Despite the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) on a global scale, a comprehensive framework that maps its end-to-end value chain is missing. The presented study employed a multi-layered framework to analyze the value creation and delivery mechanism of the five core layers of an AI value chain, including (1) hardware, (2) data management, (3) foundational AI, (4) advanced AI capabilities, and (5) AI delivery. Using a qualitative–descriptive approach with a multi-faceted thematic analysis and a SWOT-based bottleneck analysis of each core layer, the study maps a sequential value flow from a globally dependent hardware foundation to the deployment of AI services. The analysis reveals that international knowledge flows shape the ecosystem, while the “last-mile” integration challenge is not merely a technical issue; instead, it highlights a significant socio-technical disconnect between technological advancements and the preparedness of the workforce. This study provides a holistic framework that frames the AI value chain as a socio-technical system, offering critical insights for stakeholders. The findings emphasize that unlocking AI’s full potential requires strategic investment in the managerial competencies and digital skills that constitute human–capital readiness.

Digital commerce is a double-edge sword, that offers entrepreneurs opportunities to access the global economy, while also threatening to push them out of business. In an increasingly digital world, ensuring the sustainable digitalisation of commerce for marginalised groups of low digital literacy and rural communities is becoming ever more important. Offline marketplaces, such as those in Sibu, are often sites of culturally rich and situated knowledge with a plethora of indigenous produce. Creating online marketplaces that reflects the diversity of local contexts is therefore challenging, but arguably essential for both equitable and sustainable use. This workshop examines how participatory design (PD) processes can address issues of digital inclusion, while investigating its potential in fostering dialogue and collaboration between local communities, platform operators and the Participatory Design Conference (PDC) community. Together we seek to reimagine online marketplace interfaces that not only capture but also communicates local understandings. We aim to elicit the embodied and situated knowledge of sellers and their items, such as the durian, a controversial and multi-faceted fruit, which we offer as a provocation for the digital commerce space through PD practices. Reflections on digital platforms and digital commerce are sought to derive insights into their potential impact on local economies, cultural preservation, and community empowerment. This workshop also aims to highlight the unique cultural and socio-technical landscapes of Sarawak with the backdrop of both the local and global digital commerce ecosystem through the unique opportunity of exploring local markets, produce and culture at the PDC workshop in Sibu.

As the global economy undergoes a shift towards digitalisation, digital marketplaces have become commonplace for both buyers and sellers to engage in transactions. However, in rural regions particularly in developing countries whereby connectivity infrastructure and digital use develop in non-linear ways, rural microenterprises (ME) are faced with the challenge of an increasingly digitalised market and target customers under the backdrop of a rapidly digitising economy. At the same time, digital innovation, particularly eCommerce platforms have not conventionally included rural ME as design participants nor as target users, further exasperating existing digital divides. This PhD aims to identify design implications and digitalisation strategies through participatory design (PD) methods to support and address the needs of rural ME, facilitating their inclusive participation in the digital economy through the participation in digital commerce. Through ethnographic fieldwork, the research aims to understand the dynamics of ME's work in rural Sarawak, Malaysia, their use and non-use of digital marketplaces and their digital capability needs. These understandings are then iteratively brought into a series of workshops with ME's and other stakeholders in the co-development of design implications for digital marketplaces. Building on previous work on system designs for rural microenterprises that are largely based in Europe, as well as the growing literature on rural computing, this research adds new empirical findings in digital marketplace design for microenterprises in rural Sarawak to current PD and human computer interaction (HCI) literature, centered in eCommerce design.

Digital entrepreneurship is increasingly prioritised by emerging economies as a driver of economic growth, resulting in a proliferation of initiatives to promote it by diverse stakeholders. Despite this, the structure, distribution and inclusivity of these initiatives remain underexplored. Drawing upon institutional theory and Isenberg's entrepreneurship ecosystem framework, this study develops and applies a systematic approach to mapping digital entrepreneurship initiatives (DEI) and applies it to Sarawak, Malaysia – a developing region undergoing strategic digital economic transformation. Using a two-phase method that combines desk study mapping analysis and structured interviews with initiative implementers and entrepreneurs, the study adapts Isenberg's entrepreneurship ecosystem framework for the mapping of digital entrepreneurship initiatives with an explicit target group dimension. The findings reveal fragmentation within the DEI ecosystem, particularly a concentration of financial support for technology-based ventures and limited provision for underserved entrepreneurs. Our study offers both empirical insights and a methodological contribution to ecosystem mapping in emerging economies, highlighting the need to address structural gaps and promote a more inclusive, ecosystem-oriented approach to digital entrepreneurship policy and implementation.

Hyperlocal sharing platforms are gaining traction as a sustainable alternative for distributing resources, particularly in the case of food sharing, where success relies heavily on community engagement and local interactions. Despite their growing popularity, there is little understanding of what contributes to the growth of sharing platforms and their evolution over time. In collaboration with the UK’s largest food sharing platform, this study explores over five million anonymised sharing instances across 312 districts in England over a 51-month period. Building on prior literature, we empirically examine platform growth using temporal network structures, user behavioural variation, and local demographic and environmental characteristics, to model user acquisition and retention. Using a machine learning approach, we utilise SHAP variable importance to determine the most impactful attributes for platform growth and identified key predictors of the proliferation of food sharing platforms. This includes the distribution of super-users, the presence of active volunteers, and the formation of structured communities. Our findings demonstrate how simultaneously combining data from users, networks and geographical dimensions provides a more useful explanation of growth than any isolated disciplinary theory. The results contribute to the theorisation of growth in sharing platforms, offering managerial insights that support the development and sustainability of food sharing networks within the sharing economy.