Wireless Power of Smart Society: Public Value Challenges and Governance Solutions

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to examine how Wireless Power Transfer (WPT), as an emerging foundational infra-structure for smart societies, can simultaneously create and distort public value. While WPT promises efficiency, convenience, and new business opportunities across smart homes, smart cities, and Internet of Things (IoT) eco-systems, it also raises complex public value challenges related to safety, privacy, equity, sustainability, and demo-cratic governance. Method: The study adopts public value theory and the risk society perspective as its analytical framework. It first outlines the key technological features of WPT and its envisioned role in smart societies. It then conducts a conceptual and literature-based analysis to assess the implications of WPT infrastructures for public value crea-tion and erosion. Results: The analysis identifies five major public value concerns associated with WPT deployment: (1) safety and health uncertainties arising from electromagnetic field exposure; (2) privacy and data governance risks in sensor-rich environments; (3) issues of energy justice and infrastructural inequality; (4) environmental sustainability challenges, including increased electronic waste; and (5) platform monopolization and the erosion of public control over critical infra-structures. To address these challenges, the paper proposes governance solutions such as adaptive regulatory frameworks, privacy-by-design principles, public-value-based infrastructure standards, energy justice mechanisms, accountable public–private partnerships, and international standardization efforts. Conclusion: The central argument of the paper is that WPT should be governed as a public infrastructure ra-ther than as a purely market-driven or technology-driven innovation. Its design and deployment must be aligned with collectively defined public values. The study concludes by outlining implications for policymakers, industry stake-holders, and future research on the responsible governance of smart-society technologies.