive Science
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
, Consumer Psychology, Innovation Management
Innovation management
Innovation management is the discipline of managing processes in innovation. It can be used to develop both product and organizational innovation. Without proper processes, it is not possible for R&D to be efficient; innovation management includes a set of tools that allow managers and engineers to...
and many more.
Since smart products combine a physical product with additional services, they are a form of product service system
Product service system
A product-service system , also known as a function-oriented business model, is a business model, developed in academia, that is aimed at providing sustainability of both consumption and production.- What is PSS? :...
.
Research groups
- Research Center Intelligent Media, Furtwangen University http://im.dm.hs-furtwangen.de/?en
- Center for Ambient Business, University of Cologne, http://wim.uni-koeln.de/CAB.cab.0.html
- Telecooperation Group, Technical University Darmstadt, http://www.tk.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/index.php?id=363
Projects
- Interactive Knowledge Stack, IKS (EU-Project FP7) http://www.iks-project.eu/
- Smart Products(EU-Project FP7) http://www.smartproducts-project.eu/
Publications
Fano, A., Gershman, A. (2002): The Future of Business Services in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing. Communication of the ACM, 45 (12), 2002, pp. 83 – 87.Gershenfeld, N., Krikorian, R., Cohen, D. (2004): The Internet of Things. Scientific American 291(4), 2004, pp. 76 – 81.
Maass, W. & Filler, A. (2007): Tip 'n Tell: Product-Centered Mobile Reasoning Support for Tangible Shopping , Proc. of MSWFB 2007: Making Semantics Work For Business, part of 1st European Semantic Technology Conference, Vienna, Austria, 2007.
Schmitt, C.; Fischbach, K.; Schoder, D. (2006): Towards Ambient Business - Value-added Services through an Open Object Information Infrastructure, in: Proceedings of the CollECTeR Europe 2006, pp 141 -148.