Autor: Christian Zabel

I4S 4/2026: Dynamics of Digitally Networked Value Creation Systems

I4S 4/2026: Dynamics of Digitally Networked Value Creation Systems

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts—exploring digital ecosystems together
Digital platforms and data spaces are transforming industrial value creation and creating new opportunities for cross-organizational collaboration. At the same time, new requirements are emerging regarding data sovereignty, security, and governance. This issue of Industry 4.0 Science provides insights into the DynaVer research program, in which 15 interdisciplinary projects are investigating the dynamics of digitally networked value creation systems.
Cooperation Routines of Complementors in Digital Ecosystems

Cooperation Routines of Complementors in Digital Ecosystems

A microfoundation of integrative dynamic capability
Christian Zabel ORCID Icon, Tahir Schmidt ORCID Icon
Complementors are central to value creation in digital ecosystems yet have limited leverage and must adapt through dynamic capabilities. Building on the Profiting From Innovation Framework, this study examines how integrative capabilities manifest for complementors through cooperative routines. Based on a systematic literature review of Scopus-indexed studies from 2020 to mid-2025 focusing on the microfoundation “orchestrating ecosystem actors”, we identify two routine clusters. Complementors cooperate with other complementors via partner sensing, scouting, coalitions, resource sharing, and risk allocation while protecting critical assets. They cooperate with platform owners via multichannel boundary spanning, quality signaling, governance compliance, boundary resource integration, and co-development, while facing the risk of owner entry. Research gaps concern the formalization of cooperation routines, taxonomy, and B2B contexts.
Industry 4.0 Science | Volume 42 | 2026 | Edition 4 | Pages 22-28 | DOI 10.30844/I4SE.26.4.3
Perspectives of Autonomous Stocktaking

Perspectives of Autonomous Stocktaking

Transparent Warehouse Processes using Autonomous Systems
Torsten Hildebrandt, Lutz Frommberger, Diedrich Wolter, Christian Zabel ORCID Icon, Bernd Scholz-Reiter ORCID Icon, Christian Freksa
So-called chaotic storages get increasingly important in commercial use. Their high dynamics and resulting uncertainty about storage levels result in high requirements on logistic processes. The project presented in this paper combines methods to meet these requirements by the use of an autonomous stocktaking robot. It uses approaches from the field of cognitive inspired Artificial Intelligence, enabling the robot to act purposefully in an unknown environment. Even if the environment is constantly changing, the robot is able to acquire robust information about the current state of e.g., storage areas, their position and goods stored in them. The information gathered is of coarse granularity but is still be a valuable basis for the analysis and optimisation of intra-logistic pro-cesses.
Industrie Management | Volume 26 | 2010 | Edition 1 | Pages 61-65