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This paper presents the development of the user interface for the Robovolc volcano exploration robot. The discussion examines the important issues, concepts that need to be considered and the lessons learnt during the overall development phase. The process by which the final user interface was developed is also described, examining the key stages and decisions that were made. Lastly, results of the final tests carried out on Mount Etna are also discussed.

This paper aims to investigate, inside the private sector of transport, a model for the diffusion of knowledge-sharing technologies with non-uniform internal influence that has been developed by Easingwood et al. (1983).

The authors performed an empirical evaluation of the performances of the model by Easingwood et al. (1983) by analyzing data gathered from almost 230 taxi drivers joining two of the biggest taxi brokers operating in the Southern Italian city of Naples.

Such an analysis reveals that the model by Easingwood et al. (1983) provides an excellent agreement with the empirical data and allows to obtain interesting predictions on the future evolution of the sector performances in terms of increasing use of knowledge-sharing technologies within the taxi drivers’ community of practice (CoP).

In particular, the authors show that a unique solution always exists, which is defined on the whole (positive) set of times and, in the long run, tends to a steady-state equilibrium. A first limit of the present research is certainly the use of a sample restricted to the taxi companies from only one city: future investigations should consider a larger sample by interviewing taxi companies from multiple regions as well. Another limit is that the model performed does not take into account all the factors influencing the diffusion of knowledge-sharing technologies within the CoP. Finally, the research design is not considering the impact of the diffusion of knowledge-sharing technologies on the customer relationship management.

The research shows the application of a valid model both for evaluating the diffusion of technologies for sharing knowledge within a CoP and for estimating its development trend. It represents the first original study in Italy that empirically investigates the diffusion of technological innovations for the knowledge management in an industry typically dominated by tacit codes of knowledge-sharing: the taxi companies.

This study aims to analyse how the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies can help different types of agri-food supply chains introduce and manage innovations in response to the challenges and opportunities that emerged following the COVID-19 pandemic.

A systematic literature review methodology was used to bring together the most relevant contributions from different disciplines and provide comprehensive results on the use of I4.0 technologies in the agri-food industry.

Four technological clusters are identified, which group together the I4.0 technologies based on the applications in the agri-food industry, the objectives and the advantages provided. In addition, three types of agri-food supply chains have been identified and their configuration and dynamics have been studied. Finally, the I4.0 technologies most suited for each type of supply chain have been identified, and suggestions on how to effectively introduce and manage innovations at different levels of the supply chain are provided.

The study highlights how the effective adoption of I4.0 technologies in the agri-food industry depends on the characteristics of the supply chains. Technologies can be used for different purposes and managers should carefully consider the objectives to be achieved and the synergies between technologies and supply chain dynamics.