The business relevance of artificial intelligence (AI) is underpinned by success stories from various industries. However, the successful use of AI is by no means a foregone conclusion. The ability of a company to innovatively design AI-based services and integrate them into its organizational value creation determines its competitiveness. Based on the competencies and practical experience of the Project Group Business Informatics of Fraunhofer FIT, the Technology Transfer Center Data Analytics of Augsburg University of Applied Sciences and the University of Bayreuth, we present the AI Service Canvas in this study and provide a brief insight into AI practice.

The AI Service Canvas allows companies to describe, evaluate, and design AI-based services from both an innovation and technology perspective. Thus, we offer a tool that can be used along the entire innovation process. With the consistent use of the AI Service Canvas, companies can avoid flying blind in the development of AI-based services. By taking a holistic view, questions from the infrastructure level to the process/system level to the business level are answered. Furthermore, we provide an insight into the practical application of AI by adding field reports from our research and practical projects.

You can download our (German) white paper on the AI Service Canvas here.

In our whitepaper “Self-Sovereign Identity – Foundations, Applications and Potentials of portable digital identities” (so far only available in German), we outline the most important conceptual and technological foundations of self-sovereign identities before presenting some use cases in detail. Subsequently, we take a closer look at the economic potential as well as the challenges of self-sovereign identities.

The phenomenon of a blockchain use case called initial coin offering (ICO) is drawing increasing attention as a novel funding mechanism. ICO is a crowdfunding type that utilizes blockchain tokens to allow for truly peer-to-peer investments. Although more than $7bn has been raised globally via ICOs as at 2018, the concept and its implications are not yet entirely understood. The research lags behind in providing in-depth analyses of ICO designs and their long-term success.

We address this research gap by developing an ICO taxonomy, applying a cluster analysis to identify prevailing ICO archetypes, and providing an outlook on the token value market performance for individual archetypes. We identify five ICO design archetypes and display their secondary market development from both a short-term and a long-term perspective. We contribute to an in-depth understanding of ICOs and their implications. Further, we offer practitioners tangible design and success indications for future ICOs.

Our paper “Tarzan and chain: exploring the ICO jungle and evaluating design archetypes” on this research project has been accepted for publication in Electronic Markets.

In a recent article that was published in DiALOG, we write about the concept of self-sovereign identity for digital identity management and its potential for the public sector. Here you find the full article (in German).

In 2020, the world has witnessed an unprecedented global pandemic with COVID-19. It has led nations to take measures that have an enormous impact on individuals, society, and the economy. Researchers and practitioners responded rapidly, evaluating the opportunities to capitalize on technology for tackling the associated challenges.

We investigate the innovative potentials of three emerging digital technologies — namely, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and distributed ledgers — to tackle pandemic-related challenges. We present our findings on the most effective means of leveraging each technology’s potential, the implications for use in crises, and the convergence of the three technologies.

Our paper “Emerging Digital Technologies to Combat Future Crises: Learnings From COVID-19 to be Prepared for the Future” on this research project has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management.