## 3 Envisioned Future Scenario  
This paper lays the basis for a new manufacturing platform that lives as an ecosystem of open platforms and commercial solutions meant to \"level\" the aforementioned gaps (Figure 2), providing a common data space to implement a platform of platforms, to promote and facilitate the secure and seamless exchange of manufacturing/product/business data within value-networks in a circular-economy-based ecosystem.  
Figure 1: Gaps in the manufacturing networks.  
A prerequisite is clearly to leverage existing standards and technologies, as well as accepted governance models, to implement a manufacturing platform to facilitate the secure and seamless exchange of manufacturing data, product data, and business data within value networks in a circular-economy-based ecosystem, integrating diverse (also legacy) digital platforms.  
The platform is expected to be based on the implementation and exploitation of the International Data Space policy, namely:  
* Data sovereignty--the data owner always specifies the terms and conditions of the use of the data provided;
* Decentralized data management--data management remains with the respective data owner, if desired;
* Easy linkage of data--the platform facilitates the integration and usage of data between participants;
* Trust--all participants, data sources, and data services are certified against commonly defined rules;
* Security--data exchange is secure across the entire supply chain, from data creation to data capture and usage.  
The future scenario envisions a manufacturing and service network (Figure 3) composed of different companies and actors exploiting diverse manufacturing platforms, both open and proprietary, where the proposed platform supports the network to seamlessly operate on material and data. Those interactions are structured in circular flows, depicting a USE-centric set of relations aiming at providing the required specific product and/or service while optimizing the usage of resources, including materials and energy (also in transports), creating a balanced and sustainable ecosystem.  
These are the bases for innovative cross-company business processes for the smart manufacture and delivery of sustainable products/services in a circular economy framework, aiming at:  
* Optimizing the value chain action areas: (1) Match supply and personalized demand (promoting customer involvement); (2) Reduce the time-to-market of remanufactured/recycled products; (3) Optimize the resources and processes across companies; (4) Manage and minimize inventories; (5) Improve quality; (6) Increase asset utilization;
* Maximizing the circular economy value drivers: (1) SIMPLIFY: support the simplification of product design and manufacturing; (2) STANDARDIZE: offer standardization to ease data sharing, and identify common design and production patterns that could facilitate repairing and upgrades of product and equipment sharing; (3) SECURITY: guarantee supply assurance identifying where resources are available; (4) SCALE AND SPREAD: optimize the geographical extension of the supply chain considering sustainability elements; (5) SHARED APPROACHES: facilitate the sharing of overcapacity or underutilization of both production equipment, infrastructures, and products, increasing productivity and user value creation; (6) SERVICE: enable the shift from  
Figure 2: Leveling the data gaps.  
\"buy and own\" model to the \"pay per use\" model for both companies and customers, guaranteeing higher control of processes and products lifecycle to achieve enhanced utilization, recovery, and recycling rates; (7) STEWARDSHIP: support the optimization of the product lifespan considering whether, from the sustainability point of view, life extension through refurbishment and recovery is desirable or recycle is preferable; (8) STREAM: the exchange of wastes, production scraps, discharged materials, and renewable, biodegradable, and recyclable inputs is fostered in the entire value network to substitute non-renewable resources and eliminate the creation of wastes.