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The system of higher education is ineffective – it has to change the concept of educational process, which is peculiar for increase of the volume of education of labor resources. According to this, there is a necessity to pass to the system of higher education with elements of smart technologies. The purpose of this paper is to determine the role of smart technologies as an innovational and intellectual tool in development of the system of higher education and formation of actual skills with students.

The aspects of classical education in universities with elements of remote forms of implementation of smart technologies on IT platforms are studied; peculiarities of smart technology as intellectual tools of higher education are analyzed; perspectives of usage of smart technologies as innovational tools for development of higher education are determined. The research methods include analysis, synthesis, abstraction, comparison and logical method.

Information technologies become an inseparable part of life of society and human. A new network generation of people that cannot imagine life without new technological devices is growing. However, despite this, modern education does not sufficiently influence the development of human capital in the conditions of digital environment.

Scientific novelty consists in conducting the research in the sphere of significance and perspectives of implementing smart technologies into the systems of higher education of the Russian Federation. This paper could be interesting for public officers who form the program of development of higher education and academic staff of higher educational establishments.

The main purpose of the study is to reveal the hotel managers' perspectives strategies, and predictions on smart technologies, and their expectations for current staff and potential staff to be employed in the future.

A qualitative research approach was used to reveal the internal perspectives of managers to determine their Smart Tourism (ST) perspectives. With the snowball sampling method, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 16 senior hotel managers working in a 5-star hotel in Antalya. The data obtained were carried out with inductive content analysis and descriptive analysis from qualitative research analysis methods.

In this study, hotel managers' broad perspectives on ST were discussed in depth and presented comprehensively. Managers' perceptions of smart technologies are classified in terms of aggregate dimensions and themes. Among the most important findings, rapidity/quickness, managing/holistic assessment, standardization, harmony/integration-coordination and experience-memory, defined as the crossroads of total dimensions or the heart of smart technologies, were identified as the most important themes. In addition, Stylos et al. (2021), another important finding is the classification of technologies used in top-quality hotels, based on the conceptual framework for smart technologies presented in the literature.

The effective and efficient use of technology, its internalization and openness to technology provides important advantages in hotels such as increasing revisits and satisfaction, providing loyalty and reducing costs. Thus, the perceptions, practices, strategies and prediction of senior managers working in high-level hotels about ST provide valuable data to other hotels that want to survive in the competition.

From a theoretical point of view, this study is valuable in that it deals with the ST perceptions of senior managers with an exploratory research approach. Managerially, the research findings offer valuable contribution about the attitudes, trends, forecasts and expectations of senior managers working in high-level hotels towards ST.

This study aims to investigate the influence of smart technologies on SMEs sustainability and to measure the mediation effect of SMEs’ sustainability strategy in the relationship between smart technologies and SMEs’ sustainable performance in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The sustainability concept for the purpose of this study includes environmental sustainability, social sustainability and profitability factors.

The study applied the quantitative analysis method. The sample size was 403 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from Bahrain.

The study concludes that smart technology has a major effect on profitability performance, among other sustainable performance factors. In addition, there is no mediation effect of “SMEs’ sustainability strategy”. The study has recommended improving SMEs’ participation in sustainable development principles by considering supportive global initiatives to “Net Zero Roadmap 2050”, increasing the demand for using technologies and including academic “sustainability” concepts in academic programs.

This study contributes significantly to Bahrain’s economic growth by studying the proactive and innovative methods for increasing SMEs’ efficiency. Furthermore, it adds value to Bahrain’s national economy by investigating the role of SMEs and its strategic practices by implementing smart businesses towards developing business empowerment in Bahrain’s economic vision for 2030 and meeting SDGs regionally and globally.

Although research on smart technologies explains their critical importance in sustainable business models (SBMs) (Mikalef et al., 2017), it remains unclear how organisations can embrace smart technologies to create and/or improve their sustainable business models. The purpose of this paper is to unravel and address the challenges of smart technologies to build and maintain a sustainable business model for organisations.

The research develops an empirical analysis through a case study approach. We have investigated the case of ENAV – an Italian air navigation service provider – and how this firm uses smart technologies in the creation of its successful SBM. After constructing a basic theory, the authors moved to evidence collection. The data analysis has adopted a qualitative approach based on a thematic analysis of the transcripts and related documents.

The findings from the case study support the idea that the business value and the strategic relevance of smart technologies still remain largely underestimated in SBM adoption (Mikalef et al., 2017). Case study findings suggest that until today smart technologies have played a minimal role in SBM adoption. However, the smart technologies show the potential to inform the SBM adoption process by contributing to corporate communication for external stakeholders and to the main dimensions of SBMs such as safety and security or the respect for social and environmental criteria in the supply chain.

This study seeks to support organisations and their directors to build and improve sustainable business models through smart technologies to maintain their competitive advantages. Specifically, our findings suggest that smart technologies can help organisations bridge the design–implementation gap of sustainable business models.

This research advances our understanding of the role of smart technologies by explaining how they can enhance sustainable business model adoption. Indeed, we offer a comprehensive view of the integration of insights from three different but related literature streams such as sustainability strategies, smart technologies and change management studies.

This paper examines the use of intelligent technologies in buildings and whether the use of smart technologies impacts the circular economy performance of buildings in terms of energy and water consumption, their marginal cost and the management decision time and quality, for building management companies.

The study is initiated through the detailed build-up of the proposition that employs a systematic literature review and adopts the case study research design to make a cross-case analysis of the information extracted from data. The data are derived from the operating costs of two buildings in which most advanced smart technologies are used in Cape Town and interviews with their facility managers. These data provide two research case studies. The results of the investigation are then analysed and linked back to the literature.

The results of the research suggest that the implementation of smart technologies to create intelligent infrastructure is beneficial to the circular economy performance of buildings and the time taken for management decisions. The results of the study have proven that the impact of smart technologies on the circular economy performance of buildings is positive, as it lowers the cost of utilities and decreases the time required for management decisions.

The research reported in this paper is exploratory, and due to its limited sample size, its findings may not be statistically generalizable to the population of high-occupancy buildings in Cape Town, which incorporate smart infrastructure technologies within their building management systems (BMSs). Also, the empirical data collected were limited to the views and opinions of the interviewees, and the secondary data were obtained from the selected buildings.

The findings suggest that investment in smart technologies within buildings is of significant value and will improve the circular economy performance of buildings in terms of low energy and water use, and effective management decisions.

The results imply that there would be more effective maintenance decisions taken by facilities managers, which will enable the maintenance of equipment to be properly monitored, problems with the building services and equipment to be identified in good time and in improved well-being and user satisfaction.

The study provides evidence to support the concept that advanced smart technologies boost performance, the time required for management decisions and that they enable circularity in buildings. It supports the proposition that investment in the more advanced smart technologies in buildings has more positive rewards.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the emerging and innovative technologies which integrate together to form smart libraries. Smart libraries are the new generation libraries, which work with the amalgamation of smart technologies, smart users and smart services.

An extensive review of literature on “smart libraries” was carried to ascertain the emerging technologies in the smart library domain. Clarivate Analytic’s Web of Science and Sciverse Scopus were explored initially to ascertain the extent of literature published on Smart Libraries and their varied aspects. Literature was searched against various keywords like smart libraries, smart technologies, Internet of Things (IoT), Electronic resource management (ERM), Data mining, Artificial intelligence (AI), Ambient intelligence, Blockchain Technology and Augmented Reality. Later on, the works citing the literature on Smart Libraries were also explored to visualize a broad spectrum of emerging concepts about this growing trend in libraries.

The study confirms that smart libraries are becoming smarter with the emerging smart technologies, which enhances their working capabilities and satisfies the users associated with them. Implementing the smart technologies in the libraries has bridged the gap between the services offered by the libraries and the rapidly changing and competing needs of the humans.

The paper highlights the emerging smart technologies in smart libraries and how they influence the efficiency of libraries in terms of users, services and technological integration.

The paper tries to highlight the current technologies in the smart library set-ups for the efficient working of library set-ups.

This study aims to explore the impact of digital transformation on firm performance with the help of smart technologies.

This study used a valid and well-structured survey to collect data from 460 respondents from 150 Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Saudi Arabia. In order to analyze this data, SmartPLS software was used.

The empirical results of this study found that the digital transformation has no significant direct impact on firm performance. Therefore, in this situation, smart technologies play an important role in developing the link between digital transformation and firm performance.

This study contributes to the digital supply chain from SMEs' perspective by investigating the mediating role of smart technologies between digital transformation and firm performance.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue about generation of public value through smart technologies and strategies. The key argument is that smart technologies have the potential to foster co-creation of public services and the generation of public value in management processes, based on the collaborative, social and horizontal nature of these smart technologies. Understanding these processes from a public management perspective is the purpose of this paper and the rest of the special issue.

The approach to this paper is a theoretical and conceptual review, whereas practical implications both for scholars and practitioners arise from the review of the literature and the conceptual approximation to the notion of smartness in technologies and government. This approach is rooted in the potential of the latest smart technologies and strategies to transform public administrations and to better understand and cope societal problems.

The conceptual and theoretical perspective of this paper offers ideas for future developments. The content of this paper shows that new smart technologies and strategies will shape, and will be shaped by, the future of public organizations and management. This paper illustrates the process of change in public value generation over time, as a result of different public management paradigms (from traditional public administration to new public management), but also different types of technologies (from mainframes to websites and social media and beyond). The empirical evidence of the articles of this special issue supports this conclusion; that open and collaborative innovation processes developed under this emergent technological wave could become encouraging transformative practices in the public sector.

The theoretical and conceptual nature of this paper needs further empirical research to validate some of the discussed assumptions and ideas.

Although this paper is oriented to present the main contents of the special issue, it also provides an original approach to the theme of public value generation using smart technologies and strategies in public sector management.

This study used an integrated framework that incorporates the technology acceptance model (TAM) (Davis, 1989), the theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991) and trust to examine factors that mainly influence consumers' intention towards the use of smart technologies in tourism and hospitality (T&H) industry. The Internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality systems, augmented reality systems, etc. are the Smart 4.0 technologies generally used in T&H industry these days.

Convenience sampling approach was employed in this study. Data were collected over the Internet using a survey instrument by posting the questionnaire link on social network web pages of travel agencies from November 10, 2021, to December 30, 2021. In the opening statement of the questionnaire, we have explained about the Smart 4.0 technologies so that every respondent could understand what we mean by Smart 4.0 technologies.

The findings show that conjoining the TAM and the TPB with trust resulted in a robust model for explaining customers' intention toward using smart technologies in the T&H industry.

Smart technologies have become one of the most profitable e-commerce applications. This study examines and integrates the various advantages of smart technologies for the consumers in T&H industry, as well as providing insight into the intentions of Indian consumers. Hence, this study gives significant information to IT companies, online travel agencies, tour operators, travel agents, T&H planners and other stakeholders on Indian consumers' behavioral intentions (BIs).

This study tested the utility of the extended model in predicting consumers' intention towards the use of smart technologies in T&H industry. As far as the authors' knowledge is concerned, this is the first study that predicted intention of Indian consumers towards the use of smart technologies in T&H industry by integrating TAM, TPB and trust.

Facilities management (FM) activities affect citizens’ health and safety, long-term urban environmental sustainability and the relationships between the built and natural environments of cities. This study aims to comprehend the status of smart FM tools application, how they are used to improve the delivery of FM services and the barriers to their implementation.

To investigate the current smart solutions that leverage the quality of FM service, a case study based on the FM practice in Hong Kong was carried out. The case study was conducted in two phases of data acquisition based on a qualitative research methodology. After conducting in-depth interviews to determine the application of smart FM tools in different types of properties and to identify the initiatives and barriers to smart FM tool application, three workshops were conducted to validate the findings and further investigate the influence of FM professionals on smart FM tools application in Hong Kong.

The findings of the case study revealed, firstly, that four types of smart FM tools – user-centric, safety and hygiene, maintenance and sustainability-oriented – are used to assist the delivery of FM services. Secondly, smart FM tools are shown to be useful in assisting FM activities. Thirdly, the existing barriers to smart FM tool application manifest differently in shopping malls, office buildings and residential buildings. Fourthly, smart FM tools are used to address the four attributes of user needs: comfort, health and wellbeing, convenience and information to occupants.

The value of this study lies in its focus on the industry level (FM industry) and the application process of smart FM tools in different types of property, revealing the benefits, initiatives and barriers to their future application. This study provides a comprehensive picture of the current status and elaborates the barriers to smart FM tool application, which will help FM practitioners to make strategic decisions on selecting and developing smart FM tools. Also, this study will facilitate smart FM tool application policy development.