Industrial companies ready to open their data streams
The goal of Intelligent Industry is that Finland is at the forefront of taking the lead in the European data economy.
Industrial companies are willing to open up their data flows and benefit from the data-sharing economy. Conditions must be created in Finland to enable companies to move to the next stage of the industrial data economy. It is important that Finland is actively involved in the development of the industrial data sharing models that are currently being created in Europe.
The Intelligent Industry ecosystem operated by DIMECC and its partner companies are driving the digital transformation of Finnish industrial companies. The ecosystem defines in its recent Industrial data economy for Finland position paper what is required for Finnish industrial companies to take advantage of new business opportunities brought by the data economy.
“Our ecosystem wanted to take the position that Finland must act now so that our industrial companies can achieve all the benefits that the digital platform economy enables. Actions are needed both nationally and in driving the mutual interest at European level”, says Juha Pankakoski, Chairman of the Intelligent Industry Ecosystem and Executive Vice President, Technologies, of Konecranes Plc.
Industry data is often untapped
Data can be used to speed up production and improve quality and anticipate the operation of both machines and customers. Yet, as many as 98% of industrial data worldwide is left untapped.
“80% of manufacturing companies are still at a stage where operations need to be radically reformed to get data to support the business. The more efficient use of data will increase the company’s turnover by up to 2–3%”, points out Antti Karjaluoto, head of the DIMECC Intelligent Industry ecosystem, to international research results.
The new data economy radically changes the networks of industrial companies. Different actors need to dare and be capable to share their data to keep up with the development and create a new kind of business. It is the result of combining, filtering and processing various data sets between different operators. This is done at different stages of the value and production chains and between different machines in a single factory.
Participating in the creation of European rules of play
Technical conditions for data sharing are in place, but issues relating to data management, sharing, exploitation, trust, responsibility and legislation remain to be partly resolved.
The EU data strategy was published at the beginning of 2020 and many European countries have launched national Industry 4.0 data initiatives. European models for industrial data sharing are currently being created, and Finland must also be actively involved in this work.
The needs of European industry, for example from the perspectives of regulation and standardisation, financing and infrastructure, would be pursued, for example through the EU’s industrial strategy.
“The goal of Intelligent Industry is that Finland is at the forefront of taking the lead in the European data economy”, says Kari Muranen, co-leader of the DIMECC Intelligent Industry ecosystem.
Finland must ensure its visibility in EU-level initiatives such as GAIA-X, the European Commission’s initiative on industrial data platforms and IDSA standardisation.
Cooperation as a condition of change
According to Intelligent Industry, Finland’s industrial data-sharing economy requires several simultaneous actions at national level. The barriers to using data need to be reduced. A key challenge now is how to get companies to work together to achieve a common, greater goal. Domestic actors should therefore also be brought together with national funding. Companies using industrial data should also be established in Finland using public funding and using PPP models.
SMEs should be financially supported to have sufficient technical and economic access to data-sharing platforms.
In the data economy, the principle of data sovereignty must be respected, i.e. to guarantee the data owner the right to manage its data in a decentralised platform system.
Many actors are involved
It is worth making joint development of industrial companies through existing R&D networks.
“The practical solutions described in the intelligent industry publication have been developed in Finland by many actors, including the Technology Industry of Finland. To create a functioning data economy, we need operational structures and tools, both for bilateral arrangements and for multilateral networks. Bilateral agreements include, for example, the model terms for data sharing we have developed”, says Jussi Mäkinen, Chief Legal Counsel (Digitalisation), Technology Industries of Finland.
The Intelligent Industry ecosystem includes Konecranes, HT Laser, Elekmerk, Fastems, Nokia, Prima Power, Raute, Innofactor, TietoEVRY and Melkki. In addition to the companies’ own investments, the operations are funded by Business Finland.
LINK TO: Industrial data economy for Finland
