In a recent paper, the smart-up ecosystem is introduced as a crucial conceptual model for implementing Industry 4.0. The model offers guidance for small and medium enterprises on how they can transform into a ‘smart business’. The paper builds on practical experiences in recent experiences in the chemical industry.
In the smart-up ecosystem: Turning Open Innovation into smart businesses, Maarten van Gils starts of by shortly analyzing the four industrial revolutions of which the current Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterized by an increased impact of IT-based technologies on the chemical industry.
Van Gils argues how especially small and medium-sized enterprises need to ‘smart-up‘ in order to stay competitive. They are facing a tough challenge as they lack resources and expertise in implementing Industry 4.0 (now Digitalisation)
Van Gils claims how innovation ecosystems play a vital role in enabling technology-based start-ups to be created and to get interaction with incumbents going.
The interest in innovation ecosystems has increased in the last couple of years. However, insights of digitization of production and sale are emerging rapidly, while at the same time the ecosystem concept has remained vague. The desire for a hands-on ecosystem is apparent, according Van Gils.
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Read the full paper here.
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