Are AI and environmental technology innovations converging?

The main goal of this article is to understand the potential learning applications based on AI technologies for health higher education students. We employed a Systematic Literature Review, contributing to explore to what extent AI technologies are currently influencing the Health learning processes in higher education and the skills developed during the learning path. The intent is to contribute to a more profound understanding of learning contexts, methodologies, technologies, and pedagogical processes with the application of AI technologies. The literature emphasizes that AI can be used to potentiate the learning process and the learning outcomes, especially in laboratory classes, and such contexts are still largely unstudied. To fulfil this gap, some practical applications based on AI technologies applied to health higher education studies were identified, highlighting AI's innovations and possible opportunities for health higher education.

This study aims to investigate the environmental impacts of AI and digital technologies, identify potential mitigation strategies, and assess the role of policy, regulation, and public awareness in fostering sustainable practices within this domain. Employing a qualitative research methodology, this study collected data through semi-structured interviews with 27 professionals across the technology sector, environmental research, policy-making, and academia. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview transcripts, allowing for the identification of main themes and categories related to the environmental impacts of AI and digital technologies and the exploration of potential mitigation strategies. Five main themes emerged from the analysis: Direct Environmental Impact, Mitigation Strategies, Technological Innovations, Policy and Regulation, and Public Awareness and Engagement. Each theme encompasses various categories and concepts, such as Energy Consumption, E-Waste, Renewable Energy Adoption, Sustainable Design, Energy-Efficient Hardware, Legislation and Standards, Educational Campaigns, and Digital Literacy. The findings highlight the complex and multifaceted nature of AI and digital technologies' environmental impacts, along with the crucial role of innovative mitigation strategies and comprehensive policy frameworks in addressing these challenges. The study concludes that while AI and digital technologies offer tremendous potential for advancing sustainable development, their deployment must be carefully managed to minimize negative environmental impacts. It underscores the importance of integrating sustainability considerations into the development and deployment of these technologies, alongside fostering robust policy and regulatory frameworks and enhancing public awareness and engagement to achieve a sustainable digital future.

Purpose AI and digital innovation (DI) enhance the operational efficiency of hotels while simultaneously fostering green innovation (GI). This dual benefit provides hotels with a competitive edge, enabling them to pursue more sustainable practices that align with the growing emphasis on environmental protection among consumers. This paper seeks to examine the influence of AI and DI on GI, sustainable performance (SP) and competitive advantage (CA). Design/methodology/approach Employing path modeling through the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique to enhance understanding of the effects of artificial intelligence and digital innovation. An anonymous survey consisting of 34 questions was administered to 668 participants from various hotels in Vietnam. Findings The findings indicate that artificial intelligence positively influences both DI and GI, with DI serving as a mediator in the connection between AI and GI. Additionally, AI contributes positively to SP and CA, with digital and GI playing mediating roles in this relationship. Practical implications AI and digital innovation enhance green innovation and sustainability in Vietnamese hotels through smart data and energy management. Furthermore, it underscores the necessity of combining these two forms of innovation to effectively promote environmental protection and sustainable development within the hospitality sector. Originality/value This research highlights the significant impact of AI as a driving force for both digital and environmental innovation. A key finding of the study is that the advantages related to SP and the competitive edge derived from AI are primarily attained through initiatives in green and DI.

This study explores the impact of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on regional artificial intelligence innovation capacity (AIIC) and its underlying mechanisms, using Chinese city-level panel data for empirical analysis. The results indicate that DIF significantly boosts regional AI innovation, with this positive effect remaining valid after multiple robustness tests. Mechanism tests reveal that stimulating entrepreneurial vitality and advancing industrial structure upgrading are the two key channels through which DIF exerts its influence. Further analysis shows that DIF and traditional financial development exhibit a significant synergistic complementary effect, and the innovation-promoting effect of DIF is more pronounced in cities with stronger intellectual property protection and in central cities. Additionally, the impact of DIF on AI innovation presents non-linear characteristics: beyond a specific development threshold, its marginal promoting effect is further enhanced. Notably, DIF facilitates the coordinated development of regional ambidextrous AI innovation, contributing to a balanced innovation ecosystem. This research enriches the literature on digital finance and technological innovation, and provides actionable policy insights for constructing a financial system that supports high-quality AI innovation.

Under the background of new engineering construction, the development of application-oriented specialty should meet the needs of society, and the talent training of artificial intelligence specialty needs to reflect the national strategy of AI technology mode, and the breakthrough of professional development and practical application is particularly important. According to the results of sample data in 2020, AI specific application and innovation elements are gradually integrated into the centralized practice course In order to build a knowledge system of deep integration of AI professional direction and AI technology, driven by social needs, improve the ability of talent application-oriented training.

Today, several research/initiatives exist in AI technology at the port operation. They mainly focus on solution development in a particular port and shipping industry domain. This scattered implementation leads to an unstructured overview of the port sector regarding AI innovation in use. Equally, this study aims to structure this overview for aligning stakeholders and AI providers toward implementation. In doing so, the first step would be collecting the port stakeholders' insight regarding AI implementation. This study develops a structured framework to collect the port stakeholders’ insight through both desk and empirical research. Besides, an online survey is built based on the framework and sent to a target group of port stakeholders to collect their insight. The survey results show that a huge effort is needed to establish a structure for data exchange to increase the quality of data. Additionally, by highlighting the importance of data from specific stakeholders, developers can effectively convey the value proposition to these stakeholders. They can emphasize how utilizing this vital data can result in operational enhancements, cost reductions, improved decision-making, and competitive advantages. As an implication, alignment between port stakeholders and AI providers enhances the maturity level of the market in AI solutions by fostering collaboration, addressing industry-specific challenges, tailoring solutions, and garnering support for implementation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred the use of AI and DS innovations in data collection and aggregation. Extensive data on many aspects of the COVID-19 has been collected and used to optimize public health response to the pandemic and to manage the recovery of patients in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, there is no standard mechanism for collecting, documenting and disseminating COVID-19 related data or metadata, which makes the use and reuse a challenge. INSPIRE utilizes the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) as the Common Data Model (CDM) implemented in the cloud as a Platform as a Service (PaaS) for COVID-19 data. The INSPIRE PaaS for COVID-19 data leverages the cloud gateway for both individual research organizations and for data networks. Individual research institutions may choose to use the PaaS to access the FAIR data management, data analysis and data sharing capabilities which come with the OMOP CDM. Network data hubs may be interested in harmonizing data across localities using the CDM conditioned by the data ownership and data sharing agreements available under OMOP's federated model. The INSPIRE platform for evaluation of COVID-19 Harmonized data (PEACH) harmonizes data from Kenya and Malawi. Data sharing platforms must remain trusted digital spaces that protect human rights and foster citizens' participation is vital in an era where information overload from the internet exists. The channel for sharing data between localities is included in the PaaS and is based on data sharing agreements provided by the data producer. This allows the data producers to retain control over how their data are used, which can be further protected through the use of the federated CDM. Federated regional OMOP-CDM are based on the PaaS instances and analysis workbenches in INSPIRE-PEACH with harmonized analysis powered by the AI technologies in OMOP. These AI technologies can be used to discover and evaluate pathways that COVID-19 cohorts take through public health interventions and treatments. By using both the data mapping and terminology mapping, we construct ETLs that populate the data and/or metadata elements of the CDM, making the hub both a central model and a distributed model.

A new insight into environmental innovation: Does the maturity of environmental management systems matter?

The article examines the primary challenges of urbanization processes for the sustainable development of Ukraine's regions. Based on international programs (“Smart Specialization”, “100 Climate Neutral” and “Smart Cities”), analytical reports of international organizations (UN-Habitat, OECD, World Bank), as well as national strategic documents, the study identifies specific features of urbanization processes in Ukraine, which, taking place in military conditions and in the context of uncertainty and resource constraints, have become the main challenge for sustainable development. At the same time, it is demonstrated that urbanization can provide the basis for the formation of competitive and sustainable “smart regions” provided that technological, socio-economic, and managerial dimensions are effectively integrated, as well as ensuring spatial coherence through inter-municipal and inter-sectoral cooperation. Using examples of successful European cases, the article shows that digitalization, environmental innovations, and e-governance increase national competitiveness, territorial cohesion, and quality of life, provided that digital, social, environmental, and infrastructure innovations are harmoniously combined. The article formulates recommendations for Ukraine, in particular on the development of a national “smart region” strategy, investment in digital infrastructure, implementation of “green technologies”, and strengthening cybersecurity potential. To clearly reflect the regional characteristics of urbanization processes, build a roadmap, implement operational control, and assess effectiveness, which is the basis for making management decisions and the possibility of further analysis and identifying opportunities for implementing the “smart region” concept, the article uses data systematization and visualization. This study proves the need to implement the concept of “smart regions” and adapt international experience to national realities by integrating technology, digital, social, environmental, and infrastructure innovations to improve the quality of life in communities. In addition, the implementation of operational control, reporting, and assessment of the effectiveness of the Roadmap directions will enable informed management decisions on implementing “smart strategies” during the urbanization of Ukraine's regions.

The research is financed by the National Natural Science Foundation of China . No. 71874103 and Shanxi Provincial Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project . No. 2019B015 (Sponsoring information) Abstract Based on the theory of corporate social responsibility, stakeholder theory and resource-based theory, using the panel data of China's listed companies in heavily polluting industries from 2013 to 2017, the paper reveals the complex relationship between environmental protection investment, technological innovation and corporate performance from both short-term and long-term perspectives, especially the synergistic effect of environmental protection investment and technological innovation on corporate performance. The results show that: (1) with the passage of time, the impact of environmental protection investment on corporate performance changed from negative to positive; (2) corporate technology innovation has a positive impact on corporate performance, but the hysteresis exists in the impact; and (3) the impact of environmental protection investment and technological innovation on short-term and long-term performance of enterprises forms a synergistic effect of 1+1>2. Therefore, enterprises should establish the strategy of integration of environmental protection and technological innovation. While government departments strengthen the supervision of environmental violations, they should properly increase the intensity of environmental protection and R&D subsidies. The public should support the development of green enterprises with practical actions. Keywords: environmental protection investment, technological innovation, corporate performance, synergistic effects DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-11-01 Publication date: April 30 th 2020

Climate change resulting from a rapid increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is adversely affecting humanity. If the GHG emission continues to rise at the current pace, humanity will face severe consequences and reverse all the progress made. This paper, therefore, uses relevant data from 14 developing countries in Asia from 1990 to 2018 to examine the potential impact of environmental innovation on CO2 emissions by controlling globalization, urbanization, and economic growth. The number of environmental-related technology patents is used as a measure of environmental innovation. We employed a panel long-run regression model — FMOLS, PCSE, and FGLS to estimate the elasticity of CO2 emissions. For causal association among variables, we used Dumitrescu-Hurlin Granger causality tests. Our results show that renewable energy consumption and globalization have a significant impact in reducing CO2 emissions, while environmental technology innovations play a meager role in reducing emissions and only when economic growth support those type of investment. Furthermore, we found urbanization, oil consumption, and economic growth is detrimental to the environment, which is also evident in past studies. Therefore, countries should invest in renewable energy and environmental innovation aligned with the growth to reduce GHG emissions.

Impact of digital economy on environmental performance among worldwide countries: role of emerging technologies and energy consumption.

With the increasingly severe emission reduction pressures, it is an inevitable choice for China to improve the intensity of environmental regulation. At the same time, the impact of technological innovation on enterprise employment may lead to some new changes under the environmental regulation constraints. However, existing studies have not included environmental regulation into the theoretical framework of technological innovation and enterprise employment, nor has the influencing mechanism of environmental regulation and technological innovation in the employment of manufacturing enterprises been explored. This paper uses the panel data of listed manufacturing companies in the A-share market of Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2011 to 2017 to examine the impact of environmental regulation and technological innovation on the employment of manufacturing enterprises, and explore their influence mechanisms in a theoretical framework based the moderating effect model. The findings demonstrate the following: First, the technological innovation has a positive creative effect on enterprise employment. Second, the impact of environmental regulation on enterprise employment is significantly positive. Third, environmental regulation has a negative moderating effect on the impact of technological innovation on enterprise employment. Finally, the impacts of both environmental regulation and technological innovation on the employment of manufacturing enterprises are heterogeneous across enterprises due to differences in ownership structure, the degree of pollution, and technical density. Therefore, faced with the objective reality that environmental carrying capacity has reached or approached the upper limit, China needs to formulate a differentiated and diversified technological innovation system and environmental protection policy, improve the environmental innovation level of manufacturing enterprises, and form a green development model, which is of great significance for achieving high-quality development and stable employment.

Purpose: This research aims to analyse the potential of advanced environmental technologies and innovations to improve ecological productivity. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is theoretical. The methods of generalisation, comparison, systematisation, abstraction, analysis, synthesis, and concretisation were used at the theoretical level. Research Limitation/Implications: The mechanisms for ensuring sustainable development through implementing environmental innovation activities were analysed. The essence of environmental innovations was identified, and trends in their implementation were revealed. Findings: The activities of Ukrainian business entities are currently characterised by low innovation activity. Environmental innovations contribute to increasing environmental productivity through an effective coordinated vector of activities aimed at developing green energy. Social Implication: The potential of economic stimulation and business motivation to transition to renewable energy sources to reduce emissions and increase climate resilience was identified. Practical Implication: The research results' practical importance lies in their applicability to optimise Ukraine’s socio-economic development by implementing sustainable climate policies and preventive environmental conservation measures. Originality/ Value: The research process has highlighted the significance of reducing the use of exhaustible resources and minimising emissions into the atmosphere to alleviate anthropogenic pressure on the environment.

Integrated product policy and environmental product innovations: An empirical analysis