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Smart Services
We need greater resource productivity – making more with
less – to meet environmental goals. This can be achieved
in part by a new business model, in which suppliers aim to sell
not products in isolation, but 'service', i.e. better performance or
solutions to customer needs. This shift can transform incentive
structures. Suppliers no longer have to focus purely on the volume
of physical product sold but can instead benefit from increased
efficiency, for example in the use of energy and materials.
There many ways this 'service' transition can be achieved. One
way is ICT-based ‘smart’ services which allow optimisation
of product use through precise control based on unprecedented availability
and integration of data. For example, Galaxy PrecisionAg combines
satellite data with farmer’s own information to produce a
map of crop health in individual sections of fields. By using GPS
data about the position of the tractor within a field, the application
of fertiliser can be matched to the need of the plants. This often
means considerably reduced usage, as well as less run-off.
Service
Innovation for Sustainability - SustainIT collaborated with
the University of Bradford on a report for the DTI's Sustainable
technology Initiative.
Service
Innovation Workbook - download this free resource, developed
as part of an EU project.
Eco-Efficient Services - a summary of an EU project in which
SustainIT participated, published in the Journal of Cleaner
Production.
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