Hardly any other area has as much disruptive potential as digital platforms in the course of digitalization. After serious changes have already taken place in the B2C sector with platforms such as Amazon and Airbnb, the B2B sector is on the threshold to the so-called platform economy. In mechanical engineering, pioneers like GE (PREDIX) and Claas (365FarmNet) are trying to get their hands on the act. This is hardly a promising option for small and medium-sized companies, as only a few large companies will survive. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are already facing the threat of losing direct consumer contact and becoming exchangeable executers. In order to prevent this, it is important to anticipate at an early stage which strategic options exist for the future platform economy and which adjustments to the product program should already be initiated today. Basically, medium-sized companies in particular lack a strategy for an advantageous entry into the future platform economy.

The paper presents different approaches to master the challenges of participating in the platform economy by using platform patterns. Platform patterns represent proven principles of already existing platforms. We show how we derived a catalogue with 37 identified platform patterns. The catalogue has a generic design and can be customized for a specific use case. The versatility of the catalogue is underlined by three possible applications: (1) platform ideation, (2) platform development, and (3) platform characterization.

在数字化过程中，几乎没有任何其他领域比数字平台具有更大的破坏性潜力。在使用Amazon和Airbnb等平台的B2C部门已经发生了重大变化之后，B2B部门正处于所谓平台经济的门槛。在机械工程领域，诸如GE（PREDIX）和Claas（365FarmNet）之类的先驱正在努力取得成功。对于中小型公司来说，这不是一个有希望的选择，因为只有少数大型公司能够生存。中小型企业（SME）已经面临与消费者失去直接联系并成为可交换执行者的威胁。为了防止这种情况，重要的是，必须在早期阶段就未来平台经济存在哪些战略选择以及今天应该已经开始对产品计划进行哪些调整。基本上，中型公司尤其缺乏有利于进入未来平台经济的战略。

本文提出了使用平台模式来掌握参与平台经济挑战的不同方法。平台模式代表了已经存在的平台的公认原理。我们展示了如何导出具有37种已识别平台模式的目录。该目录具有通用设计，可以针对特定用例进行定制。目录的多功能性由三个可能的应用程序强调：（1）平台构想，（2）平台开发和（3）平台特性。