With the release of the first open source components from the »Silicon Economy« project, the logistics operating system for the platform economy of the future is taking shape. The Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV) is funding the project with 25 million euros. From now on, companies can use freely available software and hardware and adapt them to their needs.
In the 2000s, the »Segway«, the electrically powered one-person vehicle, was among the trendy fun and fashionable vehicles for young and old. The driving principle of the platform on two wheels is now more up-to-date than ever: researchers from the Silicon Economy have used the »inverse pendulum« to build a platform with an intelligent automatic balancing system in the »OpenDynamics« development project, which is intended to establish a new class of dynamically stable robots.
Until now, driverless transport vehicles from different manufacturers could not be controlled by a common master control unit. The VDA5050 standard helps solve the problem – its open-source implementation from the Silicon Economy was successfully implemented in FLIP, the »Flexible Lifter for Intralogistics and Production« developed at Fraunhofer IML.
The software for an AI-based arrival time forecast, which was developed as part of the Silicon Economy initiative, is now being tested in an implementation project of the Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Ruhr-OWL at a freight forwarding company in the Siegerland region – and is becoming even smarter …
To be economically successful in logistics today, companies must identify and implement new business models, also by investing in digitalization – in other words, they must become »smarter«. Raoul Wintjes, Head of the International Road Haulage | Digitalization Department at the DSLV Bundesverband Spedition und Logistik e. V. (German Freight Forwarders and Logistics Association), on how to bring about corresponding changes in freight forwarders and logistics companies, including the smaller ones.
All significant information in a nutshell: the team of the Silicon Economy project entitled »Digitalization of Import Processes in Perishable Air Freight Logistics« developed a standards-compliant solution for import forwarders at airports that significantly simplifies the workflow for handling perishable goods (»Perishables«).
The International Data Spaces Association’s (IDSA) new »Use Case Radar« once again acknowledges the importance of the Silicon Economy as a use case for secure data spaces. The innovative tool was presented at the international IDSA summit.
Identifying stress, predicting stress: by using a dynamic organizer for work breaks logistics companies can organize work and control resources more flexibly within the warehouse and for transportation staff too. This is made possible by a new service that was developed within the context of the Silicon Economy: the »Dynamic Break«.
Identifying stress, predicting stress: by using a dynamic organizer for work breaks logistics companies can organize work and control resources more flexibly within the warehouse and for transportation staff too. This is made possible by a new service that was developed within the context of the Silicon Economy: the »Dynamic Break«.
Whether it is improving the information flow of transportation, with truck transportation in particular, or transparency and visibility along the supply chain, or optimizing data generation on the shop floor (i.e., where the supply chain starts), the three new development projects »Digital Consignment Note«, »Digitalization of import processes in perishable air freight logistics« and »OpenDynamics« all represent a vital dimension of the Silicon Economy.
The so-called brokers are some of the most important components of the Silicon Economy. They form the basis for the infrastructure of the new federal platform economy. Companies can integrate the brokers on their own platforms and use them for logistics processes and for data generation and data exchange. Andreas Nettsträter of Fraunhofer IML, responsible for Network + Knowledge Transfer in the Silicon Economy, explains how it works.
Researchers of the Silicon Economy have laid the foundations for making the secure data space IDS – i.e. International Data Spaces – available across the board in logistics: a new software kit – the Wrapper Toolbox – now enables companies to integrate a data space connector into their IT landscape quickly and easily.
