# Evolution of the Scientific Domain of Smart Life

Rébecca Deneckère, Elena Kornyshova, Sjaak Brinkkemper

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Rébecca Deneckère, Elena Kornyshova, Sjaak Brinkkemper. Evolution of the Scientific Domain of Smart Life. Smart Life and Smart Life Engineering, Springer Nature Switzerland, pp.57-67, 2025, 10.1007/978-3-031-75887-4_3. hal-04962602

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# Chapter 3
## Evolution of the Scientific Domain of Smart Life

Rébecca Deneckère, Elena Kornyshova, and Sjaak Brinkkemper

**Abstract** Research in “Smart” domains has proliferated over recent decades, branching into various subfields including Smart energy, Smart cities, and Smart homes and, more recently, Smart farming, Smart universities, and Smart tourism. Building on a bibliographic study of 2341 literature reviews and state-of-the-art papers, this chapter addresses the research question: *How have Smart applications evolved through time?* We show the growth of the Smart Life scientific domain reflecting a rising interest among researchers and society and provide an analysis of the increasing diversity of the research concepts in Smart Life. Finally, we present the evolution of four key Smart domains: Smart applications for enterprises, persons, environment, and society. Therefore, this chapter illustrates the surge in publications over the past decade underscoring the expanding relevance and impact of Smart Life in contemporary technological and societal contexts.

**Keywords** Smart Life · Evolution · Bibliographic study

### 3.1 Introduction

Research in the “Smart” domains expands continuously, with various subfields emerging over the past decades. We developed in the previous chapter the taxonomy of various Smart Life applications. We studied 2341 state-of-the-art and research

<footnote>R. Deneckère
Centre de Recherche en Informatique, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France
e-mail: rebecca.deneckere@univ-paris1.fr</footnote>

<footnote>E. Kornyshova (✉)
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherche en Informatique et Communications, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France
e-mail: elena.kornyshova@cnam.fr</footnote>

<footnote>S. Brinkkemper
Department of Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
e-mail: s.brinkkemper@uu.nl</footnote>
agenda papers on Smart Life.<fnref n="1" /> We detailed different Smart applications, such as Smart energy (Loganathan et al. 2018), Smart cities (Chamee 2020), Smart homes (Lutolf 1992), Smart farming or Smart agriculture (Hidayat et al. 2020), Smart university (Al-Shoqran and Shorman 2021), Smart tourism (Mehraliyev et al. 2020), and so on.

This work led to the specification of a taxonomy on Smart applications. In this chapter, we investigate their evolution and distribution over time. Thus, we aim at answering the second research question elaborated in the research methodology section of the previous chapter *RQ2: How have Smart applications evolved through time?*

The growth of the scientific domain of Smart Life with a detailed analysis of the related research concepts is studied in Sect. 3.2. Section 3.3 proposes a deeper look on the evolution of the four domains of Smart Life: Smart applications for enterprises, for persons, for environment, and for society. Section 3.4 explains the segmentation of the Smart applications type into each of these four domains. We conclude in Sect. 3.5.

## 3.2 Growth of the Scientific Domain of Smart Life

During a preliminary examination of research papers containing the strict term of “Smart Life,” we observed an increasing number of research articles interested on this domain (Kornyshova et al. 2022a). As shown in Fig. 3.1, the number of papers on Smart Life just has increased in the last decade. A nearly consistent rise has been detected since 2011, with a stable progression in the number of papers on Smart Life, particularly since 2016.

However, the number of papers on Smart Life was restricted; thus, we undertook a larger study to better understand the evolution of this field (the study of 2431 research articles). In the following, we present the evolution of Smart Life-related concepts since the appearance of the first states of the art in 1986 issue from this study. We start by the concepts for the whole period, and then we present them by sub-periods.

**Main concepts used in Smart Life** The main concepts discussed in the Smart Life paper corpus during the whole period are shown in Fig. 3.2. To construct and visualize the network, we used the VOSviewer tool (https://www.vosviewer.com/) with all the meta-data of the 2341 papers, ranging from 1986 to 2022. The obtained network highlights several important clusters, like *technology-oriented* (Internet of things, big data, sensors, cloud computing, and blockchain), *goal-oriented*

<footnote n="1">¹ The complete list of these papers is available at http://cri-dist.univ-paris1.fr/rcis22/RCIS2022_Appendix%20A%20-%20references%20list.pdf</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 3.1** Growth of the number of papers on Smart Life from 2011 to 2020</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 3.2** Concepts used in the meta-data of the studied papers for the entire period</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 3.3** Concepts in the meta-data of the studied papers from 1986 to 2005</figcaption></figure>

(security, energy-efficiency, privacy, and sustainability), and *application-oriented* (Smart grids/meter, Smart home, and Smart city).

To understand better the evolution of Smart Life concepts, we decomposed the paper corpus into three time periods: 1986–2005 (20 years), 2006–2014 (9 years), and 2015–2022 (8 years).

**The Main Concepts Used in Smart Life from 1986 to 2005 (34 Papers)**

Smart Life was at its very beginning in those days and applied in some domains, which will become more and more important later on (Fig. 3.3). For instance, “energy consumption” problematics were at the root of the appearance of Smart energy applications. Similarly, Smart healthcare applications began with “aging” people care. The concepts of “data security,” “information security,” “protection,” and “cryptography” were already the core of the area related to data collected by the sensors and the complexity to manage them correctly and confidentially. Technology-oriented concepts are also present, with “microscopy,” “Smart cards,” and “read on memory.”
<figure><img src="image_6.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 3.4** Concepts in the meta-data of the studied papers from 2006 to 2014</figcaption></figure>

## The Main Concepts Used in Smart Life from 2006 to 2014 (310 Papers)

As shown in Fig. 3.4, this period of time highlights the explosion of the Smart energy applications, essentially dedicated to the “Smart grid” ones but also to other kind of applications, like “energy management,” “energy efficiency,” and so on. “Sensors” or “Smart materials” are also representing a good set of concepts in the figure. “Artificial intelligence” makes its appearance. “Smart home” emerges in this period. “Security,” “privacy,” and “optimization” are representing all the goal-oriented concepts. It is remarkable that some concepts about sustainability appear, like “Smart growth.” However, this is not related to the other Smart Life concepts yet.

## The Main Concepts Used in Smart Life from 2015 to 2022 (1997 Papers)

Figure 3.5 illustrates the network of papers for this period. Eighty-five percent of our paper corpus were published in this last period of time, which shows the incredible expansion of the Smart Life domain on the last decade. A lot of new Smart applications appear, like “Smart agriculture,” “Smart governance,” and “Smart building.” However, even if we find a lot of these new concepts, the main ones appearing in this network are “Smart grid” (same as in the preceding period) and “Internet of Things,” which shows the importance of technology in this area. Related to IoT, we find all the “Smart devices” concepts, like “actuator,” “Arduino,”
<figure><img src="image_7.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 3.5 Concepts in the meta-data of the studied papers from 2015 to 2022</figcaption></figure>

or “zigbee.” We also find other concepts like “Industry 4.0,” “machine learning,” and “Internet,” which contribute to the number of technology-oriented concepts. Next to that, novel considerations about sustainability appear, like “sustainable city” and “climate change,” which are now completely related to the other concepts of the Smart Life domain.

## 3.3 Evolution of Smart Domains

The evolution of four Smart domains is illustrated in Table 3.1 covering the period from 1986 to 2022 (we should mention that the year 2022 is not complete as the study was done during 2022). The initial 21 years are aggregated into a single
<table><caption>**Table 3.1** Smart domains evolution (from Kornyshova et al. 2022b)</caption><thead><tr><th>Smart Life domains</th><th>1986-2006</th><th>2007</th><th>2008</th><th>2009</th><th>2010</th><th>2011</th><th>2012</th><th>2013</th><th>2014</th><th>2015</th><th>2016</th><th>2017</th><th>2018</th><th>2019</th><th>2020</th><th>2021</th><th>2022</th><th>Total</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Persons</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>6</td><td>9</td><td>3</td><td>6</td><td>9</td><td>13</td><td>9</td><td>10</td><td>25</td><td>21</td><td>45</td><td>64</td><td>93</td><td>84</td><td>4</td><td>408</td></tr><tr><td>Smart healthcare</td><td>3</td><td>3</td><td>5</td><td>4</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td><td>6</td><td>5</td><td>7</td><td>11</td><td>13</td><td>31</td><td>39</td><td>47</td><td>2</td><td>190</td></tr><tr><td>Smart home (Smart living)</td><td></td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>4</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>5</td><td>8</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>18</td><td>9</td><td>27</td><td>29</td><td>45</td><td>33</td><td>1</td><td>191</td></tr><tr><td>Smart welfare</td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td></td><td>1</td><td>5</td><td>4</td><td>9</td><td>4</td><td>1</td><td>27</td></tr><tr><td>Society</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>4</td><td>6</td><td>13</td><td>23</td><td>37</td><td>50</td><td>107</td><td>89</td><td>100</td><td>5</td><td>440</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Smart city</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>3</td><td>6</td><td>12</td><td>16</td><td>32</td><td>42</td><td>96</td><td>80</td><td>87</td><td>5</td><td>384</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Smart</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td></td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>Smart court</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Smart education</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td>5</td><td>4</td><td>6</td><td>9</td><td>7</td><td>11</td><td></td><td>43</td></tr><tr><td>Smart island</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Smart policing</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Smart social media</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>Smart state</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Smart village</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>2</td><td></td><td>1</td><td></td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>Environment</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>6</td><td>16</td></tr><tr><td>Smart disaster management</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td>3</td><td></td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Smart earth</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Smart natural resource management</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>3</td><td>9</td></tr><tr><td>Smart space exploration</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Enterprises</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>11</td><td>15</td><td>40</td><td>39</td><td>43</td><td>56</td><td>98</td><td>89</td><td>130</td><td>179</td><td>199</td><td>231</td><td>9</td><td>1142</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Smart agriculture</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>9</td><td>8</td><td>12</td><td>26</td><td>41</td><td>2</td><td>104</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Smart business management</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>2</td><td>5</td><td>10</td><td>15</td><td>24</td><td>3</td><td>60</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Smart industry</td><td>7</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>11</td><td>14</td><td>38</td><td>37</td><td>37</td><td>37</td><td>50</td><td>91</td><td>72</td><td>108</td><td>137</td><td>137</td><td>145</td><td>4</td><td>891</td></tr><tr><td>Smart service industry</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td></td><td>5</td><td>5</td><td>3</td><td></td><td></td><td>16</td></tr><tr><td>Smart transportation</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td></td><td></td><td>3</td><td>5</td><td>4</td><td>5</td><td>9</td><td>15</td><td>16</td><td>18</td><td></td><td>78</td></tr><tr><td>Total by year</td><td>1</td><td>6</td><td>6</td><td>13</td><td>14</td><td>22</td><td>51</td><td>56</td><td>59</td><td>82</td><td>146</td><td>147</td><td>226</td><td>352</td><td>383</td><td>421</td><td>18</td><td>2013</td></tr></tbody></table>
"Big Five"

<figure><img src="image_8.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 3.6 Evolution over time of the five largest Smart applications</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_9.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 3.7 Smart domains distribution over time</figcaption></figure>

column due to the considerably low number of publications during this period. We complete this chronological perspective with two graphical representations, the first one highlighting the evolution of the five largest Smart applications (see Fig. 3.6) and the second one illustrating the distribution of Smart domains (see Fig. 3.7).

We can note that the earliest reviews in the literature focus on Smart applications for enterprises dating back before 2006. Subsequently, the literature shows an increasing interest in two other domains, Smart applications for persons and for society, particularly during the 2000s. More recently, Smart applications for environment came out more prominently.
We can identify the growth of the five most studied Smart applications as shown in Fig. 3.6. For instance, Smart industry and Smart city are the most popular and represented in 891 and 384 state-of-the-art or research agenda papers, respectively, in this 36-year period of time.

The evolution of the four Smart domains is shown in Fig. 3.7 (excluding papers of 2022 as the year was not complete for the study). Within the domain of Smart applications for enterprises (1142 papers), Smart industry dominates (891 papers), with a substantial focus on Smart energy-related topics, followed by Smart agriculture (104 papers), Smart transportation (78 papers), and Smart business management (60 papers).

Smart home and Smart healthcare are equally represented in Smart applications for persons (191 and 190 papers, respectively, over 408), with a smaller portion dedicated to Smart welfare.

Smart applications for environment are relatively limited, with only 16 papers; half of them focused on Smart natural resource management (nine papers).

Smart city dominates the Smart applications for society (384 papers out of 440), followed by Smart education (43 papers).

On the whole, the first works to appear on Smart applications were of the enterprises domain and still correspond to more than half the works published in the Smart Life field. Then we find the Smart applications for persons and society. The last domain, Smart applications for environment, began to appear in 2014.

## 3.4 Segmentation of the Smart Domains

Besides the evolution of the four domains over time, it is interesting to know the segmentation of the papers in each of the domains. Figure 3.8 shows this segmentation for each domain.

Smart applications for Enterprises are divided into five main types, as shown in Fig. 3.8a. The most dominant one is Smart industry (78% of the corpus), one of the Big Five (See Fig. 3.6) that comprises the Smart energy and Smart grid fields, which we already identified as really common Smart applications. We find then Smart agriculture, Smart transportation, and Smart business management. Finally, Smart service industry appear with only 1% of the corpus papers.

Smart applications for Persons are separated into three main types (Fig. 3.8b). Smart home and Smart healthcare applications take the best part of the share with 47% and 46% each. Smart welfare applications area come as a challenger in this domain with new Smart applications like Smart clothing or Smart sports.

Smart applications for Environment can be considered as belonging to four main types, as shown in Fig. 3.8c. Smart natural resource management applications are represented in more than half of the paper corpus (56%), with the increase of the environment problematics awareness. Smart disaster management applications share (32%) also shows a growing interest with increasingly frequent environmental disasters, such as repeated floods or fires.
<figure><img src="image_10.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 3.8** Distribution of Smart applications (a) for enterprises, (b) for persons, (c) for environment, and (d) for society</figcaption></figure>

*Smart applications for Society* (see Fig. 3.8d) is mainly concerned with Smart home applications, as it was one of the first Smart application to appear in the domain (87.27%). 9.77% of our paper corpus represent Smart healthcare applications. There are also a set of seven other Smart application types which appear on a marginal way (compared to these two first types).

**3.5 Conclusion**

In this chapter, we have looked at the evolution of the Smart Life area over time, both by closely examining the terms and concepts used in the corpus articles and through the lens of the four domains identified in the previous chapter: Smart applications for enterprises, for persons, for environment, and for society. This bibliographic study demonstrates that the research domain concerning Smart Life involves an increasingly diverse yet strongly interconnected range of fields. The huge expansion in the number of publications in the last decade indicates a growing interest among researchers in these issues, which also reflects a growing interest of our society in Smart Life.
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