Department of Industrial Engineering and Management

Lack of shared digital goods –› Open digital goods should be created

There are few shared digital goods in the manufacturing industry. Shared digital goods are digital infrastructure, open source code, platform interfaces, and open data (Yoo et al., 2010; Karhu et al., 2018). In shared use, these goods can at best compensate for individual companies’ lack of expertise and resources and allow for the positive spillover effects of the best practices and solutions. The main reasons for the small number of shared digital goods in the manufacturing industry are the lack of competence in platform and data business, and rigid organisation structures.

Challenge: Lack of shared digital goods

  • Lack of business competence related to digital goods: Companies are not familiar with the business and earnings models of digital goods. Especially in the SME sector, lack of experience and vision concerning the potential of digital goods slows down their deployment.
  • Rigid organisational structures: Corporate culture and decision-making models do not yet support rapid and experimental opening up and sharing of digital goods.

Recommendation: Open digital goods should be created

Innovation policy should focus on creating open and shared digital goods where they do not emerge naturally or are inadequate. This can take place through regulation, financial support, or active agency.

The conditions for public funding should include the use of open-source code and co-development

  • Increased co-development and the use of open-source code should be a requirement for accessing public funding.
  • The public sector should set an example by emphasising the requirement of open-source code in public procurements.

The public sector should create open digital goods

  • Open digital goods, including telecommunications licences, may be controlled by public authorities through licensing systems instead of being directly operated by the public sector.
  • The public sector should open interfaces that are essential for the manufacturing industry with official register data, such as building permit documents and telecommunications data.
  • The practices and schedules of opening up registers and data reserves of the public sector (ministries and agencies) should be specified. 

 Preconditions for the creation of digital goods should be ensured

  • Finland and the EU should develop their regulation to provide preconditions for innovators to create and use digital goods.
  • Public-private partnership (PPP) models should be defined for digital goods in the manufacturing industry.

Other challenges and recommendations

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Only few platforms are created –› Thresholds for participating in the early stages of development should be lowered

In the early stages of digital platform development, three factors make companies’ thresholds for participating higher: a lack of trust, a lack of competence related to the platform economy, and closed ICT systems.

Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
3D printed

Insufficient data sharing –› Data sharing practices and obligations should be developed

The current data market does not encourage data sharing. There are four reasons for this situation: determining the value of data is difficult, cooperation practices are restrictive, legislation is incomplete or restrictive, and companies have no expertise in data-based business.

Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
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Competence in exploiting digital networks is lacking –› Innovation activities should be transferred to digital networks

Innovation increasingly takes place in networks forming around platforms and digital architecture structures (‘crowdsourcing’). Companies in the manufacturing industry do not yet exploit the benefits of digital networks in their innovation activities.

Department of Industrial Engineering and Management

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How will innovations fare in the platform economy? Four challenges and solutions for the manufacturing industry

This policy brief focuses on the innovation challenges of the platform economy in the manufacturing industry. We discuss four innovation challenges facing the manufacturing industry and the key reasons for them. We present recommendations related to innovation policy that can accelerate the development and growth of the platform economy in the manufacturing industry.

Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
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