Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering
Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering

Current projects for research and industry

Digital Product Passport: Digital Product Passports for the industrial circular economy

Digital Product Passports (DPPs) are designed to create transparency regarding the materials, origin, and sustainability of physical products. Starting in 2027, the first DPPs will become mandatory in the EU. The project aims to develop an open and interoperable solution that enables companies to easily enter the digital circular economy – independent of existing ecosystems and based on open-source technologies.

Digitaler Produktpass

Conscious handling of data: Data governance as a fac-tor for success at KSB SE & Co. KGaA

With the intention of driving forward digital transformation, a joint preliminary study on (master) data management was conducted by KSB and Fraunhofer ISST in 2021. One key finding was that KSB should push ahead with the introduction of global data governance in order to benefit from the potential of more proactive data management. In order to create the necessary framework conditions, the preliminary project concluded with the creation of a roadmap setting out important milestones and project phases. The imple-mentation of this roadmap was the focus of the collaboration between 2022 and 2024. By combining the specific business challenges with the methodological tools of applied research, synergistic potential was leveraged that will benefit KSB in the long term..

Fujitsu: Enhancing Trust in Inter-Organizational Data Sharing through Levels of Assurance for Data Trustworthiness

As data is increasingly recognized as a valuable asset, effective inter-organizational data sharing becomes crucial to utilize its full potential. However, a lack of trust still prevents the widespread adoption of data ecosystems. In a collaboration, Fujitsu and Fraunhofer ISST developed Levels of Assurance for Data Trustworthiness (Data LoA), an assurance framework designed to promote trust and transparency beyond company and country borders, thereby overcoming existing trust issues.

Construct-X: Simplified information processing on construction sites

Construct-X develops, among other things, data spaces based on open-source principles, a cloud-based open-source reference architecture, and cloud edge applications relevant to the construction industry. This also includes the development of technologies for the multi-provider cloud edge continuum, which will enable latency-free and secure processing of data on construction sites.

Bosch: Economic concepts and technologies for sharing industrial data in data ecosystems

In order to maintain and expand their competitive advantage, industrial companies must continuously adapt their business model to changing market requirements, legal frameworks and advances in technological innovation. Data is playing an increasingly important role as a (strategic) resource in this process. Every day, 2.5 million terabytes of data are generated worldwide, of which approximately 1.5 million terabytes are generated in industry. This data is an important source for increasing operational efficiency, for innovative digital services and for closer customer interaction. However, companies will not be able to take advantage of these opportunities if the data remains in isolated silos. Rather, data unfolds its value when it is used, not only within the company, but also beyond, in the customer-supplier relationship or in business ecosystems.

PURIS: Making modern supply chains more efficient and resilient according to Catena-X standards

PURIS ("Predictive Unit Realtime Information Service") is a use case within Catena-X that is located in the area of "Product Lifecycle Management and Resiliency". PURIS standardizes the partner-specific exchange of key supply chain information in the short term between suppliers and customers (one-up/one-down principle). This information includes the current stock situation, demand and planned production volumes. The aim is to use more precise information to prevent bottlenecks or at least resolve them more efficiently. PURIS uses the Catena-X Governance Framework for purpose-related data processing to ensure the data-sovereign exchange of sensitive information. PURIS is based on the Catena-X technology stack of digital twins and data spaces.

Catena-X Automotive Network: Alliance for secure and standardized data exchange

The supply chain law or the monitoring of a CO2 footprint are only two current challenges of the automotive industry. They require cross-company data usage so that end-to-end value chains emerge. In the Catena-X project, an ecosystem for the entire automotive sector is being established, which will be set up in a highly scalable manner from the very beginning. The core element of the network is a shared offering of federated data and services that enables companies to shorten the "time-to-market" of innovative solutions, use resources more efficiently, and increase the transparency and resilience of value creation processes.

Factory-X: A sovereign data space for mechanical and plant engineering

The mechanical and plant engineering industry faces a variety of challenges: a lack of resilience in supply chains, media disruptions in internal factory data and information flows or insufficient digitalization of processes and/or machines. Within the Manufacturing-X project family, the Factory-X lighthouse project explicitly addresses an industry that is of great importance to the German economy: mechanical and plant engineering. A data space is being created for sovereign participation in future-oriented technology for data sharing and collaborative data use.

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Aerospace-X: Ecosystem for an efficient and sustainable Aerospace Supply Chain

As data becomes an increasingly important resource in modern industry, there is a growing need for data-driven solutions to address various challenges. As part of the Manufacturing-X initiative, which focuses on the digitalization of supply chains, Aerospace-X aims to develop a federated and value-added platform for aerospace supply chains. This platform will utilize modern data space technologies to enable data-driven decisions and improve collaboration within the industry.

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proDTM: Process model for neutral data trust models

The use of data across silo boundaries offers many opportunities. Data trust models (DTM) provide data trustees with the framework, the implementation and the technologies to enable the trusting and, above all, neutral exchange of data. DTMs hold enormous potential for data-based innovations in the research, business, administration and social sectors. However, due to the novelty of the concept and its practical application, as well as the legislation associated with DTM, there are still research gaps that need to be filled in order to ensure the acceptance, feasibility and ultimately the added value of DTM.

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DIONA: Digital ecosystem for a sustainable circular economy in the automotive industry

A holistic product life cycle can form a significant contribution to the targeted climate neutrality of Germany by 2045. The "DIONA" project therefore sees the need for a joint development of sustainability measures in order to obtain a holistic understanding of sustainability and challenges. For future sustainable development, it is important to identify best practices in the automotive industry as well as socio-political incentives.

DIVMALDA: Digitization and verification of live emissions data from ships for transparent and credible reporting and monitoring processes and CO2-optimized ship operation

In the “DIVMALDA - Digitization and Verification of Marine Live Emission Data” project, we are researching how specific sensor technology can be used to collect and use emission data in real operation. The focus here is on how the use of the data can also be improved outside the ship while maintaining data sovereignty. Ensuring data sovereignty favors high market penetration as an anchor of trust.

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DB Schenker Enterprise Lab for Logistics and Digitization

Innovative logistics solutions and process innovations make a considerable contri-bution to the competitiveness of companies. The DB Schenker Enterprise Lab for Logistics and Digitization established in 2015 accelerates the digital transformation of processes in the concrete business environment of a logistics service provider.

HeRaKlion: Heuristic Resilience Analyses for Municipalities Using Data Space Functionalities

Information plays an important role in the prediction and management of crisis situations. This has been shown, among other things, by the Corona pandemic and the increasingly frequent extreme weather events in recent years. Municipalities are faced with the challenge of evaluating the amount of data for use and making the results available to other institutions. In the course of the "HeRaKlion" project, a resilience data space is being developed to make the data for preparing for and coping with crises more accessible and usable.

High Performance Center Logistics and IT: Innovation ecosystem at the Dortmund scientific site

Scientific institutions based in Dortmund that – on their own – are already shaping and driving logistics research today are working together under the umbrella of the High Performance Center Logistics and IT. In the High Performance Center, they are now establishing a national infrastructure and innovation ecosystem in cooperation with industry, not only together but also synergetically – from fundamental research to applied research.

CCIT: Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Internet Technologies

The Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Internet Technologies CCIT re-searches cognitive technologies for the industrial Internet. Researchers in various disciplines are developing key technologies along the value chain, from sensors to intelligent learning methods in data processing to the cloud. CCIT helps companies with the forward-looking design of their business by opening up market access with cognitive solution services and products.

DATAMITE (DATA Monetization, Interoperability, Trading & Exchange)

DATAMITE provides a technical framework that helps European companies and public administrations to overcome data challenges and capitalise on their data. In doing so, DATAMITE focuses on key areas such as data governance, quality, security and sharing, while ensuring compatibility with existing technologies. The project improves the monetisation of data internally, by improving the trust and quality of the data, and externally, by enabling users to control their data, thus opening up new revenue streams. It also supports digital innovation hubs in integrating small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) into the data economy.

SKALA: Scalable AI and blockchain solutions for automation and autonomization in value networks

The SKALA project aims to enable the synergetic interaction of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology in federated and decentralized platform ecosystems. It is intended to enable companies in production, logistics and supply chain management to work more efficiently and securely through trustworthy process automation and autonomization. Scalable reference applications are developed that support the horizontal, vertical and temporal networking of processes, organizations and systems.