“Industrie 4.0: Enabler of Economic Growth and Social Benefits”
Dr. Henning Kagermann

Most unfortunately, Europe is experiencing a second upsurge of the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless of the conclusions we reach in the future, one thing that is certain is that we must speed up digital transformation. That is what we concluded during the economic crisis ten years ago.
We decided to create cyber physical systems that merge real and virtual space with digital technology and develop new business processes and models by utilizing advances in the Internet of Things to connect not only people but smart machines as well, applying our experience in service-oriented architectures and combining services and data from a variety of sources. Not only that, we are also hoping to create new and innovative solutions in fields of society such as education and culture.
The ideas that we have conceived and kept on hold can be applied across a wide range of fields. Notwithstanding our ambitions, we felt that the top priority is to focus particularly on production and transportation. It is apparent to everyone that the country that is most resistant to a crisis is a country with a powerful manufacturing industry.
The announcement of Industrie 4.0 drew immediate attention and had a huge impact on the world. This clearly proves that our vision is compelling and will hugely influence both the economy and society.