On Tuesday, December 9, 2025, the joint workshop organized by the Karlsruhe Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK Karlsruhe), SCALE-MX, and Factory-X took place at the Fraunhofer IOSB Research Factory in Karlsruhe, where participants gained exciting insights into the world of efficient data and information exchange. Around 30 participants from research and industry took part in the hands-on workshop. The event featured a tour of the research factory, a presentation of the FA³ST Ecosystem Demonstrator, XR applications, an engaging lecture program, and interactive sessions.

In the SCALE-MX introductory presentation on data ecosystems, in addition to covering the fundamentals of the data economy and the options and requirements for integration, the presentation demonstrated how digital data rooms serve as value-creation networks and, in the context of sustainability, create added value for SMEs by acting as a trusted infrastructure for cross-organizational data exchange.

 The Factory-X project presented use cases from the circular economy, and participants were able to view these sustainable use cases virtually using LNI 4.0’s XR glasses. In the interactive simulation “EcoChain” by SCALE-MX, participants were able to play through the path to the data room in various roles, thereby gaining an initial sense of the benefits of digital data infrastructure and cross-industry data ecosystems.

The workshop once again made it clear that data rooms are not merely a technical concept, but rather offer a wide range of practical applications, particularly in the area of sustainability, and that their implementation is becoming increasingly feasible. Furthermore, they are key to efficiency and innovation in industry. Furthermore, they are key to efficiency and innovation in industry. New opportunities are opening up, particularly for SMEs, such as the secure and standardized exchange of product, supply, or sustainability data with their customer and supplier networks. New business models along the value chain can be created, and the competitiveness of SMEs can be secured and enhanced in the long term.