Business Innovation Observatory Semester 4 April 2015
Disruptive innovations and forward-looking policies towards
smart value chains
The Business Innovation Observatory
trend report: Disruptive innovations and forward-looking
policies towards smart value chains
The three emerging trends of Service innovation for smart
industry, Traceability across the
value chain and the Internet of Things are investigated in the
fourth batch of case studies
published by the Business Innovation Observatory.
A common red line in the analysed trends is the contribution of
the selected innovations towards the rise and success of smart
value chains. Smart value chains involve the introduction of new
processes or solutions so as to save at least one step, generate
enhanced productivity and cost savings, decrease time-to-market,
respect the environment, and provide a better quality output.
The fourth trend report tackles some of the key issues emerged
from the case studies. Constant
body monitoring, human-robot collaboration, and driverless cars
are three of the most
disruptive innovations likely to change our lives in the future.
The report also includes
recommendations resulting from the Conference held in Brussels
on 16 April 2015.
- Constant body monitoring: the human body is becoming a
digitally connected part of
the value chain in the health sector. The emergence of new
wearable devices offers new
monitoring capabilities and it also poses new policy challenges,
particularly related to
data accessibility, privacy and security.
- Human-robot collaboration: a new generation of collaborative
robots (or co-bots),
designed for direct interaction with humans within a defined
setting, is entering the
market. As co-bots are flexible and predestined for a
small-scale, adaptable production,
they have the potential to positively impact the competitiveness
of European
manufacturing SMEs across many industries.
- Driverless cars: at the crossroads of human-robot
collaboration and the Internet of
Things, the entry of autonomous cars onto the market will
require clear regulatory
frameworks, the adoption of new technologies and investments in
the infrastructures
needed to deploy them.
These disruptive innovations pose new policy challenges which
need to be dealt with urgently:
- Data security and data privacy: Effective policies concerning
data protection can play a crucial role in the development of smart
value chains around new technologies, as they create security and
certainty that facilitate operations and cooperation by the
actors.
- Technology standards: Standardisation can play an effective
role in the development of new markets by focusing the demand on
specific technical solutions and helping to reach a critical mass.
Standards also enable interoperability, reduce risks and
transaction costs for users, and remove technical barriers to
trade.
- Skills gaps and qualification mismatches: the lack of ICT
competence of the skilled workforce represents a barrier for the
development of a digital society and of a Digital Single Market, as
well as in general for fostering innovation in the European
economy.
Contact [email protected] Learn more about the Business
Innovation Observatory: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/bio
Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
