Attention has shifted to the development of villages in Europe and other parts of the world with the goal of combating rural–urban migration, and moving toward self-sufficiency in rural areas. This situation has birthed the smart village idea. Smart village initiatives such as those of the European Union is motivating global efforts aimed at improving the live and livelihood of rural dwellers. These initiatives are focused on improving agricultural productivity, among other things, since most of the food we eat are grown in rural areas around the world. Nevertheless, a major challenge faced by proponents of the smart village concept is how to provide a framework for the development of the term, so that this development is tailored towards sustainability. The current work examines the level of progress of climate smart agriculture, and tries to borrow from its ideals, to develop a framework for smart village development. Given the advances in technology, agricultural development that encompasses reduction of farming losses, optimization of agricultural processes for increased yield, as well as prevention, monitoring, and early detection of plant and animal diseases, has now embraced varieties of smart sensor technologies. The implication is that the studies and results generated around the concept of climate smart agriculture can be adopted in planning of villages, and transforming them into smart villages. Hence, we argue that for effective development of the smart village framework, smart agricultural techniques must be prioritized, viz-a-viz other developmental practicalities.

Next to climate change on the list of challenges faced by humankind in today’s technological age is energy management. While “smart” ideas continue to gather momentum as some of the ways earmarked to combat the menace of a changing climate, coupled with efficient management of energy, research and development in the blockchain is not retracting, recently giving rise to digital currencies capable of fueling massive energy consumption via mining of “crypto-coins”. Given that sustainability is a crucial goal in the design of smart cities nowadays, there are currently no assurances of sustainable cities where cryptocurrency mining is at full scale. Nevertheless, alternative energy sources may come to the rescue in no distant time. In this paper, we contextualize energy-use in smart cities through mining of virtual currencies, in order to predict whether or not smart cities can truly be sustainable if crypto-mining is sustained. An attempt is also made to emphasize the possible ways of reducing energy use and all activities involving digital currencies by seeking to replace “Proof of Work” (PoW) with improved alternatives.

Within a ubiquitous environment, home and office furniture can be maximally utilized to provide ease, especially if the items are designed based on smart technology. For this reason, the acceptance of smart furniture has soared over the years. Given the vast influence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 on technological advancement in furniture design, it is imperative to examine information and communication technology (ICT) solutions for the elderly in the context of smart furniture design and implementation. This article presents a review of the state-of-the-art literature in smart solutions for the elderly based on publications under ICT smart solutions for these elderly, along with smart furniture options and manufacturer activities in terms of fixing market prices for these furniture materials. Furthermore, patenting rights on some existing smart furniture designs for the elderly, given the current trends in worldwide acceptance, are examined. Moreover, this article also highlights opportunities introduced by IoT-based solutions for the elderly as current trends in research and their effects on human life. Some smart product examples from different enterprises are also presented. New, innovative and active designs must be developed, focusing upon human healthcare, and in turn providing greater comfort and convenience for elderly people. To fulfil these requirements, the also selected technical aspects of new Smart Furniture solutions in connection to the cost of these solutions are discussed. Simultaneously, Smart Furniture solutions need to be flexible, low-cost, easy to buy and install without expert knowledge, and widely available on the market.

Universities play pivotal roles when research findings are to be adopted commercially. Although these roles vary from one country to another, effective patenting and licensing procedures, as well as eventual commercialisation of scholarly inventions, reflect hard work on the part of the University mediating between the researcher and the industry through technology transfer offices (TTOs) in order to ensure that knowledge-developers take motivational and monetary credit for their findings. This paper details some existing models, processes, and roles taken up in some countries where sharing of intellectual property exists, and links it up with aspects of university–industry technology transfer, such as policies surrounding patenting, government investment and marketing, and the process of academic entrepreneurship, among others. 22 articles were found via a systematic review of literature and analysed with respect to four identified areas of focus: internal strategy, investment and market, academic entrepreneurship and policy. Based on models, processes, and roles in reviewed studies, our results indicate that new models for technology transfer mainly stem from the fact that there is no universally accepted model in the literature. Furthermore, management of technology transfer is mostly the responsibility of TTOs in most countries. While university TTOs act as intermediaries to protect the interest of the author/inventor, issues such as poor relationships between universities and industry, as well as funding, remain major challenges in many emerging economies. In contrast, researchers in western economies are mainly challenged by financial motivation and recognition within the academic domains.

The Business Process Model to represent the process of developing a medical device is presented in this paper. In the age of population aging and a growing amount of patients, enormous pressure is put on improving their care and living conditions. The development of medical devices is a complicated and expensive process. Therefore, the whole process was subjected to an analysis of business processes, and the resulting model was expressed using the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). The model aims to illustrate the consentient process of designing a medical device using graphical notation. This notation is suitable for displaying models of healthcare environments thanks to its user-friendliness and easy comprehensibility for all parties involved. In addition, this study demonstrates that the model in BPMN notation by its depth of specificity falls to the level of activity sub-processes. This level of abstraction allows a comprehensive view of the entire process, as well as future extensions for a more in-depth analysis and process mining techniques.

Background: In this paper, we analyse the economic burden of elder care in the Czech Republic by assessing how family members of senior citizens engage in caregiving. To do this, we examined the time and cost associated with caregiving as a function of age, gender, and income of the caregiver.Methods: A questionnaire comprising 17 items was used to gather data from 155 informal caregivers whose seniors are affiliated with 200 registered home care agencies. Spearman rank correlation was adopted to analyse how caregivers’ income, age and gender influences the costs accrued and time spent in caring for elders. The expenses are divided into direct and indirect. Publicly available sources are used to establish expenses on treatment and medication, which cannot be determined by the questionnaire survey.Results: Results show that around-the-clock care is the most common. Spouses of care recipients make up the highest number of caregivers, and women represent the largest portion of this group. Additionally, the more the time spent caring for an elder, the higher the cost associated with such care. The total annual burden of informal caregivers is determined by the sum of annual average indirect costs, amounting to € 36,888, and annual direct costs, amounting to € 2775, resulting in a total of € 39,663 per year.Conclusion: Czech social policymakers should begin to consider better packages for caregivers in the form of incentives and other monetary benefits to improve living standards and care for ageing seniors.