Extended Editorial

Abstract

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are typical manifestations of hybrid-engineered systems (Nardelli, 2022). Anyone, who is following the latest literature, is aware of the fact that the interdisciplinary field of CPSs is rapidly evolving (Yang et al., 2021). This evolution is so fast and radical that it challenges the traditional views and interpretations, and raises the need for reformulation of the definitions and models. Three influential phenomena can be identified as generic causes of the changes. The first one is the coex- isting disciplinary convergence and divergence that brings together the knowledge, methods, and priorities of multiple disciplines and provides opportunities for the emergence of new interests and the springing-off of new competencies (Favela & Amon, 2023). The second one is the trend of intellectualization of hybrid engineered systems in a broad spectrum that not only increases their smartness in oper- ation and problem-solving but also creates a strong basis for the realization of novel and generic system characteris- tics such as social embedment and personal identity (Horváth, 2022). The third one is a widely-based integration and synthesis of systems technologies (involving both arte- factual and production technologies), The purposeful con- fluence of technologies is happening not only in the material (physical) world (as a multi-scale integration of atoms, genes, neurons, and memes) but also (an even more smoothly) in the cyber world forming a synergy of molecular informatics, cognitive informatics, neural informatics, brain informatics, and computational informat- ics (Wang, 2011). The result is a synergistic relationship of hardware, software, cyberware, and brainware technologies in current and future systems. The identified, mutually interacting three phenomena have already influenced the governing paradigm of CPSs and will continuously be changing our worldview concerning the future of this genre of systems. It must be noted that the term ‘paradigm’ is used above as a constitu- tional (comprehensive) pattern (or a widely shared human mental model) that underpins all specific manifestations of certain things, e.g., artefacts and systems. To differentiate it from the notion of the science paradigm introduced by Kuhn (1962), we will refer to it as a ‘system paradigm’ from now on. Eventually, system paradigms can be identi- fied based on a finite set of distinctive characteristics, such as the objective of bringing to existence, addressed tasks, functional spectrum, architectural organization, enabling technologies, problem-solving intelligence, resource man- agement, range of adaptivity, and operational characteris- tics. As illustrated in Figure 1, parallel with the paradigmatic changes, the place of cyber-physical systems is also changing in the overall landscape of the systems. In the theme of this Special Issue of the Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science, three aspects of dealing with next-generation CPSs (NG-CPSs) are brought into concert (i) supradisciplinary research conduct towards transdisciplinary knowledge, (ii) frameworks and activities of cognitive design and engineering, and (iii) con- cepts and manifestations of I-CPSH systems. In simple words, the objective was to cast light on the boundary- stretching and road-paving results of pluridisciplinary research to exploit intellectualization in the design and implementation of NG-CPSs. The starting point, and the basic assumption, of our reasoning was that successful 1 Department of Sustainable Design Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands Corresponding Author: Imre Horváth, Department of Sustainable Design Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands. Email: i.horvath@tudelft.nl. Editorial Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science 2023, Vol. 27(3-4) 153–168 © The Author(s) 2024 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/10920617241295882 journals.sagepub.com/home/jid design and implementation of I-CPSH systems cannot be done without (i) new insights delivered by pluridisciplinary research, (ii) addressing the concerned industry, society, systems, and/or humans created complicated problematics, and (iii) completing inquiries by collectives working in supradisciplinary research arrangements and synthesizing heterogeneous background knowledge. However, for these, new fundamentals seem to be necessary through a critical consideration of the role of humans and systems (Matthies et al., 2023). The goal of this Special Issue has been to release novel research methodologies, transdisciplinary development fra- meworks, synthetic knowledge management strategies, technological tools and means, and novel insights related to the above-mentioned issues for a broadly-based public debate and, thereby, to facilitate scholarly progress. The pre- ferred topics for this special issue included but were not limited to the following: (i) foundational issues of cognitive engineering of I-CPSH systems, (ii) cognitive and computa- tional fundamentals of I-CPSH systems, (iii) principles, methods, and mechanisms for intellectualization, socializa- tion, and personalization of cyber-physical systems, (iv) human knowledge and system-generated synthetic knowl- edge embedded in cyber-physical-social-human systems, (v) developments in the extension of the digital twin concepts and implementations towards feedback functionalities, (vi) transferring synthetic knowledge among dissimilar smart cyber-physical-social-human systems, (vii) state of the art reviews, future visions, research strategies, and imple- mentation opportunities. The potential authors have been asked and the submitted manuscripts have been supposed to provide a balanced comprehension as well as a holistic treatment of the above three aspects and their interplay. This Special Issue has been brought into existence to present their pioneering work and to release their important results to a public debate and orientation. Structurally, this Extended Editorial has been divided into three thematic parts which can be called exposition, contribu- tion, and consolidation. Considering the rapid developments, the exposition part provides an insight into the state-of- the-art. It presents a concise overview of four related topics: (i) the advancement of the paradigm of cyber-physical systems, (ii) the interlaced trends of intellectualization, socialization, and personalization, (iii) the essence and role of cognitive engineering from the perspective of problem-solving and goal-achieving system behaviour, and (iv) novel research approaches, models, and designs reported in the literature. The contribution part introduces the research papers submitted to this special issue and casts light on the scientific or engineering significance of the reported works and results as well as on their implications. The consolidation part provides some instant reflections both in a narrow and in a general context, discusses the prospects, and formulates conclusions and proposition