To better understand Germany’s evolving landscape and company responses, platform initiatives pursued by Germany’s top companies by revenue were analysed, supplemented by an analysis of the country’s most successful start-up companies in terms of secured funding. To what extent, it was asked, do German companies engage in platform-based business models? What kinds of services do they provide and what kinds of revenue models do they apply? What is the distribution of platforms among industries and the proportion of B2B and B2C platforms? What kinds of value do the platforms create for owners, suppliers and end-users?

This impulse presents the current status of discussions within Plattform Industrie 4.0’s Working Group on Digital Business Models. It is meant to serve as a basis for further discussions and cannot be considered final.