Siemens announces 'Prime Minister's Industry 4.0 Taskforce'

Siemens has announced the formation of a special industrial taskforce to support Australia’s transition to a new economy and connect the nation to the fourth industrial revolution, known as Industry 4.0.

The Prime Minister’s Industry 4.0 Taskforce will enter important roundtable discussions this week at the world’s largest industrial trade event, Hannover Messe, in Germany. Led by Siemens Australia Chairman and CEO Jeff Connolly and with prominent Australian members representing engineering, research, academia and advanced manufacturing, the taskforce will meet with the two most powerful groups in industrial transformation, the German ‘Plattform Industrie 4.0’ and the US ‘Industrial Internet Consortium’.

This taskforce directly supports the National Science and Innovation Agenda. It is also a direct outcome of the recommendations from the Australia-Germany Advisory Group that was co-chaired by Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and German Minister of State Dr Maria Böhmer.

The group was established to build closer ties between Australia and Germany and identify opportunities for increased trade and investment. Its final report contained 59 recommendations to strengthen bilateral relations and was presented to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on 13 November 2015.

Germany and the US are at the forefront of setting the standards for digital networking and according to Siemens’ Connolly, it’s a prerequisite for Australia’s brightest innovators — if they are to take the global field, then we must be connected to what the future looks like in order to participate in that future. He said the taskforce stems from his participation in the Australia-Germany Advisory Group where SAP and Siemens have been tasked with supporting Australia’s move towards Industry 4.0.

“A significant global event happened in early March whereby two of the most advanced industrial nations, US and Germany, announced that they will work together to set the global course for digitalisation standards. We saw this as a unique opportunity to action the recommendations of the Australia-Germany Advisory Group, which includes the development of global Industry 4.0 standards,” said Connolly.

“The best way for Australia to punch above its weight globally in business as it does in sport is to think global and leverage the relationships and strengths of global partners. And there is no better place to do this than Hannover Fair, which is a fulcrum for technology and innovation,” he continued.