SMARTNETS · SmartNets – The Transformation from Collaborative Knowledge Exploration Networks into Cross Sectoral and Service Oriented Integrated Value Systems

High value-adding processes for knowledge-intensive products and services are facing growing complexity and ask therefore for close collaboration of industrial partners. Especially for companies which are acting across sectoral borders functional as well as technical interoperability has become tremendously important. Only by trustful collaboration between partners, required knowledge and competence can be acquired, shared and used to target at innovative products and services. However, even by including the right partners in the first phases of development, companies have to ensure that knowledge and experience generated in these early steps will be available throughout the whole product life cycle. This will guarantee an efficient and sustainable production of products and/or delivery of valuable services.Goal of the SmartNets project is to establish and to prove ‘Smart Networks’ as an holistic industrial model for sustainable and efficient production in cross-sectoral SME collaboration both in development and production of knowledge-intensive products and services. It will provide network members with the necessary concepts, methods and tools to guide them through organization-, ICT- and knowledge-related network adaptations which are typically required in the value-adding process from idea generation to product/service exploitation. The ‘smart’ transformation from development network to production or service-providing network will guarantee an efficient use of the resources knowledge, personnel and IT throughout the whole product life cycle.The results will be applied in and evaluated by value-adding SME-dominated networks, which have already been formed around product ideas at the beginning of the project. Target products are an innovative helmet (IT-GB network), a medical device (CZ-DE network) and interior textiles (BE network).