# Collaborative Networks: A Pillar of Digital Transformation
## 3 Industry 4.0 and Digital Transformation
New meanings to \"design\" can be given, going far beyond the product per se but linking the product to specific needs of the market, e.g., design for environment, design for maintenance, customized product configuration. 4. \"**Acceleration of manufacturing\"** focuses on optimizing the entire value chain, resorting to the integration of the \"exponential technologies\" (i.e., technologies that have an exponential growth), and \"accelerating and making industrial processes more flexible\" [1; 16]. In fact, some of these technologies have been around for many years, e.g., robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), neuro-technologies, but a significant development boost only recently became evident. Often more than one of these technologies enter the manufacturing arena simultaneously, which in some cases leads to disruptive transformations. These combined effects also lead to the notion of \"acceleration of manufacturing\". 5. \"**Digitalization of products and services\"** not only relates to creating digital models of products but also to moving toward \"smart products\", through the addition of sensing, computing, and communication capabilities to these products. This also comprises (1) availability of product data along the product's lifecycle (facilitating tracking and tracing), (2) introduction of new \"digital products\", and (3) adding \"business services\" to the physical products [17; 25]. The idea of \"service-enhanced products\" or \"product-service-systems\" is now well-known in the market, where even several products are living a new commercial life thanks to integrated and embedded services. In some sectors, the value offered to the customer is not any more focused on the physical product but rather on the associated business services that provide value to the customer (servitization trend) [25; 26]. 6. \"**New business models and customer involvement\"**, focusing on innovative business models that take advantage of the digitalization process, networking along the value chain, and data-rich contexts. These models explore new possibilities offered by technology and foster closer \"digital relationships\" with more demanding and empowered customers. Furthermore, they \"accelerate globalization but with distinct local/regional flavors\" [7; 17]. For instance, the platform-based economy [27], big data-driven value chain [28], sharing economy, software as a service, etc., are some of the models under discussion both at scientific and industrial level to fully exploit the potential of digitalization. Two main \"forces\" drive the industrial transformation towards Industry 4.0, namely the fast-changing market demands, and the new technological possibilities, as illustrated in Figure 1.  
In terms of market and society, factors such as individualization/high customization, market volatility, sustainability concerns and social responsibility, coping with regulatory requirements and disruptive events, force industries to seek higher levels of agility, new forms of operation, and holistic views of optimization. From the technological side, the transformation is in fact induced by the integration of several new technologies [29; 30; 31]. Another core issue is the role played by data, which become available in fast-growing volumes. Besides the need to re-design legacy systems and mechanisms, this also leads to the emergence of new services and products. A synthetic overview of the main issues/challenges in each dimension and main supporting technologies can be found in Table 1. This table includes a list of relevant examples, which is not exhaustive but rather illustrative.