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MANUFACTURING AS A SERVICE FOR THE EU'S TWIN TRANSITION UNTIL 2040 (MASTT2040)

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MASTT2040 (MANUFACTURING AS A SERVICE FOR THE EU'S TWIN TRANSITION UNTIL 2040 (MASTT2040))

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31

The Coordination and Support Action MASTT2040 is a strategic foresight project addressing the challenges of “Manufacturing as a Service for the EU’s Twin Transition until 2040”.
More and more manufacturing companies and marketplaces offer online services for the on-demand manufacturing of customized products, the provision of Equipment and Equipment services or services supporting the sustainability of manufacturing and the Circular Economy. We group all these business models and services under the nominator MaaS. Currently, MaaS is already transforming the manufacturing sector in Europe. In the fast-evolving landscape of MaaS, the EU faces the crucial challenge of navigating the uncertainties of emerging changes, disruptions, and opportunities in the sector. This uncertainty demands a strategic approach to guide decision-making in the European manufacturing industry up to 2040. In this context, the MASTT2040 project uses participatory foresight methods to build a shared understanding, engage key stakeholders, and craft a strategic roadmap, identifying short, medium, and long-term development objectives of European manufacturing industry for MaaS. The project’s overall goal is to make MaaS a catalyst for circularity, embed sustainability in industrial approaches, enhance supply resilience, and propel Europe to the forefront of MaaS expertise.
The consortium is composed of 6 partners: 2 industrial cluster associations (Sirris, BE; COMET, IT), 1 governmental agency of I4.0 (Future Industry Platform, PL), a private innovation support and technology transfer organization (Steinbeis, DE) facilitating knowledge transfer among companies, research organisations, universities, administrations and policy-makers, and 2 SMEs: a high technology and consultancy SME for the manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, marine, rail transport, energy and health sectors - including standardisation aspects (THHINK BV, NL) and a strategic foresight consultancy (4CF, PL) which designs novel qualitative and semi-quantitative foresight methodologies and digital tools.
MASTT2040 uses strategic foresight methods in an inclusive and participatory manner and actively engage key stakeholders within the MaaS and Circular Economy communities. The activities related to the phases of the foresight study of MASTT2040 are:
1. Phase 1 “Scanning and scoping” analyses the best practices to advance circularity, decarbonisation, and sustainability of industrial production in the context of “Manufacturing as a Service” approach. These will be grouped in a casebook explaining towards industry the current state of play of MaaS approaches and best practices illustrated by cases.
2. Phase 2 “Envisioning & Reframing” analyses foreseeable developments and trends, including the potential advantages and disadvantages, regarding distributed Manufacturing as a Service vs. centralised manufacturing. MASTT2040 employs a comprehensive participatory foresight approach, ensuring that the project outputs are collectively produced, applicable, and accessible to all stakeholders in the manufacturing domain. The co-created and validated bold, convergent, desired and achievable vision until 2040 provides a beacon for a TWIN MaaS transition.
3. Phase 3 “Strategizing and planning” develops an implementation roadmap for the EU manufacturing industry to transform and anticipate these changes with three time frames (present-2030, 2030-2035, 2035-2040). The roadmapping activities will explore concrete pathways that can be taken so that Manufacturing as a Service can thrive and enable European industry as a whole to become more sustainable, circular and resilient in the future.
4. Please 4 “Sense making and recommendations” develops policy recommendations for an EU manufacturing standardisation strategy focusing specifically on the role of data,

MASTT2040 engages all relevant stakeholders from Horizon Europe projects and other relevant initiatives such as the Manufacturing Data Spaces and the network of European Digital Innovation Hubs for an effective transfer of information and technologies with/between HE projects and relevant initiatives.
• The MASTT2040 Casebook examines the current state of Manufacturing as a Service (MaaS) and highlights its role in advancing the circular economy and EU’s twin transition goals. The report identifies key MaaS approaches, business models, challenges, and opportunities while showcasing 16 leading industrial case studies.
• The report "Future of MaaS in Europe: The 2040 Vision, Trends, Scenarios, and Use Cases" presents four scenarios for the European manufacturing sector in 2040, highlighting key drivers, trends, weak signals, and disruptions. It analyzes political, economic, environmental, societal, technological, and industrial dimensions to identify opportunities and risks. With 20 tailored use cases, the report informs the MASTT2040 project's roadmap and policy recommendations for shaping a desirable MaaS future in Europe.
• A roadmap considering three time-frames (present-2030, 2030-2035, 2035-2040) will be created showing concrete pathways and action plans on how to realise the scenarios which would generate the highest desired impact. By developing a roadmap and an action plan, European industry, both small and large, policy-makers and other key actors such as research providers and standards bodies will be able to identify the most promising strategies and concrete actions for a flourishing European economy and society by 2040.
• Recommendations will be made to enable targeting of strategic investments and identifying the needs for industrial data standardisation to remove barriers.
The take-up of results by partners beyond project end is supported by a collaboration with key European stakeholders active in an MaaS ecosystem, an effective European wide dissemination and in-depth transfer of knowledge and results.
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