Smart systems engineering contributing to an intelligent carbon-neutral future: opportunities, challenges, and prospects

This communication paper provides an overview of multi-scale smart systems engineering(SSE)approaches and their applications in crucial domains including materials discovery,intelligent manufacturing,and environmental management.A major focus of this interdisciplinary field is on the design,operation and management of multi-scale systems with enhanced economic and environmental performance.The emergence of big data analytics,internet of things,machine learning,and general artificial intelligence could revolutionize next-generation research,industry and society.A detailed discussion is provided herein on opportunities,challenges,and future directions of SSE in response to the pressing carbon-neutrality targets.