

Machine Economy whitepaper: How the Internet of Things, blockchain and AI are enabling machines to act autonomously
Press Release FIT / November 11, 2020.
The digital transformation has arrived in business and society and is causing far-reaching changes. Innovative technologies, such as the networking of physical objects in the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence or blockchain technology, are enabling new types of economic processes. Machines are increasingly acting autonomously, exchanging information among themselves and making self-regulating decisions. The now published white paper “The Advance of the Machines – Vision and Implications of a Machine Economy” examines how companies benefit from such digital technologies.
With autonomous transport vehicles in the field of mobility and digital voice assistants in the office, innovative technologies are already permeating our working world. The trend towards convergence from the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology is enabling new types of business models in the form of innovative services and products.
Machines are not only becoming increasingly intelligent, but are also gaining more and more independence in business and society with their newly acquired capabilities. However, there is still a great deal of uncertainty among companies about the implications of such economic independence for machines. This is because exploiting the potential of the machine economy requires new structures, processes, knowledge and skills.
The white paper “The Advance of the Machines – Vision and Implications of a Machine Economy” addresses this issue and examines the opportunities offered by the combination of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology. The study provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of the Machine Economy and derives several fields of action that companies should address in the context of the Machine Economy.
The whitepaper – created in collaboration between the Project Group Business Informatics of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT and qbound GmbH from Munich – can be downloaded here: https://s.fhg.de/whitepaper-machine-economy