Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SC4EU (True demand-driven semiconductor supply chains for Europe)
Reporting period: 2023-12-01 to 2024-11-30
SC4EU, a collaborative Innovation Action aims at strengthening European digital sovereignty by mitigation of the chip shortage through reduction of bullwhip effect in the semiconductor industry and supply chains containing semiconductors. This will be reached via a “truer”-demand signal gained from an anonymous MPC (Multi Party Computation) survey on coarse granularity which will be broken down via AI methods to fine granularities following the Semantic Web-based Digital Reference structure.
The ambition of SC4EU consortium is to obtain high-quality, reliable data for semiconductor demand forecasting. In the solution proposed by SC4EU data should be gathered via an anonymous survey based on Multi-Party Computation technology. Anonymity and security of data flow will encourage business partners to share their true demand data. Then, the gathered data will be mapped onto ontologies (semantic representations of the semiconductor industry) and processed with AI tools for demand breakdown of fine granularity.
SC4EU will result in a better bullwhip reduced demand forecast on all levels of the semiconductor demand and of demands for supply chains containing semiconductors. SC4EU is a pan-European initiative to boost industrial competitiveness through interdisciplinary innovations, establishing sustainable ECS value chains and therefore contribute to European digital sovereignty addressing urgent issues like security of supply, monitoring and crisis response, and chip shortage.
The ambition of SC4EU consortium is to obtain high-quality, reliable data for semiconductor demand forecasting. In the solution proposed by SC4EU data should be gathered via an anonymous survey based on Multi-Party Computation technology. Anonymity and security of data flow will encourage business partners to share their true demand data. Then, the gathered data will be mapped onto ontologies (semantic representations of the semiconductor industry) and processed with AI tools for demand breakdown of fine granularity.
SC4EU will result in a better bullwhip reduced demand forecast on all levels of the semiconductor demand and of demands for supply chains containing semiconductors. SC4EU is a pan-European initiative to boost industrial competitiveness through interdisciplinary innovations, establishing sustainable ECS value chains and therefore contribute to European digital sovereignty addressing urgent issues like security of supply, monitoring and crisis response, and chip shortage.
Work will be executed in four main phases:
- Phase 1: Requirements Gathering and Use Case Specification. In this phase of the project in all work packages work on requirements gathering and specification will be carried out.
- Phase 2: Implementation of the Designed Technical Solutions. Based on the outcomes of phase 1, technical implementation of the designed solutions will be conducted in this phase.
- Phase 3: Application. In this phase, based on the implemented infrastructure, the use case scenario will be implemented.
- Phase4: Validation and Dissemination. In this final phase of the project. stake holders will focus on the validation of the platform and will intensify their efforts towards dissemination of the project’s outcomes. In particular, the true demand data sharing platform service will be promoted in this phase.
In essence, SC4EU will deliver:
- An improved version of the Digital Reference ecosystem and ensure its maintenance
- A secure access to the true demand forecasting services and integrate them with cloud services and other dataspaces
- Collaborative ontology processing tools into the SC4EU Ontology Curation Portal and availability of Continuous Integration pipelines
- Collaborative ontology editing and visualisation tooling
- Establishment of an integrated SSO solution for all SC4EU Portal connected tools
- A consistent, modular and semantic description of semiconductor supply chains that can be used to generate meaningful demand forecasts for the supply chain
- The design and the test of demand forecasting methods that especially allow to disaggregate demand information
- The survey use case
- A true demand forecasts on coarse granularity and derive from it with AI methods and the Semantic Web-based Digital Reference semiconductor industry forecasts on finer granularity
- Establish a technical implementation of the anonymous survey using Multi-Party Computation technology
- An Incentivisation for partners to foster participation in anonymous survey in order to obtain data
- Promotion of the use of the data sharing platform amongst the semiconductor supply chain organisations
- Phase 1: Requirements Gathering and Use Case Specification. In this phase of the project in all work packages work on requirements gathering and specification will be carried out.
- Phase 2: Implementation of the Designed Technical Solutions. Based on the outcomes of phase 1, technical implementation of the designed solutions will be conducted in this phase.
- Phase 3: Application. In this phase, based on the implemented infrastructure, the use case scenario will be implemented.
- Phase4: Validation and Dissemination. In this final phase of the project. stake holders will focus on the validation of the platform and will intensify their efforts towards dissemination of the project’s outcomes. In particular, the true demand data sharing platform service will be promoted in this phase.
In essence, SC4EU will deliver:
- An improved version of the Digital Reference ecosystem and ensure its maintenance
- A secure access to the true demand forecasting services and integrate them with cloud services and other dataspaces
- Collaborative ontology processing tools into the SC4EU Ontology Curation Portal and availability of Continuous Integration pipelines
- Collaborative ontology editing and visualisation tooling
- Establishment of an integrated SSO solution for all SC4EU Portal connected tools
- A consistent, modular and semantic description of semiconductor supply chains that can be used to generate meaningful demand forecasts for the supply chain
- The design and the test of demand forecasting methods that especially allow to disaggregate demand information
- The survey use case
- A true demand forecasts on coarse granularity and derive from it with AI methods and the Semantic Web-based Digital Reference semiconductor industry forecasts on finer granularity
- Establish a technical implementation of the anonymous survey using Multi-Party Computation technology
- An Incentivisation for partners to foster participation in anonymous survey in order to obtain data
- Promotion of the use of the data sharing platform amongst the semiconductor supply chain organisations
The SC4EU consortium’s approach for improving supply demand forecast in the semiconductor industry and mitigating bullwhip effect is based on:
- anonymous data sharing with use of Multi-Party Computation,
- semantic data processing to obtain high quality data of fine granularity,
- close cooperation of semiconductor companies and research institutes,
- focus on human factors,
- application of gamification and relate techniques for data sharing incentivisation.
One of the most innovative aspects is the use of anonymous data sharing. By anonymizing the data, the solution ensures that no company's confidential information is shared, and only aggregated data are used for analysis. This ensures that companies can trust the solution and are more likely to participate in data sharing. The solution also brings together several semiconductor companies to collaborate on solving the issue of the bullwhip effect. This collaboration is important as it allows for a more holistic approach to the problem, with multiple perspectives and expertise being brought to the table. This can result in a more effective and sustainable solution. The use of gamification is another innovative aspect of the solution. By introducing game elements, such as challenges and rewards, the solution incentivises data sharing and active participation in the platform. This can encourage companies to take an active role in addressing the bullwhip effect and can lead to a more engaged and motivated workforce. Multi-Party Computation is a crucial component of this solution as it allows for secure and efficient analysis of the data while maintaining confidentiality. This is essential for maintaining trust between companies and ensuring the success of the solution. Finally, the focus of human factors is also important. By taking into account the psychology, cognitive limitations, and behaviour of people, the solution can be designed to be more user-friendly and intuitive. This can improve adoption rates and ensure the long-term sustainability of the platform.
SC4EU strives achieve the following outcome:
- Enforce Europe’s position in different fields of ECS, currently positioned behind the USA and China, in domains where autonomy, safety, precision are key elements – such as in automotive and other industries
- Ensure the European sovereignty in a booming market environment based on advanced ECS, by unlocking the potential of complex semiconductors operations, reducing their deployment costs and fostering their market introduction
- Influence standardisation through an already crystal-clear footprint
- Provide a credible route to delivering such European innovations to global markets. Also, nurture the users acceptance and adoption of innovative semiconductors and ECS as a part of the modern industrial and end user mix.
- Secure employment and create new jobs based on emerging services and applications on the basis of European ECS.
- anonymous data sharing with use of Multi-Party Computation,
- semantic data processing to obtain high quality data of fine granularity,
- close cooperation of semiconductor companies and research institutes,
- focus on human factors,
- application of gamification and relate techniques for data sharing incentivisation.
One of the most innovative aspects is the use of anonymous data sharing. By anonymizing the data, the solution ensures that no company's confidential information is shared, and only aggregated data are used for analysis. This ensures that companies can trust the solution and are more likely to participate in data sharing. The solution also brings together several semiconductor companies to collaborate on solving the issue of the bullwhip effect. This collaboration is important as it allows for a more holistic approach to the problem, with multiple perspectives and expertise being brought to the table. This can result in a more effective and sustainable solution. The use of gamification is another innovative aspect of the solution. By introducing game elements, such as challenges and rewards, the solution incentivises data sharing and active participation in the platform. This can encourage companies to take an active role in addressing the bullwhip effect and can lead to a more engaged and motivated workforce. Multi-Party Computation is a crucial component of this solution as it allows for secure and efficient analysis of the data while maintaining confidentiality. This is essential for maintaining trust between companies and ensuring the success of the solution. Finally, the focus of human factors is also important. By taking into account the psychology, cognitive limitations, and behaviour of people, the solution can be designed to be more user-friendly and intuitive. This can improve adoption rates and ensure the long-term sustainability of the platform.
SC4EU strives achieve the following outcome:
- Enforce Europe’s position in different fields of ECS, currently positioned behind the USA and China, in domains where autonomy, safety, precision are key elements – such as in automotive and other industries
- Ensure the European sovereignty in a booming market environment based on advanced ECS, by unlocking the potential of complex semiconductors operations, reducing their deployment costs and fostering their market introduction
- Influence standardisation through an already crystal-clear footprint
- Provide a credible route to delivering such European innovations to global markets. Also, nurture the users acceptance and adoption of innovative semiconductors and ECS as a part of the modern industrial and end user mix.
- Secure employment and create new jobs based on emerging services and applications on the basis of European ECS.