How to develop the Industrial Internet in Germany

As one of the important countries in the field of industrial manufacturing in the world, Germany actively seizes the opportunities brought by a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and promotes the digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry through the development of the industrial Internet. As an important part of the German Industry 4.0 system, the strategies and measures for the development of the German industrial Internet follow the principles of systematic, innovative and cooperative, and play an important role in maintaining the international competitive advantage of the German manufacturing industry in the era of digital economy.

With the goal of "Industry 4.0", we will strengthen policy guidance and support. In the face of the development of the global industrial Internet, Germany, as an advocate of the concept of "Industry 4.0", focuses on this goal and consolidates its leading position in the field of advanced manufacturing by strengthening guidance and support measures at the policy level. In 2011, Germany put forward the concept of "Industry 4.0" on the basis and extension of "Industry 1.0" (the introduction of machinery manufacturing equipment), "Industry 2.0" (the application of electrification) and "Industry 3.0" (the development of informatization), which was originally intended to improve the level of German manufacturing industry through the application of new technologies such as the Internet of Things. In 2013, under the vigorous promotion of academia and industry, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Ministry of Economy and Technology included the "Industry 4.0" project in the ten future projects of the "High Technology Strategy 2020", which became an important part of the German national strategy, marking the transformation of German industry from a model dominated by large-scale standardized production to a model characterized by data-driven and interconnected collaboration. Subsequently, the German government launched various policies to guide and support the development of the industrial Internet with the goal of promoting "Industry 4.0". In 20132019, the German government successively issued policies such as "Securing the Future of German Manufacturing: Proposals on the Implementation of the "Industry 4.0" Strategy", "Digital Agenda (2014-2017)", "Digital Strategy 2025", "High-tech Strategy 2025", "German Industrial Strategy 2030" and other policies, which have repeatedly clearly proposed the development of the industrial Internet and promoted the full penetration of new generation digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing into the industrial economy and the real economy.

Driven by technological innovation, we will accelerate the integrated development of industrialization and informatization. Germany attaches great importance to the R&D and innovation of technologies related to the industrial Internet, emphasizing the cyber-physical system (CPS) as the core of technology, comprehensively improving the production efficiency and intelligence level of the manufacturing industry through the integration of information technology and industrial technology, and creating an intelligent world with the interconnection of all things and in-depth information mining. In order to accelerate the implementation of "Industry 4.0", the German government, enterprises and research institutions actively invest in basic research, applied research and development and demonstration projects to promote key technological breakthroughs and integrated innovation. At the beginning of the "Industry 4.0" strategy in 2013, the German government planned to invest 200 million euros to support technology research and development and innovation in industrial Internet-related fields. By the end of 2023, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has allocated hundreds of millions of euros for technology research and development projects related to the Industrial Internet, and the Ministry of Economy and Energy has invested 56 million euros to establish 10 digital competence centers for small and medium-sized enterprises. As a traditional manufacturing enterprise, Siemens AG acquired UGS for $3.5 billion in 2007 to obtain CPS technology, and then successively acquired many industry-leading industrial software companies such as Door Extension, LMS, CD-ADAPCO to make up for the shortcomings in information and communication technology. In addition, German scientific research institutions such as the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft have conducted a lot of research in the field of industrial Internet, and actively provide technical support and solutions for manufacturing enterprises such as Volkswagen, Bosch, and Mercedes-Benz.

Talent training is the guarantee service to support the development of the industrial Internet. As the new generation of digital technology continues to give rise to new industries, new forms of business and new models, how to cultivate high-quality workers who meet the requirements of "Industry 4.0" and how to adapt existing workers to the development needs of the industrial Internet have become common problems faced by German schools and enterprises. Germany encourages close cooperation between universities, scientific research institutions and enterprises, through joint research and development, technology transfer, internship and training to form an integrated innovation ecology of "production, education, research and application", and cultivate compound talents with professional knowledge and skills of the industrial Internet.

In addition, Germany has also built an Industry 4.0 "smart learning factory" through the reform of the vocational education system to ensure that vocational skills education is compatible with the development trend of the industrial Internet. German vocational education has always had a tradition of integration of industry and education and school-enterprise dual education, that is, through close cooperation between industry and vocational colleges, students can master both theoretical knowledge and practical ability. The German Industry 4.0 "Smart Learning Factory" not only inherits this tradition, but also integrates enterprise and school resources through the digital and intelligent transformation of the learning system, realizes the deep integration of "Industry 4.0" technology, production and education, provides the trainees with a real industrial Internet application experience, comprehensively improves the technical skills and soft skills of the trainees in sync with the development of the industry, and becomes a classic example of global intelligent industrial talent training.

Guided by the construction of standards, we will expand international cooperation and enhance the right to speak. Germany actively promotes the formulation and promotion of industrial Internet-related standards, and strives to promote the data integration and interconnection of intelligent manufacturing through the establishment of a cross-industry and cross-field industrial Internet platform architecture and technical standard system, and then actively strive to grasp the right to speak on the international rules of intelligent manufacturing. In 2013, at the beginning of the establishment of the "Industry 4.0" strategy, Germany took standardization as the first of the eight priority action plans for the development of the industrial Internet, and the German Electrical, Electronic and Information Technology Association immediately released the first industrial Internet standardization roadmap. In 2016, German industry and standardization authorities jointly announced the establishment of the "Industry 4.0" standardization committee (SCI 4.0) and released the industrial Internet reference architecture model RAMI 4.0.

While building standards, Germany fully recognizes that the industrial Internet is a global issue, and is actively committed to international cooperation in standardization to build a global unified industrial Internet standard system, including participating in the relevant work of international standards organizations (such as IEC, ISO, IEEE, etc.), discussing cooperation with the American industrial Internet reference architecture model IIRA, promoting the standardization route docking with industrial Internet platforms in China and other countries, and in-depth interaction in technology research and development, market docking, and mutual recognition of standards. In addition, Germany attaches great importance to the construction of the security system of the industrial Internet, and has issued normative documents such as the "Industry 4.0 Security Guide" to actively promote the construction of industrial data space and provide guarantees for the information security and cloud security of the industrial Internet.