Author Description

This final report presents the main outcomes of a study on the technological, legal and economic analysis of industry agreements (IAs) in current and future digital value chains. It summarises the study's findings with emphasis placed on the analysis of IAs in future digital value chains and related recommendations for industry and policy-makers in Europe. The study identifies three clustered innovation areas in which IA development could generate interesting opportunities and have a high economic impact: 1) Data sharing/exchange; 2) Plug & Play/interoperability; and 3) Advanced data analytics and Artificial Intelligence. An in-depth analysis is performed, of barriers that prevent the development and uptake of IAs, as well as of opportunities, for industry to take action, and for policy-makers to support initiatives to unlock the potential in each innovation area. Three "industry agreement templates", with high-level specifications from a legal and technical point of view, provide a flexible framework that can be adapted to fit the needs of individual sectors. Finally, the study presents four cross-cutting recommendations to help stimulate greater cooperation in the IA development and implementation process and promote the development of common industrial data spaces.