Towards a Reference Model for Configuring Services Portfolio of Digital Innovation Hubs: The ETBSD Model

In today’s manufacturing domain, companies need to be able to join the Industry 4.0 paradigm and, more in particular, the Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) revolution. However, along this transition, often for companies it could be not enough to deploy new digital technologies in their plant, demonstrating a digital technology readiness. They need to be able to adequately employ this kind of technologies and exploit their potentialities for reaching a suitable digital maturity. In this context, technical expertise, experimental capabilities, and specialist knowledge often represent for companies, and more particularly for SMEs, relevant gaps in the CPS application domains. To lower barriers, especially for SMEs, and to realise the potential of growing autonomy in CPSs, competence centres and, with a broader perspective, (regional/pan-EU) Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) are arising. This paper introduces the conceptual Ecosystem-Technology-Business-Skills-Data (ETBSD) reference model that DIHs can use to configure their services portfolios unveiling new technological and business opportunities.