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Industrie 4.0 and GAIA-X

A combined effort by ifok to assist with Germany’s central stakeholder platform and create the next generation of a data infrastructure for Europe

Industrie 4.0 is Germany’s central stakeholder platform, actively involving business, politics, trade unions, and science, to successfully establish concepts for the digitalization of the German industry. In a joint dialogue, tangible recommendations for a goal-oriented implementation of Industrie 4.0 in the German economy have been developed, thus further expanding the performance and international competitiveness.

The overall process is the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). In cooperation with the VDI Technology Centre, ifok took over the management of the platform’s project office in April 2015. The office organizes and coordinates the activities of Plattform Industrie 4.0 and is the central point of contact for the network of over 300 players from business, politics, associations, and trade unions.

The platform is experiencing a great deal of national and international interest: the platform’s office was part of a delegation to China. At a summit in Paris, close cooperation was launched between Germany and France together with Chancellor Merkel and President Hollande. The office also regularly receives delegations from Japan, Spain, Taiwan, China, Slovenia, etc.

Since 2019, ifok has also been assisting the Federal Ministry together with the VDI Technology Centre by carrying out project management and providing consultancy services in the GAIA-X project. In this project, representatives from politics, business and science work with other European partners to create the next generation of a data infrastructure for Europe.

GAIA-X aims to set up a secure and networked data infrastructure that meets the highest standards of digital sovereignty and provides data processing according to European guiding principles such as transparency, interoperability, and open market access.

The Ministers of Economics of Germany and France – Peter Altmaier and Bruno Le Maire -jointly announced the project in October 2019. The Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy is responsible for the entire process together with a consortium of various companies. The project arouses strong interest on an international level and its relative structures are currently being expanded throughout Europe.

In charge of project management, ifok’s services include:

  • Stakeholder management including onboarding and internal communication
  • Development of agile processes and consulting around project governance for the management and implementation of the project
  • Identification and coordination of the provision of software infrastructure
  • Organization and implementation of project meetings – virtual and analog – with up to 250 participants
  • Setting up and structuring the project-wide knowledge management

ifok is also responsible for the following communications activities:

  • Design and development of communication measures (films, publications, social media)
  • Support of press and public relations work for the project
  • Conception and implementation of high-level events and conferences
  • Conception, organization, and implementation of the two-day virtual Pan-European GAIA-X Summit in November 2020, with around 5000 participants

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