My business or not? The perspective of technology companies on shifting towards care robotics

Marinka Lanne*, Outi Tuisku, Helinä Melkas, Marketta Niemelä

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Many countries are investing in the development of robotic applications for health and elderly care services. Some care robots have already been commercialized, and new products are being prepared for future markets. However, generating profitable business from care robots is somewhat challenging and the business ecosystem is growing quite slowly. This paper focuses on emerging care robot business opportunities from the perspective of companies operating on the care technology field. Based on interviews of 10 companies and an online survey data of 13 companies, all from Finland, we highlight the potential and barriers in the care robot business, and suggest actions supporting the growing ecosystem. By using the service ecosystem framework, we describe the business enablers and challenges in a care robot context.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)296-318
JournalEuropean Planning Studies
Volume28
Issue number2
Early online date12 Aug 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2020
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

This research is supported by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland, [project name: Robots and the Future of Welfare Services (ROSE), decision numbers: 292980, 314180] and the LUT Research Platform on Smart Services for Digitalisation (DIGI-USER).

Keywords

  • Care robotics
  • health and care technologies
  • service business orientation
  • service ecosystem

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'My business or not? The perspective of technology companies on shifting towards care robotics'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this