Singapore and Germany - partners in 'Industrie 4.0'

SINGAPORE and Germany are among the most advanced industrialised countries in the world. Both have a substantial share of the productive sector in their GDP (gross domestic product), and are committed to maintaining industry as a key element of their economies. They are the largest partners in trade of goods of each other in their respective regional groups namely, Asean and the EU (European Union).

But it is harder to stay at the top than to get to the top. Numerous competitors, traditional industrialised nations and emerging economies want to take over large shares of our traditional fields of expertise. This applies to Singapore's key industries such as chemicals and electronics, and Germany's strongholds in those fields as well as in automotive, machinery and equipment. In order to defend our shares in the international markets, we must maintain and expand our technological edge.

This applies in particular to how industrial production will look like in the future. While there has been an everlasting trend towards the use of more and more machinery and automation since the first industrial revolution, we are facing a new, qualitative step forward in the next few years. The development of information technology now makes completely different factories possible. This includes "machines talking to machines", a principle called by some "the Internet of Things". However, this is only one element of a broader development we Germans refer to as "Industrie 4.0", a term coined in the German High-Tech-Strategy. We are facing a qualitative step into a new industrial era, the fourth industrial revolution.