Projects

Step by step: How do we get from the Internet of Things to Industry 4.0

Fraunhofer IML realized the importance of the Internet of Things for logistics at a very early stage. Together with national and international partners in industry and research, the institute is now working on the concept and generation of an inter-industry and interdisciplinary Internet of Things. A large number of pioneering research projects has already been completed and they have provided important knowledge about how to digitalize the sector and about Industry 4.0. This has also led to many successful new projects.

In the EffizienzCluster LogistikRuhr, one of the German Federal Government’s leading edge clusters, they are also investigating intelligent and networked logistics. Fraunhofer IML is both initiator and supporter of the clusters as well as a partner in the research projects. The EffizienzCluster sees itself as a platform and content generator for subjects connected with the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0. The scientific and business communities develop models, concepts, products and solutions in joint projects that follow the cluster’s key strategy of “Increased efficiency through autonomization”.

In their study »Exploiting the potentials of the application of Industry 4.0 in medium-sized companies« (published in 2015), which was developed in cooperation with agiplan GmbH and Zenit GmbH on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Fraunhofer IML makes extensive recommendations for research, politics and business. At the same time, companies are encouraged to play an active role in implementing Industry 4.0.

Royalty honors the Internet of Things
Back in 2014, Fraunhofer IML were honored for their research into the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 with a royal visit: During their tour of the institute and its research labs, the King and Queen of the Netherlands  were informed about some of the research being carried out into the future-oriented subjects of the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0.