Energy production and consumption are major contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, exacerbating one of the greatest challenges faced by modern societies: climate change. Thus, societies must switch to more sustainable energy sources. Green hydrogen has emerged as a promising alternative energy carrier, facilitating storage and utilization across various industries. However, amidst different production processes, solely sustainable electrolysis stands out as an environmentally benign production method. Hydrogen producers must prove provenance and sustainable production to regulatory bodies and hydrogen buyers to comply with the regulations for sustainable development. Blockchain provides a viable solution encompassing trustworthy and secure information sharing between untrusted partners. In this article, we employ a design science research approach to develop a blockchain-based certification system (BLC-CS) for green hydrogen. Through collaboration with experts to gather requirements and conduct evaluations, we design an artifact that streamlines the certification process for producers, regulators, and consumers. Our proposed solution facilitates information gathering, verification, and reporting, contributing to the advancement of sustainable energy practices. We provide a comprehensive discussion of the BLC-CS’s feasibility for green hydrogen certification, including technical extensions, recommendations for practitioners, and directions for future research.@en

Public value creation is traditionally considered as the citizens' collective expectations with respect to government and public services. Recent e-government literature indicates that what exactly constitutes public value in digital government is still debated. Whereas previous research acknowledges aspects such as co-production and the orchestration role of government in the context of public value creation, there is only a limited understanding of how public value is created by the interactions between government and business actors, and the role digital technologies play in that process. Furthermore, so far, research into public value creation processes is limited to specific services that aim to meet a specific goal; for a more complete view, an integrative perspective is required to address the multiplicity of goals. Societal challenges including climate change, sustainability, and the transition towards circularity will require governments to play a crucial role. Businesses are also transforming their vision by adding societal goals to their economic objectives and contributing to these societal challenges. This necessitates even more the need to explicitly consider the role of business in public value creation processes. In this paper we argue that there is a need to understand public value creation as an interactive process, involving both government and business actors. In this process, voluntary information sharing enabled by digital infrastructures has the potential to contribute to the value creation processes, but the increased complexity of digital technologies obscures the effects they can have on value creation. Therefore, we develop a framework that allows to reason about public value creation as an interactive process, involving government and businesses, facilitated by voluntary information sharing. The framework also allows to reason about how the technological design choices of the underlying digital infrastructure influence this value creation process. For the framework development, we use an in-depth case study from the domain of international trade. We analyze the interactions between customs authorities and supply chain actors for jointly creating public value related to revenue collection, as well as safety and security of goods entering the European Union, using business data made available via a global blockchain-enabled infrastructure. In future research, the framework that we developed can be used to analyze more complex cases with additional public value aspects, such as sustainability and circularity.@en

Governmental organisations use a diversity of policy instruments for sustainability goals. In the field of materials, they aim to advance the reuse of materials on the one hand. On the other hand, they also want to control critical raw materials (CRMs) to protect society against scarcity. Information sharing is required to monitor for both objectives. Research into information sharing for the circular economy mainly focuses on using ICT to follow entire products, such as digital product passports. However, research into information sharing for reuse flows and monitoring at the level of materials is limited so far. Therefore, in this paper, we derive the following requirements for information sharing to support the monitoring of materials and CRMs in particular: 1) businesses and government organisations should have access to the complete history of materials; 2) businesses should be able to share information on materials between different supply chains and industries; 3) information on materials should be reliable and tamper-resistant; 4) governments should be able to obtain a complete overview of the pool of CRMs in circulation and of who is responsible for them; 5) the system supporting the information sharing on materials should be highly robust and should not have a single locus of control. Based on this overview of requirements, we present a research agenda in which we identify challenges and related future research questions. @en

The internet-of-Vehicle (IoV) can facilitate seamless connectivity between connected vehicles (CV), autonomous vehicles (AV), and other IoV entities. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) for IoV networks can rely on machine learning (ML) to protect the in-vehicle network from cyber-attacks. Blockchain-based Federated Forests (BFFs) could be used to train ML models based on data from IoV entities while protecting the confidentiality of the data and reducing the risks of tampering with the data. However, ML models are still vulnerable to evasion, poisoning and exploratory attacks by adversarial examples. The BFF-IDS offers partial defence against poisoning but has no measure for evasion attacks, the most common attack/threat faced by ML models. Besides, the impact of adversarial examples transferability in CAN IDS has largely remained untested. This paper investigates the impact of various possible adversarial examples on the BFF-IDS. We also investigated the statistical adversarial detector's effectiveness and resilience in detecting the attacks and subsequent countermeasures by augmenting the model with detected samples. Our investigation results established that BFF-IDS is very vulnerable to adversarial examples attacks. The statistical adversarial detector and the subsequent BFF-IDS augmentation (BFF-IDS(AUG)) provide an effective mechanism against the adversarial examples. Consequently, integrating the statistical adversarial detector and the subsequent BFF-IDS augmentation with the detected adversarial samples provides a sustainable security framework against adversarial examples and other unknown attacks.

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Companies increasingly tender knowledge-intensive tasks using crowdsourcing platforms to gain access to scarce knowledge and skills otherwise out of reach, and in this way, gaining competitive advantage. Despite its potential, existing crowdsourcing platforms encounter several challenges, including (1) fragmentation of expertise, as there are many platforms, (2) distrust between task providers and crowdsourcing participants, as identity and past performance are often not known, and (3) inability to learn from experience due to a lack of openness. A reference architecture for blockchain-based knowledge-intensive crowdsourcing platforms to mediate transactions between demand and supply of knowledge is designed in this paper to overcome these challenges. A design science research method is followed to develop the architecture. The reference architecture shows how blockchain and smart contract components can be integrated to support and coordinate knowledge-intensive crowdsourcing activities. By removing traditional e-commerce intermediaries, blockchain reduces search friction, knowledge transfer costs, and cheating by task providers or crowdsourcing participants.@en

Blockchain technology has emerged as new technology and governments are now exploring its potential for realizing value. In recent years, studies have focused on identifying opportunities and barriers of blockchain-based applications for government, and multiple piloting initiatives have been started to experiment and test the potential of this technology. Nevertheless, many of these blockchain initiatives are in the pilot stage. For the initiatives that have reached a large-scale implementation or production stage, these are largely on a local (municipal) or national level. There is limited research on operational blockchain-enabled infrastructures implemented on a global level and how they can be used by government organizations to create value. This is an area that we set out to explore with this paper. In this paper, we take the specific focus on business-government information sharing via a global blockchain-enabled platform (TradeLens) to create value for business and government. As a case study, we focus on examining the case of importing tires from China to the Netherlands and the value creation processes for the tire importer and customs enabled by information sharing via the TradeLens platform. From a theoretical perspective, building on two models that have been published earlier, we propose a framework that explicitly allows to link and reason about business-government information sharing enabled by blockchain, how it enables value creation for both business and government, and the technical blockchain design choices that are linked to this value creation process. @en

In-vehicle communication systems are usually managed by controller area networks (CAN). By broadcasting packets to their bus, the CAN facilitates the interaction between Electronic Control Units (ECU) that coordinate, monitor and control internal vehicle components. With no authentication mechanism for identifying the legitimacy and source of packets, CAN are vulnerable to cyber-attacks. An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can detect attacks on CAN and machine learning can be used to create the models for the IDSs to detect non-linear attack patterns. However, car manufacturers and owners might want to keep the sensitive information required for training the models confidential. Therefore, we proposed a Blockchain-based Federated Forest Software-Defined Networking (SDN)-enabled IDS (BFF-IDS) to address the problem of data sharing the sensitive CAN data. To ensure scalability, we used InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) to host the models, and the blockchain is designed to store only a hash of the model and a pointer to its location. The SDN provides the dynamic routing of packets and model exchanges. We used Federated Learning (FL) to create a random forest model. Individuals provide partially trained models, allowing them to keep the underlying data confidential. Using Fourier transform, we decomposed the CAN IDs cycle from CAN bus traffic in the frequency domain for better generalization in multiclass detection of attacks. Multiple statistical and entropy features were extracted to handle the high complexity and non-linearity in CAN bus traffic. The proposed system allows manufacturers and car owners to contribute to the training of the models, as their sensitive data is protected. By storing hashes of the models on a blockchain, the risk of adversaries poisoning the models is reduced and a single point of failure is avoided. We evaluated the proposed system by conducting experiments on a testbed. We found that the proposed system has efficient use of memory and CPU resources and that the detection rate of closely related attacks was high. We recorded the highest model attack detection rate of about 0.981.

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Governance requirements for systems supporting information sharing be-tween businesses and government organisations (B&G) are determined by a high variety of stakeholders with often conflicting interests. These conflict-ing interests can hamper the introduction and scaling-up of ICT-innovations that change their roles and authorities. We address one such innovation: the introduction of blockchain technologies in the B&G context. Who can gov-ern data and the system depends on several elements of the design of a blockchain-based system, particularly the data structure, consensus mecha-nism and network topology. Design choices regarding these elements affect who can make decisions and hence we call them blockchain control points. These control points require an explicit and well-understood relationship be-tween the design decisions and the interests of stakeholders. Yet, the litera-ture on blockchain technology and governance does not offer such insight. Therefore, we developed a framework to assess the alignment between stakeholders interest and blockchain design choices. This framework consists of three views and their interrelationships, 1) a stakeholder view providing insight into the tensions between stakeholder’s interests and governance re-quirements, 2), a governance view on the rights concerning the data and the system, and 3) a blockchain control view describing how design decisions on the control points affect whether governance requirements are met and how parties can exercise their rights. Making these links explicit enables an un-derstanding of how technical design choices can trigger organizational dy-namics from the stakeholder view and vice versa. Based on the framework we formulate a research agenda concerning blockchain design choices and governance.@en

Blockchain technologies offer new ways of organizing information architectures for information sharing amongst a multitude of agents in complex socio-technical systems. However, transferring the experience gained with blockchain from the crypotocurrency domain to business-to-business (B2B) setting is challenging and some of the blockchain inherent characteristics hamper pilots from scaling up towards a global blockchain-enabled information sharing business-to-business (B2B) architecture. In this paper we derive specific design principles and rules to explicitly address these blockchain scalability issues in a B2B context. To do so we analyse the evolution of the Global Trade Digitization (GTD1) blockchain architecture that is developed to share data in international supply chains all over the world by taking an information infrastructure perspective and by means of the design principles and rules of Hanseth and Lyytinen (2010) which were derived using the case of the Internet. Our longitudinal analysis represents the dynamics in the implementation of the global GTD B2B blockchain-enabled architecture. Building on the design principles of Hanseth and Lyytinen (2010) we position especially that the design principles that address the use of the installed base capabilities to offload the blockchain infrastructure, the reduction of IT capabilities to simplify its technical and social complexity, and the modularization of the blockchain-based information architecture to address separate functionalities of the information sharing process appear to be important aspects to address the scalability issues of blockchain-based applications, also in other B2B domains. @en

New developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), such as big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain technology provide opportunities for businesses and government organisations to benefit from business-to-government (B2G) information sharing. For example, big data analytics might provide government organisations with knowledge on how to assess risks using the information they receive from businesses. However, B2G information sharing can entail risks as well. Sensitive data could fall in the wrong hands and by that the competitor of the business might obtain this data. In addition, B2G information sharing could be unlawful...@en

Business-to-government information exchange has over the past decades greatly benefited from data exchange standards and inter-organisational systems. The data era enables a new shift in the type of information sharing; from formal reporting to opening up full (and big) data sets. This enables new analytics and insights by government, more effective and efficient compliance assessment, and other uses. The emphasis here shifts from establishing formats to deciding what information can be shared, under what conditions, and how to create added value. There are numerous initiatives that explore how to put data to better use for businesses, for government and for their interactions. However, there is limited attention to exactly how these new forms of extensive data sharing affects the supervision relationships. In this paper, we exploratively look across three research projects to identify the implications of information sharing beyond the regulatory requirements (‘over-compliant’). We find that the lack of attention to those implications lead to solutions that are hard to scale up and present unexpected consequences down the line, which may negatively impact the future willingness to explore new potential added value of data sharing.

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Context-awareness refers to the ability to sense and adapt to context. With the rise of context-aware systems, designers are struggling with what variables should be sensed from the context. According to the definitions found in the literature, whether something belongs to context, has to do with whether it is relevant. However, what it means to be relevant is left implicit in these definitions. Most work on context-aware systems is based on assumptions of the context that should be taken into account. Hence, it is unclear how to decide whether something belongs to context or should be left out. In this paper, first we analyse what is meant with context and provide a definition. In this definition we introduce the notion of a context variable, defined as an attribute of an object that is relevant. Context is then defined as the set of context variables. We establish explicit criteria for deciding whether an attribute of an object is a context variable based on the proposed definition and the designer’s goal. We also provide a straightforward method to help designers to determine whether the criterion is met and a variable should be included in the context. This method is based on filling out a scheme to describe context variables.@en

Supply chain management is hampered by a lack of information sharing among partners. Information is not shared as organizations in the supply chain do not have direct contact and/or do not want to share competitive and privacy sensitive information. In addition, companies are often part of multiple supply chains and trading partners vary over time. Blockchains are distributed ledgers in which all parties in a network can have access to data under certain conditions. Private blockchains can be used to support parties in making their demand data directly available to all other parties in their supply chain. These parties can use this data to improve their planning and reduce the bullwhip effect. However, the transparency that blockchain technology offers makes it more difficult to protect sensitive data. The dynamics between these properties are not well understood. In this paper, we design and evaluate a blockchain architecture to explore its feasibility for reducing information asymmetry, while at the same time protecting sensitive data. We found that blockchain technology can allow parties to balance their need for inventory management with their need for flexibility for changing partners. However, measures to protect sensitive data lead either to reduced information, or to reduced speed by which the information can be accessed.

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Context-aware systems are systems that have the ability to sense and adapt to the environment. To operate in large-scale multi-stakeholder environments, systems often require context awareness. The context elements that systems in such environments should take into account are becoming ever more complex and go beyond elements like geographic location. In addition, these environments are themselves so complex that it is hard to determine what parts of them belong to the relevant context of a context-aware system. However, insight into what belongs to this context is needed to establish what the design of a context-aware system should be to meet its goal. The ambiguity of what belongs to context in these complex organizational environments causes the design process to become either inefficient or less effective. In this paper, we provide a method to identify what elements of the environment are relevant context and to then base the design on this insight. The proposed method consists of three steps: 1) getting insight into context, 2) determining what components are needed to sense and adapt to context, and 3) determining the rules for how the system should adapt in different situations. To reduce ambiguity by organizations, the method requires a more specified definition of context than the ones in current literature, which we also provide in this paper. In addition to reducing ambiguity, the highly structured way in which the components and rules are derived from insight into context provides a way to further deal with the high complexity of the context. The method was applied for the development of a context-aware system for business-to-government (B2G) information sharing in the container shipping domain. Information sharing in this domain is highly complex, as legislation, many stakeholders, and a mix of cooperation and competition result in a highly complex environment. The development of this B2G information sharing system thus provides an example of how the method can be used to develop a context-aware system in a highly complex environment.@en

Business-to-government (B2G) information sharing can benefit government organisations, as well as businesses. Yet, businesses are often reluctant to share, as data sharing might not just provide benefits but also entails risks. Therefore, a system supporting B2G information sharing should provide the appropriate level of openness, such that the advantages of openness and possibilities to control risks for businesses are balanced. At the same time, the information obtained by the government should be useful. We identified three architectural layers at which B2G information sharing architectures can have different levels of openness, viz. the Software Layer, the Access Control Layer and the Data Layer. In this work, we compare three archetypical configurations of architectures for B2G information sharing with different levels of openness. Our aim is to provide insight into their impact on the possibilities for obtaining advantages from information sharing and managing risks of opening up data. We found that the relationship between the different levels of openness and the advantages and risks of information sharing is highly complex. We discuss this complexity and find that different levels of openness are appropriate in different situations.@en

Toensurepublicsafetyandsecurity,itisvitallyimportantforgovernmentstocol- lect information from businesses and analyse it. Such information can be used to determine whether transported goods might be suspicious and therefore require physical inspection. Although businesses are obliged to report some information, they are reluctant to share addi- tional information for fear of sharing competitively sensitive information, becoming liable and not being compliant with the law. These reasons are often overlooked in the design of software architectures for information sharing. In the present research, we followed a design science approach to develop a software architecture for business-to-government information sharing. Based on literature and a case study, we elicited the requirements an architecture that provides for the sharing of information should meet to make it acceptable to businesses. We then developed the architecture and evaluated it against the requirements. The architec- ture consists of a blockchain that stores events and rules for information sharing that are controlled by businesses. For each event, two parties use their private keys to encrypt its Merkle root to confirm that they know the data are correct. This makes it easy to check whether information is reliable and whether an event should be accepted. Access control, metadata and context information enable the context-based sharing of information. This is combined with the encryption and decryption of data to provide access to certain data within an organisation.@en

Advanced architectures for business-to-government (B2G) information sharing can benefit both businesses and government. An essential choice in the design of such an architecture is whether information is shared using a thick or a thin information flow. In an architecture with a thick flow, all information is shared via a shared infrastructure, whereas only metadata and pointers referring to the information are shared via the shared infrastructure in a thin flow architecture. These pointers can then be used by parties to access the information directly. Yet, little is known about what their implications for design choices are. Design choices are influenced by the properties of the architecture as well as the situation in which B2G information sharing takes place. In this paper, we identify the properties of architectures with a thin and thick flow. Next, we determine what this implies for the suitability of the architectures in different situations. We will base our analysis on the case of the Shipping Information Pipeline (SIP) for container transport. While both architectures have their pros and cons, we found that architectures with a thin flow are more suitable when non-standardized, and flexible sharing of sensitive information is required. In contrast, we found that architectures with a thick flow are more suitable when in-depth integration is required.@en