Knowledge creation for resilient cyber-socio-technical systems: framing recent research

The term cyber-socio-technical system (CSTC) has been introduced in recent research to emphasize the increasing pervasiveness of the cyber aspect in modern socio-technical systems, with more intelligence and autonomy. Critical infrastructures such as energy, water and transportation systems, as well as essential services like medical services, are examples of these systems. Digital innovation is creating opportunities to improve their resilience to external and internal stressors but also challenges, such as the increased complexity of the analysis due to various dependencies of system functions and changes in the organization of work. Following knowledge management theories, a novel approach leveraging the SECI model by Nonaka has allowed to identify knowledge flow patterns between various working agents (including cyber artifacts) of a CSTS and their influence in the system performance that may affect its resilience. In this paper, we present a safety perspective of the SECI model that highlights the activities for safety/risk knowledge creation and sharing in a CSTC and use this model to classify research advancements on ICT technology to support such activities.