Success factors for a democratized AI development in B2B

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

Festo is a global leader in industrial automation, continuously expanding its digital portfolio through Festo AX Industrial Intelligence - an AI-driven suite for predictive maintenance, quality optimization and energy management. Currently, Festo AX Asset Types are developed centrally by internal teams, which ensures quality but limits scalability. With the Festo AX AI Studio, Festo aims to open Asset Type development to end customers, OEMs and external developers. In this project, we supported Festo in understanding how to build a successful B2B developer community around this platform - a context where participation does not emerge organically and must be deliberately designed. 

Goal 

The goal of this project was to identify the key success factors for a sustainable B2B developer community around Festo AX Asset Types and translate them into strategic recommendations and a functional prototype. We aimed to determine what motivates external contributors in an industrial context, how Festo should structure its platform and incentives, and how the community prototype should be designed to drive adoption. 

Methodology 

Our approach combined secondary and primary research with iterative prototype development. Secondary research included an academic literature review on community building, motivation theory and platform ecosystems, alongside a structured benchmarking analysis of 24 platforms ranging from industrial communities such as PLCnext and Schneider Electric Exchange to open-source ecosystems including GitHub and Node-RED. Primary research comprised six semi-structured expert interviews across three stakeholder perspectives, ranging from Festo-internal engineers to external experts.  

Results 

The research confirmed that B2B community participation does not arise organically and must be structurally enabled. Seven key success factors were identified through literature review and benchmarking analysis: a tangible value proposition, active platform orchestration by Festo, monetary-first incentives, low barriers to entry, quality assurance through a stamp system, CRM-integrated sales adoption, and clear IP and liability governance. Expert interviews validated these factors and surfaced concrete platform improvements - including a Business Case Calculator to quantify Asset Type ROI, a cross-role AI-moderated forum, and Asset Type visualization. Legal findings confirmed that Festo must not assume liability for third-party contributions and that competitor data separation is a non-negotiable prerequisite. Finally, we delivered a functional prototype incorporating all validated findings. 

Cooperation Partner 

• ​​Festo SE & Co. KG & Resolto Informatik GmbH 
  Ruiter Straße 82  
  Esslingen am Neckar, Germany 
  www.festo.com​ 

​​Contact Person​ 

• ​​Tobias Hoppe -tobias.hoppe@resolto.com 
  Steffen Schmidt - steffen.schmidt@festo.com​ 

Student Team 

• ​​​Hanna Greiner 
  Anna Hofbauer 
  Susanne Frankenberger 
  David Fuchsberger 
  Paul Dworak  
  Achilleas Summa​​ 

Project Manager 

• ​​​Sandra Jeske​ 

• Theresa Nicolussi​​