Industry 4.0 by the Numbers until 2025 (for Germany)

Hardly an issue causes so big waves as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Industry 4.0 is all the rage but how great is the growth potential, e.g. in the “Heimat,” for the German industry in the coming 10 years? Industry 4.0, currently still in its infancy, means decentralized, networked, self-controlled production processes, governed by machines and humans alike. This should allow not only new business models, but also significant productivity gains. A recent Industry 4.0 study from Fraunhofer IAO and BITKOM provides figures about how much the six most affected industries could benefit from the change. The three most important results at a glance:

1.  Until 2025, a productivity increase of around 78 billion euros is expected. 2.  The average additional gross value added could be 1,7 percent per year. 3.  The effects are dependent in particular on these five technology fields: Embedded Systems, Smart Factory, Robust networking, Cloud computing and IT security.