IoT and Management Systems: new dimensions for research and didactics towards Sustainability

Internet of Things and Management Systems:
new dimensions for research and didactics towards Sustainability
Riccardo Beltramo
University of Torino - Italy, Department of Management
Research Centre on Natural Risks in Mountain and Hilly Environments (Natrisk)
riccardo.beltramo@unito.it
This paper has provided support for the presentation held in Hammamet, on November 7, 2015,
during the 3° BEMM - Business, Economic, Marketing and Management.
BEMM is an international conference which offers a stage to researchers in disciplines related to
enterprise, in order to present their papers, receive feedbacks from colleagues and professors,
aimed at improving methodologies and presentations. In the meantime, professors have the
possibility to monitor the evolution of these disciplines, under the pressure of technologies and
innovative statistics or modeling methods. The interactions between participants have been vivid
and fruitful. Moreover basis for further common projects have been defined.
The text has been enriched with images picked up from the slideshow used during the one hour
speech. This informative paper follows Scatol8®’s style. Several links are reported, in order to
promote an active and personalized learning process.
Topics like IoT and Management Systems have a large audience on the web. Several contributors
deal with technical issues and trend evaluation, with competence and catching style. You can find
some passages copied and pasted (and, of course, cited); others have been elaborated, other
springs from direct experiences. As researcher who have spent more than 25 years in the field of
MMSS and of the integration between internet and technologies, I shared with participants my
vision on relations between technologies, information, communication and management systems. I
welcome reactions and proposals that could be stimulated by the considerations that follow.

- PART 1 -
1. THINGS, INTERNET OF THINGS, INTERNET OF EVERYTHING
The transition from THINGS to Internet of Things to Internet of Everything
1.1. THINGS
https://youtu.be/P4_eKsPf6AY
We refer to Things as physical objects or "things" embedded with electronics, software,
sensors and actuators able to communicate changes in the environment they are
monitoring. “Environment” is broadly understood as: a body, a car, a house, etc… Basically,
systems such these have sensors that detect variables and communicate with micro-controllers
which send signals to actuators.
Sense Sensor Actuator
Sight Light, camera, color, IR LEDs, displays, lights
Touch
Buttons, pressure, rotation, temperature,
bend
Stepper motors, servo motors, DC motors
Hearing Microphone, ultrasound Speakers
Smell Gas sensors, artiﬁcial noses Fragrance emitters
Taste Artiﬁcial tongues Flavor emitters
Also... RFID, GPS, accelerometers, compass Wireless communication

In this category, we include so called Smart devices which communicate by common standards,
such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Global Positioning System (GPS), Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Near Field Communication
(NFC), Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID).
The heart of the embedded system is a RISC family micro-controller . These micro-controllers1
have an internal read/writable memory (EPROM). So you can develop your light weight program,
with several subroutines (in Assembly language or using Embedded C with software like Keil) and
"burn" the program into the micro-controller hardware, by interfacing it with a PC. These programs
keep on running in a loop infinitely.2
Embedded systems are attractive as they are:
1) Autonomous: You can build a system specific to a particular application. For instance some
standard peripherals and a specialized program can turn a micro-controller unit into washing
machine controller or an oven controller; an embedded system may not mandatorily need a display
unit.
2) Low Cost: The cost of the micro controller unit is magnitude scale lower than a full computer.
3) Low Space: An embedded system takes away very little space when you compare it with even
the smallest of laptops; you can put such a system in your hardware system quite efficiently.
4) Low power: Most of the common micro-controllers out there which are popular choices for
embedded systems operate at 5V and often need 5v regulated power supply which can be
provided through a simple 9v standard battery with voltage regulator or directly from main by using
a voltage rectifier with filter circuit.
Reduced instruction set computing, or RISC (pronounced 'risk'), is a CPU design strategy based on the insight that a simplified1
instruction set (as opposed to a complex set) provides higher performance when combined with a microprocessor architecture capable
of executing those instructions using fewer microprocessor cycles per instruction.[1] A computer based on this strategy is a reduced
instruction set computer, also called RISC. The opposing architecture is called complex instruction set computing, i.e. CISC. (https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced_instruction_set_computing)
A beginners guide to Internet of Things: Common Questions that were never answered! http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/832492/2
Stage-Introduction-to-the-Internet-of-Things-Wha#2.1 Embedded System, Grasshopper.iics, 26 Oct 2014

1.1.1 Examples of Things
1.1.1.1 Examples of Things: Wearables
With more than 35 million connected wearable devices in use by the end of 2014, watches that
provide new ways to interact with and utilize your smartphone, make Fitness tracking the biggest
application today. This opens the opportunities for watches that are capable of tracking blood
pressure, glucose, temperature, pulse rate and other vital parameters measured every few
seconds for a long period of time to be integrated in new kinds of healthcare applications.3
In this category, Smart Clothing are rising in importance and presence, also in Fashion shows.
The key driving forces behind the production of Smart Clothing have been extreme sports and the
military. In both of these contexts, the use of
technologically-enhanced garments can create
clear functional performance advantages for the
wearer, from body monitoring through to
“second skin” clothing items that employ
technical textiles and biomimicry to enhance
aspects of performance.4
Wearables are integrating key technologies
(e.g. nano-electronics, organic electronics,
sensing, actuating, communication, low power
computing, visualization and embedded
software) into intelligent systems to bring new
functionalities into clothes, fabrics, patches,
watches and other body-mounted devices.
Only ten years ago wearables have been devices such as mobile phones and MP3 players that
became much more discretely wearable; through the 20th century, bulky portable music and
gaming gadgets; and even before, since the 19th century, a handheld light bulb that represented
the cutting edge of technology.
Tomorrow (in the next 3-5 years), with the transition from Things to IoT, Wearable Technologies will
also have applications in communications, controls for electronics, powering external devices and
healthcare: helping to monitor patients in
various ways or adjusting heating levels to
keep people at appropriate temperatures.5
The expansion of wearable technologies
is possible by a favorable combination of
a growing availability of very small and
cheap micro-controllers, sensors,
indicators and actuators (pushed by R&D)
and their use in production of prototypes,
by micro-enterprises, which often
combines technical and artistic
knowledges. Handicraft creations feed a
market and arouse the curiosity of fashion
Internet of Things beyond the Hype: Research, Innovation and Deployment, O. Vermesan, P. Friess, P. Guillemin, R. Giaffreda, H.3
Grindvoll, M. Eisenhauer, M. Serrano, K. Moessner, M. Spirito, L.C. Blystad and E.Z. Tragos
http://www.watershed.co.uk/pmstudio/news/2011/11/21/lunchtime-talk-the-latest-smart-clothes-and-wearable-technology5

designers, which are tentatively introducing interactive garments in their collections
Scrolling through the web, we stumbled by chance into a success story. I mention this because I
think it is representative of many stories in which the protagonists are small start-ups, resulting
from the enthusiasm and sacrifice of their founders.
Abbigliamento elettronico (http://abbigliamentoelettronico.com/) and Textiles Intelligents (http://
www.textilesintelligents.com/) are the titles of the sites that two Italian ladies, Romana Cardinale
and Rosaria Macaione, based in
Metz (France), are blogging with
passion and competence. You
can find, of course, news grabbed
from the web, but also exciting
examples of their own realization
and an e-commerce section,
where purchasing components, to
explore, by yourself and under
their guide, the world of wearable.
I wouldn’t be able to tell you their
vision and activity better than they
do here, in French: http://
www.textilesintelligents.com/a-
propos/bienvenue/
1.1.1.2 Examples of Things: Remote Operated Vehicle
Another category of Things, that embeds sensors and micro-controller and which possesses the
characteristic of Mobility, is that of Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV). It includes Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles (UAV), Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROUV), and Remote Control Vehicle
(RCV) a land-based remotely controlled vehicle
UAV (DRONES)
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone and also referred by several
other names is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. The flight of UAVs may be controlled
either autonomously by onboard computers or by the remote control of a pilot on the ground or in
another vehicle.6
There are already several applications of UAV in the environmental monitoring field. They have
begun finding application among civilian users for earth sensing reconnaissance and scientific data
collection purposes. Promising characteristics are long flight duration, improved mission safety,
flight repeatability due to improving autopilots, and reduced operational costs when compared to
manned aircraft, as described in Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Remote Sensing and Scientific
Research: Classification and Considerations of Use.7
For clarification, containment and combat of large danger areas, fast and flexible survey of
potentially contaminated areas is an emerging challenge. Daniel K., Dusza B., Lewandowski A.,
Wietfeld C. wrote a paper to present a project that focuses on incidents, that are caused by
uncontrolled emissions of liquid or gaseous contaminants (e.g. explosive or toxic gases or liquids,
biological, chemical or nuclear weapons). Instead of sending specially equipped forces with
expensive transport and measurement devices into the contaminated area, the system that they
propose makes use of an autonomous, wireless connected swarm of micro unmanned aerial
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle6
http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/4/6/1671/htm7

vehicles (MUAV), often simply known as drones, that are featured with lightweight mobile sensor
systems.8
Koh, L. P. and Wich S. Ain focus their research on Tropical deforestation, a major driver of
biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions. Remote sensing technology is increasingly used
to assess changes in forest cover, species distributions and carbon stocks. However, satellite and
airborne sensors can be prohibitively costly and inaccessible for researchers in developing
countries. They describe the development and use of an inexpensive (<$2,000) unmanned aerial
vehicle for surveying and mapping forests and biodiversity (referred to as ‘Conservation Drone’
hereafter).9
Many other exciting examples are available in literature: observation of landscape changes,
coastal monitoring, wildlife monitoring, land use and vegetation monitoring, etc…
When such embedded systems are equipped with electronics and software that let them connect
to the Internet we enter the world of INTERNET OF THINGS.
Daniel, K., Dusza, B, Lewandowski, A., Wietfeld, C., AirShield, A system-of-systems MUAV remote sensing architecture for disaster8
response , http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4815797&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls
%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D4815797
Koh, L. P. And Wich, S. A. 2012. Dawn of drone ecology: low-cost autonomous aerial vehicles for conservation. Tropical Conservation9
Science Vol. 5(2):121-132. Available online: www.tropicalconservationscience.org

1.2. INTERNET OF THINGS
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical objects or "things" embedded with
electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity, which enables these objects to collect
and exchange data.10
Internet of Things (IoT) is an architecture that comprises Specialized hardware boards, Software
systems, web Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), protocols which together creates a
seamless environment which allows smart embedded devices to be connected to internet such that
sensory data can be accessed and control system can be triggered over internet.
Also devices could be connected to internet using various means like WiFi, Ethernet and so on.
Furthermore devices may not needed to be connected to internet independently. Rather a cluster
of devices could be created (for example a sensor network) and the base station or the clusterhead
could be connected to internet. This leads to more abstract architecture for communication
protocols which ranges from high level to low level.11
Following diagram explains what is IoT all about.
As you can notice, they have been added to Things Specialized boards, Software systems, Web
APIs and protocols. A price to pay in order to pass from a single thing (eventually connected in a
local network of fews) to a network of things on the Internet. But, doing this, a world of
opportunities becomes accessible.
By Raymond James: “The confluence of efficient wireless protocols, improved sensors, cheaper
processors, and a bevy of startups and established companies developing the necessary
management and application software has finally made the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT)
mainstream.” Internet of Things (IoT) is a concept and a paradigm that considers pervasive12
"Internet of Things Global Standards Initiative". ITU. Retrieved 26 June 2015.10
Raymond James, The Internet of Things. A Study in Hype, Reality, Disruption, and Growth, January 24, 2014, http://www.vidyo.com/12
wp-content/uploads/The-Internet-of-Things-A-Study-in-Hype-Reality-Disruption-and-Growt....pdf

presence in the environment of a variety of things/objects that through wireless and wired
connections and unique addressing schemes are able to interact with each other and cooperate
with other things/objects to create new applications/services and reach common goals.13
In the past two decades, it has changed increasingly the ability to connect remote and mobile
“things” or “machines” or “assets” to the Internet or corporate Intranets through the use of wireless
communications and low-cost sensors/computing/storage. In a sense, the Internet is expanding
from a network of computers to a network of things. Or to reverse the order, almost every thing /
asset/ object in the world is transitioning to become a computer that happens to be connected to a
network using the IP protocol.
These devices must be uniquely discovered. For unique discovery of the devices in a Network,
they need to have unique IP address. As number of IoT devices online is expected to overcome 20
billion mark and that IPv4 can only support up to 4 Billion unique addresses, IoT devices
essentially have IPv6 addressing scheme. All these devices have either ﬁxed or Subnet masked IP
addresses of type v6. Unique IP addresses makes IoT devices discoverable in the internet as
independent node.
1.2.1 Sensors
Sensors are the “magic” of the IoT. The sensor market is enormous, with Analog Devices
estimating it to approach $100 billion annually, much of which is not related to semiconductors at
all. The sensor market applicable to semiconductor vendors includes micro-electromechanical
systems (MEMS) - based sensors, optical sensors, ambient light sensors, gesture sensors,
proximity sensors, touch sensors, ﬁngerprint sensors and more. These chips effectively detect
changes in the environment, creating the information that is ultimately transmitted via a wireless
chip and interpreted through application software to create an IoT solution. Sensors or sensor
networks (Smart Dust, Mesh Networks, etc.) can provide feedback about numerous physical
phenomena including inertia, gravity, light, pressure, temperature, humidity, chemical composition,
time, heart rate, glucose, distance traveled, etc. 14
Impacts on wearable
These intelligent edge devices are more and more part of integrated IoT solutions and assist
people in monitoring, awareness gaining and decision making. They can provide actuating
functions for fully automated closed-loop solutions that are used in healthcare, well-being, safety,
security, infotainment applications and connected with smart buildings, energy, lighting, mobility or
smart cities IoT applications.15
Today, over 75% of consumers with wearable devices stop using them within 6 months. The
challenge for developers is to leverage actionable data to create apps that are seamlessly
integrated into everyday life and integrate them with other IoT applications.
Creating a seamless user experience is essential for wearable application success. Leveraging
tools to implement gesture-centric interfaces will allow users to make the most of limited surfaces
of the wearables. The integration into common IoT platforms, where developers can access data
gathered from wearable devices, is essential recombining datasets to develop applications for
Internet of T hings beyond the Hype: Research, Innovation and Deployment, O. Vermesan, P. Friess, P. Guillemin, R. Giaffreda, H.13
Grindvoll, M. Eisenhauer, M. Serrano, K. Moessner, M. Spirito, L.C. Blystad and E.Z. Tragos, http://www.internet-of-things-research.eu/
pdf/Internet%20of%20Things%20beyond%20the%20Hype%20-%20Chapter%203%20-%20SRIA%20-%20IERC%202015_Cluster_
%20eBook_978-87-93237-98-8_P_Web.pdf

specific use cases. The industrial sector offers many opportunities for developers with the
augmented reality headsets needed to be used to integrate wearables for solving real problems in
the industrial sector.
The market for wearable computing is expected to grow six-fold,
from 46 million units in 2014 to 285 million units in 2018 .16
Wearable computing applications include everything from fitness
trackers, health monitors, smart watches, etc…17
To emphasize the attempt to integrate computing into clothing,
the term “computational clothing” has been coined, to refer to
clothing that has the ability to process, retrieve, and send
information. Clothing and clothing accessories function as stand
alone computers, to react to sensors in the environment, or to
link to the World Wide Web and other networked systems. Most
importantly, computational clothing will allow users to access the
functionality associated with modern computational devices while
conforming to traditional fashion trends.
Future proposed applications also include performing medical
tests on the wearer. On the issue of collecting physiological data,
the early work of Mann during the 1980’s illustrates an attempt to integrate biosensors into wear
comps that detect the user’s physiological state. The more recent work of Picard and Healey
attempts to correlate physiological states with emotion.18
http://design.avnet.com/axiom/te-wearables-abundant-opportunities-and-challenges/16
Building the Hyperconnected Society: Internet of Things Research and Innovation Value Chains, Ecosystems and Markets, a cura di17
Ovidiu Vermesan,Peter Friess, River Publisher
Computational Clothing and Accessories, W. Barfield (Virginia Tech), Steve Mann (University of Toronto), Kevin Baird (Virginia Tech),18
Francine Gemperle, Chris Kasabach, John Stivoric, Malcom Bauer, Richard Martin (Carnegie Mellon University), Gilsoo Cho (Yonsei
University).

1.3 FROM INTERNET of THINGS to INTERNET of EVERYTHING
Cisco defines the Internet of Everything (IoE) as the networked connection of people, process,
data, and things. The benefit of IoE is derived from the compound impact of connecting people,
process, data, and things, and the value this increased connectedness creates as “everything”
comes online.
IoE is creating unprecedented opportunities for organizations, individuals, communities, and
countries to realize dramatically greater value from networked connections among people,
process, data, and things.
By comparison, the “Internet of Things” (IoT) refers simply to the networked connection of physical
objects (doesn’t include the “people” and “process” components of IoE). IoT is a single technology
transition, while IoE comprises many technology transitions (including IoT).19
2. Management Systems (MMSS)
If we look at IoE pillars (People, Process, Data, and Things) we can wonder if there are
similarities with MMSS.
Definition of MMSS
“A management system is the framework of policies, processes and procedures used to ensure
that an organization can fulfill all tasks required to achieve its objectives.”20
For instance, an environmental management system enables organizations to improve their
environmental performance through a process of continuous improvement. An oversimplification is
"Plan, Do, Check, Act". A more complete system would include accountability (an assignment of
personal responsibility) and a schedule for activities to be completed, as well as auditing tools to
implement corrective actions in addition to scheduled activities, creating an upward spiral of
continuous improvement.
Also as in the aforementioned management system, an occupational health and safety
management system (OHSMS) enables an organization to control its occupational health and
safety risks and to improve its performance by means of continuous improvement.
Examples of management system standards include :21
• ISO 9001:2015 standards for quality management systems;22
• ISO 14001:2015 standards for environmental management systems;23
• OHSAS 18001:2008 occupational safety & health management systems;24
• SA8000: 2008 social accountability;25
• UNI CEI EN 16001:2009 —-> ISO 50001:2011 standard for energy management.26
A MS establishes borders between an economic organization and surrounding environment
and manages relations inside the company and in-between to optimize processes.
https://www.cisco.com/web/about/business-insights/docs/ioe-value-at-stake-public-sector-analysis-faq.pdf19
International Organization for Standardization (2001) Guidelines for the justification and development of management system20
standards. International Standard ISO Guide 72, Geneva, Switzerland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_system21
http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/management-standards/iso_9000.htm22
http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/management-standards/iso14000.htm23
http://www.ilo.org/safework/areasofwork/occupational-safety-and-health-management-systems/lang--en/index.htm24
http://www.sa8000.info/25
http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail?csnumber=5129726

This statement is true for all international standards. The content of the phrase assumes different
shades, depending on the values considered by standards, i.e.: customer satisfaction,
environmental compatibility, health and safety, social responsibility, energy and so on.
3. Sustainability
In ecology, sustainability is the capacity to endure ; it is how biological systems remain diverse27
and productive indefinitely. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of
sustainable biological systems. In more general terms, sustainability is the endurance of systems
and processes. The organizing principle for sustainability is sustainable development, which
includes the four interconnected domains: ecology, economics, politics and culture.28
Sustainable Development stands for meeting the needs of present generations without
jeopardizing the ability of futures generations to meet their own needs – in other words, a
better quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come. It offers a vision of
progress that integrates immediate and longer-term objectives, local and global action, and regards
social, economic and environmental issues as inseparable and interdependent components of
human progress.
3.1. EU Policies for SD
“Sustainable development will not be brought about by policies only: it must be taken up by
society at large as a principle guiding the many choices each citizen makes every day, as
well as the big political and economic decisions that have to be taken. This requires profound
changes in thinking, in economic and social structures and in consumption and production
patterns.
Sustainable Development is a global concern; therefore, its principles need to be implemented
more widely in international cooperation and development policy.
Already in 1997 sustainable development became a fundamental objective of the EU when it was
included in the Treaty of Amsterdam as an overarching objective of EU policies.
Outline of the 2001 EU SDS
The overall aim of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy is to identify and develop actions to
enable the EU to achieve a continuous long-term improvement of quality of life through the creation
of sustainable communities able to manage and use resources efficiently, able to tap the ecological
and social innovation potential of the economy and in the end able to ensure prosperity,
environmental protection and social cohesion.
The strategy set overall objectives and concrete actions for seven key priority challenges
for the period until 2010, many of which are predominantly environmental:
• Climate change and clean energy
• Sustainable transport
• Sustainable consumption & production
• Conservation and management of natural resources
• Public Health
• Social inclusion, demography and migration
• Global poverty and sustainable development challenges
Sustainability 2013, 5(6), 2480-2494; doi:10.3390/su5062480, The Capacity to Endure: Following Nature’s Lead, Frank Fogarty, Amy27
Villamagna, Allen Whitley and Kelly Pippins.
http://en.openei.org/wiki/Definition:Sustainability28

To improve synergies and reduce trade-offs, a more integrated approach to policy making is
proposed, based on better regulation (impact assessments) and on the guiding principles for
sustainable development (adopted by the European Council of June 2005). The external
dimension of sustainable development (e.g. global resource use, international development
concerns) is factored into EU internal policy making and through integration of SD considerations
in EU's external policies.
The European Council in December 2007 welcomed the Commission Progress Report and insisted
on the need to give priority to implementation measures: "Sustainable development is a
fundamental objective of the European Union. The European Council welcomes the Commission's
first progress report on the renewed EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS). It agrees that
the objectives and priorities under the seven key challenges contained in that strategy remain fully
valid and that the main focus should therefore be on effective implementation at all levels. The
renewed EU Strategy and national strategies for sustainable development also need to be linked
up more closely. The governance structure and tools of the SDS, in particular in relation to
monitoring of progress and best practice sharing, must be fully used and strengthened. The EU's
integrated climate and energy policy and an integrated approach to the sustainable management
of natural resources, the protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services and sustainable
production and consumption are among the drivers for achieving objectives under both the SDS
and the Lisbon strategy. The EU must continue to work to move towards more sustainable
transport and environmentally-friendly transport modes. The Commission is invited to present a
roadmap together with its next Progress Report in June 2009 on the SDS setting out the remaining
actions to be implemented with highest priority.””29
4. Are MMSS able to consider S principles?
Management Systems, in internationally standardized forms, were born around those years. Their
evolution over time reflects the evolution of the concepts of quality, environmental quality, health &
safety, social issues, and, ultimately, towards their integration. Sustainability is the driving force
for the integration; management system standards provide an architecture to integrate
information related to these concepts, in order to optimize management.
Appropriate MMSS, or in other words, efficient and effective MMSS:
- are tailor-made (customized), sewed on the organizations, capable to incorporate their
language, practice in conducting operations and to correct the mistakes, to fade defects
- incorporate continuous improvement principle (trial and error)
- develop an optimal organization of people and resources, able to deal with change and properly
react. As well said, by Tom Peters: "TEST FAST, FAIL FAST, ADJUST FAST.”
“Appropriate MMSS” can also mean Integrated Management System. When two or more issues,
dealt with by International Standards, are relevant to an organization, there are opportunities for
integration of documental system. In such a way, duplications of documents are avoided. In
addition, the integration witnesses an advanced approach of the top management, which will
reverberates over employees and customers. As the number of meaningful variables increases, it
is foreseeable the application of diverse measure technics: instruments but also check-lists,
questionnaires, interviews, etc. As consequence, also the statistical elaborations will evolve, to
provide proper indicators to the management and top management.
An Integrated Management System, elaborated within the Commodity Science area of the
Department of Management (University of Torino), has been named TIQMS - Territorial Integrated
Quality Management System - model. TIQMS analyses the management of a site under different
perspectives: quality, environmental and landscape, health and safety, and social accountability
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/29

(Beltramo, Duglio, & Caffa, 2009). All these aspects are taken into account thanks to the adoption
and integration of the following international standards: ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, OHSAS
18001:2007, SA800:2008 and the European Landscape Convention.
The starting point is the Integrated Preliminary Analysis that studies the operational processes of
the organization’s activities and their environmental and health and safety implications paying
simultaneously attention to the customer satisfaction. Due to this preliminary analysis, TIQM
system offers a tool and a methodology to implement a set of managerial and operational
procedures in order to control and improve the quality of services, the environmental and
landscape performances of the organization and, in the meantime, taking care of the employers.
TIQMS was supposed to be implemented in primis by Public Administration as a tool to rule
territorial areas.30 31 32
The concept of quality as a set of characteristics that products or services must have, in order to
meet customers’ satisfaction, opens the doors to IoT at several levels: interactions with customers
in order to listen to their desires, to receive their feedbacks and send information on products,
services, commercial campaigns, etc… thus improving the capacity of understanding and meeting
signals from consumers’ behaviors.
Measurements of critical parameters along the production chain are oriented at improving
efﬁciency and effectiveness of operations or, in other words, material and energy savings (which
are a priority of EMS); IoT can supervise operations in order to prevent and avoid accidents
(facing OHSAS 18001 and SA8000 principles); information on production are fundamental of
Environmental (Process - Physics - Data), Economic (Data - Figures), Social (Data - People)
MMSS.
R. BELTRAMO, E. VESCE, S. DUGLIO, M. GIARDINO, Tool Integrated Management of a geosite: Application of TIQ (Territorial30
Integrated Quality) for the Progeo-Piemonte Project, in “Epitome”, special issue of the proceedings of the Geoitalia 2011 - VIII Forum
Italiano di Scienze della Terra, Torino, 19-23 Settembre 2011, Volume 4, pp. 112-113, ISSN 1972-1552
R. BELTRAMO, S. DUGLIO, Territorial Integrated Quality Management System (TIQMS): a methodological proposal for Public31
Administration, ECLAS Conference 2010 “Cultural Landscape”, Istanbul (Turkey), 29 September– 2 October 2010 (poster)
Beltramo, R., Cantore, P. & Duglio, S. (2015). Design and implementation of an integrated management system based on open32
source technology in a geo-industrial tourist destination. Proceeding of the International Conference “Sustainable Mountain Regions:
Make them work”, Borovets (Bulgaria), 14-16 May 2015, pp. 140-149, ISBN 978-954-411-220-2

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from the phrase "Make and Know”.33
Over time, pieces have changed in forms, sizes, colors; outfits codification systems and contents
change too, but, in spite of slight or major changes, Meccano remains faithful to the original idea
SPOT 2
For those of you who lived the transition between Iron age and Plastic Age or were born in the
Plastic Age:
LEGO
Lego is a line of plastic construction toys that
are manufactured, since 1949, by The Lego
Group, a privately held company based in
Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship
product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking
plastic bricks accompanying an array of gears,
figurines called minifigures, and various other
parts. Lego pieces can be assembled and
connected in many ways, to construct objects
such as vehicles, buildings, and working robots.
Anything constructed can then be taken apart
again, and the pieces used to make other
objects.
The Lego Group began manufacturing the
interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Since then a global Lego subculture has developed. Supporting
movies, games, competitions, and six Legoland amusement parks have been developed under the
brand. As of July 2015, 600 billion Lego parts had been produced.34
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meccano33
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego34

Lego: bricks, tiles, windows and doors of a few sizes and shapes which develop and enhance
creativity. You can watch and build a proposed model, following instructions, but most of time you
mentally design your creature and build it, in a path of trial and error.
Again, a series of Lego sets let you extend your possibility (and skills), with the addiction of a wide
range of bricks, tiles, windows and doors, for building more and more complicated objects. Each
box stands for a module, which is independent by itself, but thanks to a simple and standardized
connectivity mechanism it can be linked to others, to expand functionalities.
MODULARITY
In industrial design, modularity refers to an engineering technique that builds larger
systems by combining smaller subsystems.
SPOT 3
For those of you that, growing up in the Iron Age (like me), have been affected by the passion for
motorbike…:
Harley-Davidson
What is this?
This is an engine! Some would say "the engine!". It is the H-D four stroke 45-degree V-twin, two
valves per cylinder, pushrods and rockets operated engine. The motorbikes company was officially
funded on 1903, and the production of V-twin started on 1909.  
It is the heart of most of HD motorbikes. If you browse HD catalogue, you can find some thirty
models equipped with this engine, in different versions as far as power is concerned: 883, 1200,
1340 cc, etc…but with the same geometry.
If you look around or participate to a HOG meeting, you will find numerous, very different models,
equipped with this engine. Each owner wants to feel unique, adding on aftermarket components,
which enhance the character of her/his own HD: Air Cleaners, Audio, Body Parts, Brakes,
Dashboards / Gauges, Drive / Transmission, Engine Parts, Exhaust, Filters, Foot Controls, Fuel
Management, Handlebars / Controls, Lighting, Luggage, Oil & Gas Tanks, Riding Gear, Seats /
Sissy Bars, Suspension, Tires, Wheels, Windshields.

“Although mass-produced vehicles, Harleys are almost never left
as they came from the assembly line, but are customized by
individual riders to reﬂect their own aesthetic. A bike bought
for 25.000 $ from a dealer may immediately be majorly rebuilt for
additional 10.000 or 20.000 $ more, with the aim of turning it into
one’s unique aesthetic creation. This is truly an example of
how high technology and mass production can make each
individual an artist, creating a work that, like ﬁne art, will usually
appreciate in value.”35
Harley Davidson and Philosophy, Full Throttle Aristotele, “What Are a Bunch of Motorcycles Doing in an Art Museum?”, Bernard E.35
Rollin, Carus Publishing Company, 2006, p.122

SPOT 4
For those of you grown up in in the Plastic Age:
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll, launched in March 1959 by Ruth Handler, an American business woman.
Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for over ﬁfty years. It is still on36
the market. One can put on Barbie different dresses, depending on the story that you imagine to
(want to) live with her, in the preferred stage, always different: formal, for ofﬁcial ceremonies, or
casual, for a picnic in the countryside. “In their 56 years of life she has not only become a global
icon, managing to break down every linguistic, cultural, social and anthropological barrier, but has
been represented in 50 different nationalities and embarked on no less than 150 different
careers.”37
CUSTOMIZATION,
the process of cultural appropriation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie36
T. Toma, Barbie the icon, Ulisse, Ottobre 201537

SPOT 5
Then, few years later, the casual meeting with
the theory of Bioeconomy (recently
rediscovered by EC).
Nicolas Georgescu-Roegen, and his theory of
the bio-economy. The bio-economic theory,
formalized on 1971 in the book “The Entropy
Law and the Economic Process”, is the first
and perhaps the most rigorous attempt to
correlate the economy to life sciences.
Nicolas Georgescu-Roegen has proposed the
development of this theory in favor of an
environmentally and socially sustainable
economy. He argues that any science that
deals with the future of man, as economics,
must take into account the inevitability of the
laws of physics, and in particular the second law of thermodynamics, for which at the end of every
process, the quality of energy (ie the possibility that energy can still be used by someone else) is
always worse than at the beginning.
Any economic process that produces goods decreases the availability of energy in the future and
therefore the future possibility of producing other goods. In addition, in the economic process also
matter degrades ("matter matters, too"), or by nature decreases its ability to be used in future
economic activities: once released into the environment, raw materials previously concentrated in
underground deposits can for reuse in the economic cycle only in a much lesser extent and at the
cost of a high expenditure of energy. Matter and energy, therefore, enter into the economy with a
relatively low degree of entropy and come up with an higher entropy. From this he derives the need
to radically rethink economic science, making it capable of incorporating the principle of entropy
and overall ecological constraints.
In the thought of Georgescu-Roegen there are some fundamental issues, useful to think and to
educate individuals in terms of sustainability. First, the way in which analytically address the
process of production. Georgescu-Roegen says that there is no process without a border and
assumes that the border should be open. The frontier identifies a partial process that takes place
within its environment, which is also a partial process itself. The border does not say what happens
in the process, so that the process does can be described only by watching what happens on the
border, with the identification of the factors that cross, in one way or another. To find out what
happens in the process, there is no other way than to draw other boundaries that divide the initial
process in many other processes. An economic system can maintain a steady state if exchanges
of flow factors occur in the intensity and in the appropriate time on supply and demand and,
especially, if there are energy and material available. It follows that, at both the macro to the micro
level, it is necessary to act in an analytical perspective, he proposed a input-output matrix, to
determine the ability of a system to sustain itself. The flows of materials and energy needed to
sustain the system are influenced by the demand expressed by the population and it is now clear
that, as the energy available from fossil fuels that most exploited, the time horizon is closing.38
The bioeconomy is a concept that is currently flourishing on the international political economic
arenas. In the early days of 2013, the European Commission launched a “bioeconomy
observatory”. The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE) has also got
hold of the topic, just like the American government, which published its national bioeconomy
blueprint in April 2012.39
R. Beltramo, Scatol8: A Path To Sustainability, Università degli Studi di Torino, Terza Edizione, Dicembre 2012, ISBN38
978-88-905834-3-8
http://www.institutmomentum.org/bioeconomics/39

- PART 2 -
What we learn from bioeconomy is that we are surrounded by open systems which live upon
communication with environment, at different levels: resources (raw materials, intermediate
products, human resources, economic and financial resources), operations, outputs (products and
services).
This is true for manufacturing companies and for services. For instance, if we consider a School, a
University, places which host, by definition, didactical activities, there are input and output flows,
operations, and environmental impacts, also relevant for economic analysis. They must be
identified, measured and managed in order to evaluate the sustainability of an organization.

If we take a stand on the border, we can identify inflows and outflows, and measure them. After
carrying out these operations (identification and measurement) we can delegate the monitoring
over time to someone or someTHING, just stay sitting quietly and contemplate the data we receive.
Thus, devices can replace repetitive, long and boring job, and allow us to spend time in
observation, interpretation, and designing new strategies.
IF WE WANT TO PURSUE SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH RESEARCH AND DIDACTICS, WE
SUFFER A LACK OF RELIABLE DATA to design EMS and/or conduct LCA STUDIES.
HOW CAN IoT BE HELPFUL?
We seldom look at the rearview mirror. We prefer to pay attention to road, opportunities, obstacles,
views that are widening in front of us, to find the best way to take profit from the journey, in this
ever-changing creative environment. In this case of experience sharing, a bit of story can be
useful…
A super zipped story of Scatol8®
Once upon a time there was a group of
researchers who investigated the capacity of
M M S S t o b e a p p l i c a b l e i n w e i r d ,
unconventional sites: the site they chose was at
the top of a mountain, the Regina Margherita
Hut, at 4552 m asl. They thought that if MMSS
would have showed to be applicable in in-
someway extreme conditions, they would have
had chance for great diffusion and success.
We were on 1997, and there was a lively
debate in EU about the real applicability of
EMAS regulation to SME's. In the mean time,
european officers were paying attention to the
tourism industry, the brightest in growing rate, and, potentially, the most dangerous for
environmental and social impacts. A sector, made of thousands of SME's, that could have been
properly managed by EMAS, extended in scope. But there was serious doubts, due to the
bureaucracy represented by environmental policy, environmental declaration, procedures,
modules, registrations, and so on.
The group started a research project that lasted three years, built on these steps:
- environmental initial analysis;
- environmental management system design;
- actions to diminish environmental impacts
determined by food preparation and energy
production.
Since the first year, it was clear that EMAS
could have been introduced in this mountain
hut, if properly adapted to the specificity of the
site. At the same time, it was clear the EMS is a
necessary but not sufficient condition to walk in
the route of sustainable tourism, which include
other essential factors: it guarantees
immediately identification and control of
environmental impacts, but this doesn't mean
that activities and services provided to tourists
are decided following sustainable tourism principles.

In parallel, they have been launched research projects in other analogue sites, and the group got
an experience over more than one hundred mountain huts. In 2004 the EMS has been copied,
adapted and pasted, considering natural, social and economic contest, to the Italian Expedition at
K2, and thereafter to public organizations that manage territorial development.
At the end of these experiences, it was clear that the Achille's heel in introduction and application
of EMS is the registration of signiﬁcant environmental aspects, and the joint process of data
gathering and updating that stands behind it. And this problem arises too in most of manufacturing
SME's we met on our job.
The willingness to solve this problem
originated the idea of introducing in the
organizations a nervous system, able to
continuously detect meaningful data with
a low degree of interference with daily
operational activities.
A nervous system able to:
- send signals if dangerous or abnormal
situations happen;
- collect and record data, in order to control
the effectiveness of the management
system and
- be helpful to the decision-taking process,
devoted to improve the environmental
proﬁle of the organization.
If such a system could have been designed and built, a step forward in the sustainability arena
would have been done. In addition, if such a system could have been cheap, it would have been
an accessible tool, to be spread in favor of environmental awareness raising.
This is the background of Scatol8®’s story.40
R. BELTRAMO, The SCATOL8
TM
: an innovation for shifting from Environmental and Landscape Management System (ELMS) to the40
Eco-Land-Web-Scape Management System (ELWSMS), Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 2, 2010, pp.
16-23, http:// www.distribution-magazine.ro/magazine2/

Scatol8®‘s concept
Scatol8® is made up of hardware and software that are suitable for custom applications. It can be
the hub of various activities to raise awareness in the education on sustainability. The choice of the
name "Scatol8®" conveys the idea of a friendly, handicraft, an easy-to-understand and easy-to-use
device. Accessibility which is communicated through the transparency of the container. In line with
the philosophy of the community of makers of open source platforms, the development of the
prototype of Scatol8® we have worked on a variety of solutions for the container, through the reuse
of packaging and components of recovery.
Gyro Gearloose Archimede Pitagoricos' hat follows the evolution of technology ....
Scatol8®’s mission:
Scatol8®’s vision:

And here it is the first sketch that still drives our activities, where we put the basis for an Eco-Land-
Web-Scape-Management-System Scatol8® driven :41
Briefly, the ongoing activities are focused on:
• Scatol8® is the basis of this evolution, a complete system, consisting of detection tools, which
feeds, via web, programs for dynamic modeling and management.
• Eco: application of remote sensing technics, to monitor resource consumption and pollution.
• Land: Studying environmental and landscape evolutions by means of Intelligent Geographic
Information Systems, Artificial Neural Networks, Fractals, Artificial Agents on the basis of
information provided or managed by Scatol8®.
• Web: the Web is the platform that lets you create Scapes, view maps of landscape-
environmental quality, store data allowing the study of complex dynamics, to share results with
stakeholders, to raise awareness, to simulate and manage changes through an organized
communication.
• Scape: Real landscape and the perception of territorial transformations create a landscape on
the internet, where quantitative, qualitative, perceptional aspects are assembled and kept in
communication, encouraging a shared path for continuous improvement, made possible through
the use of dynamic models which, starting from the real, lead to the development of future
scenarios.
• Management: Encourage a shared decision process, using Stella modeling system and making
easier the implementation of management software system, introducing user-friendly interfaces.  
R. BELTRAMO, Dal Sistema di Gestione Ambiental-Paesaggistico (SGAP) all’Eco-Land-Web- Scape-Management (ELWSM),41
Proceedings of the The XV International Interdisciplinary Conference “Wonderland in the Landscape-Cultural Mosaic. Idea, Image,
Illusion”, Palmanova UD, 16-17 settembre 2010

The vision reached a detailed image and the real possibility to be realized on 2010, when a few
open source micro-controllers appeared in the market, and cheap sensors were available, too. The
concept of Scatol8® was adapted to the needs of managers of mountain huts, in collaboration with
Regione Piemonte - Directorate of Public Works, Soil Protection, Economics and mountain forests,
through our involvement in VETTA Project.
The ﬁrst micro-controller we tested and used was Arduino:
“Arduino is a simple micro-controller board and open source development environment that allows
you to make computers that drive both functional and creative projects alike. A popular platform for
DIY projects, an Arduino micro-controller is the foundation of literally thousands of projects created
by Makers worldwide!” Arduino’s family expanded over the years, and new releases caught42
tinkerers’ world. Here you can keep tracks of the evolution: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/
Products. By the way, the THING showed in the video is a Lilypad, a member of Arduino’s family.
Since then, other open source prototyping platforms, such as Raspberry , have been developed,43
with additional characteristics, to attract semi- or professional users.
Sensors…. and communities of makers, hackers, tinkerers have opportunities to meet on the
Internet, in newsgroups and during fairs.
http://www.makershed.com/collections/arduino42
https://www.raspberrypi.org/43

Scatol8® system
Scatol8® consists of a central unit and of peripheral (end) nodes, connected in a network.
Numerous sensors, able to detect and monitor variables, are connected to peripheral nodes which
transmit the data to a central unit, connected with a server. Sensors and peripheral units change in
type and numbers depending on customers’ requirements.44
Designed in the perspective of sustainability, Scatol8® is inspired in its creation and implementation
to the following criteria:45
Modularity. The system is constituted from
time to time, according to the requirements and
speciﬁcations of each application.
Accessibility and dissemination. Hardware
and software are fully based on open
technologies and software in view of cost
containment, openness and ease of access,
even for training purposes. Scatol8® is not only
a product, but also an initiative to spread
knowledge, which aims to involve young people
in the creation of technology (and not only in its
use), which is accompanied by information tools
on the relationship between observed variables
and sustainability and proposes.
Environmental compatibility. When possible, all electronic devices are placed in recycled
containers, coming mainly from food and electronics industry, transformed and adapted to their
new function, or in containers made of wood (a renewable resource), or even cardboard.
The sensor network is usually composed by the following blocks (Figure 1. Example of Scatol8®
network):
R. BELTRAMO, S. MARGARITA, “The Scatol8® for Sustainability: an update on the remote sensing system of environmental,44
landscape and management variables”, Holistic Marketing Management Journal, Volume 2, Issue 4, 2012
R. BELTRAMO, P. CANTORE, L. GALLO, “Scatol8® system for education on Sustainability. Design and implementation of a45
simulation model to empower its diffusion.”

Sensors
Sensors already included in the platform are environmental and biometric ones.
Environmental parameters: Acceleration, Power consumption, Wind direction, Distance, Liquid
ﬂow rate, Air quality (presence of smoke, benzene, carbon dioxide, LPG, propane, hydrogen,
oxygen, methane, carbon monoxide), Illuminance, Mass (eg. Production waste), Movement (eg.
Intrusion, counting pieces, etc.), Oxidation-
Reduction Potential, pH, Rain, Atmospheric
pressure, Radioactivity (α, β, γ decays), Noise,
Temperature of liquids, Soil temperature, Air
temperature, Soil moisture, Humidity, Wind
speed, Vibration.
Biometric parameters: ECG, EMG, respiration
rate, glucose and blood pressure, pulsation of
the heart, galvanic skin response, body
temperature, Pulse and Oxygen in Blood
Sensor.
See Enclosed 1 for a detailed list of sensors we
are using in Scatol8® System.
Node
Despite every node has not the same sensors
connected to, it shares the same basic
construction. The core part has been
implemented using the prototyping platform
Arduino UNO which is based on the ATIMEL
ATmega328 microcontroller. The second layer
of our architecture is the wireless SD shield. It
adds one socket for connecting XBees and
another one for using a microSd card. This last
opportunity is used in case of faults: if the
coordinator node is not reachable data are
stored on the node just till the moment when
the coordinator availability would come back.
The last layer is the groove base shield

produced by Seeedstudio. It offers a lot of groove standard connector for mechanical interfacing
with sensors.
Coordinator
The coordinator node is based on the
prototyping platform Arduino mega. This
microcontroller differs from the one used in the
end node (based upon Arduino UNO) because
the RAM was not sufficient for the SD, Bee and
Ethernet library at the same time. The Ethernet
connection and the micro SD functionalities are
covered by the Arduino Ethernet Shield that is
based upon the WIZnet W5100 chip. The
Arduino XBee shield interface offers a socket
for the XBee ZigBee based radio. Data packet
transmission between the microcontroller and
the radio uses the digital port 0 and 1 of the
micro while on the other hand GND and VCC
pins of the Ethernet shield have been physically
connected to the ICSP corresponding on the ArduinoXBee module because the first one hasn’t a
female ICPS connector ready to use.
ZigBee network
Zigbee is a specification based on the IEEE
802.15.4 standard used to create personal
area network with small and low-power radios.
The most used radio in Scatol8® network are
Digi XBee series2 pro version. It’s possible to
mix “pro” and “simple” version because they
only differs in kind of current absorption and
covered wireless range (Digi). Despite
sometimes a star network topology would be
sufficient we choose to always adopt mesh
radios (series 2). The reason is that series 1
and 2 can’t speak together and so adopting
ZigBee radios from the beginning is the only
way to easily switch from star to mesh network
topology in case of WSN future expansion.
Ethernet/wifi network
When only few nodes are necessary and the
place to be monitored is equipped with an
Ethernet/wifi network it is possible not to use
the ZigBee radios and to connect the
microcontrollers directly to the existing network.
In this case the nodes are equipped with an
Arduino mega microcontroller and the
coordinator is not even necessary.
Server
Data collected by the coordinator are sent to a
server through the internet. Using open source technologies you can use Apache as a server, the
database engine Mysql and Php for creating dynamic web pages that show collected data.

Dashboard (Crusc8) and packaging are highly customizable, as you can see from these galleries:
Crusc8 Gallery
Modularity and customizability have also been followed on the stage of dashboard. Depending on
users’ proﬁle, ad hoc dashboards have been designed. This is a sample of screenshot of some of
the dashboard we developed, with the indication of users’ category.
The desire to create a system, useful to raise awareness on the relationship between consumption
and environmental quality, is displayed in a range of Scatol8® “dresses”, made with plastic and/or
cardboard containers for food products, duly processed to ensure the suitability for use.
In addition, in recent time, the collaboration with designers and handicraft has created a green
supply chain, where aesthetic side has been considered and married to feasibility considerations.
This evolution is described in the following gallery:

CUB8
It is the first demonstrator of Scatol8®.
Small Lago bricks contain sensors and LEDs,
while the large brick contains the micro-
controller. Helpful in showing the function of
sensors, micro-controller and actuators, Cub8
explains the concept of network and modularity,
imported by Meccano and Lego.
The same concept has been developed with
used plastic bottles, instead of Lego bricks.
Accessibility has been communicated by the
transparency of the material, and environmental
care reusing a wasted packaging.
Vas8
Vas8, a small and shining flower vase, is
another demonstrator. The concept of
interaction with the environment is magnified
by a led stripe. The intensity of the light
changes, depending on illuminance. Paper
flowers are made of waste paper, using the
origami. Manual dexterity and material
recovery are particularly considered by this
demonstrator

Scatol8®
♥ Nutella has been proposed in
several releases. Little containers are highly
transparent and host sensors and indicators; the
largest container, the micro-controller. Thanks to
this demonstrator, accessibility, environmental
compatibility and modularity are easily
understood.
Wooden containers have been largely
introduced in the realization of Scatol8®
System
for mountain huts. Coordinator is a prism with
an octagonal base and nodes have other
regular forms. You can use laser cutter or other
tools to build them.
Scatol8® SmartGarden 3.0
With Scatol8® SmartGarden 3.0, you can
monitor the environmental variables in real
time, analyze the time series of data to process
“recipes”, in favor of a more effective
management of green spaces. You can even
create virtual landscapes, from which to draw
new ideas for plan spaces.
It was launched in Turin, at the Book Fair 2014,
in the corner technological TOSM Landscape
3.0. Scatol Smart garden 3.0 is able to:
- detect temperature and humidity and
brightness;
- detect temperature and soil moisture ;
- continuous video shooting and taking photos
with a webcam;
- display data on Crusc8 locally and through the
web;
- determine light sequences of varying intensity,
depending on the activities carried out;
... And draw a wide range of virtual landscapes,
depending on the intensity of variables.

In Latina (Rome), at the fairground
Pontino, from 16 to 18 November 2013,
was held the event WellNext 2013. In the
stand set up by Caneschi Ltd., Scatol8®
revealed itself through new prototypes,
designed and produced in a green supply
chain, in accordance with the strategic
lines that guide our achievements.
S8-It
S8-It, Scatol8® Interactive t-shirt:
integration between natural fabrics and
natural dyes, and Scatol8®, to create
clothing with lights, as a function of
environmental variables to which is tied
the welfare of individuals. Custom
solutions for conﬁgurations, colors and
style.
S8-SIL and S8-LIL, Scatol8® Short and
Long Interactive Lamp: lighting systems,
in two sizes, to determine sequences
bright, dynamic interior design objects that
contribute to well-being. Built of wood and
natural fabrics, they interact with the
environment, change the appearance and
conquer the senses of the living space.
Distributed in an apartment, S8-IL are
peripherals nodes of a Scatol8® network; the values of the environmental variables are conveyed
to a router, published on the Internet and viewed with Smartphone and Tablet.

In the presentation of the Scatol8® System, detailed information on the hardware has been
provided. The countless combinations and architectures of sensors, peripheral nodes and
coordinator node are not ends in themselves, but are oriented to the collection and disclosure of
INFORMATION.
The software has an overwhelming importance because programs, written in different computer
languages, allow the detection, transfer, processing and representation of information.
The software is present at the time of communication between micro-controllers and sensors,
among peripheral nodes and the central node, and between the central node and router, in
construction, in the consultation and processing of archives and, ﬁnally, in the view of the data.
The value of the Scatol8® System, which is also the business proposal, is the service provided to
manage the information that is to process them in relation to the desired application
(management , education) and propose them to the user with appropriate interfaces.
Let’s come back to relations between IoT and Management Systems, with a focus on EMS. How to
bridge IoT and MMSS? This slide answers, in general terms, to the question:

To attempt a more detailed answer, let’s have a look to the following Table.
We can ﬁnd points where Scatol8® System supports the implementation of an EMS, which follows
ISO 14001 structure:
RELATIONS BETWEEN SCATOL8® AND EMS
DEMING CYCLE PHASES DIRECT CONTRIBUTION INDIRECT CONTRIBUTION
PLAN
4.3.1 – Environmental aspects ★
4.3.2 – Legal and other requirements ★
4.3.3 – Objectives, targets and
programme(s)
★
DO
4.4.1 – Resources, roles,
responsibility and authority
4.4.2 – Competence, training and
awareness
★
4.4.3 – Communication ★
4.4.4 – Documentation
4.4.5 – Control of documents
4.4.6 – Operational control ★
4.4.7 – Emergency preparedness and
responses
★
CHECK
4.5.1 – Monitoring and measurement ★
4.5.2 – Evaluation of compliance ★
4.5.3 – Non-conformity, corrective and
preventive action
★
4.5.4 – Control of records ★
4.5.5 – Internal audit ★
ACT
The Top management should review
the EMS at planned intervals for
ensuring its adequacy, effectiveness
and suitability
★

In detail, relations can be described as follows:
SCATOL8® and Environmental Aspects
Scatol8® System has a considerable importance in facilitating the data gathering phase and,
further on, the monitoring stage. About this aspect, too, the continuous detection of environmental
variables facilitates a comparison between the real intensity of variables and that one established
by environmental goals or by the environmental laws; in the latter, if limits are exceeded, alarm
signals can be activated to prevent emergencies or to report the need for intervention.
Furthermore, the analysis of emergency situations allows to highlight the responsible factors and to
design and implement prevention strategies.
It is possible to process data contained in the environmental database, importing them in statistics
applications and in simulation programs.
The field of existence of the measured variables can be divided in subfields and each of them can
be associated with qualitative judgments, useful to feed a report, an audit report, a communication
to stakeholders.
SCATOL8® and Legal and other requirements
When you consider the possibility of linking the regulatory registry and the Scatol8® system, the
latter allows the monitoring of legal constraints, signed in Environmental Policy.
Data, collected in real time, can be continuously compared with the limits set by environmental
standards; in case of violation, Scatol8® sends a warning signal. The commitment to compliance
with legal requirements can be considered fulfilled if all legal requirements are met. Therefore, in
the register of requirements, each legal prescription could be accompanied by a check box with
three alternative assignable values: 0 if it is not respected; 1 if the activities were initiated to fulfill it;
2 if the requirement is met. A value of 0 and 1 indicate a situation of non-compliance and,
therefore, appear in a dashboard or alarms will be reported based on the configuration of the
system, such as with SMS to REMS.
SCATOL8® and indicators
Indicators are variables treated with algorithms; if properly set, they are useful to measure
efficiency and effectiveness of management.
Guidelines for the implementation of EMS render available various methods to reduce the
subjectivity or to make easily identifiable the subjective elements from the objective ones, in
establishing the boundary between Significant Environmental Variables and Not Significant
Environmental Variables
If the variables which express the significant environmental aspects were selected according to the
critical evaluation recommended above, it would be logical that all of them are considered, at least
at the beginning of the monitoring activity. You may intervene, at a later time, for proceeding to a
selection, to whom it will follow a simplification of the management system. With regard to the
normal operational conditions, it is proposed to assume and monitor, as environmental significant
aspects, at least those who are governed by law.
This activity can be quickly carried out by a suitable program, reducing the chances of error. Data
detected with the Scatol8® flow into a program which places them in relation to each other, to
process the indicators. If your interest is the preparation of a Sustainability Report, such as one of
Global Reporting Initiatives, the program may also require a data entry referring to the social and
economic spheres, not automatically detected by Scatol8®.

Even in the case of qualitative variables (which are expressed with descriptors: cold / warm / hot /
boiling), it is necessary to identify equivalences in quantitative terms, to facilitate the development
of judgments on the efficiency and effectiveness of management.
A remote sensing system can expand the number of automatically controlled variables, but does
not diminish the importance of expert judgment to determine which take on a significance.
The relative ease with which the data can be found can even give rise to difficulties, leading to a
datastore large enough to disorient. To avoid this, during the Planning phase you have to devote all
the time necessary to the analysis of the processes, the identification of a set of indicators and the
selection of those to be kept under control, choosing from those related to significant
environmental variables. This emphasizes once again the importance of the contribution of
competent professional, whose knowledge and experience are essential in the planning of the
EMS and the decision on significant environmental aspects. The automatic measurements of the
intensity of the variables and the development of indicators help to overcome the subjective
considerations in order to discriminate between significant environmental aspects and not.
However, in particular as regards to abnormal operational conditions and emergencies, it is
essential the role of an expert in the interpretation of data and situations.
SCATOL8® and Objectives, targets and program(s)
Continuous improvement
Improvement is measured in terms of degree of achievement of objectives. The general statement
of commitment to continuous improvement can be associated with the goals set for each significant
environmental aspect.
If the targets are met or exceeded, the statement is true; otherwise in the next step, the Review, a
verification will be undertaken, in order to ascertain the reasons for the negative variances. Then
you can consider to create an archive of objectives; an archive of indicators, associated with the
objectives; a verification procedure of the values, that expresses the degree of achievement and
how to behave in case of non compliance.
Since it is likely that not all goals are met in same degree, it will be prepared a summary table that
will be useful both at the time of the Audit and Review.
To keep an eye on the degree of achievement during the daily activities, it is possible to provide for
the realization of a dashboard (Crusc8) that includes the objectives.
Goals, targets, environmental program
In the drafting of the Environmental program, you can identify goals amenable to measurement
directly through Scatol8®, or, indirectly, through indicators.
The monitoring system and its implementation or its extension can be included in the
Environmental programs, when the EIA was based on evidence obtained by discontinuous
methods or literature data.
SCATOL8® and documentation
It is possible to identify several cases of application of Scatol8®. They depend on the degree of
“computerization” of the documentary system, but it’s a matter of fact that the evolution of EMS is
based on informatics and web.
Essential for the integration between Scatol8® system and EMS, is the preparation of a
computerized version of the whole management system.

It is very likely that all documents are subject, over time, to change. Therefore, the various fields
that make up a document can be treated as elements of many archives, from which will be drawn
the relevant, current data, to compose up-to-date documents.
The study of the EMS in computerized version will lead to define the number and type of archives
and their architecture, in order to facilitate the preparation, updating and distribution of the EMS
elements.
SCATOL8® and Operational control
Operational control is possible thanks to Procedures and Operating instructions. The operating
instructions define and govern the operations and their sequence, established for a satisfying
control of the significant environmental aspects.
The Scatol8® neatly records the variables related to environmental aspects. By consulting the
relative database, it is possible to determine precisely when and how they were made. If sensors
have been cabled on machines, it is possible to monitor the exact execution of operations over
time and put them in correlation, if necessary, with variations of intensity in environmental aspects.
Thus, it is possible to verify the methods of execution contained in the operating instructions and
the actual performance, for improvements in the instructions themselves.
Placing the execution of instructions in relation to the intensity of their significant environmental
aspects, you can get useful data to assess the effectiveness of operations.
The introduction of Scatol8®, as an instrument of assistance and control in the execution of
operating instructions, requires the breakdown of structured activities in elementary steps, the
execution of which can be facilitated by sending appropriate messages to the operator and
monitoring the successful execution of elementary operations.
SCATOL8® and Audit
The audit is based on evidence that the REMS derives from the organization by means of visits,
interviews, data analysis. In this phase data automatically detected by Scatol8® and indicators are
properly organized in the Audit Dashboard to facilitate the appreciation of efficiency and
effectiveness of EMS.
SCATOL8® and Review
During the Review, the Top management is focused on the results of the system, as presented by
the REMS through the Audit Report.
To prepare a dashboard for the Top Management, REMS could maintain all indicators that
compose its dashboard or introducing specific indicators. At this stage, the benefits of SCATOL8®
system are indirect: the monitoring network, interfaced with a data processing program, allows to
have a concise, updated and reliable report.

This slide sums up the above mentioned concepts:46
Beltramo, R., Cantore, P. & Duglio, S. (2015). Design and implementation of an integrated management system based on open46
source technology in a geo-industrial tourist destination. Proceeding of the International Conference “Sustainable Mountain Regions:
Make them work”, Borovets (Bulgaria), 14-16 May 2015, pp. 140-149, ISBN 978-954-411-220-2
Manual of the
Integrated Management
System
Integrated
Territorial Analysis
Objectives and
targets
Indicators
Operational Procedure
“Offices”
“Real estates”
“Visit”
“Maintenance”
“Temperature”
“Humidity”
“Waste”
“Electricity”
“Water
consumption”
“Fuel”
Scatol8®
Algorithm

TEACHING EXPERIENCES47
In terms of teaching, it has been stated that “The rapid development and ubiquity of ICT are re-
setting the boundaries of educational possibilities. …
Digital media have the potential to transform learning environments permitting intensive networking
and access anywhere and at anytime, thus helping to solder connections in the fragmented worlds
and experiences of young people in school and outside. Technology can help empower learners to
become active in shaping their learning environments.”48
Environmental education in Italy
In Italy, consciousness and interest about environmental problems were born late in comparison
with other countries, with the creation of the Ministry of the Environment in 1986. The first
programmatic document that was produced in Italy is the Carta dei principi per l'educazione
ambientale orientata allo sviluppo sostenibile e consapevole, also known as Fiuggi's paper, written
after the seminary promoted by the Ministry of the Environment together with the Ministry of Public
Education in Fiuggi in 1997. In this document sustainable development education is seen as a
strategic element for promoting conscious behaviors towards the environment and learn about the
complex relationship among nature and human actions.
The interest in this issue by the institutions has been confirmed in 2000, with the first Conferenza
nazionale di Educazione ambientale, held in Genoa, during which they formulated the guidelines
for the INFEA (Information Training Environmental Education) program, aimed to spread on the
territory structures of information, training and environmental education.
Since 2003, Italy participated in the WEEC (World Environmental Education Congress), a series of
World Congresses addressed to Environmental Education in all its forms. In 2013, following the 7th
WEEC held in Marrakech, Network WEEC Italia is founded, with the aim to bring together all
existing initiatives at various levels about environmental education and sustainability, to start a
process of comparison and aggregation first in the country, then in the international dimension.
Since 2005 Italy has participated in the implementation of DESS, through the concerted efforts of
those engaged in the field of education for sustainability, both at a national and local level.
In 2009, a new collaboration between MIUR – MATTM has allowed the publication of Linee guida
per l’educazione ambientale e allo sviluppo sostenibile addressed to schools, suggesting
innovative orientations in the fields of environmental education and sustainable development in
order to organize suitable school programs.
On 14th of January 2015, the daily paper La Stampa reported the statement of the environment
undersecretary, Barbara Degani, about a forthcoming presentation at MIUR of a research project
involving the insertion of Environmental Education as a subject of study since kindergarten. The
project, a joint initiative of the Ministers of Environment and Education, has been placed on an
implementation plan with respect to the guidelines presented by the previous ministers, where the
individual initiatives were not specifically included in a plan coordinated at a national level. The few
advances concerning this project suggest a first transversal insertion of the new subject,
Environmental Education or Education to Sustainable Development, within other disciplines, not
just scientific ones, waiting to have a proper class. These advances, however, are not reflected in
the document La Buona Scuola containing the school reform guidelines presented by Prime
Minister Matteo Renzi in September 2014.
R. Beltramo, L. Gallo, P. Cantore, “Scatol8® system for Education on Sustainability. Design and implementation of a Simulation model47
to empower its diffusion”, Presentation held in Gothenburg, on July 2, 2015, at the 8th WEEC - World Environmental Education
Congress,
F. Pedró, THE NEW MILLENNIUM LEARNERS: Challenging our Views on ICT and Learning, OECD-CERI, May 200648

The new instruments in Environmental Education
«Commentators on education are arguing that a new generation of learners is entering our
educational institutions, one which has grown up with information and communication technology
(ICT) as an integral part of their everyday lives. It is claimed these young people’s use of ICTs
differentiates them from previous generations of students and from their teachers, and that the
differences are so significant that the nature of education itself must fundamentally change to
accommodate the skills and interests of these ‘digital natives’».
The use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the area of Education is a proper
challenge for educators: developing a new learning environment designed to encourage
communication skills, critical thinking, responsibility and independence, making the digital natives
able to navigate the thick network of available information.
In recent years Environmental Education embraced the possibility to adopt new tools such as
computers and mobile devices, traditionally opposite to excursions used to educate through the
direct experience of the natural environment. Interest in new technologies, especially among young
people, has fueled the debate in literature, encouraging the production of studies that analyze the
comparison of these instruments and those that are the traditional means of Environmental
Education.
As students represent a sizable chunk of future
energy consumers, they are often the target of
these studies directed to verify the
effectiveness of the new instruments. In many
cases, the results show that the use of
computers and mobile devices has the same
ability to influence environmental behaviors as
the use of classical instruments does,
stimulating, especially among young people,
their motivation to engage in environmental
education activities.
E-learning in Environmental Education gives
the opportunity to combine traditional teaching
methods with electronic devices. These
instruments can both simulate situations that
allow the participants to improve knowledge
and attitudes on environmental issues, and also
virtually track natural environments not directly
accessible. In addition to the risk of alienation
from nature, an aspect that must be taken into
account concerns the risk to overlook the
pedagogical principles, when reorganizing the
course in electronic modules, forgetting that ICT
as to be considered just as a mean.
Important success has been gained in recent
years by the use of environmental Serious
Game, since they give the possibility to take
advantage of the high levels of engagement
and motivation, usually typical of video games
users, in order to inspire a learning process in
students. Recently Environmental Serious Game has multiplied their presence on the Web,
offering a wide variety of games that addresses the issues of sustainability, energy efficiency and
renewable energy.

The growing popularity of mobile devices has provided an opportunity to experiment also with
mobile-learning in the field of Environmental Education. Using mobile devices makes it possible to
bridge the gap between direct use and virtual use of the natural environment, combining the
benefits of online learning with the direct experience of nature. Mobile devices are in fact used to
support the direct experience of the natural environment, both by accompanying it with equipment
to take notes, compare and increase the knowledge of what has been observed, and also by
assisting educators in the activities and monitoring the participants improvement.
Finally, the recent deployment of the 'Internet of Things’ (IoT) has opened new scenarios for
learning, allowing the communication between
real and virtual through the internet connection
of objects daily use. It is estimated that in 2020
the IoT will reach 26 billion connected devices,
an increase of 30 times with respect to the
installed base in 2009. This relentless growth
has been confirmed by the last edition of the
annual technology fair, Computex 2015, which
has just ended in Taipei, where the attention
has mainly been focused on smart devices. IoT
can also be used in Environmental Education in
order to obtain environmental related data from
common objects, to stimulate a reflection on
consumption and on the daily habits of users.
The Lab A Scuola con lo Scatol8®
Structure and objectives
The Scatol8® system was employed in an educational workshop within the Il risparmio energetico
comincia dalla scuola initiative of Piedmont region during the academic years 2012-2013 and
2013-2014. The laboratory inclusion in the activities proposed by the regional initiative had the aim
to complete the students learning process in a concrete way, taking advantage of the playful
dimension, in order to approach young people to concepts that might have appeared complicated.
The system was installed in 8 classes, belonging to five Istituti Comprensivi in Piedmont provinces
of Biella, Turin, Vercelli and Novara and allowed to monitor the same environmental variables in
each classroom: air temperature and humidity, the amount of waste paper products, energy
consumption.

The start of the laboratory in the classes was preceded, in each school, by a meeting between the
Scatol8® Team, the representatives of the institute involved in the project, and the regional
manager, in order to agree on a work plan with the teachers. As for the proper teaching, this was
divided into two moments: ﬁrst of all, a front meeting has been organized and the features and
functions of the system have been described. After that, the students have been involved in an
operational mode in the design and realization of the '"dress" of the Scatol8®, that was to be
developed during teaching hours. The basic principle to be observed for the packaging was the
eco-friendliness, through the reuse of materials and recovery packaging. The electronic
components have then been placed inside the containers prepared by the students, allowing them
to observe the variables monitored through the Crusc8 and discuss with the teachers about the
environmental performance of the classroom. The system has been running throughout the entire
year, allowing teachers and students to continue observing the evolution of the variables recorded
in their classroom and comparing the values with those of the other class of the school using the
system.
To provide hints for didactics, a collection of teaching cards has been prepared, available in Italian
and Spanish. There, you can ﬁnd a program that aims to involve teachers of different subjects, to
help training the students on sustainability. A Scuola con lo Scatol8® (At school with Scatol8®)
suggests activities in the school, to be performed with the system Scatol8®, and activities at home,
to be carried out with the involvement of the family.
Observation of trends over time
Crusc8 allows the observation of intensity of variables over time. The environmental variables and
data play a central role in teaching. The interaction between teachers and students on the meaning
of the variables and their intensity, is promoted by the experimental approach. By doing this, even
learning the theoretical foundations is facilitated.

One can observe the trend of a variable over time
(such as the temperature, humidity, illuminance, power consumption, the amount of waste) and
interpret the positive or negative peaks.
You can compare the performance of the same variables, measured in two different classes of the
school, and stimulate the interpretation of any differences. You can identify patterns of energy
consumption, and connect them with the activities carried out in the school (use of multimedia
interactive whiteboard , computers , etc ... ).
High School
In Highschools, there are several additional opportunities to interact with Scatol8® System.
Although the data still retain their importance, especially in Physics and Chemistry, and packaging
design incorporates the concept of sustainability in different ways, are the technical aspects that
stimulate the activity. Technical schools intervene on electronics or software or communications
between units of the system. Students can analyze the performance of sensors, design new
electronic circuits , to add new features and write new software.
University
Scatol8® allows to detect, through a wide range of sensors, magnitudes that assume a relief from
the economic point of view, contained in the matrix of Nicola Georgescu Roegen.
For example, speaking of use of resources, it is possible to understand that some of them find use
in the construction of the means of production and, therefore, are immobilized, for a specified time
span, into useful tools to transform other resources, others are incorporated directly into the
products. In this way, one can illustrate the concepts of wear of the tools, of physical life and
technical life, obsolescence and, thus amortization, maintenance, replacement, etc ...
The theme of the time horizon, which is clear from the observation of trends over time, it is also
useful to discuss the criteria underlying the classification of resources between renewable and non-
renewable.
A study can be made obtaining information on the energy baskets of nations to discuss the energy
vulnerability of States. Or, again, looking at the relative composition of the countries' energy
baskets over time, we can highlight the different strategies introduced by States, such as the
strategies of reducing dependence on non-renewable resources, possibly combined with greater
use of renewable solar and wind power, in particular, or the use in different proportions to nuclear
fuel, etc ... The reasoning on annual energy production can be accompanied to those relating to
the cost of energy and the energy prices for users, etc ...
If we look at the side of the environmental effects, you can introduce several arguments with
economic importance. The absolute amounts of waste products, broken down by type and
category fraction, measured by the unit cost of disposal, open the chapter of the economic
importance of the "Ecology" within companies.

The same environmental variables, however, lend themselves to be treated from the point of view
of environmental economics. At the macroeconomic level, allow arguments on the concepts of
external economies or diseconomies, markets, government intervention, taxation and subsidies,
etc ... Complementary to these issues, are those that relate to investment in clean technologies, for
the reduction of pollutants.
Finally, elements of the discussion may be the relationship between economic variables and well-
being, a subjective state to reach which will face direct and indirect costs.
The path led by System Scatol8® towards awareness of the contribution that every citizen can give,
through its daily choices, is obviously very complex and strongly linked to the objectives and the
preparation of teachers. The experiences described are evolving and participation in the
improvement of the system is encouraged.
CONCLUSIONS
At the end of this overview, which considered Facts, Experiences and Views on Internet of Things
and Management Systems, and explored influence on research and didactics towards
Sustainability, we can draw these conclusions:
EVERYONE has a stake in IoT! Somebody owns or will own shares, too.
A Study in Hype, Reality, Disruption, and Growth: “The number of Internet-connected devices
surpassed the number of human beings on the planet in 2011, and by 2020, Internet-connected
devices are expected to number between 26 billion and 50 billion.”
Everything (and everyone) will be affected by this revolution! IoT is a combination of exosomatic
devices, to use a Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen terminology. Definitely, he was not so keen on
exosomatic tools, conceived as a sort of patches, glued to our lives in order to make them
apparently more comfortable, but with high (and often purposely ignored) environmental costs.
Exosomatic comfort tax our energy and matter resources, it promotes the exploitation of finite
planetary resources – energy and free matter – and because it produces irreducible pollution
emanating from it, human economic activity undertaken by present generations affects the one of
future generations. On my opinion, as economic system relies on technology and information, IoT
are useful to drive the transition between feeling and sensing, to introduce more and more
accurate quantitative parameters in decision taking processes, paying attention to evidences and,
ultimately, to building rational plans, which optimize the use rate of resources.
The various layers of the IoT value chain cover several distinct product or service categories.
Sensors provide much of the data gathering, actuators act, radios/communications chips provide
the underlying connectivity, micro-controllers provide the processing of that data, modules combine
the radio, sensor and micro-controller, combine it with storage, and make it “insertable” into a
device. Platform software provides the underlying management and billing capabilities of an IoT
network, while application software presents all the information gathered in a usable and
analysable format for end users. The underlying telecom infrastructure (usually wireless spectrum)
provides the means of transporting the data while a service infrastructure needs to be created for
the tasks of designing, installing, monitoring and servicing the IoT deployment. Companies will
compete at one layer of the IoT value chain, while many will create solutions from multiple layers
and functionally compete in a more vertically integrated fashion. .49
The possibility to take the chances lies upon the capacity of re-imaging the business
(research & didactics) and... ourselves. For example, referring to computational clothing design,
Raymond James & Associates, “The Internet of Things – A Study in Hype, Reality, Disruption, and Growth”, online at http://sitic.org/49
wp- content/uploads/The-Internet-of-Things-A-Study-in-Hype-Reality-Disruption-and-Growth.pdf, January 2014

it will be important for designers to consider information from a wide variety of sources. Information
about textile and fabrics, microelectronics, human interface design, networking, over sources, and
cultural fashion trends will need to be considered when designing computational clothing.
The first ring of a value chain are the consumers, so consumers at first, then shop assistants,
retailers, ecc…are active participants to create a business. Significant advances are expected to
be made on this topic in the next five to ten years. So you can expect a growth opportunity to tie50
IoT applications to teaching. The possibility that new applications, made available by the search,
will find use also depending on the degree of receptivity of the teachers or, in other words, by the
possibility to achieve an appropriate degree of preparation.
The IoT is a tool that will be welcomed to the extent that will enhance the basic culture, which
belongs to today's teachers, making possible the realization of new scenarios. New and
unforeseen professions not only new working places in the field of hw, sw, combination of both,
application, manufacturing, makers, hackers, artists, etc…
New capacities have to be acquired (both for researchers and teachers) or, at least,
importance of new capacities must be felt (and found on the market of new professions) in
order to begin a fruitful communication with new, and now mostly unforeseen, partners for
new business models.  
As the IoT becomes established in smart factories, both the volume and the level of detail of the
corporate data generated will increase. Moreover, business models will no longer involve just one
company, but will instead comprise highly dynamic networks of companies and completely new
value chains. Data will be generated and transmitted autonomously by smart machines and
these data will inevitably cross company boundaries. A number of specific dangers are
associated with this new context – for example, data that were initially generated and exchanged in
order to coordinate manufacturing and logistics activities between different companies could, if
read in conjunction with other data, suddenly provide third parties with highly sensitive information
about one of the partner companies that might, for example, give them an insight into its business
strategies. New instruments will be required if companies wish to pursue the conventional
strategy of keeping such knowledge secret in order to protect their competitive advantage.
New, regulated business models will also be necessary – the raw data that are generated may
contain information that is valuable to third parties and companies may therefore wish to make a
charge for sharing them. Innovative business models like this will also require legal safeguards
(predominantly in the shape of contracts) in order to ensure that the value added created is shared
out fairly, e.g. through the use of dynamic pricing models51
Machines will be asked to evolve, too
Machines “are asked” to improve their learning systems. Machine learning, “a subfield of
computer science (CS) and artificial intelligence (AI) that deals with the construction and study of
systems that can learn from data, rather than follow only explicitly programmed instructions” is52
already in use, but the amount of data they deal with now is far, for orders of magnitude, from what
is foreseen. “IoT will produce a treasure trove of big data, (high-volume, high-velocity and/or high-
variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing
that enable enhanced insight, decision making, and process automation) – data that can help53
W. Barfield, S. Mann, K. Baird, F. Gemperle, C. Kasabach, J. Stivoric, M. Bauer, R. Martin, G. Cho, “Computational Clothing and50
Accessories”, in Fundamentals of Wearable Computers and Augmented Reality, Second Edition, Woodrow Barfield.
Platform INDUSTRIE 4.0 – Recommendations for implementing the strategic initiative INDUSTRIE 4.0, Final report of the Industrie51
4.0 Working Group, online at, http://www.acatech.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Baumstruktur_nach_Website/Acatech/root/de/
Material_fuer_Sonderseiten/Industrie_4.0/Final_report__Industrie_4.0_accessible.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_learning52
http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/big-data53

cities predict accidents and crimes, give doctors real-time insight into information from pacemakers
or biochips, enable optimized productivity across industries through predictive maintenance on
equipment and machinery, create truly smart homes with connected appliances and provide critical
communication between self-driving cars. The possibilities that IoT brings to the table are endless.
As the rapid expansion of devices and sensors connected to the Internet of Things continues, the
sheer volume of data being created by them will increase to a mind-boggling level. This data will
hold extremely valuable insight into what’s working well or what’s not – pointing out conﬂicts that
arise and providing high-value insight into new business risks and opportunities as correlations and
associations are made. We need to improve the speed and accuracy of big data analysis in
order for IoT to live up to its promise.” 54
Prof. Riccardo Beltramo
University of Torino - Italy
Department of Management
Research Centre on Natural Risks
in Mountain and Hilly Environments (Natrisk)
riccardo.beltramo@unito.it
http://scatol8.net 
http://www.wired.com/insights/2014/11/iot-wont-work-without-artiﬁcial-intelligence/54

Enclosed 1 - List of the sensors used in Scatol8® System

Pulse and
Oxygen in Blood
Sensor

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