Title: Identification of the strategic factors for the development of a new ICT-based biomass tool: the case of the BIOMAS platform

Authors: Christos Stefanis; Eleni Kamateri; Maria Partalidou; Stelios Gargas; Orestis Zafiris; Kostas Nasias

Addresses: Department of Food Science and Technology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece ' Nasias K. & Co LP (EXEO), 54352 Thessaloniki, Greece ' Department of Agricultural Economics, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece ' Nasias K. & Co LP (EXEO), 54352 Thessaloniki, Greece ' Nasias K. & Co LP (EXEO), 54352 Thessaloniki, Greece ' Nasias K. & Co LP (EXEO), 54352 Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract: The biomass integrated online marketplace system or shortly BIOMAS is the outcome of the respective EU-funded project that aims to exploit the benefits of ICT in order to boost the biomass market. This study presents a SWOT analysis from an ICT perspective in an attempt to highlight the great potential of the BIOMAS and identify the economic impacts from the development of such a biomass trading system. The architecture of BIOMAS is based on a web-based platform that consists of a biomass supply chain management component and a marketplace component combined with an auctioning mechanism for biomass products. The main novelty behind BIOMAS is the creation of an integrated, online system that will: 1) facilitate the interactions and establishing of agreements between stakeholders in the biomass and agricultural sector; 2) support biomass service and product integration into new forms; 3) facilitate the cooperation between different biomass stakeholders to provide advanced services.

Keywords: information and communications technology; ICT; information technology; agriculture; bioenergy; online marketplace; SWOT analysis; cooperation; economic impact; biomass trading systems; internet; web platforms; biomass supply chains; supply chain management; SCM; online auctions; biomass products.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSAMI.2016.081991

International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics, 2016 Vol.2 No.2/3/4, pp.135 - 154

Received: 18 Mar 2016
Accepted: 20 Aug 2016
Published online: 31 Jan 2017 *

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