The Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of North-Rhine Westphalia introduced a new study on the platform economy: »We already have 66 B2B platforms in North-Rhine Westphalia today which puts us at the top of the list all over Germany«, said Minister Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart. »The study shows once again: our state has the best prerequisites for further developing the pioneering role of B2B platforms.« That also applies for logistics: with the innovation project entitled Blockchain Europe NRW the state is promoting an essential component for shaping a decentralized and federal platform economy in logistics, the Silicon Economy.
The study entitled »B2B platforms in North-Rhine Westphalia: potentials, obstacles and recommendations for action« was created by DICE Consult GmbH on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy. The author is the renowned competition economist Prof. Dr. Justus Haucap, founding director of the Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE) and former chairman of the Monopolies Commission.
According to the study, the logistics sector – along with the manufacturing industry (mechanical engineering, chemical industry, steel/metal production/processing), the furniture industry, retail, healthcare and the waste disposal sector – is considered particularly promising for the establishment of successful B2B platforms in North Rhine-Westphalia. The 90-page report states that a greater awareness of the potential of B2B platforms should be developed among smaller and medium-sized companies in particular.
Dr. Michael Schmidt, responsible for strategy development within the Silicon Economy, is pleased about the attention for the logistics industry that comes with the study: »With the Silicon Economy we are taking an innovative approach to shaping the platform economy. We are aiming at providing as many companies as possible with access to customized platforms that coexist and are networked together. We intend to achieve that by establishing a uniform and freely available infrastructure, on which every company can build, and services that are also available as open source and can be integrated in the respective platforms.«
