We analyze the path from cryptocurrencies to official Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), to shed some light on the ultimate dematerialization of money. To that end, we made an extensive search that resulted in a review of more than 100 academic and grey literature references, including official positions from central banks. We present and discuss the characteristics of the different CBDC variants being considered—namely, wholesale, retail, and, for the latter, the account-based, and token-based—as well as ongoing pilots, scenarios of interoperability, and open issues. Our contribution enables decision-makers and society at large to understand the potential advantages and risks of introducing CBDCs, and how these vary according to many technical and economic design choices. The practical implication is that a debate becomes possible about the trade-offs that the stakeholders are willing to accept.

To understand opportunities Blockchain offers for development, we propose a novel framework that considers Business-, Society-, Economy & Finance-, Technology-, and Policy-related factors. It illustrates the complex and multifaceted role of Blockchain in development and is useful in guiding research efforts, formulating actionable advice, and promoting development. We created it methodically, drawing from systematic literature reviews and the authors’ experience with Blockchain and development. Adequately designed and deployed Blockchain systems are relevant contributions that can help address problems that afflict our society, making it more inclusive, fair, and resilient. Solutions that many countries have already adopted in various sectors (e.g. public, financial, business, technology, education) demonstrate the importance of Blockchain to advance development. Further, less developed countries have a window of opportunity to avoid the typical lag in the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies and make quantum leaps that will put them on par with more developed counterparts.

Digital technologies can help support the health of migrants and refugees and facilitate research on their health issues. However, ethical concerns include security and confidentiality of information; informed consent; how to engage migrants in designing, implementing and researching digital tools; inequitable access to mobile devices and the internet; and access to health services for early intervention and follow-up. Digital technical solutions do not necessarily overcome problems that are political, social, or economic. There are major deficits with regard to (1) reliable data on the health needs of migrants and mobile populations and on how they can use digital tools to support their health; (2) evidence on effectiveness of solutions; and (3) a broad framework to guide future work. This article provides a wide socio-technical perspective, as a framework for analysis and developing coherent agendas across global-to-local spaces, with particular attention to the European region.

Purpose: Central banks from more than 100 countries, representing 95% of the global financial output, are studying Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). CBDCs can potentially enable safe, efficient and inexpensive cross-border and cross-currency payments in today's interconnected financial system. However, a critical factor influencing their expansion is cross-border interoperability. Therefore, there is a high demand from central banks, researchers, computer scientists, policy- and decision-makers to explore this topic further. Its better understanding will improve information management, enhance the decision-making process, and result in the redesign of central banks' processes and products (digital currencies).Design/methodology/approach: The authors investigate this novel and timely topic by conducting a Multivocal Systematic Literature Review (MSLR) on CBDCs cross-border interoperability. Additionally, the authors collect and analyze empirical data from various online resources such as CBDC trackers.Findings: The authors conclude that although the academic literature on CBDC cross-border interoperability is very limited, valuable documents published by central banks and other entities discuss this issue and provide valuable insights. The authors paid particular attention to the reports published by the Bank of International Settlement (BIS) as it proposes three different models for CBDC cross-border interoperability. The study research reveals that most CBDC cross-border interoperability projects run by several central banks and other organizations explore these three BIS models. For this research, the authors performed an in-depth study of CBDC cross-border interoperability cases to investigate all three BIS models. The findings illustrate that although technical interoperability is feasible, plenty of work needs to be done in terms of standards and interfaces. In addition, other non-technical interoperability areas need to be explored and addressed, as there are concerns related to legal issues, regulations, jurisdictional boundaries, policy challenges and governance.Research limitations/implications: Research on CBDCs is progressing quickly, so, despite the authors’ use of an MSLR to identify the state-of-the-art, interested parties should be aware that new information is prone to appear imminently. Hence, this study work should be understood as a basis to build upon. Also, although the authors have included major academic databases in this study search, there is the possibility that a few papers may have been published in outlets that the authors have not covered. Finally, since the search in the grey literature returned thousands of hits, the authors had to define a stopping criterion for the documents to analyze.Practical implications: The authors provide insights on the current state of CBDC cross-border interoperability, which is valuable to policy- and decision-makers currently assessing the situation and deciding on avenues to pursue.Originality/value: The authors provide an integrated and critical view of the developments of CBDC cross-border interoperability, considering not only available academic literature but also fundamental documents from key institutions such as central banks and related organizations.

After mass production and then mass customization, the time is almost ripe for mass personalization. The goal is to offer unique products designed for the needs of each customer. However, production in larger series of products also has its advantages, and the promise of “lot size one” is still far from being the norm in several sectors of the economy. As a result of an action research project in a small household ceramic producer, this paper explores the potential of a hybrid strategy. Augmented digital engineering is adopted to (1) ensure customer participation along the entire product design lifecycle, (2) maintain the benefits of modularization and low cost, (3) minimize the waste of time and materials during product design, and (4) seek a minimum trade‐off between customer desires and engineering strategy. For theory, our work describes Industry 4.0 technology's role in achieving individual customer interaction and value co‐creation in hybrid strategies of mass customization and mass personalization. For practice, we present an example of technological architecture to implement augmented digital engineering in Industry 4.0, accessible to scenarios of hand‐intensive work and creative design processes.