What the platform will focus on in 2017 and what it will seek to achieve was discussed by the members of Plattform Industrie 4.0’s working groups on 23 February in Berlin. This third WG closed conference brought together around 100 experts in order to make progress on the substance in four workshops on selected topics and to have an exchange across working groups. This year’s emphasis was the transfer of practices and the implementation of Industry 4.0 in all areas. Now it is about prioritising and implementing the conclusions and action recommendations established by the WGs over the last months. This will include close cooperation with multipliers on the ground. At the same time the platform is planning to increasingly strengthen its leading role to guide companies and to continue to build and expand existing and new international strategic partnerships.

Following a welcome address by head of section Markus Heß (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs) and head of section Dr Wolf-Dieter Lukas (Federal Ministry for Research), the meeting provided thematic islands and workshops on specific topics in order for the participants to link up on content – going beyond the boundaries of the individual working groups. Following the working phase, the workshops were opened up to all WG members so that the participants were able to gather infor-mation on all workshops, engage in exchanges and provide suggestions.

One central workshop theme was the joint cross-working group publication which will appear in time for the Hannover Trade Fair 2017. The aim is to connect the issues that the different working groups are dealing with, thereby creating a “horizontal dialogue”. Based on the “order-driven production (AGP)” scenario, a team of representatives from the five working groups looked at practical examples of applications to see how exactly the various aspects of industry 4.0 (standards, law, safety and work/humans) will interact and how the need for action in various areas will have an effect on the concrete practice of SMEs.

In addition, Henning Banthien, Secretary General of Plattform Industrie 4.0, gave a report on the current developments of the platform and provided an outlook to the next highlight which the platform will actively participate in: the G20 conference “Digitising Manufacturing in the G20 – Initiatives, Best Practices and Policy Approaches” on 16 and 17 March in Berlin which will discuss the issue of Industry 4.0 in an international context.