nextnet. Next generation Technologies for networked Europe. D3.1 - Technology Mapping and Scouting

This report is the Deliverable 3.1 of the NEXT-NET project. The aim of the project is to put inplace a cross-sectoral and cross-technological initiative at European level to increase integration between production and distribution, as well as to propose research and innovation priorities for the future of supply chain. The Deliverable 3.1 looks to identify enabling technologies through the analyses of existing roadmaps and studies, selection of the most important technologies, and their evaluation with respect to their implications on the supply chain. For this purpose, expert workshops and literature review were conducted according to three industry sectors: discrete manufacturing, process industry and logistics & distribution. Based on these expert workshops and literature review, the following 18 enabling technologies were selected and evaluated: 1. Autonomous Transport Systems, 2. Robots, 3. Cloud Based Computer Systems, 4. Internet of Things, 5. Distributed Ledger / Blockchain, 6. Artificial Intelligence, 7. Data Science, 8. Mobile and Wearable Devices, 9. Communication Infrastructure, 10. Identification Technologies, 11. Location Technologies, 12. Visual Computing, 13. Additive Manufacturing, 14. Energy Infrastructure, 15. Alternative Propulsion Systems, 16. Renewable Energy Technologies for Production and Storage, 17. Smart Materials, 18. Nanotechnology. The methodological approach for evaluation of these 18 technologies includes the assessment of their Technology Readiness Level (TRL), Applicability Scoring and the identification of the Implications on the Supply Chain Performance. Moreover, Application Examples and Gap Analyses, including Technology Gaps and description of Implementation Challenges, are provided. Based on their applicability and their implications on the supply chain nine technologies emerge to be a focus for future research: Internet of Things, Distributed Ledger / Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Identification Technologies, Autonomous Transport Systems, Cloud Based Computer Systems, Communication Infrastructure and Additive Manufacturing. D3.1: Report on technology mappingand scouting 4 Based on the future SC scenarios generated in T2.3 (Scenario integration and assessment) and the identified enabling technologies in this report, a mapping of the enabling technologies necessary to implement each specific scenario will be performed in D3.2 (Report on technology mapping on future scenarios).