2025 Award Winners
Award-winning project: New Mittelstand: Digital Platform Transport (DPT) – From piloting to scaling cooperative business models
Project partners: SICK AG (Waldkirch), Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger GmbH (Kirchdorf an der Iller), Leadec FM BV & Co. KG (Stuttgart), Ferdinand-Steinbeis-Reallabor GmbH (Heilbronn), LLS Logistik GmbH (Heilbronn) and the Ferdinand-Steinbeis-Institut der Ferdinand-Steinbeis-Gesellschaft für transferorientierte Forschung gGmbH der Steinbeis-Stiftung (FSG) (Stuttgart)
The Ferdinand Steinbeis Institute of the Ferdinand Steinbeis Society for Transfer-Oriented Research gGmbH, part of the Steinbeis Foundation (FSG), has developed a scalable collaborative business model with its project partners at Ferdinand Steinbeis Reallabor GmbH, SICK AG, Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger GmbH and Leadec FM BV & Co. KG, a scalable collaborative business model based on digital twins and collaborative data spaces in the field of intralogistics, and has been awarded the Steinbeis Foundation’s Transfer Prize – the Löhn Prize – for this work. The award-winning project exemplifies the Ferdinand Steinbeis Society’s dual approach to science.
The aim was to develop and pilot a collaborative business model in the field of intralogistics. The starting point was the question of how industrial services are changing in the context of digitalisation (IoT, digital twins and AI) and how a cyber-physical business model based on digital twins and collaborative data spaces can be designed.
The project gave rise to LLS Logistik GmbH, a new ecosystem comprising the partners Leadec FM BV & Co. KG, Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger GmbH and Sick AG, under the leadership of the Ferdinand-Steinbeis Institute. It serves as a blueprint for new cyber-physical business models designed to support established SMEs in the necessary transformation. The consortium offers a collaborative service package for internal transport based on digital twins of forklift trucks – a solution for which significant market potential and viability have been confirmed.
LLS Logistik GmbH acts as a scalable project company, enabling the partners to operate jointly in the market with low barriers to entry. It is a practical example of the ‘New Mittelstand’: collaborative, digital and growth-oriented. Key factors in the project’s success are interdisciplinarity, a cultural shift within established companies, and actively bridging the (transfer) gap between the idea and its implementation. The project demonstrates to SMEs how, through shared expertise and collaborative value creation, new business models can enable repositioning and, consequently, innovation within the ecosystem. LLS Logistik GmbH is already generating sustainable turnover and attracting customers – proof of a successful commercial transfer. The next phase is scaling up; objectives include expanding service packages and developing new solutions in the field of intralogistics through use cases.
The jury for the Löhn Prize emphasises that the project exemplifies the Steinbeis philosophy in an advanced form: an integrated process comprising research, transfer and application. The high potential for transfer and replication of the pilot application is evident in the implementation of the partners’ joint findings.