Four main pillars are key to the development of industrial data ecosystems

Industrial data ecosystems are the next chapter in the Digital Transformation of our industry. They enable intelligently controlled value and supply chains for greater resilience, competitiveness, and sustainability.

Influence

On a global scale, International Manufacturing-X (IMX) is realizing the shared vision of end-to-end international industrial data ecosystems. The roles in Influence – Build – Operate – Scale need to be intertwined and harmonized. Smart Manufacturing country initiatives started IMX. They form the International Manufacturing-X Council (IMXC), which guides and orchestrates global activities to evolve this approach into an integrated, trustworthy overall system. The IMXC formulates a common vision and roadmap to identify and implement use cases with global reach and ensures mutual alignment, harmonization. It establishes the necessary structures and supports local players and initiatives.

At a regional or domain-specific level, various actors establish communities and develop concepts tailored to their specific needs, concerted with the global vision, to realize the optimal business results. They ensure that the concepts are implemented consistently and that there is a regular exchange within projects and initiatives.

Build

Led by the industry, dedicated projects are being initiated to develop basic building blocks for IMX data ecosystems. Industry- and application-specific elements are being created to implement the idea of data networks e.g., for industrial manufacturing, the automotive value chain, or the process industry. These industrial data ecosystems benefit from a common basic infrastructure that includes, for example, common approaches to data connectivity, interoperable data models, trust frameworks and technical infrastructures for a cloud edge continuum. Open source development communities are established to develop and provide central software components as technical building blocks and support the ecosystem-specific requirements and use cases.

Run

Certified entities guarantee the operation of these concepts set up corresponding technical and process landscapes and make them available to the ecosystem in a secure and trustworthy manner. Ultimately, they enable the interaction of network players, the exchange of data and thus the actual value creation in the data ecosystem.

To this end, they provide central services for Onboarding and Enabling, Data Publishing and Discovery as well as for Conformity and Trustworthiness, on which commercial marketplaces offer applications and services.

Scale

National and global players promote the mutual exchange and knowledge transfer and thus enable the international expansion of industrial data ecosystems and initiatives.

Associations, initiatives, and national hubs work hand in hand to disseminate vision, concepts and ideas to the engaged countries and industries and to realize easy access to technology and knowledge. At the same time, international activities foster the global growth of ecosystems.

The global network is expanded via multipliers such as leading industry partners, consultancies, and service partners; thus, industrial data networks are constantly being extended.