Plattform Industrie 4.0 and Industry 4.0 Advanced Manufacturing Forum: working together to leverage economic potential

Together, Plattform Industrie 4.0 and the Industry 4.0 Advanced Manufacturing Forum (I4AMF, successor to the Australian Industry 4.0 Taskforce) aim to leverage the great economic potential for Germany and Australia. The collaboration involves partners such as the Australian Industry Group (AiGroup) and the Labs Network Industrie 4.0. Key topics include reference architectures, norms and standards, support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Industrie 4.0 test centres, security of networked systems, and work, education and training.

Since 2017, the partners have been working on a project to apply the material graphene in the automotive industry. The Australian Industry Group (AiGroup), the Labs Network Industrie 4.0, ARENA 2036 in Stuttgart, Swinburne University in Melbourne and the Australian SME Imagine are involved in the project. Within the framework of the project, regular exchanges and visits to the test labs take place on site in Melbourne. Among other things, the partners were involved in the development of a smart factory at Swinburne University.

Background

The cooperation was sealed with a joint declaration at the Hannover Messe 2017 in the presence of the former German Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy Brigitte Zypries and the Australian Ambassador Lynette Wood. This cooperation agreement is based on existing bilateral initiatives to promote closer relations between Germany and Australia. These include the "Australia-Germany Treaty on Science and Technology Cooperation" from 1976 and the "Australia-Germany Advisory Group" (AGAG) from 2014.