Industry 4.0: German-Chinese cooperation

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) have agreed to accompany at the political level the cooperation of German and Chinese companies on the initiatives going under the names of "Industry 4.0" (in Germany) and "Made in China 2025". It is planned to hold a conference  at State Secretary / Vice Minister level once a year. A bilateral working group has been set up to prepare the conference.

The constituent meeting of the working group, attended by representatives of companies from both countries, took place at the MIIT on 26 October 2015. These organizations included DIN, reflecting the great importance of standardization, first and foremost in areas such as IT and IT security. Aspects discussed were:

  • an analysis of relevant projects
  • the framework conditions on which to base joint efforts
  • cooperation on informal standardization
  • cooperation in matters relating to mid-size companies
  • cooperation on research

A subgroup "Industry 4.0" was set up to work out the details of cooperation on standardization. With Reinhold Pichler (DKE) and Volker Jacumeit (DIN) heading the German team, the subgroup will look into the following subjects:

  • a reference model
  • use cases
  • IT security
  • wireless communication
  • reliability
  • the organization of joint symposia and congresses

The first meeting of the Industry 4.0 subgroup is due to take place in Shanghai on 16 and 17 December.