IT auditing is a specialised discipline that examines whether an organisation’s IT systems, controls, and processes are reliable, secure, and in control. It plays a particularly fundamental role in financial reporting. Since financial statements increasingly rely on automated systems to generate and process data, their reliability cannot be assessed without examining the underlying IT environment, making Financial Audit IT (FAIT) a large service line for most major audit firms. As organisations grow more dependent on complex, interconnected IT infrastructures, the volume of work that auditors must handle rises, while the potential consequences of IT failures (such as data breaches, disrupted services, and unreliable financial reporting) grow alongside it. This places audit teams under increasing pressure to do more without compromising the quality of assurance that clients, regulators, and society rely on.

Artificial intelligence offers clear potential to relieve this pressure. Much of the IT audit process consists of high-volume, repetitive, manual work that is well-suited to AI support. Yet integrating AI into auditing is not a purely technical matter. It raises questions of trust, accountability, auditor skill, data protection, and regulatory compliance that deploying a tool alone cannot resolve. While audit firms are actively investing in AI, no structured, validated method exists for integrating AI into the IT audit workflow. This gap between recognised potential and absent guidance forms the central motivation for this research, leading to the research question:

How can artificial intelligence be integrated into the IT audit process of organisations through targeted process interventions?
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Workplace IT (such as laptops, smartphones, servers, and cloud services) forms the digital backbone of modern organisations but also generates significant environmental impacts through energy use, raw material extraction, and electronic waste. Because these technologies are procured at scale, procurement represents a strategic leverage point for improving the sustainability of organisational IT. However, it remains unclear how procurement can effectively stimulate supplier innovation rather than merely enforce compliance.

This thesis addresses the question: how can large Dutch organisations use supplier interaction mechanisms in workplace IT procurement to stimulate supplier innovation and thereby improve environmental sustainability? The study applies Contextual Interaction Theory (CIT) to conceptualise procurement as an interaction process shaped by actors’ motivations, perceptions, resources, and institutional context. A structured literature review and expert interviews identified seventeen supplier interaction mechanisms, grouped into four categories: control-oriented, competition-based, exploratory collaboration, and capability-building collaboration.

To explain variation in mechanism use, six propositions were developed linking interaction patterns to institutional context (public versus private) and procurement maturity (low, medium, high). These propositions were tested through in-depth case studies with eleven large Dutch organisations. The findings show that procurement maturity is the primary differentiating factor. Low-maturity organisations rely predominantly on control-oriented mechanisms, while high-maturity organisations combine competition-based approaches with selective collaboration, supported by a control-oriented backbone. Medium-maturity organisations display hybrid and inconsistent patterns. Across cases, procurement primarily stimulates incremental, demand-pull innovation rather than transformative change.
The study also identifies structural challenges that constrain more advanced interaction. Legacy systems, long-term contracts, limited sustainability metrics, competing priorities (such as cost and security), and concentrated supplier markets reduce buyer leverage and limit room for experimentation. These conditions help explain the persistent gap between sustainability ambitions and practical outcomes.

Building on these findings, the thesis develops a thematic roadmap that clusters interventions into four enabling themes: making sustainability visible, enforceable, structurally feasible, and acceptable. The roadmap positions short-term improvements (such as clearer criteria and improved data) alongside longer-term organisational and behavioural change. Validation discussions indicate that visibility and enforceability measures are most feasible in the short term, while more transformative interventions require gradual capability development and stronger alignment between data, governance, and routines.

The study contributes to Green IT and procurement-for-innovation literature by reframing workplace IT sustainability as a market-oriented and interaction-driven challenge. It demonstrates how procurement maturity and organisational context shape the balance between control, competition, and collaboration, and explains why innovation outcomes are often incremental. While limited to large Dutch organisations and primarily based on procurer perspectives, the research provides a structured framework for analysing procurement-supplier interaction and offers practical guidance for strengthening procurement’s role in advancing sustainable IT. ... Read more

Water systems are facing increasing pressures from intensifying weather conditions, such as persistent droughts and extreme precipitation, and the degradation of water quality. Temporary events such as festivals are anticipating and adapting to these conditions by investing in circular water solutions. As highly visible and socially embedded platforms, festivals have the potential to act as catalysts for innovation and public engagement in circular water solutions. Although interest in the circular economy for the water sector has increased, operational, site-level assessment of circularity remains underdeveloped. This research addresses this gap by exploring how festivals can be used to inform pathways for upscaling circular innovations.

The main research question is: What maturity model for circular water systems can be developed based on empirical evidence from festivals?. To address this question, the study takes a mixed-methods approach, combining targeted literature review with quantitative modeling and qualitative case study analysis across three Dutch festivals: DGTL Festival, Decibel Outdoor, and Zwarte Cross. The water systems of each festival are visualized using Material Flow Analysis (MFA), which allow for the identification of hotspots for improvement and the quantification of circularity in the system.

Festivals are conceptualized as socio-technical systems, where social and technical elements are deeply intertwined and have to be jointly optimized for effective functioning. For this reason, 15 interviews were conducted with stakeholders across festival organizers, technical innovators, governmental authorities and a drinking water company to identify the conditions enabling and hindering the implementation of circularity in water systems. The resulting qualitative insights were integrated with the quantitative results of the MFA, and were used to develop a maturity model that articulates pathways from linear systems to integrated circular water systems in the festival context. By operationalizing circularity in MFA and deriving pathways from cross-case evidence, this thesis strengthens academic understanding socio-technical change in temporary water systems. Festivals serve as living labs where technical, governance, and social dimensions of circularity can be tested under real-world conditions. By coupling innovations to regional challenges and enabling cross-context learning, festivals provide a stage for circular water solutions, accelerating their uptake into broader societal applications.

https://www.circularfestivals.nl/about/downloads/HandlerDownloadFiles.ashx?idnv=3213324 ... Read more

This thesis investigates how organisations can embed environmental sustainability within the operational use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools through targeted, user-centred interventions. While research has largely focused on reducing emissions in AI model training, the inference phase, where GenAI is integrated into daily workflows, remains a substantial and under-addressed source of environmental impact.

Using a Design Science Research approach, the study combines a literature review, interviews with GenAI users and AI experts, and behavioural theories including the COM-B model, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Nudging, and Affordance Theory. Enabling factors for pro-environmental GenAI use were translated into functional and non-functional requirements, guiding the development of three persona-specific interventions: (1) Sustainable by Default for externally motivated users, embedding energy-efficient model settings and a monitoring dashboard; (2) Sustainability Guidance for aware but uncertain users, offering a sustainable prompt builder and impact estimator widget; and (3) Collective Sustainability for unaware users, providing monthly emissions feedback and rotating green tips.

The resulting integration framework and decision-support tool offer practical guidance for embedding sustainability into organisational AI practices, demonstrating that environmental impact reduction in GenAI requires socio-technical, behavioural, and cultural change alongside technical optimisation.

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War is always evolving, becoming more complex over time. With the addition of new technologies and emerging threats the complexity on the battlefield is also growing. Following this trend tools to train new recruits or develop new doctrines also becomes more complex. One of the tools impacted by this is military wargaming. While wargaming is an ancient practice it has developed to follow the growing complexities of war. In the context of military training wargames portray multi-domain battlefield containing artillery, helicopters, tanks, infantry, planes, terrain and much more. To keep the wargames significant and executable the implementation of AI into military wargames was explored. This proved to have an impact on aspects such as data processing, decision making and strategies. Further research shows that while possible and useful the implementation of AI into military wargaming is of an ad hoc nature and lacks any guidance or standardization. That is why this thesis set out to develop a practical and guiding framework for wargame developers for the implementation of AI into military wargaming.

After an exploratory literature review the knowledge gap is identified in the crossing between AI, wargaming and their integration. This lead to the main research question being “Which framework can guide wargame developers in the field of AI and military wargaming through the implementation process ?”. To answer this main research question several sub questions are developed and answered using several research methods.

The first sub question is: “What are the current challenges and constraints in the implementation of AI into military wargaming and how can they be addressed? This question is answered in chapter one with the use of a literature review. It results in more depth into the problem and more insight into the knowledge gap.

The second sub question is: “What are the requirements, that the framework aims to achieve?” This question is answered in chapter two with the use of another literature review and expert interviews. This resulted in three design principles and several requirements. The principles, requirements and their sources can be found in table 4. Furthermore, the result of the expert interviews highlighted the value of a supplementary method, when academic literature is not abundant.

The third sub question is: “How can the design principles and requirements be translated into a framework?” Based on the requirements a preliminary framework is developed. This framework is than tested with a use case to find areas of improvement. The use case was a validation implementation of AI into the military wargame called “Take That Hill”. This resulted in a framework consisting of several phases and activities. The result can be seen in figure 7. Furthermore, the outcome of the use case illustrated the wargame is not properly balanced as it can be won by simply always moving forward. In addition to the direct relation between the requirements and the translation into the framework another finding took place. The use case illustrated the importance of testing the preliminary framework. As the use case uncovered a new dimension in the framework with the core activities, which were not apparent from the theory alone.

The last sub question is: “What is validity of the designed framework?”. This was answered by assessing whether the requirements were met and expert interviews. The requirements assessment can be found in table 6 and the final version of the framework can be found in figure 8. Furthermore, while the validation expert interviews directly improved the framework they also showed the importance of the diversity of experts interviewed. The experts for the requirements focused on time and security, while the experts for the validation focused on the ethical and moral aspects of AI in military wargaming.

In conclusion, this thesis presents a multidisciplinary approach to solving a problem in military training and doctrine development. The development of an practical and guiding framework for AI implementation in military wargaming represents a significant advancement in the field, offering both academic contributions and practical applications. By aligning with the goals of the Master’s program in Complex Systems Engineering and Management, this research exemplifies the integration of complex and complicated domains, ultimately contributing to the enhancement of military preparedness and operational effectiveness.

As this thesis was written as part of a graduation internship at TNO the research recommends the wargame developers of TNO to use this framework as a guide during future implementations of AI into military wargaming and expend on the framework when necessary.  
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The aviation industry is poised for substantial expansion, with forecasts predicting that passenger demand will double by the mid-2030s. This increase in demand presents both opportunities and challenges for various stakeholders within the industry. One sector anticipated to encounter difficulties is Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO), particularly regarding data sharing within the supply chain for part tracking. Effective part tracking is essential as it entails crucial data that confirms the 'airworthiness' of parts, demonstrating their safety for operation. Currently, the absence of comprehensive inter-organizational maintenance record software impedes accurate tracking of aircraft parts. This lack leads to increased maintenance and communication costs for all stakeholders involved, as each party must independently verify parts history, often resulting in redundant work and additional pressure on profit margins.

With profit margins already under strain, aviation companies must innovate. One promising solution is blockchain technology, which has the potential to serve as an inter-organizational maintenance record system, facilitating the tracking and tracing of part histories and offering significant cost reductions. However, effective lifecycle tracking of parts requires a collective effort since multiple entities are involved at different stages of the lifecycle, making the formation of a data-sharing consortium necessary. The creation of such a consortium is further incentivized by the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which requires companies to disclose all activities related to both downstream and upstream value chains and assess their sustainability impacts. Despite the potential for cost reduction, increased efficiency in inventory management, and legal mandates, companies remain hesitant to join a data-sharing blockchain consortium. Research into similar industry data-sharing consortia indicates that one persistent barrier to success is the design of governance mechanisms within the consortium. Although extensive research on governance mechanisms exists, stakeholder participation in these data-sharing blockchain consortia remains low.

The objective of this research is to develop governance mechanisms that enhance stakeholder participation by taking into account stakeholder values. To achieve this, a value-focused thinking methodology is utilized, ensuring that stakeholder values are integral to the governance design process rather than relying on arbitrary arrangements. In addition to conducting a literature review to discover values, contact was established with the Independent Data Consortium for Aviation (IDCA). IDCA is a global consortium of leading aviation companies at all levels of the industry coming together to develop the foundation for allowing data to be shared in a non-competitive manner. Its objective is to create a more efficient marketplace where both waste and the time required to get to a common solution are minimized. A combination of participatory observations within the part-tracking work group of IDCA and interviews with high-level executives from the aviation industry is conducted to discover stakeholder values. Three contexts, 21 values and 11 sub-values, were identified for joining a data-sharing blockchain consortium. The three contexts are the data that will be shared and received, the stakeholders that will join the consortium, and the blockchain platform that will be used.

Adopting such a broad perspective on values has necessitated the prioritization of these values to create a clear roadmap for the governance design process. This approach ensures that the final governance designs are not only comprehensive but also practical, enabling effective and sustainable blockchain implementation for part tracking in the aviation industry. To obtain this ranking, a survey employing the Bayesian Best-Worst Method (BWM) was used to systematically analyse stakeholder values where 12 aviation stakeholders pertaining to the eight different stakeholder groups encompassing the full life-cycle of a part were received.

Survey takers ranked the data context as the most important, underscoring the value companies place on data as their primary resource, which was followed by stakeholder context. On the other hand, the blockchain platform was ranked the lowest in importance, which was also justified by the credal ranking calculations indicating it is seen merely as a tool for data sharing. Within the data context, the values of integrity, access control, confidentiality, and ownership emerged not only as the highest priorities but also as the most important values overall. This underscores the critical importance stakeholders place on data. These were followed by the values of trust, legitimacy, neutrality, compliance, and benefit equality within the stakeholder context. Completing the top ten, security within the blockchain context was followed by adaptability and tangibility.

Once these stakeholder values are identified, governance designs can be proposed to ensure their fulfilment. A benchmarking study was conducted on existing governance research to understand its definition, scope, and blockchain data-sharing initiatives in other industries. The literature review revealed that no unified definition or established mechanisms for blockchain governance currently exist. Therefore, the researcher established the following definition: "Consortium blockchain governance refers to the process and mechanisms that ensure the direction, control, and coordination of a blockchain platform to which stakeholders jointly contribute."

Given that consortium blockchain governance is a broad term, it is essential to keep its definition straightforward while supplementing it with specific mechanisms. To supplement this definition, a comprehensive table was developed that combines all previously identified mechanisms.Finally, five real-world blockchain consortia were investigated to understand how these mechanisms are designed and implemented in projects that have undergone piloting or advanced further.

The research was finalized by linking the eight most important stakeholders' values to governance mechanisms and, subsequently, governance designs. One example is Executive neutrality, which concerns the impartiality of the entity controlling a platform's direction. Stakeholders also, during interviews, have stated from past experiences that the executive body might not remain unbiased, leading to decisions that favour specific parties. Several governance mechanisms can ensure executive neutrality, including legal compliance, where decisions are based on industry laws and standards. However, due to the underdevelopment of data-sharing policies, industry standards, policies cannot yet serve as reliable benchmarks. Another approach is relying on ethical responsibilities, assuming all participants will adhere to principles of the greater good, though this might be overly optimistic in a profit-driven ecosystem. Since this value primarily revolves around the decisions made by the governing body, decision rights are identified as the most suitable governance mechanism and governance designs can be established.

Based on similar projects like VeChainThor and PharmaLedger, four governance designs were considered: Ecosystem members-led, Service Provider-led, Foundation-led, Independently Governed, and Foundation-led Ecosystem Governed. It was decided, based on the stakeholder value, that the foundation-led ecosystem-governed model was the most suitable, where a non-profit foundation directs the network's operations while being accountable to a board comprising ecosystem stakeholders. This model ensures stakeholder involvement and collective decision-making, maintaining executive neutrality. Finally, it is acknowledged that design inherently involves trade-offs. Therefore, selecting a particular design to address one stakeholder’s value can have ramifications on other values. Because of that, the design decision on other values is investigated. One potential downside is its impact on growth, as involving more stakeholders in decision-making can be challenging and may lead to resistance to adding new entities, potentially hindering growth. This method was employed for the other seven most important values that were identified through the BWM. However, it is important to note that this recommendation is based on the values identified through stakeholder interviews. If stakeholders prefer not to participate actively in the execution of governance duties, then a foundation-led, independently governed model would be more suitable. In this model, an independent non-profit entity would take on the responsibility of directing and managing the network, creating technology roadmaps, and providing necessary services, with limited direct involvement from the stakeholders.


In conclusion, to address the primary research objective of designing governance mechanisms that enhance participation in blockchain-based aviation part-tracking consortia, it can be stated that \textbf{there is no universally optimal governance mechanism design that enhances stakeholder participation; rather, this varies according to the values held by stakeholders within their specific context. As these values change depending on the context, it is recommended that decision-makers begin by investigating stakeholder values.} A value-focused thinking approach constitutes the primary contribution of this research, as it introduces a novel method of blockchain governance that prioritizes stakeholder values. By integrating these values into governance designs, a mutual understanding among consortium members is established, promoting more effective collaboration and decision-making. Furthermore, this research addresses a literature gap within the aviation industry, where blockchain consortiums have not been extensively examined.


For the initial phase of implementation, it is advisable to engage regulators to establish credibility, thereby fostering increased participation. Once a stable level of participation is achieved, the focus can then shift to examining the values of the stakeholders involved. Future research could assess the applicability of identified values and governance mechanisms in contexts beyond the aviation industry. Similar studies across various industries are important to ensure external validity. Additionally, further research could be conducted into how different mechanisms besides the one suggested in this research could fulfil stakeholder values and investigate the interaction among those mechanisms.
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This research addresses the growing issue of electronic waste (e-waste) and the environmental impact of the IT industry, which contributes up to 2.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The study focuses on developing a Decision Support System (DSS) to help European businesses manage IT hardware sustainably, in line with regulations like the European Green Deal. The DSS offers strategies for sustainable procurement, energy optimization, extending hardware lifespan, and responsible disposal, aiding businesses in reducing their environmental impact. The research also highlights the DSS's potential to promote circular economy principles and recommends further development for broader applicability. ... Read more

This research focuses on designing a digital platform that contributes to reducing food waste in Saudi Arabia. While a digital platform may not be an efficient and viable option to tackle this problem in countries with advanced waste management infrastructure, it is a feasible solution for tackling food waste in Saudi Arabia, given the current lack of infrastructure. It offers a quick and scalable approach that can be rapidly deployed to bridge existing gaps. Unlike traditional infrastructure projects requiring significant time and resources, a digital platform leverages existing technology to create immediate connections between retailers, consumers, and other stakeholders. The retail stage includes restaurants, cafes, and bakeries. The main stakeholders of interest are retail businesses. The main research question that guided this research is: What digital platform design can contribute to reducing food waste in the retail sector in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia in alignment with circular economy principles?... ... Read more

Blockchain consortia uphold value-addition through collaboration between organizations, by exploring, prototyping and innovating together. Blockchain technology presented itself as a new solution to the sharing of data proofs since 2008, with certain components such as smart contracts and privacy-enhancing components currently at different maturity levels. Blockchain consortia do not only navigate these technical factors, but also non-technical factors of decision-criteria are employed, and if development of a blockchain-based application fails, alternative data sharing technologies are explored. With the main research question ‘which guidelines can aid consortium managers in their decision-making process of developing blockchain-based applications?’, this study had the goal of contributing guidelines of decision-making processes, for aiding in the development of blockchain-applications in a rigorous manner. In order to tackle this problem, this research project performed case studies.
This study makes use of a combined analytical framework, by merging the Resource-based View and Consortium Capabilities frameworks, the latter being a blockchain-specific framework. A multiple-case study approach is followed, by which four most-different cases of Dutch blockchain consortia are analysed. This is done by firstly scoping the consortium with desk research, followed by interviewing consortium managers, with interview questions based on the combined analytical framework. Thereafter, a hybrid coding approach, and thematic analysis are applied to investigate the challenges, potential benefits and risks in the decision-making process. The inductive part of the hybrid coding approach is the exploration of groups and factors of the deductively identified challenges, potential benefits and risks, which led to the creation of the Blockchain Consortia Guidelines, that presents guidelines on the inductively identified factors: Knowledge Transfer, Technology and use-case, Security, Funding and Economic Considerations, Organization and Vision. The guidelines were validated by interviewing managers of two additional blockchain cases, yielding a high level of recognition of the guidelines provided. Adaptation of certain guidelines was necessary, and implemented with the critique provided from partial recognition and non-recognition of guideline elements. This increased the external validity of the observed factors and decision-making guidelines. The scientific contribution of this research lies in providing top-level factors, the corresponding groups on the middle level, and guidelines on the bottom-level. The resulting factors and groups when compared to the existing literature (Consortium Capabilities framework), show that Knowledge Transfer, Funding and Economic Considerations, and Organizational, are additional aspects on the factor level that are given insufficient attention in the Consortium Capabilities framework.
A limitation is that the interview data did not allow for yielding a (blockchain consortia-oriented) process-based framework as a final deliverable due to insufficient relationships between decision-making and factors in the combined analytical framework. Nonetheless, the rich qualitative data allowed for practical guidelines to be developed. Another limitation is a skew in the data towards potential benefits mentioned by managers, which is an indication that a self-serving bias, social-desirability bias, or a combination of these is present. Addressing these limitations is proposed when undertaking future research. ... Read more

This thesis examines the pressing environmental issue stemming from the accumulation of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), particularly within the automotive sector. Despite directives from the European Commission aiming to promote a circular economy, challenges persist in effectively managing WEEE, particularly in End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs). Current dismantling practices often lead to the loss of valuable materials, exacerbating environmental and health risks. Recognizing the need for improved data sharing, this research investigates the potential of the International Data Spaces (IDS) initiative in enhancing WEEE management within the automotive industry, with a focus on ELV dismantling.

The primary research question centers on how IDS can facilitate WEEE information exchange between manufacturers and dismantlers within the automotive sector. The study is structured into five phases to comprehensively address this question:

Exploratory Phase: This phase identifies current barriers to WEEE information sharing in the automotive industry, employing the Circular Economy (CE) monitoring framework for analysis.

Requirements Elicitation Phase: Through desk research, legislative analysis, and stakeholder interviews, essential requirements for effective information sharing are identified, considering barriers, legislative mandates, and dismantlers' perspectives.

Application Phase: The feasibility of meeting identified requirements using IDS is explored, drawing on academic literature and documentation from the IDS initiative.

Concluding Phase: Findings from previous stages are integrated to address the main research question regarding IDS's role in facilitating WEEE information sharing.

Discussion Phase: The final phase evaluates the research approach, discusses conclusions, limitations, and suggests avenues for future research.

Barriers to WEEE information sharing within the automotive industry encompass incomplete documentation, lack of harmonization, information gaps, inconsistent data entry, and restricted accessibility. These findings inform the elicitation of requirements, emphasizing the need for detailed dismantling information, interoperability, and user-friendly interfaces.

Evaluation of IDS demonstrates its potential in providing dismantlers access to fundamental information, simplifying data access processes, ensuring data sovereignty, facilitating interoperability, and supporting initiatives like the circularity vehicle passport. However, its effectiveness relies on stakeholder participation and regulatory support.

In conclusion, this thesis proposes IDS as a solution to enhance WEEE information sharing in the automotive industry, contributing to sustainable development and advancing scientific understanding. Further research is recommended to address implementation challenges and develop specific ontologies tailored to the automotive sector. ... Read more

The severity of climate change impacts various aspects of human life today, with projections of up to six degrees of global warming by 2100 if significant changes are not adopted. (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2021). Among others, the energy supply cannot be solely fossil-based but need to adopt alternative ways of generation, transportation, and storage. In response, politics world- wide stimulate the use of alternative energy sources, such as sustainable hydrogen. Hydrogen differs from conventional fossil fuels and gases. Since primary pollution arises from hydrogen production and the energy source to produce the hydrogen, additional metadata on the hydrogen is needed for suc- cessive parties in the hydrogen value chain. They depend on the truthfulness of the information for compliance with emission reduction targets and emission reporting obligations toward the public au- thorities. In the EU and worldwide, public authorities develop certification mechanisms to ensure the truthfulness of the information, ensuring the composition of the physical hydrogen. These certifications aid the information asymmetry between hydrogen sellers and buyers but are characterized by com- plicated administrative reporting efforts and regionally differing certification requirements. Questions remain on the GHG emissions accounting, the boundaries of the reporting obligation, and the tradeoff between certification rigor and administrative reporting burden for hydrogen producers (Abad & Dodds, 2020). Discrepancies among current certification standards lead to opacity, incom- patibility, and high auditing costs for hydrogen producers and public authorities. Addressing the problem of truthful information throughout hydrogen value chains can help to establish a green hydro- gen market, fostering green hydrogen production, and sustaining alternative energy supply in Europe (EU Commission, 2022a; IRENA & RMI, 2023; World Energy Council, 2022).
This thesis presents a blockchain-based artifact design for the European Union that addresses the re- quirements for reliable hydrogen certification, unifying European certification standards in one system while automating intensive reporting and certification processes. Design Science Research (DSR) helps to approach the research structurally. First, the complex hydrogen certification system is outlined, comprising the stakeholders, the institutional frame, and the technical certification processes. Second, the stakeholders contribute to the requirements engineering through semi-structured interviews. Third, a blockchain-IoT architecture framework is developed to translate the requirements of the hydrogen market into system design components. Fourth, the technical artifact is demonstrated in the complex hydrogen certification context. Last, expert interviews are conducted to evaluate the proposed design.
Concluding, blockchain-IoT can serve the requirements for interoperable, automated, and reliable green hydrogen certification while complying with EU regulations on sustainable hydrogen. How- ever, the technical design aspects required to fulfill requirements are premature and costly. Blockchain can serve as a solution, but the technological readiness of specific design aspects such as Zero- Knowledge-Proof (ZKP), Oracles, and Non-fungible tokens (NFT) induce tradeoffs between costs and the effectiveness of the design. Blockchain introduces a paradigm shift from central to decentral sys- tems, affecting technical architecture, governance, and institutions. Governance of the technological artifact is essential to guarantee a successful implementation in the market. Therefore, a decentral system maintenance council must align the physical hydrogen market with the digital blockchain infras- tructure and enforce mutual functionality. The alignment with institutions is considered to address com- pliance with regulatory green hydrogen standards and interoperability with multiple Voluntary Schemes. The current hydrogen market is characterized by institutional fragility affecting the confidence of green hydrogen producers. The artifact can ensure trust in the information, but institutions determine the rules of the certification game, whether virtual or physical. Moreover, the evaluation found that considering only the European market is insufficient. International trade scenarios would increase the impact of the artifact in complex internationally entangled hydrogen value chains. For example, hydrogen produc- ers outside the EU that comply with internationally accredited Voluntary Schemes could sell hydrogen in Europe. Hence, given the information trust issue in the hydrogen market, the artifact provides the first alternative to conventional centralized certification mechanisms benefiting researchers and practi-
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tioners in the blockchain application environment.
The thesis contributes socially, culturally, environmentally, and economically to society. The artifact can guide European policymakers to new decentralized methods of addressing the trustful information-sharing issue in the hydrogen certification market (social impact). Conventionally, certi- fication functions from top to bottom enforcing reporting to national authorities. Blockchain can rein- vent public-private cooperation by decentralizing control and tasks (cultural impact). Deploying the artifact can help to facilitate the EU’s plan to increase green hydrogen domestic production and im- port by 10 million tonnes by 2030 (EU Commission, 2023a). The blockchain artifact can guarantee environmental-benign hydrogen supply by ensuring trusted information on the emissions of hydrogen production (environmental impact). Lastly, the artifact can automate reporting processes for hydrogen producers and certification processes for public bodies and thus contribute to the economic capital of the EU. Public bodies and hydrogen buyers have enhanced trust in the information accompanying the hydrogen supply in the European market, and hydrogen producers have reduced market entrance bar- riers induced through administrative tasks (economic impact).
Methodologically, the thesis contributes to the green hydrogen certification economy: To the knowl- edge of this thesis’s author, the potential of blockchain technology as a tool to facilitate hydrogen certi- fication has not been analyzed yet. The thesis provides tangible design concepts for blockchain-based hydrogen certification systems. Scientific research and blockchain practitioners can develop upon this initial study. Secondly, partly outdated blockchain architecture modeling in combination with IoT infras- tructures is addressed. A framework is developed based on existing scientific research to serve the peculiarities of the hydrogen certification market, which can serve as an ontology for future blockchain designs in energy systems. Third, the socio-technical embedment of the technical blockchain design gives insights into adopting such complex, paradigm shift-inducing information systems in society. Last, the evaluation methods of DSR are addressed in the underlying research project. Interesting insights from practitioners with energy and blockchain backgrounds are discussed. These can serve as recom- mendations for future amendments or extensions of the design. Hence, the artifact can contribute to the theory of DSR and practical blockchain implementation research.
The research is limited to the hydrogen market of the EU and distribution via gas pipelines, neglect- ing navel and road transport. The study covers the first design cycle of the DSR approach. Adding successive cycles with the gradual inclusion of more industry experts, various use cases, and new in- stitutional changes can enhance the artifact’s viability for the hydrogen market. Furthermore, different evaluation parameters could be added, such as the tradeoff between technical optimization and the costs of such interventions. Other use cases could entail considerations of the artifact’s interoperability with hydrogen trade platforms, feasibility for different hydrogen trade scenarios (international trade, but also closed systems), and incorporation of additional requirements addressing hydrogen safety, hydro- gen facility construction, and financial incentives. These complexities can test the artifact’s applicability in the socio-technical context. ... Read more

The continuous growth of material consumption places a high burden on the Earth's systems, causing harm to both humans and nature. Transitioning to a circular economy, in which all products and materials retain in cycles, has been promoted by the European Union as a countermeasure to this threatening development. However, progress in the circular economy transition is minor and needs to be accelerated. Therefore, reducing material consumption by implementing the highest level circular strategies, such as product-as-a-service models or reusing, is crucial. 

The European Union (EU) proposes the implementation of a cross-sectoral EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) to accelerate the transition to the circular economy. The EU DPP is a standardized dataset of product-specific lifecycle information that is electronically accessible with a product. It is anticipated to benefit all actors along a product's value chain by creating transparency and trust, enabling access to more comprehensive information, and facilitating informed decision-making for sustainability.

However, research around this concept is still emerging, and it needs to be clarified how exactly the EU DPP should be designed to be impactful. Notably, actor- and product-specific information requirements are missing for the technology's near-term implementation. 

This thesis research addresses the societal challenge by contributing to the called needs from the DPP research. It aspires to shed light on the contextual DPP development by eliciting information requirements for the EU DPP that addresses the information deficits of EU consumers hindering them from acquiring the most circular mobile phone alternative.

For this purpose, rigorous Design Science Research is performed through desk research and based on scientific literature to explicate the information deficits of consumers. They are translated into design principles that guide the purposeful elicitation of information requirements. Furthermore, by conducting expert interviews, the information requirements are evaluated and revised to bring value to the EU DPP's development in practice. However, as the EU DPP is a new technology that will intervene in the complex consumption system of mobile phones, uncertainties about its implementation exist. Thus, with expert input, boundary conditions are identified that determine the implementation of an EU DPP. They are structured in a Boundary Condition Framework to inform further research and development.

A total of 50 information requirements are elicited that ensure the relevance, soundness, and accessibility of the EU DPP's information provided so that consumers' information deficits are addressed. Whether the EU DPP developed based on these information requirements can mitigate consumers' information deficits is determined by four boundary conditions that need to be in place and are partly dependent on the heterogeneity of consumer needs. They are:

Suitability of the DPP      The development process and the resulting DPP is suitable to serve the objectives (e.g., material consumption reduction) and address the consumer needs in the research’s context.

Information Efficiency    The information and its provision to the consumer are most effective in serving the DPP objectives and addressing the consumer needs while using the least possible data.

Data Governance             The data for the DPP is governed in a way that supports the intended information provision (including, for instance, roles and rights or trust mechanisms), also considering the lifecycle of the DPP’s data and the implementation of third-party applications.

Data Provision                   The data and its governance required to serve the consumer needs are in accordance with the interests and capabilities of the data provider (including private persons if necessary) and incorporate standards ensuring information validity.

These findings contribute to the overall understanding and development of the EU DPP and, simultaneously, the mitigation of potential risks associated with its implementation. Focusing on mobile phone acquisition from a consumer perspective informs the purposeful design of the EU DPP in a specific context. Furthermore, the identification of relevant boundary conditions facilitates its successful implementation. Ultimately, the EU DPP developed further based on this research's outcome can assist consumers in making informed decisions and fostering a more circular economy in the mobile phone industry. 

Hence, it can contribute to the needed acceleration of the circular economy transition in the EU to tackle the societal challenge of continuous material consumption growth.
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