Industry 4.0 is also known as the "fourth industrial revolution. As a collective term for comprehensive digitization and networking in production, it stands for a profound technological change in the economy. Medium-sized companies are just as affected by this development as large companies, because staying on the ball here means not only remaining competitive, but also taking advantage of opportunities that arise from it. According to a study by the Bitkom association, for example, the six sectors of mechanical and plant engineering, electrical engineering, automotive engineering, the chemical industry, agriculture and information and communications technologies alone expect additional value creation potential of 78 billion euros and annual growth of 1.7 percent from Industry 4.0 technologies by 2025.
How SMEs in particular can participate here and what impetus the two funding measures IGF and ZIM supervised by the AiF provide in this regard was the focus of this year's AiF Parliamentary Evening, which took place in Berlin on May 19, 2015. Yvonne Karmann-Proppert, President of the AiF and Managing Partner of Pharma-Labor Yvonne Proppert GmbH, welcomed a total of 13 members of the German Parliament (MdB) to the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, including AiF Senator Klaus Barthel.
Research network for SMEs
The participants of the Parliamentary Evening from politics, ministries, industry and science took the opportunity to exchange views and gain a better understanding of the existing needs of SMEs and the feasibility of measures to support their innovation activities.
In conclusion, the AiF President emphasized, "We at the AiF ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises can also participate on the research fronts of revolutionary fields of technology. With 100 research associations, 1,200 integrated research centers and 50,000 associated companies, the AiF is the research network for small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany. This research network reaches SMEs with a broad impact that is unique in the world and is an enormous locational advantage for Germany that must be exploited."
In the photo (from left to right): MdB Thomas Jurk, IGF Managing Director Dr Burkhard Schmidt, AiF President Yvonne Karmann-Proppert, MdB Dr Simone Raatz, FILK Institute Director Professor Michael Stoll and AiF Vice President Dr Eduard Neufeld.