Adiwa

ADiWa is a project funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), dedicated to explore the potential of the Internet of Things and smart interaction for enabling intelligent and more efficient business processes. The Internet of Things (IOT) as part of the ubiquitous computing vision refers to a global assembly of inter-connected and communicating physical artifacts, ranging from sensors to complete products. Technological developments, as for example increasingly cost-efficient RFID tags on products, leverage the realization of such a vision. As a matter of fact, the potential impact of a world of communicating physical artifacts able to distribute information on their current status on business processes is immense. This allows for a new generation of processes, dynamically adapting to real-world events: Intelligent Processes.

Many practices in contemporary Business Processes involve using paper artifacts due to their unique affordances, to document, delegate and manage processes. This leads to disruptive media transitions in interacting with Business Process Management systems. On the other hand, a complete replacement of paper artifacts is not feasible in the foreseeable future. Instead of aiming to replace paper artifacts completely, it is therefore envisioned to integrate these artifacts with the Internet of Things and allow direct interaction (via a digital pen) with the Business Process Management System through these artifacts.