Public Summary Faezeh Ghasemi

The KIVI EngD Award recognizes research that bridges academia and industry through practical innovation and measurable societal impact. My EngD project embodies this mission by addressing a core question: How can a traditional, asset-heavy industry like container rental evolve into a data-driven service provider? 

At ELA Container GmbH—Europe’s market leader in modular space solutions—the challenge was not the absence of data, but its fragmentation. Valuable information was scattered across IoT devices, ERP systems, and logistics platforms, making it difficult for employees and customers to gain unified insight into operations. My goal was to design a solution that would make these data sources and the insights accessible, actionable, and human-centered. Using the Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM), I developed and validated two major solutions that together form the foundation of ELA’s digital transformation journey.

The first, the IoT Dashboard, was designed to give customers visibility and control tens of thousands of modular rental units deployed across Europe. By integrating real-time sensor data and enabling remote control of conditions such as temperature and lighting, the system improved operational transparency, compliance, and energy efficiency. It transformed static containers into connected assets, creating a new digital touchpoint between ELA and its customers and paving the way for data-driven service offerings..

The second solution, Smart Data Access (SDA), turned the focus inward—addressing how ELA’s employees interact with data. Through the use of semantic technologies and natural language processing, SDA enables non-technical staff to query enterprise data using everyday language. By combining metadata enrichment with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), the system translates questions into precise SQL queries, delivering insights directly from multiple databases. SDA reduces reliance on data specialists, shortens decision cycles, and cultivates a more data-literate organization.

What makes this project distinctive is the combination of technical innovation and organizational transformation. It not only delivers two functional digital systems but also redefines how people and data interact within an industrial context. Both solutions were validated with real use cases and directly influenced ELA’s roadmap toward predictive analytics and intelligent data assistants.

Beyond its business impact, the project has broader societal relevance. It shows that digital transformation can be achieved sustainably—without replacing human expertise, but by augmenting it. The SDA architecture also emphasizes data privacy and governance, ensuring that AI and automation can evolve responsibly within enterprise boundaries.

Throughout this journey, I served not only as a researcher but also as a bridge between business, technology, and people—coordinating interdisciplinary teams, aligning IT and strategy, and transforming conceptual research into deployable, value-driven solutions.

I believe this work deserves the KIVI EngD Award because it demonstrates the essence of the EngD: applying academic rigor to solve complex, real-world problems with tangible impact. It reimagines what digital transformation can mean for traditional industries and illustrates how thoughtful design can unlock innovation where it is least expected—inside the walls of a container.