In the beginning phase of the project, RESERVIST partners defined the structure of the stakeholders’ network. Taking advantage of the lessons learned during the first COVD-19 pandemic wave, manufacturing companies aim at improving the response to any potential emergency in the future by increasing the operation promptness and products availability and quality in the supply chain. 

This network has been defined in a general structure for the four demonstration and replication cells that are defined in the RESERVIST project: textile protective and medical equipment, products and services, Respiratory Ventilator, Disinfection Equipment, and Emergency Hospital, as a starting paradigm to build on an extended network of cells, services, components, materials, and products to fight against pandemics. To define the most effective structure of the network, several aspects were identified for each RESERVIST use case, namely:

• The general structure of the current status of the network with its logistical and operational aspects;

• The actors constituting the stakeholders external to the project consortium;

• The relations between the actors and their positioning in the supply chain for emergency items;

• The gaps and needs for the future improvement of the network;

• Potential stakeholders to be involved in the network to cover the gaps.

In particular, for each product taken as a use case, the needs that emerged during the first COVID-19 pandemic wave to improve the production, processes, management, and delivery of emergency items have been analysed, with the primary outcomes in terms of: 

  • which are the required stakeholders and what requirements they should meet;
  • what triggers their emergency governance and what this governance results in;
  • the priorities and interests of the manufacturing industries;
  • an interlink methodology between the different “Cells” of the network.

The strong network of some RESERVIST partners (particularly the clusters) has been exploited to find potential solutions and stakeholders to fill the identified gaps by involving them in the extended RESERVIST network in the project’s later phases.

As a final result, a set of structures and engagement rules for the stakeholders within the supply chain were defined as a means to optimize the prompt response of the RESERVIST cells to any future emergency.

To complete the collaborative network and to further strengthen it, gaps that must be filled have been tracked down, and partners that could overcome these gaps have been identified. So, these partners can potentially be added to the sub-networks.

The blueprint of the ecosystem network resulting from this first phase of work is being used as the starting point to define the operational protocols and the business models for the demonstration and replication cells.