This year's Leaders' Dialogue focused on the internationalization of Manufacturing-X. The participants agreed that industry can only overcome the current challenges of digital transformation by working together across national borders.

Dr. Robert Habeck (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection): "It has to be said that the development of Industry 4.0 and Manufacturing-X is progressing very well". However, he added: "There is a lot to do. [...] We need to see that we make both capital and regulation competitive on an international scale."

Competitivness, sustainability and resilience

In addition to long-term competitive strength, the digital transformation also enables sustainability and resilience. Leonore Gewessler (Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austria) said: "We want European companies to be role models and trailblazers in the green and digital transformation. [...] Manufacturing-X is a global beacon of how this can work. Sharing and exchanging data is crucial here." She cited the Digital Product Passport as a use case with which Manufacturing-X demonstrates how collaboration on an equal footing works.

Smart and connected industry

BDI President Prof. Dr.-Ing. Siegfried Russwurm also emphasized the importance of cooperation: "It is extremely important that we work smarter in our networks - in industry and research, but also in regulation." He added: "We need to increase customer benefits and, in terms of the framework conditions, we need to promote as much as we regulate." Expertise, technologies and the right mindset are essential in order to remain competitive.

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Data-based business models and artificial intelligence

Other high-ranking and international panel guests, including Cedrik Neike (Member of the oard and CEO Digital Industries, Siemens AG), Henrik Schunk (Chairman of the Board of Directors, SCHUNK GmbH), Roland Lescure (Minister Delegate for Industry, France) and Prof. Dr. Geoffrey Parker (Dartmouth College, USA) discussed the topic.

John Dyck (CEO at CESMII, USA), Oliver Koeth (CTO, NTT DATA) and Kwang-Hyun An (President Korea Smart Manufacturing Office (KOSMO)) emphasized the creation of new data-based business models and the associated importance of international cooperation.

Dr. Barbara Frei (Member of the Executive Board, Schneider Electric), Jürgen Westermeier (CPO Airbus) and Helena Most (CEO and Founder of resourcly) spoke about the many ways in which digital ecosystems in industry can strengthen resilient supply chains and support the achievement of individual sustainability goals.

In their contributions, EU Commission representative Malgorzata Nikowska and Professors Geoffrey Parker and Stefan Wrobel (Fraunhofer IAIS) explained how the development of artificial intelligence will influence the future of the data economy.

Georg Kube (Head of Industry Data Systems, SAP), Oliver Ganser (Vice President Digitalization, Governance and Catena-X, BMW Group) and Georg List (Vice President Corporate strategy, AVL List) provided a final practical perspective: They made the practical relevance of digital ecosystems clear and showed how they are already being implemented for the industry.