Internet of Things and Data Analytics Handbook

2DIGITAL SERVICES AND SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS

RIKKE GRAM‐HANSEN

Copenhagen Solutions Lab, City of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

2.1 INTRODUCTION

The majority of the world’s population is connected to the Internet via a variety of devices, but the Internet of Things (IoT) is not yet a term that most people are familiar with. The IoT does not only connect billions of things but also connect people, services, infrastructure, manufacturing, and many other areas of our physical world and society. To most people, technology and data are not interesting in themselves, but what does interest people is how data and technology can be used. When technology is the answer, what is then the question? Digital services are central in this respect, as they are essentially an answer to what people want: better services that will help them achieve a higher quality of life.

The focus of this chapter is on exactly that: the services that the technological development in IoT and cyber–physical systems makes possible. In the last decades, we have witnessed a fundamental transformation of services to consumers, businesses, and citizens in general. Services from both public sector and commercial players are to a greater extent delivered digitally via the Internet; hence the term “digital services” is now widely used. Digital services are automated, which makes the replication and customization fast and easy, and in a connected society the distribution is nearly free. This goes from banking services, ...