Ninth German-Chinese workshop “Industrial Metaverse”: dialogue between science and business on a digital future

Munich, 29 November 2024

On 18 November 2024, the ninth German-Chinese workshop organised by acatech, the MÜNCHNER KREIS and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) at acatech’s Munich office focused on the topic of “Industrial Metaverse”. Experts from science and industry discussed the technological foundations, opportunities, risks and challenges of the metaverse as well as its potential applications in industry. Ethical aspects, norms and standards were also examined in depth in the presentations and discussions. On the following day, 19 November 2024, participants had the opportunity to experience the Industrial Metaverse in practice during visits to the SAP Labs Munich Campus in Garching, the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the KI.FABRIK Bayern.

The event was opened by Jan Wörner, President of acatech, and Chen Wang, President of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Vice President of the CAE. They emphasised the importance of the 13 years of successful cooperation between the sister academies.

Keynotes and presentations on the future of the industrial metaverse

In inspiring keynotes, Jan Wörner, Peigen Li (CAE) and Christina Dienhart (RWTH Aachen) shed light on key aspects of the industrial metaverse. Topics included the further development of the internet, opportunities through artificial intelligence and digital twins as well as visions of the future of intelligent factories.

In two subsequent sessions, experts presented use cases from Germany and China

Theo Papadopoulos (Siemens) presented the Siemensstadt² digital twin, the first factory for digital natives to emerge from its own digitalisation concept, and the blueprint factory Gerätewerk Erlangen. acatech member Prof. Birgit Vogel-Heuser (TU Munich) explained the potential of field automation architectures for adaptable production systems, while Max Tretter (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg) addressed ethical issues in the industrial metaverse. The subsequent panel discussion, moderated by Prof Michael Dowling (acatech, MÜNCHNER KREIS), delved deeper into these topics, particularly with regard to responsibility in dealing with digital technologies.

In the final session, experts from the Chinese Academy of Engineering Sciences presented digital twins for high-performance manufacturing in the industrial metaverse, digital platforms for intelligent manufacturing and examples from the field of robotics and discussed these in the subsequent round table.

Insights into practice and outlook

Visits to the SAP Labs Munich Campus in Garching, the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the KI.FABRIK Bayern on 19 November 2024 gave participants the opportunity to experience the Industrial Metaverse applications presented at the lecture in practice.

The event emphasised the immense potential of the industrial metaverse for the future and highlighted the importance of international exchange. The range of topics – from technological opportunities and ethical challenges to specific applications – impressively demonstrated the transformative power of these developments.