IT-enabled resilient, seamless and secure global supply chains: Introduction, overview and research topics

Abstract

This paper is the introduction to the fourth Workshop on IT-enabled Resilient, Seamless and Secure Global Supply Chains (WITNESS 2015). In the paper, we present a synthesis of the innovation agendas of a series of international research, development and demonstration projects that seek to make supply chains more efficient and more secure. From this agenda, we highlight three main innovation areas that are central to the current transition in the domain of logistics and international trade. Against this background, we introduce the five papers that are part of the WITNESS 2015 workshop. The papers primarily cover IT related innovations and include topics such as data quality and data governance, the development and interoperability of platforms that together present an IT innovation in international trade, and serious gaming for making key players aware of the potential of the innovations. We finalise with the suggestion to put more emphasis on the non-technical parts of the innovations, as that is what is ultimately needed to ensure wide uptake of the innovations, in order to make them really count.