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Smart Services Summit: Smart Services Supporting the Value Co-Creation in Industrial Context

October 18, 2024, by Jürg Meierhofer, ZHAW

The 2024 Smart Services Summit invited academics, industry experts, and practitioners to explore the transformative impact of digital technologies and artificial intelligence on value co-creation within service ecosystems. This year’s theme emphasized the critical intersections between technology and collaborative value-creation processes, highlighting how these elements reshape business models, customer experiences, and service management.

The summit highlighted the effective implementation of AI-powered value co-creation, especially in the development of smart product-service systems (PSS). Case studies demonstrated practical applications and benefits of this approach. Keynotes emphasized the importance of building a vision for smart services, both within and outside the factory. This vision includes profit sharing and risk management as essential components of value co-creation.

The concept of an industrial metaverse was explored, where, e.g., technicians can prepare for tasks using a digital twin environment, supported by AI-generated field service reports. Transformational leadership was identified as a key factor for the effective adoption of technology. This involves focusing on user-centric designs, multilingual communication, and continuous engagement.

Throughout the summit, several critical insights and discussions emerged, shedding light on various aspects of AI and its integration into different sectors. One of the primary topics was the ethical challenges that arise at the intersection of legal frameworks and value creation. This is particularly relevant in the context of AI, where balancing innovation with ethical considerations in big data-driven business is crucial. Privacy concerns in marketing were also a significant focus. Various case studies from retail companies illustrated different approaches and challenges in addressing these concerns. Discussions also covered the use of data analysis for global sustainability, integrating environmental, economic, and social wellbeing into value co-creation strategies.

Several emerging themes were identified during the summit. One such theme was balancing value creation between individuals and organizations, ensuring that business value complements individual value.