**1. Introduction**

An open Machine-to-Everything (M2X) Economy [1] emerges when humans and smart autonomous devices interact, transact, and collaborate, e.g., self-driving buses and autonomous food delivery in a smart-city context [2,3]. The ubiquitousness of smart devices also allows for business transactions without human intervention among autonomously acting machines. Besides Machine-to-Machine (M2M) interactions, machines interact with humans (Machine-to-Human–M2H), or infrastructure components (Machineto-Infrastructure–M2I)—combined they provide the foundation for the machine-driven M2X Economy. While related concepts such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Smart Homes as well as Smart Cities [4], and the Industry 4.0 [5] have evolved, they do not support an interoperable, integrated, scalable model that facilitates the M2X Economy. Likewise, concepts for M2X value transfer, collaborations, and distributed e-governance are missing to achieve the shared objectives. Moreover, integrating humans and smart devices into a well-functioning socio-technical system [6] is essential, as it puts the M2X concept in a human-centered context.

In the M2X Economy, smart sensors may offer collected sensor data such as temperature, or air contamination to interested buyers that rely on the aforementioned data for their own computations. In the context of autonomous and self-driving vehicles, scenarios such as automated tollbooth payments, autonomous battery charging services as well as general

**Citation:** Leiding, B.; Sharma, P.; Norta, A. The Machine-to-Everything (M2X) Economy: Business Enactments, Collaborations, and e-Governance. *Future Internet* **2021**, *13*, 319. https://doi.org/10.3390/ fi13120319

Academic Editor: Paolo Bellavista

Received: 7 December 2021 Accepted: 13 December 2021 Published: 19 December 2021

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**Copyright:** © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

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Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) applications are among the most discussed use cases [7]. Thus, a socio-technical business model is required as it facilitates the M2X Economy.

Various M2X-resembling applications and use cases already exist, e.g., in the context of IoT. However, complex and impactful applications are still missing that provide more than marginal value to society. In addition, an economy emerging from M2X enactments among humans, smart devices, software agents, and physical systems is rarely considered. To provide or utilize non-trivial services, smart devices may also have to collaborate ondemand with other entities to be able to achieve a shared goal, or even migrate to different geographical locations based on supply and demand. Accordingly, "the interleaved ondemand collaborations, interactions, and transactions among autonomous, heterogeneous, and highly dynamic entities (humans, machines, software agents, etc.) lead to a decentralized, distributed and heterogeneous socio-technical system consisting of a large number of micro-services of different vendors and solution as well as infrastructure providers" [1].

This trend coincides with the emergence of smart-contract blockchain technology [8] that allows for novel peer-to-peer (P2P) electronic governance models. Traditionally, human-to-human business enactments are governed by contracts either in the form of oral, or written agreement. A machine-driven ecosystem requires a digital equivalent that is accessible to all stakeholders, i.e., a smart contract-driven platform that allows for fact tracking, non-repudiation, auditability, and tamper-resistant storage of information in a distributed multi-stakeholder setting. Electronic smart contracts enable and govern business transactions using a computerized transaction protocol such as a blockchain. Moreover, smart-contract blockchain technology comprises computer programs for the consistent execution by a network of mutually distrusting nodes where no arbitration of a trusted authority exists.

A one-stop platform for the provision and enactment of services and goods of a M2X ecosystem is desirable instead of a manufacturer-focused platform with deliberately forced, or functional lock-ins that lead to the formation of self-contained data and service silos such as Tesla, Google, or Amazon. Instead, an interoperabilty layer that implements the compatibility of different manufacturer platforms is required to allow for the exploitation of economies of scale and increased efficiency. Thus providing the foundation for an ecosystem that can be operated as a joint venture of various stakeholders and includes builtin e-governance mechanisms, thereby constituting a neutral territory for all stakeholders.

In this position paper, we argue in favor of an open, decentralized and distributed smart-contract-based M2X Economy that supports the corresponding multi-stakeholder ecosystem and facilitates M2X value exchange, collaborations, and business enactments. Furthermore, the M2X Economy allows for a distributed e-governance model that fosters open platforms and interoperabilty. To do so, we draw from a variety of previous work and assemble an initial set of essential building blocks for a future M2X Economy and its corresponding ecosystem.

The research methodology of this work follows the usual approach of a position paper: First, we stipulate our position by presenting an innovative hypotheses—as stated above, we argue in favor of an open, decentralized, and distributed smart-contract-based M2X Economy. Subsequently, related background information pertaining to the position are provided. Second, we provide evidence to support our position. Third, we follow a discussion of both sides of the matter before concluding the presented position statement.

Our position paper provides three main contributions: First, it is a call for a discussion of an emerging machine-driven economy and its corresponding ecosystem with autonomously acting devices offering and consuming services in a M2X context. Second, it suggests a course of actions for developing the M2X Economy needs to focus on specific domains. Third, it outlines enabling concepts of the M2X Economy.

The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: Section 2 introduces the M2X Economy in detail, showcases the state of the art, and discusses related work. Next, Section 3 focuses on mechanisms for M2X stakeholders to interact, transact, and collaborate by means of a smart-contract-based lifecycle approach and a corresponding distributed

e-governance infrastructure. Section 4 details the smart token economics. Subsequently, Section 5 discusses our position as well as alternative approaches. Finally, Section 6 concludes our work.
