Digital Transformation and Innovation in Product–Service Systems in Industry 4.0

Dear Colleagues,

The product-service system (PSS) is a business model that offers a combination of tangible goods and intangible services, thus providing additional value to customers in a product–service continuum. The PSS model offers innovative services that can enhance the optimized performance and longevity of products. Other benefits include enhancing sustainability through efficient resource use and waste reduction.

The fourth industrial revolution, otherwise known as Industry 4.0 (i4.0), has brought different integrated digital technologies such as digitalization and servitization that are transforming the PSS by leveraging advanced technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and big data analytics.

Digitalization helps companies deliver flexible, responsive, and sustainable PSS offerings, giving customers access to a product–service ecosystem based on needs. Businesses can employ digital technologies like the IoT, mobile apps, and AI to create and deliver more integrated, efficient, customer-focused solutions, including personalized services in real-time. This approach enhances customer experience, provides satisfaction, and enables companies to be more competitive and resilient in a digital economy.

Similarly, servitization enables companies to offer integrated solutions that combine products with value-added services. This model aims to provide customers with outcomes rather than merely products, creating deeper, ongoing relationships and shifting from a transaction-based model to a service-oriented one. Digitalization and servitization enable businesses to expand the product–service offering and diversify revenue streams while enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

This call-for-papers (CFP) focuses on the interconnectedness and the application of the listed technologies, including IoT, cloud computing, and AI/generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), in the PSS context. We seek original research and review articles that discuss leveraging i4.0-integrated technologies to innovate and transform the PSS operations and ecosystems, while implementing the principles of digital responsibility and sustainability.

Prof. Dr. Ikpe Justice Akpan
Prof. Dr. Onyebuchi Felix Offodile
Dr. Olamide Jogunola
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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