Wally J. W. Keijzer-Broers

What we do – and don’t – know about the Smart Home: an analysis of the Smart Home literature

Technological innovations, from ubiquitous computing, augmented reality, telecommunication to intelligent appliances and robotics, bring new possibilities to the Smart Home domain, which has led to an increase in the number of academic publications in this domain. To date, no comprehensive overview and clustering of the core concepts used in these publications have been produced. Based on an extensive review of existing literature on the Smart Home, this paper visualizes the state of the art in the Smart Home research in a systematic way and outlines future research challenges. To do so, a business model framework is applied that helps researchers place their work within a broader context and identify gaps in the existing body of knowledge in this area. In order to move from the exploration towards the exploitation of Smart Home concepts, it is essential to contribute to a coherent body of knowledge that not only is technology driven, as it is the case now, but also pay attention to the non-technological aspects, i.e. social-organizational, economical, organizational, law/legislation and entrepreneurial topics, from both a strategic and an operational perspective.

Designing a multi-sided health and wellbeing platform: Results of a first design cycle

While worldwide several health and wellbeing products and services are being developed to support people to live comfortable and independently in their home environment, widespread adoption of these smart living solutions is still not envisioned. A hindering factor is that users are not aware of possible solutions or where to find them, which could be solved through promoting solutions on shared platforms. Designing such platforms is challenging as multiple stakeholders need to be satisfied and start-up problems need to be overcome. Most theory on platforms is explored in ex-post studies and there is a lack of knowledge on how platforms should be designed and implemented. In this paper, we elicit functional requirements for the design of a multi-sided health and wellbeing platform based on interviews with both end-users and stakeholders. These requirements provide the basis for future design cycles in which, the development and actual implementation of a platform is foreseen.

Prototyping a Health and Wellbeing Platform: An Action Design Research Approach

At present, healthcare providers are offering an overwhelming range of smart living products and services to support elderly in their daily routine and enhance their independent lifestyle. However, even smart living services that are technologically feasible and acceptable have not reached the mass-market yet, as end-users cannot find them in todays fragmented marketplace with an overload of information. Basically there is a mismatch between demand and supply. We argue that a multi-sided platform for health and wellbeing is required to help end-users search for smart living services and simultaneously supports service providers promoting their products. In this paper, we present the first prototype for such a platform that is developed in a Living Lab setting in the Netherlands. Next to that, this paper illustrates our Action Design Research (ADR) journey and the iterations and evaluation moments to support people age-in-place. Besides platform design, the project also delivers process knowledge on how to implement ADR in a real-life setting.

Applying Agile Design Sprint Methods in Action Design Research: Prototyping a Health and Wellbeing Platform

In Action Design Research projects, researchers often face severe constraints in terms of budget and time within the practical setting. Therefore, we argue that ADR researchers may adopt efficient methods to guide their design strategy. While agile and sprint oriented design approaches are becoming common in the practitioner domain, they have not been integrated yet in Action Design research. In this paper we illustrate how a Design Sprint could jumpstart a design process in an ADR setting, fostering a low-fidelity prototype into a minimal viable product. We do so by describing an extensive case on a health and wellbeing platform for elderly people developed in a Living Lab setting. We extract lessons learned on how to apply design sprints in Action Design Research, which can be reused to guide other situated design projects with limited resources.

Designing a Matchmaking Platform for Smart Living Services

Much of the literature on smart homes, smart living and eHealth focuses on either technology issues, such as home automation and sensor technology or the acceptance and adoption of smart home services. However, even smart home services that are technologically feasible and acceptable are not taken off as end-users cannot find them in today’s fragmented marketplace with an overload of information. Basically there is a demand and supply mismatch. We argue that a matchmaking or brokering platform is required that helps end-users to search for smart living services and on the other hand support (service) providers promoting their products. In this paper, we propose a conceptual design for such a platform based on two series of exploratory interviews with stakeholders in the domain.

Supporting People to Age-in-Place: Prototyping a Multi-sided Health and Wellbeing Platform in a Living Lab Setting

A key challenge elderly people face is the ability to live independently. Losing their everyday independence is a major concern for the elderly, partly because they fear this could lead to an involuntary move to an assisted living facility instead of living independently. Since 2015, the Dutch government encourages their citizens to age-in-place, but at the same time struggles with how to implement new healthcare regulations. To support both government and citizens, we propose a digital platform to match supply and demand in the health and wellbeing domain. Such a platform should not only enable end-users to enhance self-management, but also support them to find solutions for everyday problems related to aging-in-place. To illustrate our Action Design Research we established a Living Lab in a metropolitan area in the Netherlands, and developed a prototype of the proposed platform in a real-life setting.

Cooperation and knowledge challenges in realizing smart homes: The case of small installer businesses:

Despite technological advances, smart home concepts are not receiving widespread adoption. Small businesses that install and maintain heating, security and energy-saving systems could play a major role in bringing advanced technologies to home owners. However, the role of such small installer businesses in the smart living industry is generally overlooked in practice as well as academic literature. This paper studies challenges small installer businesses face when offering smart home and smart living services. A survey, as well as in-depth interviews, are conducted. A main pattern across the findings is that small installers, despite their potential role, are reluctant to be involved in the smart living industry. Lack of knowledge and entrepreneurial skills, limited sharing of knowledge and lack of cooperation hinder small installer businesses to offer smart living services.

Trade-offs in designing ICT platforms for independent living services

Bringing independent living services to market requires common service platforms that connect service providers to elderly people and informal carers. Realizing such common service platforms is challenging as issues like organizing model, openness, governance and subsidization models have to be decided upon. This paper elicits trade-offs in designing ICT platforms for independent living services by developing three generic value network configurations. We do so through an action design research project in which series of workshops and stakeholder interviews are done. Analysis of the case suggests several core dilemmas for realizing ICT platforms for independent living services. Besides contributing to academic theories on ICT platforms, we also provide practical recommendations on how to realize the potential of independent living.