Digital Sustainability in the IT Supply Chain

Panel on Sustainable Economy in an Age of Digitization: Digital Sustainability in the IT Supply Chain

Dr. Matthias Stürmer Research Center for Digital Sustainability Institute of Information Systems University of Bern

7th International Conference on Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility

16 September 2016, Humboldt-Universität Berlin

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Digital Sustainability in the IT Supply Chain

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Research Center for Digital Sustainability

Team of 10 members and 3 PhD students at the Institut of Information Systems at University of Bern, founded in 2014

Research, teaching and consulting on… > Digital sustainability: SDGs, digital commons etc. > Open source software: Community governance,

business models, maturity models, Inner Source etc. > Open data: Open data apps, interactive data

visualizations, open aid, linked open data etc. > Open government: Transparency, participation,

impact models, participatory apps (FixMyStreet) etc. > ICT procurement: No-bid contracts, vendor lock-in,

open standards, agile procurement, requirements etc.

www.digitale-nachhaltigkeit.unibe.ch

http://www.digitale-nachhaltigkeit.unibe.ch/

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Matthias Stürmer

> Since 2013 post-doc and head of Research Center for Digital Sustainability at the Institut of Information Systems at University of Bern

> 2010 until 2013 senior consultant/manager regarding open source software, open data, social media, IT architecture, IT security, IT audit, and IT procurement at EY (Ernst & Young)

> 2009 until 2010 business development and project manager at Liip AG

> 2006 until 2009 assistent at ETH Zürich at the Chair of Strategic Management and Innovation (D-MTEC) of Prof. Georg von Krogh

> 2000 until 2005 licentiate in business administration and computer science at University of Bern

> President of tcbe.ch – ICT Cluster Bern, Switzerland

> Member of the board of CH Open

> Co-founder and member of the board of Opendata.ch

> Secretary of the Parliamentarian Group for Digital Sustainability

> Member of the city parliament of Bern

Dr. Matthias Stürmer Post-doc, head of Research Center for Digital Sustainability University of Bern Institut of Information Systems Engehaldenstrasse 8 CH-3012 Bern Office: +41 31 631 38 09 Mobile: +41 76 368 81 65 Secretary: +41 31 631 38 79 Twitter: @maemst [email protected] www.digitale-nachhaltigkeit.unibe.ch

mailto:[email protected]





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Agenda

1. Sustainability and digitalization 2. Basic conditions for digital sustainability

3. Examples of nearly digital sustainable resources

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Brundtland Commission

„Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.“ (Brundtland Comission, 1987) „It contains two key concepts:

1. the concept of "needs", in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given;

2. the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs.“

Source: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future

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Source: Raworth, K., 2012. A safe and just space for humanity: can we live within the doughnut.

Social Foundation & Environmental Ceiling

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Enhancing the state of technology

Source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2015

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Goals related to technology

> 9.c Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020

> 17.6 (…) access to science, technology and innovation and enhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms (…)

> 17.7 Promote the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries on favourable terms (…)

> 17.8 Fully operationalize the technology bank and science, technology and innovation capacity-building mechanism for least developed countries by 2017 and enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology Source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2015

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Impact of digital technologies

Source: Kossahl et al., 2012

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What is digital sustainability?

> „Digital Sustainability creates, develops, maintains and ensures access to digital artifacts in a way that facilitates the greatest possible benefit for society.“

> Examples for digital Sustainability:

> Narrower sense (economic/knowledge) of digital sustainability vs. broader sense (ecological & social)

in Information Systems

by Information Systems

Ecological Eco-efficient server Biodiversity Index Social Effective labour law Tools for education Economic/Knowledge Comments in source code Access to data

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Agenda

1. Sustainability and digitalization

2. Basic conditions for digital sustainability 3. Examples of nearly digital sustainable resources

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Knowledge needs to be protected, too

Environment Humans

Economy Knowledge

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Related research

> Sustainable Development (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987)

> Digital Preservation (Smith Rumsey 2010)

> Private-Collective Innovation Model (von Hippel and von Krogh, 2003)

> Knowledge Commons / Digital Commons (Frischmann et al. 2014)

Sources: • World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987. Report of the World Commission on Environment and

Development: Our Common Future. • Frischmann, B.M., Madison, M.J., Strandburg, K.J., 2014. Governing Knowledge Commons. Oxford University Press on

Demand. • von Hippel, E., von Krogh, G., 2003. Open Source Software and the “Private-Collective” Innovation Model: Issues for

Organization Science. Organization Science 14, 209–223. • Smith Rumsey, A., 2010. Sustainable Economics for a Digital Planet: Ensuring Long-Term Access to Digital Information.

Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access.

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10 Basic Conditions of Digital Sustainability

Ecosystem

Digital good

1. Elaborateness 2. Transparent structures 3. Semantic data 4. Distributed location

Source: Stürmer, Abu-Tayeh, Myrach “Digital sustainability: Basic conditions of digital artifacts and their ecosystem” working paper

create use

World

5. Open licensing regime 6. Shared tacit knowledge 7. Participatory culture 8. Good governance 9. Diversified funding

10. Sustainable development

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1. Elaborateness

> Elaborateness is determined through their completeness, modularity, integrity, accuracy, security, robustness etc. regarding the quality of their substance.

> Creates immediate value to their users because it signifies high quality facilitating improvements to their structures.


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2. Transparent structures

> Technical openness of the digital good: — Detailed specification of data structure and formats — Open accessible source code of software — Open accessible information architecture and documentation

> Transparency enables control and improvements from the public improving trust and reducing mistakes


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3. Semantic data

> Semantic information (metadata, ontologies) make complex digital artifacts intelligible to humans and machines through comprehensible structures and meta data.

> Semantic information enables individuals, organizations and eventually society to absorb previously created knowledge and to advance that knowledge.


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4. Distributed location

> Distributed location means data, software and other digital artifacts are stored and operated on multiple sites e.g. through replicated data storage or peer-to-peer technology.

> Increases long-term availability of digital artifacts and their operational reliability to the benefit of society.


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5. Open licensing regime

> Everybody is allowed to use and change a digital good > Previously created knowledge can be re-used at no costs «Standing on the shoulders of giants»

> Allows society to fully exploit the intellectual capacity of humanity > Open question: With or without copyleft?


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6. Shared tacit knowledge

> Many individuals and organizations who know via their experience how to understand, use and modify the digital artifacts.

> Reduces dependence of society on a single or a few individuals, corporations or other organizations. Thus it empowers individuals and organizations to contribute.


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7. Participatory culture

> Participatory culture allows the creation of active ecosystems > Brings together knowledge and experience of different contributors > Peer-review enhances quality of contributions


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8. Good governance

> Governance not by a single individual or organization, but decentralized among contributors and other stakeholders

> Governance-processes (elections etc.) define responsibilities

> Open question: The bigger the contribution, the higher the influence (meritocracy)?


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9. Diversified funding

> Cost covering of infrastructures, contributions and other spending from various financial sources.

> Reduces control by a single entity thus increasing the independence of future improvements and decreasing the risk of conflicting interests.


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10. Sustainable development

> Contribution to sustainable development > Creation and use of digital artifacts needs natural and social

resources. Are they being of sustainable origin, e.g. renewable energy?

> Digital artifacts can be used as a contribution for sustainable development or for unsustainable purposes


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Agenda

1. Sustainability and digitalization

2. Basic conditions for digital sustainability

3. Examples of nearly digital sustainable resources

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Linux Kernel Development

Top 10 companies contributing to the Linux kernel between 2013-09-02 until 2014-12-07:

Source: Linux Foundation, February 2015 „Linux Kernel Development How Fast is it Going, Who is Doing It, What Are They Doing and Who is Sponsoring the Work“ http://www.linuxfoundation.org/publications/linux-foundation/who-writes-linux-2015

http://www.linuxfoundation.org/publications/linux-foundation/who-writes-linux-2015










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PolarSys

Link: https://www.polarsys.org

https://www.polarsys.org/

https://www.polarsys.org/


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Wikipedia

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OpenStreetMap

Link: http://tools.geofabrik.de/mc/#16/47.4303/9.3727&num=2&mt0=mapnik&mt1=google-map

http://tools.geofabrik.de/mc/16/47.4303/9.3727&num=2&mt0=mapnik&mt1=google-map





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Linked Open Data

Link: http://lod-cloud.net

http://lod-cloud.net/




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Bitcoin and Blockchain technologies

Source: Reuters Graphics


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Unsustainable creation of Bitcoin: Mining in China

Source: http://derstandard.at/2000004604700/Im-Inneren-einer-chinesischen-Bitcoin-Mine

http://derstandard.at/2000004604700/Im-Inneren-einer-chinesischen-Bitcoin-Mine













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More examples

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Questions and discussion

Dr. Matthias Stürmer Post-doc, head of Research Center for Digital Sustainability University of Bern Institut of Information Systems Engehaldenstrasse 8 CH-3012 Bern Office: +41 31 631 38 09 Mobile: +41 76 368 81 65 Secretary: +41 31 631 38 79 Twitter: @maemst [email protected] www.digitale-nachhaltigkeit.unibe.ch

Thank your for your attention!






Technology

Digital Sustainability in the IT Supply Chain