The procedures, processes, and tools of the QI are the foundation of a practice established over decades, ensuring the quality and safety of products and applications. However, new technologies and digital innovations offer significant potential, particularly for conformity assessment, ranging from efficiency gains to fundamental paradigm shifts.
They shift the focus from periodic or sequential inspections toward continuous, data-driven conformity assurance that can respond more rapidly to changes and risks.

Objective: Development and implementation of innovative digital procedures and methods for an efficient and transparent quality infrastructure, as well as seamless integration into the processes and digital ecosystems of the QI and value creation networks.

The digital transformation of the QI requires not only a rethinking of processes and structures, but also the development and integration of innovative digital tools. Smart Standards, digital certificates, the digital accreditation symbol, and eAttestation are at the forefront of this development and form the backbone of a modern QI.
These tools are characterized by machine-readable formats that enable seamless integration into the digital processes and procedures of Industry 4.0 and networked value chains. Their true strength, however, unfolds through their interaction with each other and in combination with advanced quality assurance procedures, as demonstrated in the pilot projects of QI-Digital.

Objective: Development and establishment of advanced digital, interoperable, and internationally recognized tools as an integral part of a modern QI, seamlessly integrated into quality assurance and evidence generation along global value chains.

The roadmap presents the various tools in detail, including their benefits, level of development, and outlook, among them: SMART Standards; digital conformity assessments (including the Digital Calibration Certificate, Digital Conformity Assessment Certificate, and Digital Reference Material Certificate); the digital accreditation symbol; and eAttestation. In addition, it addresses the requirements for their seamless interoperability.

Within the framework of the QI-Digital initiative, digital tools and procedures for a modern quality infrastructure are being developed. However, the full potential of the digital QI can only unfold when its tools and processes are considered and integrated across systems within the digital ecosystems of industry and market participants.

These digital ecosystems are currently emerging. In this context, the following applies: digital quality infrastructure and digital ecosystems are mutually interdependent.

At the center are three key thematic areas related to the standardized capture, documentation, and exchange of quality-relevant data and information:

• Co-design of the Digital Product Passport (DPP) and its ecosystem as a central instrument of the QI at the European and international level
• Conceptualization and development of solutions for representing the QI in federated data space platforms (“Quality X”)
• Networking of QI-Digital with the Industry 4.0 system approach and the Asset Administration Shell (AAS), among others, as a system-specific DPP approach and as an example of full integration of the QI into digital industrial processes

The roadmap addresses these topics in the context of the quality infrastructure.

Objective: Digital ecosystems that are ready for the quality infrastructure, based on recognized standards, enabling seamless integration of QI procedures, processes, and tools, as well as cross-system interoperability.

Objective: Clear application scenarios and the consistent development, testing, and demonstration of solutions along real use cases in realistic development and testing environments, in exchange with affected stakeholders, to rapidly and safely bring new digital solutions for a modern QI into application.

Due to the complexity of QI processes, procedures, and tools, new digital solutions are developed, tested, and demonstrated along concrete, practice-relevant applications in modern production (Industry 4.0) and the operation of technical facilities. To this end, the QI-Digital initiative makes use of practice-oriented test environments contributed by the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) within the two pilot projects “Additive Manufacturing” and “Reliable Hydrogen Refueling Station.”
To build trust in the use of artificial intelligence, even in particularly sensitive areas, the roadmap also addresses the QI-Digital pilot project of the PTB on trustworthy AI in medical applications.

For a successful digital transformation of the QI, technological developments must be accompanied by comprehensive measures to shape the necessary framework conditions. The roadmap outlines key fields of action in this regard:

• International Connectivity

In view of global supply and value chains and the worldwide interconnectedness of QI institutions and processes, the digitalization of the quality infrastructure can only be achieved through international cooperation and coordinated action. Accordingly, alongside development work, the QI-Digital initiative also promotes international networking.

Objective: Internationally recognized digital QI tools and procedures for cross-border interoperability

• Legal Framework and Administrative Practice

The legal framework and administrative practice must also be assessed regarding their suitability for the use of digital tools, procedures, and processes.

The QI has a cross-cutting character: its legal framework affects multiple areas of law. The existing legal framework—from European directives under the New Legislative Framework, to German federal legislation, technical rules, and municipal regulations—may be structured in a way that hinders (or promotes) the introduction and use of new digital solutions, for example through requirements for written form (analog or digital) and other specifications concerning forms, procedures, and deadlines for evidence provision. This can affect a wide range of application areas, from product safety and environmental and consumer protection to commercial law.

It is therefore necessary to examine, in a forward-looking and development-accompanying manner, the extent to which the existing legal framework is structurally and concretely suitable for a digital QI and whether implementation in administrative practice is conducive. This gives rise to questions regarding existing barriers and obstacles, as well as potentials, adaptation needs, and design options.

Objective: A legal framework and corresponding administrative practice that enable and promote a digital QI

• Transfer and Stakeholder Involvement

The complexity of the digital transformation of the QI requires determined and targeted involvement of relevant stakeholders and appropriate networking. In particular, cooperation with associations as multipliers is crucial.

Objective: Targeted transfer processes and activating stakeholder participation to ensure broad acceptance and co-creation, as well as effective knowledge transfer, in order to rapidly bring the digital QI into application.

• Accompanying Research and Activities

The digital transformation of the QI is a multidimensional challenge—technological, organizational, and socio-economic. Accompanying research and activities make a significant contribution to optimizing implementation strategies, generating recommendations for action, and developing future scenarios. In particular, linking theoretical insights with practical application contexts is of key importance.

Objective: Continuous scientific support and evaluation of the digital QI transformation in the sense of a holistic transformation approach, aimed at optimizing processes and outcomes.