The Research Council of the Plattform Industrie 4.0

Background

Industrie 4.0 is a significant challenge for businesses and research. In times of the Internet of Things (IoT), it fundamentally changes the way people, objects, and systems work and collaborate. Rigid value chains are being transformed into flexible value networks.

Therefore, strategic and independent advice regarding the implementation of existing concepts and further future developments is needed. As a strategic and independent committee, the Research Council Industrie 4.0 advises the Plattform Industrie 4.0, its working groups, and Germany’s Federal Ministries, particularly the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). In 2019, acatech was commissioned to take over the scientific coordination for another five-year period. For a successful development and a pre-competitive implementation planning for Industrie 4.0 in the German economy, the Research Council brings together approximately 30 representatives from science and industry and cooperates closely with the Plattform Industrie 4.0 and its working groups.

Objectives

The Research Council monitors and evaluates in a medium to long-term perspective the performance development of Industrie 4.0. In addition, the Research Council regards itself as the initiator for future research needs and as an advisor for the implementation of Industrie 4.0. Based on observations of Industrie 4.0 developments and trends, the Research Council formulates new concepts of pre-competitive impulses and recommendations for a successful implementation of Industrie 4.0. Therefore, the Research Council has identified key themes for categorizing future research and development needs and these themes will be crucial to successfully shaping Industrie 4.0 and Germany’s innovation system. These suggestions are directed towards policy makers, research institutions and business and relate to:

1. Value creation scenarios for Industrie 4.0
2. Prospective technological trends
3. New methods and tools for Industrie 4.0
4. Work and society
5. Innovation System in Germany

Members of the Research Council

© acatech – Members of the Research Council and permanent guests at the conference on November 27, 2018: LTR.: Sabine Pfeiffer, Jan-Henning Fabian, Ursula Frank, Uwe Kubach, Ralph Schmidt, Wolfgang Wahlster, Markus Dicks, Otto Bode, Alexander Fay, Rainer Stark, Reiner Anderl, Harald Schöning, Frank Piller, Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen, Georg Schnauffer, Klaus Bauer, Sven Hamann, Michael Jochem, Peter Post, Johannes Kalhoff.

Members of the Research Council (overview)

Science Representatives

Prof. Reiner Anderl
TU Darmstadt
Prof. Thomas Bauernhansl
University of Stuttgart/Fraunhofer IPA
Prof. Manfred Broy
Technical University of München
Prof. Angelika Bullinger-Hoffmann
Chemnitz University of Technology
Prof. Claudia Eckert
Technical University of Munich/Fraunhofer AISEC
Prof. Ulrich Epple
RWTH Aachen University
Prof. Alexander Fay
Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg
Prof. Jürgen Gausemeier
Paderborn University
Prof. Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen
TU Dortmund University
Prof. Gerrit Hornung
University of Kassel
Prof. Gisela Lanza
Karlsruhe Institute for Technology
Prof. Peter Liggesmeyer
Technical University of Kaiserslautern/Fraunhofer IESE
Prof. Wolfgang Nebel
University of Oldenburg/OFFIS
Prof. Sabine Pfeiffer
Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg
Prof. Frank Thomas Piller
RWTH Aachen University
Prof. Thomas Schildhauer
Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG)/Institute of Electronic Business
Prof. Rainer Stark
Technical University of Berlin/Fraunhofer IPK
Prof. Michael ten Hompel
TU Dortmund University/Fraunhofer IML
Prof. Wolfgang Wahlster
German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)

Industry Representatives

Klaus Bauer
TRUMPF Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH & Co. KG
Wilfried Bauer
T-Systems International GmbH
Stefan-Maria Creutz
BIZERBA SE & Co. KG
Dr. Jan-Henning Fabian
ABB AG
Dr.-Ing. Ursula Frank
Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG
Dietmar Goericke
The Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA)
Prof. Torsten Kröger
X, The Moonshot Factory
Dr. Uwe Kubach
SAP SE
Prof. Peter Post
Festo AG & Co. KG
Dr. Harald Schöning
Software AG
Dr. Georg von Wichert
Siemens AG

International

Henning Kagermann © acatech/D. Ausserhofer

“Industrie 4.0 creates highly flexible, value-added networks that require the continuous development of technological concepts, standards, business models and frameworks. Thus, cross-national cooperation and regulated exchange between politics, science and business are of major importance. The Research Council and the Global Representative and Advisor of the Plattform Industrie 4.0 contribute together to this endeavour with their international associations and the expert knowledge in the aforementioned key themes.”

Prof. Dr. Henning Kagermann, Global Representative and Advisor of the Plattform Industrie 4.0

In order to extend Industrie 4.0 in an international context, the Research Council is closely connected with the Global Representative and Advisor of the Platform Industrie 4.0, Prof. Dr. Henning Kagermann (Chair of the acatech Board of Trustees). The Research Council and the Global Representative and Advisor are strongly involved in the design and implementation of international cooperation by the Plattform Industrie 4.0. The goals focus on professional exchange based on best practice examples, the coordination and management of global challenges with regard to core topics of Industrie 4.0, as well as the establishment and the consolidation of international networks and cooperation.