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Public services often extend beyond the public sector, requiring collaboration and interaction between public and private actors. Initiating digital service innovations in collaboration is challenging, especially in large-scale public service ecosystems. While individual service providers may have clashing interests, balancing incremental improvements and radical changes (i.e., pursuing ambidextrous development) requires collective efforts. We report a case of a digital service ecosystem related to the bureaucracy of a person’s death in Finland. We focused on the pursuit of collective ambidexterity, which requires collaborative development among various actors. The suggested contributions are summarized as four propositions to facilitate collective ambidexterity in service ecosystems: 1) adoption of multiple collaboration modes pursuing both efficiency gains and innovation outcomes, 2) parallel foci of top-down and bottom-up ambidextrous balancing, 3) governance of collaboration and (dis)benefits management both intra- and inter-organizationally, and 4) focus on citizen life-events to facilitate development across organizational silos and innovation beyond suboptimization.

Context: Agile software companies applying the DevOps approach require collaboration and information sharing between practitioners in various roles to produce value. Adopting new development practices affects how practitioners collaborate, requiring companies to form a closer connection between business strategy and software development. However, the types of information management, sales, and development needed to plan, evaluate features, and reconcile their expectations with each other need to be clarified. Objective: To support practitioners in collaborating and realizing changes to their practices, we investigated what information is needed and how it should be represented to support different stakeholders in their tasks. Compared to earlier research, we adopted a holistic approach – by including practitioners throughout the development process – to better understand the information needs from a broader viewpoint. Method: We conducted six workshops and 12 semi-structured interviews at three Finnish small and medium-sized enterprises from different software domains. Thematic analysis was used to identify information-related issues and information and visualization needs for daily tasks. Three themes were constructed as the result of our analysis. Results: Visual information representation catalyzes stakeholder discussion, and supporting information exchange between stakeholder groups is vital for efficient collaboration in software product development. Additionally, user-centric data collection practices are needed to understand how software products are used and to support practitioners’ daily information needs. We also found that a passive way of representing information, such as a dashboard that would disturb practitioners only when attention is needed, was preferred for daily information needs. Conclusion: The software engineering community should consider reviewing the information needs of practitioners from a more holistic view to better understand

Software product roadmaps are practical tools that provide direction for product development. Software product roadmapping combines the reasoning why something is done with what should be done, often in the form of items to be delivered when constructing a software product. Successful roadmapping activities require collaboration from multiple stakeholder groups, such as business, development and management. However, aligning company goals, business strategy and development efforts is far from trivial. To this end, we conducted an action research study investigating how information exchange should be supported in software product roadmapping. As our results, we contribute the open-sourced Roadmapper tool and provide insights on how information exchange should be supported in software product roadmapping. Roadmapper supports information exchange in software product roadmapping by allowing different parties to clarify their views and making them understandable to other stakeholders, facilitating the discussion when they meet. Thus, Roadmapper visualises a common situational picture of software product development and acts as a group memory — helping to remember what the other stakeholders think about the matter.

Digital twin (DT) emerges as a key concept of the Industry 4.0 paradigm and beyond. However, the current literature lacks focus on humans and human activities as a part of complex system DTs. Acknowledging human aspects in DTs can enhance work performance, well-being, motivation, and personal development of professionals. This study examines emerging requirements for human digital twins (HDTs) in three use cases of industry–academia collaboration on complex systems. The results draw together the overall design problem and four design objectives for HDTs. We propose to combine the machine and human-related aspects of DTs and highlight the need for virtual-to-virtual interoperability between HDTs and machines alike. Furthermore, we outline differences between humans and machines regarding digital twinning by addressing human activities and knowledge-based behavior on systems. Design of HDTs requires understanding of individual professional characteristics, such as skills and information preferences, together with twinning between the physical and digital machine entities and interactions between the human and machine DTs. As the field moves toward including humans as a part of the DT concept, incorporating HDTs in complex systems emerges as an increasingly significant issue.

In the global rankings of digitalization and Industry 4.0 maturity, Finland constantly places among the frontrunners. This study examines the path Finland has taken to reach the forefront, the drivers, and the current challenges and future opportunities related to Industry 4.0 and digitalization. This analysis is based on extensive experience in Industry 4.0-related ecosystem projects, policy documentation, and previous research. As Finland focuses on the export of high-value-added products and services, the early adoption of new technologies is vital and thus a key driver. Moreover, the national culture of innovation, R&D, and triple helix collaboration have driven Industry 4.0 implementation alongside a highly skilled workforce. However, multiple barriers hindering full Industry 4.0 utilization still exist, including SMEs’ hesitation to digitalize due to insufficient support mechanisms, an aging population, and the difficulty in finding single-source solutions. Respective future opportunities were found in areas such as smart sustainable manufacturing and ecosystems, enhanced SME involvement, lifelong learning, and the platform economy. Currently, Finland is moving from digitalization towards a twin transition and sustainable ecosystem-to-ecosystem collaboration. Practical early-stage examples of implementing this policy include the AI 4.0 and the Sustainable Industry X supercluster initiatives.

The recently introduced 5G New Radio is the first wireless standard natively designed to support critical and massive machine type communications (MTC). However, it is already becoming evident that some of the more demanding requirements for MTC cannot be fully supported by 5G networks. Alongside, emerging use cases and applications towards 2030 will give rise to new and more stringent requirements on wireless connectivity in general and MTC in particular. Next generation wireless networks, namely 6G, should therefore be an agile and efficient convergent network designed to meet the diverse and challenging requirements anticipated by 2030. This paper explores the main drivers and requirements of MTC towards 6G, and discusses a wide variety of enabling technologies. More specifically, we first explore the emerging key performance indicators for MTC in 6G. Thereafter, we present a vision for an MTC-optimized holistic end-to-end network architecture. Finally, key enablers towards (1) ultra-low power MTC, (2) massively scalable global connectivity, (3) critical and dependable MTC, and (4) security and privacy preserving schemes for MTC are detailed. Our main objective is to present a set of research directions considering different aspects for an MTC-optimized 6G network in the 2030-era.

In software engineering and other technology related teaching educators increasingly integrate defacto online tools into coursework. However, the impact of using these tools is not clearly understood. To this end, this research project will provide a visual dashboard with extensive and stakeholderspecific visualizations to serve the diverse needs of different stakeholders, e.g., teachers, teaching assistants, administrative personnel and students. This paper reports the results of our initial analysis of what kind of views teachers want to take to their courses and what kind of information teachers see as valuable visualizations on learners’ progress. We conducted 17 semi-structured interviews in two universities. The interviews were thematically analysed, giving as results three key themes. The results give a good starting point to create a visual course dashboard. Our study takes a step towards supporting various stakeholders in learning environments through visual means. While the input data, metrics and visualizations are based on the tools used in software engineering courses, we see that several results can be applied to other contexts.

Digital transformation introduces new opportunities for public services, such as wastewater management. The opportunities include better interoperability and data availability, leading to such benefits as predictive maintenance and efficient allocation of resources. To reach the envisioned benefits, inter-organisational collaboration is essential. However, municipal water utilities have varying objectives, expectations, and challenges related to collaboration. This paper reports a field study on the digitalisation opportunities of municipal water services in Finland. We report the observed collaboration forms, rationale, expected benefits, and recognised challenges (i.e., the modes of inter-organizational collaboration) for deploying digitalised operations. This study provides insight into inter-organisational collaboration on the digital transformation of municipal water management. On a theoretical level, the study supports and complements the previously theorised collaboration modes of autonomous development, standardisation, and central service organization. The results also describe why and how limited company mode emerges in the sector, corresponding to the previously described consortium mode.

In recent years, the role of micro-enterprises as drivers of the economy and society has started to gain recognition. However, many of them fade or remain small without taking their growth to the next levels. Digital platforms are increasingly shaping business models in nascent micro-enterprises. The motivation originated from the issue that business growth requires scalable digital platforms in a rapidly digitalising global economy. Moreover, open-source software has opened new opportunities for small firms to develop platforms with little cost, resources or technical skills. This study utilised a design science research method to build a combined e-commerce and ERP platform as a design artefact in a Finnish software company. The study related research environment, theoretical background, construction of the platform and the performance, usability and utility evaluations were indicated. The research findings were building guidelines to use them to build the platform in micro-enterprises to support business growth. The conclusions suggested that a scalable platform can be achieved with open source by using the guidelines. However, initiating growth capabilities, such as previously defined business processes and strategies, were essential before starting the platform’s technical development., Tiivistelmä Viime vuosina mikroyritysten rooli talouden ja yhteiskunnan vetureina on alkanut saada tunnustusta. Monet niistä kuitenkin hiipuvat tai pysyvät pieninä kasvamatta seuraaville tasoille. Työn tarkoitus syntyi siitä, että liiketoiminnan kasvu edellyttää skaalautuvia digitaalisia alustoja nopeasti kehittyvässä globaalissa taloudessa. Tämän lisäksi avoimen lähdekoodin ohjelmistot ovat avanneet pienille yrityksille uusia mahdollisuuksia kehittää digitaalisia työkaluja pienillä kustannuksilla, resursseilla ja teknisillä taidoilla. Tässä tutkimuksessa hyödynnettiin suunnittelututkimusta (design science research) yhdistetyn verkkokaupan ja toiminnanohjausjärjestelmän (ERP) rakentamiseksi suomalaisessa ohjelmistoyrityksessä. Tutkimukseen liittyvä tutkimusympäristö, teoreettinen tausta, alustan rakentaminen sekä suorituskyvyn, käytettävyyden ja hyödyllisyyden arviointi esitettiin. Tutkimuksen tuloksena raportoitiin ohjeistus mikroyritysten digialustan rakentamiseksi tukemaan liiketoiminnan kasvua. Johtopäätökset viittasivat siihen, että skaalautuva alusta voidaan saavuttaa avoimen lähdekoodin avulla esitettyjä ohjeita hyödyntäen. Kasvumahdollisuuksien ja aiemmin määriteltyjen liiketoimintaprosessien sekä strategioiden yhtenäistäminen oli kuitenkin tärkeää ennen alustan teknisen kehityksen aloittamista.

Procedural content generation (PCG)-based game design aims to reach a new way of playing games by focusing gameplay around algorithmic game content generation. However, positioning interaction with PCG systems and generated content to the center of player experience poses design challenges for both game design and AI design. In order to create the wanted affordances, rich contextual information is required to make informed decisions on the generated content. While previous research has presented excellent developments on PCG’s possibilities, further considering context and affordances in the early stages of prototyping may aid designers reach these possibilities in a more consistent manner. This study is set to discuss how context, affordances and the game’s overall design can be considered during the prototyping process of PCG-based games. Misaligned game context and affordances can result in deeply rooted design issues that may later manifest as subpar gameplay experiences and increased development effort. These emergent issues are examined through a post-mortem case study to produce an extended PCG-based design process, featuring actionable steps, that takes context, affordances, and the game’s overall design into account through meaningful play.

Combining gym exercising and mobile gaming is bringing together two global trends. In this research, it has been studied how a gym-themed mobile game can be connected to a real gym setting by bringing personal exercising data from wearable sensors and gym equipment to the game. It is also studied how the gym goers see the gaming when combined to their exercising routines.

As services are increasingly becoming the main focus in the traditional information communication technology industry, companies are seeking leverage from new types of collaborations, such as business ecosystems that cross industry boundaries. The health and wellness business is one service domain in which advances in technology have created the need for services that integrate technology in novel ways. To advance new service businesses, national research programmes offer funding for organisations to collaborate for developing innovative services. Forming new networks and collaboration between organisations is essential in the new business environment. Emerging business ecosystems formed in the research programme context are expanding the concept of business ecosystems. When organisations work together for the first time, challenges arise from bringing together different expectations and working styles. Additional challenges arise through issues regarding suitable integrations or in the creation of completely new services. The need to understand the practical phenomenon of emerging business ecosystems and the service innovation in these ecosystems formed the starting point of this research. The research was conducted in two separate Finnish research programmes in which the researcher actively participated. This led to the adoption of an action research strategy, comprising several activities focusing on the actor dynamics and roles as well as resolving issues arising from the ecosystem formation. In addition, the service innovation-focused research activities were based on the capabilities and domain expertise of the ecosystem companies. This research produced an understanding of the formation of wellness business ecosystems, identified the main phases of the formation and some challenges. This research found out that successful emerging business ecosystems require strong leadership early in the formation to maintain the stability and vision of the ecosyste, Tiivistelmä Eri ICT-alojen yritykset ovat tänä päivänä siirtyneet yhä enemmän määrittelemään toimintansa teknologian sijaan palveluratkaisujen tuottamisen sekä uudenlaisten yhteistyöratkaisujen kautta. Uusien teknologiaratkaisujen hyödyntäminen on tuonut digitalisaation myös hyvinvointialojen palveluihin. Sen myötä alalle on tullut uusia, teknologiaperustaisia ratkaisuja tuottavia pieniä toimijoita. Viime vuosina myös kansallinen tutkimushankerahoitus on tukenut uutta liiketoimintaa teknologiaperustaisten hyvinvointipalveluratkaisujen ympärille, ja edistänyt uusien yritysverkostojen, kuten liiketoimintaekosysteemien muodostumista. Kun organisaatiot ryhtyvät tekemään tiivistä yhteistyötä ensimmäistä kertaa yhdessä hankkeiden puitteissa, tuovat erilaiset odotukset ja työskentelytapojen yhteensovittaminen myös omat haasteensa yhteistyöhön. Uusien ekosysteemien muodostumista ja siihen liittyviä käytänteitä on tarvetta ymmärtää aiempaa syvällisemmin. Tämä tunnistettu tarve toimi tämän väitöstutkimuksen lähtökohtana. Tämä tutkimus toteutettiin kahdessa suomalaisessa tutkimusohjelmassa, joihin väitöstyön tekijä osallistui aktiivisena tutkijana. Tutkimus toteutettiin toimintatutkimuksena, ja siihen sisällytettiin useita tutkimustehtäviä. Tehtävien tavoitteena oli keskittyä toimijoiden keskinäiseen toimintaan ja rooleihin, ja pyrkiä ratkaisemaan ekosysteemiyhteistyöstä syntyviä haasteita. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa keskityttiin ekosysteemiyhteistyön pyrkimykseen synnyttää innovatiivista liiketoimintaa organisaatioiden yhteistyöllä. Väitöstyön tuloksena saatiin uutta ymmärrystä hyvinvointialan ekosysteemien muodostamisesta tutkimushankkeen yhteydessä ja tunnistettiin muodostumisen vaiheita sekä niihin liittyviä ongelmia. Tässä tutkimuksessa todettiin, että onnistunut yhteistyö uudessa liiketoimintaekosysteemissä vaatii vahvan johtavan yrityksen, joka tuo ekosysteemiin päämäärätietoisuutta ja vakautta. Tämän lisäksi muiden yritysten on löydettävä niille sopiva rooli ekosysteemissä.