Exploring Product Development of Cyber-Physical Systems in Startups: A Status Quo Study

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34190/ecie.19.1.2591

Keywords:

cyber-physical systems in startups, product development methodology in startups, entrepreneurship with cyber-physical systems, problems of product development in CPS-startups, product development characteristics of CPS-startups

Abstract

In the interconnected world of today, we experience the evolution of mechatronic systems into cyber-physical systems (CPS) through their connection to the Internet of Things (IoT). Despite their vast potential for groundbreaking applications already present, e. g. autonomous cars or smart production systems, startups face significant hurdles in developing CPS, primarily due to limited knowledge and resources.

Currently, only few scientific contributions cover how hardware-containing products are developed in startups and what possible challenges can be expected. This gap highlights a pressing need for research into the specific challenges and methodologies of CPS development within the startup ecosystem. The research goal of this paper is to set an explorative foundation for understanding the product development of CPS in startups to enable further research and suiting support for future founders.

This paper offers a first attempt to give a qualitative description of the status quo of the development of CPS in startups. It begins by establishing an understanding of the four main problem fields discussed in the literature on CPS development, entrepreneurship, and hardware development in startups: The impetus of entrepreneurs in CPS-developing startups (1), the ideation of the CPS in development (2), the prototyping of CPS in startups (3) and processes, methods, and tools used in CPS development in startups (4). They are discussed by semi-structured interviews. Due to the limited number of possible participants, the interviews are conducted with a sample of eight founders and employees from CPS-developing startups in Southern Germany. Their answers are used to deduce recurring patterns and contradicting positions in their subjective experience with CPS development.

The result of this paper are twelve proposed characteristic aspects of current CPS development practice in startups based on the deduced patterns. With this first qualitative description of the status quo of CPS development, this paper identifies potentially relevant topics that occupy CPS founders, delivers connecting points to current research in established research disciplines and reveals current missing research activities.

Author Biographies

Thomas Alexander Völk, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Thomas Alexander Völk, M. Sc., has been a research assistant at the IPEK - Institute of Product Engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) since May 2024. After finishing his bachelors and masters degree (B. Sc. and M. Sc.) in Mechanical Engineering at KIT with main focus on product development methodology, he started his PhD at the IPEK - Institute of Product Engineering at KIT in May 2024. With his contribution to the CRC 1608 - CONVIDE he focuses on Consistent Engineering Processes for Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and how such approaches could benefit the development of "hardware-heavy" products in startups.

Monika Klippert

Monika Klippert, M. Sc., is a research assistant at the IPEK - Institute of Product Engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). After finishing her bachelors and masters degree (B. Sc. and M. Sc.) in Mechanical Engineering at KIT, she started her PhD at the IPEK - Institute of Product Engineering at KIT. Her main research area is Knowledge transfer in Product Generation Engineering in the context of industry 4.0 and Innovation management & innovation strategies.

Tobias Düser

Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Tobias Düser has been head of the IPEK - Institute of Product Engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) since October 2022.

After his studies at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and subsequent doctorate at IPEK - Institute of Product Engineering, Tobias Düser held various positions within the AVL Group in the field of innovative development and validation methods. In particular, he worked on novel automation and simulation solutions for test benches. Among other things, he was involved in the development of a new business area, the product portfolio and partner network in the area of Advanced Driver Assistant Systems as well as for Automated Driving. He was a member of the global ADAS/AD leadership circle and also intensively involved in global strategy development.

From 2015, he was responsible for the Advanced Solution Lab at AVL and head of the Karlsruhe branch office. In 2020, he additionally assumed global responsibility for ADAS/AD Virtual Testing Solutions. Tobias Düser and his team worked on virtual and XiL-based validation methods for the validation and testing of Advanced Driver Assistant systems as well as for Automated Driving.

Albert Albers

Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h. c. Albert Albers has been Professor and Head of IPEK – Institute of Product Engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology since 1996. He obtained his doctorate degree in 1987 under Prof. Paland at the Institute of Machine Elements and Engineering Design. Before Prof. Albers started his position in Karlsruhe he served as Head of the Development Department and as deputy member of the Executive Board. He is a founding member and chairman of the Scientific Association for Product Engineering (WiGeP) and a member of the National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech). Since 2008 he is president of the Allgemeiner Fakultätentag (AFT e. V.), the German General Faculty Association. From 2012 to 2015 Prof. Albers was the spokesman and review board member of the DFG Review-Board 402 (Mechanics and Constructive Mechanical Engineering). Along with his commitment to the Association of German Engineers, he serves on Advisory Boards of a number of companies. For his excellent accomplishments and expertise in science, research and education in technical and scientific areas, he and the IPEK-Team received the Honorary Award 2016 of the Schaeffler FAG Foundation.

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Published

2024-09-20

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 1 (2024): 19th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Section

Full academic papers

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Copyright (c) 2024 Thomas Alexander Völk, Monika Klippert, Tobias Düser, Albert Albers

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.