During the conference, the G20 countries exchange concepts and best practices of digitising industries and the different national initiatives, such as the German Plattform Industrie 4.0, present their work on Industrie 4.0 aspects. Standardisation, regulatory challenges and cyber security are the focal point of discussion as well as the effects that digitalisation has on people, work and society.

At the beginning of the conference, the main focus is the exchange of goals and experiences of international initiatives. Prof. Dr. Henning Kagermann, President of acatech and Global Representative and Advisor of Plattform Industrie 4.0, emphasizes in exchange with other Industrie 4.0-initiatives of the G20 the need to jointly find solutions to questions of standardisation or security of the networked systems.

Many attendees are interested in the challenge to unify standards for Industrie 4.0. The panels on standards and on the international network of testbeds attracted a large crowd. The Plattform-partner Labs Network Industrie 4.0 e. V. (LNI 4.0) and the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) play an active role in the panels. Dominik Rohrmus and Thomas Hahn (LNI 4.0) as well as Richard Soley (IIC) lead the discussion and inform about the cooperation. Among other things, shared test centres are discussed. By testing Industrie 4.0-applications under controlled conditions, the partners want to identify gaps and thus provide new impulses for international standardisation.

The conference is part of the G20 Digital Ministers’ Meeting process. Responsible ministers will meet on 6th and 7th of April 2017 in Düsseldorf (Germany) for the first time. ​Click here for more information.