A Platform-Based System for Managing the Development of Technological Potential in Industrial Collaborations

Abstract

This article proposes a platform approach to the development and management of a system for fostering industrial collaborations based on corporate technological potential and presents a model for integrating metallurgical industries. A key issue identified in the study is that cooperative interactions are often described in general terms and presumed to generate a synergistic effect, while their actual contribution to the technological potential of participating businesses remains difficult to quantify. The proposed approach evaluates this contribution by identifying barriers to the development of technological potential, determining supporting participants and their influence on its components, and adjusting performance indicators through an assessment of added value. This approach enables a shift from a descriptive understanding of collaborations to a structured computational framework that quantifies the contribution of individual participants through changes in specific components of technological potential. The methodology is illustrated using the example of an industrial cooperation involving a focal participant, namely a company producing flat stainless steel. The initial level of technological potential within the cooperation was estimated at 0.40, with the weakest areas identified as the supply of critical resources and technologies, innovation, research and development, and digitalization. The application of the platform approach resulted in measurable improvements in individual components of technological potential and achieved a 3% increase in its integrated assessment. The significance of these findings lies in demonstrating that the proposed platform approach enables the transition from a descriptive logic of cooperation to a computational procedure for assessing changes in the technological potential of both the focal enterprise and the industrial system.