Industry 4.0

On August 29, the German Advisory Group and the Reforms Delivery Office, an advisory body to the Cabinet of Ministers, hosted a joint seminar on the topic: ” Industry 4.0 – Overview and Policy Implications”.

Dr. Philip Steden introduced the specialized audience to the basic features and components of Industry 4.0 – the so called forth industrial revolution – and illustrated possible fields of application and advantages of Industry 4.0 technologies with examples from Germany.

Dr. Steden is an industrial engineer and holds a Ph.D. in economics. Since 2010, he has gathered extensive experience as a Consultant and Head of Division of investor services and manufacturing industries at Berlin Partner, Berlin’s official investment promotion and business development agency.

Industry 4.0 stands for the comprehensive digitization of industrial production. The so called 4th industrial revolution describes digital connected machinery, intelligent products and the control of the entire value chain. This implies a growth in efficiency and productivity, less waste of ressources and minimization of costs. At the heart of the changes, smart production and a smart product enable to serve the individualising costumer requests.

In his presentation, Dr. Steden also explained Industry 4.0’s relevance for economic policy. As a connected and digitized industry, it has a huge market potential. It offers opportunities for foreign direct investment and can promote the economic development of a country. Employees are required to learn new skills.

Policies need to be adjusted to the forth industrial revolution, too, Steden added. After all, the transformation to a digitized industry can be positively influenced by investment and innovation incentives, technology transfer, information and networking opportunities, and  education and advisory services.