DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18412644
title: Smart for Repair - application and business concept

description: The problem

Repair services for smart devices exist in many locations like in my city - Lahti in FInland -  but are underutilised.

Households face practical and perceptual barriers—unclear pricing, uncertain quality, low visibility—which make replacement the default choice. These barriers reduce decision confidence at the moment when a device breaks.

 

Smart for Repair - Decision Support Application

The Smart for Repair application is implemented as a prototype-level digital decision support system (DSS) that is operationally lightweight and feasible within a pilot context. With an initial focus on smartphones and smartwatches, the tool is designed to support household repair decisions without requiring market deployment, contractual integration, or long-term service commitments.

From an operational perspective, the application relies on a step-by-step selection logic in which users specify the device type, brand, model, and component to be repaired. Based on these inputs, the DSS aggregates repair-related information from open and publicly available data sources and presents indicative repair options offered by local service providers. 

The application translates aggregated information into decision-relevant indicators—such as average repair cost, repair cost relative to the price of a new device, estimated repair duration, availability of original spare parts, and post-repair warranty length—which are presented in a structured comparison format. This indicator-based design is operationally efficient, as it does not require real-time price accuracy or transactional functionality to support informed decision-making.

A spatial visualisation of repair services on a map of the Lahti area links price and quality information to physical locations, using standard mapping functionality without custom infrastructure. This feature enhances usability while remaining technically and operationally low-risk.

Smart for Repair is not a marketplace, booking platform, or commercial service. It does not sell repairs, prioritise providers, or mediate transactions.  Instead, it is deliberately positioned as an independent, third-party comparison and learning tool, comparable in principle to platforms such as Back Market, Refurbed, Vertaa.fi, and iFixit. This positioning reduces perceived conflicts of interest, strengthens user trust during piloting, and enables the exploration of replicability and transfer potential without commitment to long-term operation or commercial scaling.

Overall, the Smart for Repair application demonstrates high operational feasibility as a circular service measure: it can be implemented with limited technical infrastructure, minimal institutional coordination, and manageable maintenance effort, while effectively supporting repair-oriented household decision-making in a real-world pilot setting.

https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiNDNhNWI1NWEtZmYxMC00Y2MyLWFlNDUtNTMyODg4ZTI5ZTM2IiwidCI6ImM4NTBmZTljLWI0NmMtNGIyZC1iODYzLTAxZmEyYTg5ODA2OCIsImMiOjh9Smart for Repair - Business opportunity

Core Idea (in one breath): A digital decision-support and price/impact comparison tool that helps households, municipalities, and service providers choose repair instead of replacement — with economic, environmental, and local-service visibility built in.

Think of it as:





part price comparison engine




part circular economy navigator




part local service marketplace




part policy instrument



It sits at the intersection of consumer behaviour, municipal circular policy, and SME repair ecosystems. That’s a rare and fertile intersection.

 

Open Invitation

This idea is intentionally open for anyone to adopt, develop, and turn into a business or service.There is no exclusive ownership requirement, no closed gate, no hidden lock. If an organisation, startup, municipality, platform, or individual entrepreneur sees value in it, they are welcome to take the concept forward, shape it, build on it, commercialise it, or adapt it to their own ecosystem.Please let me know if you are taking the challenge seriously.