The Golden Keys to Ecosystem Innovation: Lessons from the Virtual Watch Tower (VWT) Initiative

By Wolfgang Lehmacher
Board Member @ Wolfgang Lehmacher, Supply Chain, Logistics, Transport 

By Mikael Lind
Senior strategic research advisor at RISE and (Adjunct) professor in Maritime Informatics at Chalmers

Executive Summary

The Virtual Watch Tower (VWT) Initiative is a shipper-driven, terminal-centric primary data sharing project led by RISE (Sweden), A*STAR’s IHPC (Singapore), VTT (Finland), and TalTech (Estonia). The initiative aims to enhance the capabilities of existing TMS-type solutions in the transportation industry, with an initial focus on two key use cases: enhanced primary data-driven disruption management and calculation of transport carbon footprints in maritime end-to-end container transport. The initiative has fostered a collaborative ecosystem of over 50 actors (growing). The consortium has produced the world’s first prototype of a distributed, federated architecture for primary data sharing in global transport, leveraging distributed ledger technology. This article outlines and extracts the bundle of developments as well as key learnings from applying a 10-phase framework for ecosystem innovation.

10-Phase Outline of the Ecosystem Innovation Process with Integrated Key Learnings

1. Imagination and Ideation—Where It All Begins
The initiative began with conceptualising a shipper-driven, terminal-centric approach to primary data sharing, aiming to address research and solution gaps in cross-industry collaboration and intelligence for managing global supply chain disruptions and carbon footprints.

Case Example: The VWT community’s initial workshops identified the lack of real-time, end-to-end visibility for cargo owners and terminal operators as a core, costly pain point, leading to the vision of federated Virtual Watch Towers (VWTs) for holistic situational awareness and collaboration.

Key Learning: Early, open ideation that centres on the actual needs of ecosystem members is crucial for ensuring relevance and buy-in. Engaging stakeholders from the outset surfaces pain points and opportunities that are relevant, material, and that might otherwise be overlooked, thereby setting a foundation for future innovation work.

2. Initiation by a Recognised Leadership Team
A core leadership team was formed, comprising the state-owned research institutes RISE and A*STAR’s IHPC, later joined by VTT and TalTech. This group provided the foundational neutrality and expertise to launch the VWT Initiative.

Case Example: The partnership between European and Asian research institutes enabled rapid onboarding of actors acting in co-opetition, ensuring neutrality, global relevance, and a broad testbed for early pilots.

Key Learning: Forming a diverse, international consortium from the start ensures credibility and accelerates resource mobilisation. The involvement of leading research institutes provided not only technical depth but also access to broad industry networks, which proved essential for rapid development and scaling.

3. Governance Clarity from the Outset
Led by the legal academics at Gothenburg University, a neutral and impartial home for innovation was identified, adopting a charity structure to govern VWT and a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) to host technological developments and the public good VWTnet, the digital solution of VWT, ensuring an inclusive approach, transparency, neutrality, and the long-term sustainability of the endeavour.

Case Example: The creation of a transparent, inclusive governance model, anchored in a charity-based governing entity, reassured ecosystem members and their peers that VWT would operate impartially, encouraging broader participation and openness to data sharing. Key Learning: Establishing early in the project a neutral, inclusive, and transparent governance structure fosters trust and attracts a broad coalition of actors. Early clarity on governance reduces doubts and friction and aligns incentives for sustained collaboration.

4. Orchestration of Collaborative Decision-Making
The project prioritised community-driven engagement, onboarding over 50 ecosystem actors, including shippers, carriers (so far, road, rail, and ocean), technology and transport insight providers, and terminal operators.

Case Example: An inclusive approach to governance, where every voice counts, and a mix of community and living lab meetings, complemented by working sessions and sprint meetings, provides a platform for collaborative decision-making and co-creation.

Key Learning: Structured, transparent collaboration mechanisms, such as visual mapping tools and participatory workshops, are indispensable for aligning a large, heterogeneous group. These tools foster trust, clarify roles, and enable collective ownership of the innovation journey.

5. Scoping Based on High-Impact Use Cases
The consortium defined two primary use cases: enhanced transport and itinerary data-based disruption management, and carbon footprint calculation in maritime-based container transport. Case Example: The selection of these use cases resulted from feedback from shippers, who identified disruption management and carbon calculation as two of their most urgent digitalisation needs.

Key Learning: Focusing on clearly defined, high-impact use cases helps maintain momentum and demonstrates value early. Scoping must strike a balance between ambition and feasibility, ensuring that initial pilots are both challenging and achievable.

6. Co-Designing to Future-Proof Solutions
The architecture and infrastructure for primary data sharing were designed based on the VWT vision and feedback from ecosystem members. This design phase focused on ensuring a federated, secure, and scalable system-of-systems approach where everyone stays in control of their data.

Case Example: Involving everyone in the description of the solution deepens understanding across the members and ensures that everyone’s requirements are considered. The design document produced informed the prototyping.

Key Learning: Co-designing an architecture based on the inputs from all stakeholder groups ensures that the solution is robust, interoperable, and scalable. The distributed ledger technology highlights the security and neutrality of data infrastructure.

7. Prototyping With Real-World Actors
Based on IOTA’s TWIN architecture, VWT is developing the world’s first prototype of a distributed, federated infrastructure for primary data sharing in the transport sector. This work on the prototype is constantly validated through collaborative engagement with ecosystem partners.

Case Example: VWT is in mutually beneficial discussions with DCSA (Digital Container Shipping Association), supporting DCSA in refining its set of standards, while VWT can leverage DCSA›s expertise to accelerate VWTnet adoption.

Key Learning: Rapid prototyping with real-world actors and data validates assumptions and uncovers integration challenges early. It also builds confidence among participants; continuous communication on the progress increases interest from the ecosystem, creating a virtuous cycle of engagement.

8. MVP Development in Live Environments
A minimum viable product (MVP) was deployed, enabling continuous monitoring of test shipments from Sweden to global destinations. Transporeon’s data-gathering capabilities were instrumental in this phase, providing real-world data for validation and refinement.

Case Example: Weekly sprint meetings with leading technology providers ensure quality of output and a systematic approach to innovation.

Key Learning: Deploying an MVP in live environments, with real shipments and data flows, is critical for surfacing operational issues and proving practical value. The partnerships with Transporeon and TWIN exemplified the benefits of leveraging existing solutions to accelerate the rollout of the MVP.

9. Continuous Enhancements Keep Momentum
Plans are underway to launch a VWT Marketplace for applications that leverage primary data and data-gathering tools, such as MicroShare for small actors and a ShoutOut function for big data.

Case Example: MicroShare was envisioned by Roambee for small road carriers, enabling these actors to contribute and access shipment data without IT investments. The ShoutOut function enables VWT to collect unstructured data from network members during disruptions.

Key Learning: Continuous enhancement and progress help to keep the momentum. Growth strategies must lower barriers for new entrants and encourage innovation on top of the infrastructure.

10. Future Integration Ensures Continuous Relevance
VWT is positioned as a foundational platform for a wide array of applications and is considered a potential EU eFTI (Electronic Freight Transport Information) platform and is designed to complement platforms such as SGTraDex, thereby reinforcing its role as a public good and industry utility.

Case Example: VWT’s architecture and governance were presented to EU eFTI working groups and Singapore’s SGTraDex, with discussions focusing on interoperability and alignment with the public good, setting the stage for future regulatory and industry integration.

Key Learning: Positioning the initiative as a public good and aligning with broader regulatory and industry frameworks amplifies impact and sustainability. Future integration planning ensures the solution remains relevant.

Achievements to Date

• Established a global, multidisciplinary consortium and ecosystem of over 50
industry-representative actors.

• Developed and validated the world’s first distributed, federated primary data sharing prototype
for global transports.

• Enabled real-time monitoring of international test shipments.

• Defined a robust governance model and VWTnet as a public good.

• Initiated the development of a marketplace and novel data-gathering tools to democratise access
and participation.

• Continuously communicating facilitates the documentation of progress and promotes
community growth.

• Obtained co-funding from several national research funding bodies and in-kind engagements
from engaged parties.

Conclusion

The VWT Initiative exemplifies a structured and collaborative approach to ecosystem innovation in the transportation industry. Its neutral governance, technological innovation, and commitment to societal value position VWT as a model for future digital development projects in global logistics
and beyond.