Antonio’s work contributes to:
1) clarify the value of digital information networks across the different economical and societal sectors;
2) solve technological interoperability challenges;
3) the development of novel trans-sector digital innovations.
Research – Trans-sector Information Networks
Digital information networks (DIN) refer to networks supported by telecommunication infrastructures and terminated by microprocessors. Antonio’s research is about the study of DINs from five different perspectives:
1) Micro-economic impact of DINs , concerns the evaluation of the impact of DINs at the individual/person levels
2) Macro-economic impact of DINs , concerns the evaluation of the impact of DINs at the group/organization level
3) Impact of Future DINs , concerns the evaluation of the impact of future and advanced DINs
4) Trans-sector Digital Service Development , concern the development of tools and methods to systematically develop novel trans-sector innovations based upon DINs
5) Trans-sector Digital Infrastructure Interoperability , concerns the study of IT infrastructure interoperability issues at an economic cross-sectoral plane
Publications
Renaissance of the Incumbents, Network Visions from a Human Perspective
N.H.G. Baken, Edgar van Boven, and A.J.P.S. Madureira
eChallenges Conference, 24-26 October, The Hague, The Netherlands
Networks are omnipresent and universal. Today, networks often are associated with telecom networks because they play an important role in our economical and social life. However, the collection of interlinked sectors contributing to the GDP of our national economies, for example, forms a network too, as does humankind, our brain and language constitute evolving networks. Today, humankind is confronted with complex, border- and sector crossing challenges. Think e.g. of demographic, climate and mobility challenges. Finding that networks are omnipresent and universal presents an eChallenge for the ICT sector and a chance for the renaissance of the incumbents! They can play a significant role in re-uniting functionally decomposed societies to overcome the multi-actor prisoner dilemma’s of today’s national and intra-sectoral, conventional solutions that come to a grinding halt. Trans-sectoral network visions from a human perspective are then a condition sine qua non.
Towards a Framework to Analyze Causal Relations From Digital Information Networks To Micro Economic Productivity
António Madureira, Nico Baken and Harry Bouwman
World Congress on the Knowledge Society, Venice, Italy, October 28-30, 2009
Digital Information Networks (DINs) refer to information networks supported by telecommunication infrastructures and terminated by microprocessors. In the recent past, there is a consolidated recognition that the public digital network infrastructure is of high economic importance, being generally recognized as one of the pillars of the knowledge society. An economic agent uses DINs to increase his individual productivity and that of his organization. From a thorough literature review about work done on the relation between DINs and productivity, we found that the theoretical and empirical support for this relation is still inconclusive. This paper lays down a proposal for a qualitative causal model that scientifically underpins the relation between DINs and micro economic productivity. Hence, this model contributes to the establishment of a valid theoretical framework to identify the economic importance of DINs.
Towards Systematic Development of Trans-sector Digital Innovations
António Madureira, Edgar van Boven and Nico Baken
Submitted to the International Conference on Infrastructure Systems 2009: Developing 21st Century Infrastructure Networks
Digital Information Networks (DINs) connect all economic and societal sectors, bringing within reach all kinds of novel trans-sector digital innovations: innovations involving multiple sectors enabled by DINs. This paper describes a framework to conceptualize novel trans-sector digital innovations. Our motivation for this work is to systematize the development of DINs’ supported innovations across different sectors. This work fits in an emerging scientific field labeled by some as services science, an interdisciplinary new area of study to address the challenge of becoming more systematic about innovating in services. We demonstrate the applicability of our framework by mapping it to 20 trans-sector digital innovations. Primarily, this works aims at telecommunication service providers looking for new revenue streams and IT service developers. With this work, the maverick vision of industrializing the development of trans-sector digital innovations comes within reach.
From Digital Information Networks to Emergent Economic Productivity: a Framework to Analyze Causal Relations
António Madureira, Harry Bouwman and Nico Baken
Under review
There is a consolidated recognition that Digital Information Networks (DINs) are an important public infrastructure. However, their perceived importance was not yet backed up with factual evidence. Although there are a significant number of studies on DINs’ large scale economic impact, in general these studies tend to be more rhetoric, lacking specific and empirical grounding for their claims, simply relying on analysis and correlation of data, and not explaining thoroughly why these correlations should exist. Hence, it seems that these studies are hampered by an insufficient theoretical base. DINs provide a physical substrate for virtual information networks to emerge. These virtual networks produce patterns not suggested by orthodox equilibrium economic theory and can be held hardly accountable with the tools traditionally used in economics. However, these patterns are the intermediate mechanisms, and therefore have to be considered to establish a correlation between (physical) DINs and large scale economic productivity. This paper lays down two proposals contributing to a valid theoretical ground to establish this relation.
From Broadband To Productivity: Application of a Novel Framework to Study Causal Relations
António Madureira, Steven Ngabonziza, Harry Bouwman and Nico Baken
Under review
Broadband infrastructures are advanced telecommunication systems capable of providing high-speed transmission of services. Broadband deployment has the potential to bring valuable new services, stimulate economic activity, advance economic opportunity and improve productivity. For example, the European Commission has stated that “widespread and affordable broadband access is essential to realize the potential of the information society”. Despite this general perception, the announced impacts were not yet backed up with factual evidence. Scientifically grounding this perception is an essential input to the development of telecommunication infrastructures related public and private policies. This paper contributes to clarify the importance of broadband, by investigating the application of a novel framework to study the economic impacts of broadband. With this contribution, findings from broadband impact studies can be structured in a valid conceptual way and utopian and dystopian views of broadband can be clarified.
Model for Trans-sector Digital Interoperability
António Madureira, Eduardo Silva, Frank den Hartog and Nico Baken
Under review
IT systems interoperability is a growing interest area, because of a continuously growing need of integrating new, legacy and evolving systems. Interoperability refers to the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged. With an upcoming interest in services science and novel trans-sector business models, sometimes with more intangible social or environmental outcomes (e.g. eGovernment), a strong driver arises to further break the interoperability barriers across sectors. Digital information networks refer to information networks supporting the digital economy: an economy that is based on goods and services enabled by microprocessors, in any of the production, distribution and consumption stages. In this paper, we propose a qualitative model containing six causal mechanisms describing how digital information networks impact sectoral productivity. Each mechanism takes the economic sectoral agent to a higher level of productivity, and therefore, business value implications exist. To validate the usefulness of the model, we describe a trans-sector scenario illustrating how to derive implications for IT technological interoperability from our model.
PhD results
A Holonic Framework for Evolution, Antonio Madureira, Frank den Hartog and Nico Baken, submitted for publication, 2010.
Value of Digital Information Networks: a Holonic Framework, Antonio Madureira, Nico Baken and Harry Bouwman, submitted for publication, 2010.
Cross-sectoral Interoperability: a Framework for Evaluation and Requirements, Antonio Madureira, Frank den Hartog and Nico Baken, submitted for publication, 2010.
The Origin of Value Through Information Networks: a Preliminary Framework from an Evolutionary Holonic Perspective, Antonio Madureira, Nico Baken and Harry Bouwman, 18th Biennial Conference of the International Telecommunications Society, Tokyo, Japan, 2010 (distinguished paper) .
Model for Trans-sector Digital Interoperability, Antonio Madureira, Frank den Hartog, Eduardo Silva and Nico Baken, 6th International Conference on Interoperability for Enterprise Software and Applications, Coventry, UK, 2010.
Towards Systematic Development of Trans-sector Digital Innovations, Antonio Madureira, Edgar van Boven and Nico Baken, International Conference on Infrastructure Systems and Services, Chennai, India, 2009.
Towards a Framework to Analyze Causal Relations From Digital Information Networks To Micro Economic Productivity, Antonio Madureira, Nico Baken and Harry Bouwman, World Congress on the Knowledge Society, Venice, Italy, 2009.
Trans-sectoral Innovation from a Modelling Perspective, Antonio Madureira, Netelcom Award, evaluation committee chaired by Willem Vermeend, a former Dutch minister of social affairs, 2008 (runner-up).
Renaissance of the Incumbents, Network Visions from a Human Perspective, Nico Baken, Edgar van Boven and Antonio Madureira, eChallenges, The Hague, Netherlands, 2007.
