In today’s turbulent and complex times, the importance of the functional security and continuity of critical infrastructure (CI) is of particular importance. The Industry 4.0 (I4.0) toolset contains many technologies that support CI or are an integral part thereof. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between CI and I4.0. The goal will be achieved by (1) conducting a systematic literature review using VOSviewer, (2) identifying leading research topics using Latent Dirichlet Allocation, (3) mapping the results obtained and identifying possibilities for further research. Web of Science, Scopus, and a set of specific keywords were used to select peer-reviewed papers presenting evidence of the considered connections. Selected clusters and topics were used to build a reference framework formed by relations between CI and I4.0. The results revealed that despite the popularity of both issues, studies examining the mutual relations between the same are lacking. The added value of the article is that it organizes the knowledge related to relations between I4.0 and CI, and indicates the research areas that require further scrutiny. It is the first comprehensive literature review focusing specifically on CI & I4.0.

Research background: Digital ecosystems in Europe are heterogenous organizations involving different economies, industries, and contexts. Among them, Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) are considered a policy-driven organization fostered by the European Commission to push companies’ digital transition through a wide portfolio of supporting services. Purpose of the article: There are DIHs existing in all European economies, but literature needs more precise indications about their status and nature. The purpose is to study a distribution of DIHs and differences in portfolios of DIHs’ services across European economies. Therefore, the paper wants to deliver more precise data on effects on national and European policies. This is required to define their final role and scope in the complex dynamics of the digital transition, depending on regional context and heterogeneity of industries. Methods: Data on 38 economies was collected from the S3 platform (on both existing and in preparation DIHs) and further verified by native speaking researchers using manual web scrapping of websites of DIHs identified from S3. To find potential similarities of digital ecosystems in different economies as emanated by the existence of DIHs, clusterization (Ward’s method and Euclidean distances) was applied according to the services offered. Economies were clustered according to the number of DIHs and the spread of DIHs intensity in different cities. The results were further analyzed according to the scope of the provided services. Findings & value added: The applied clustering classified European economies in four different sets, according to the types of services offered by the DIHs. These sets are expression of the different digitalization statuses and strategies of the selected economies and, as such, the services a company can benefit from in a specific economy. Potential development-related reasons behind the data-driven clustering are then conjectured and reported, to guide companies and policy makers in their digitalization strategies.

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a massive, often unanticipated, external disruption for many companies. As a concept for responding to such disruption, organizational resilience has recently received great attention. In the organizational context, the overriding question is how companies can become more resilient. This study aims to contribute to answering this question by identifying, categorizing, and providing specific business model patterns for achieving resilience on the corporate level. For this purpose, a review of publications by major consulting firms was conducted. Patterns were extracted from publications until a convergence criterion indicated that no new pattern could be identified considering further publications. The 110 extracted unique patterns were clustered into 13 objectives, and additionally categorized according to resilience phases, as well as business model elements, to support the application in practice. The final catalog of patterns was validated through expert interviews and thus provides organizations, such as those in the electrical industry, with an overview and specific approaches on how to tackle industrial resilience through the adaption of their business model.

Manufacturing companies are facing what recently has been called the Twin Transition. They must conduct a digital transition as well as a transition from mere linear toward more circular value creation. The research presents an integrated Design and Operations Framework for digital and circular manufacturing systems. Defined process phases of the framework are described which address: the maturity assessment, Objectives and Key Results, the design (Des) and operations (Ops) of the manufacturing system, and a training concept. The authors follow a qualitative research approach for developing the integrated DesOps Framework for Circular and Digital Manufacturing Systems. The framework is conceptualized by combining state-of-the-art procedures and methods in the field of maturity and readiness assessment, Objectives and Key Results, Systems Engineering, and DesOps. Eventually, a case study is utilized for verifying the principal efficacy of the conceptualized framework. The research intends to scientifically contribute to the field of manufacturing systems design by proposing a novel design framework. From industrial application perspective, the research intends to contribute to improving decision-making in manufacturing companies by providing them with a practical-oriented guideline for transforming their manufacturing systems in the sense of the Twin Transition.