A Discussion about Industrie4.0 and Industrial Internet Consortium from the View Point of Their Recent Activities and Business Ecosystem Formation

Abstract

Business transformation is accelerated by digital technologies. Industrie4.0, a governmental R&D program of Germany, and Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), a commercial consortium, are well-known frameworks of business transformation applicable to the domain of the manufacturing industries. This article concludes that through our continuing research into Industrie4.0 and IIC, 1) Industrie4.0 and IIC share the same technological backgrounds, 2) each has a unique approach to business development and standardization strategy, and 3) their collaboration will make possible new non-competitive areas of technology stacks and define new service interfaces that will create novel business models. This article also discusses appropriate strategies for Japanese manufacturers to utilize their capabilities in the movement of digital transformation. This article proposes two recommendations for Japanese manufacturers. The first one is that they must attempt to participate in business eco-systems that create new product/service features and interfaces, which are usually realized as API (Application Programing Interface). Of lower priority is that Japanese manufacturers still need to continue investing their efforts into enhancing and refining conventional product/service standard specifications in order to conserve basic market access opportunities.