The very name Industry 4.0 (Industrie 4.0) was cooked up in Germany. The concept of the fourth industrial revolution – presupposes joining industrial manufacturing with information technologies. By the year 2030, the Germany’s industrial manufacturers are planning to completely switch over to the internet-based industrial manufacturing.
«One of the main features of the fourth industrial revolution is that it will not change what we do, it will change who we are» – Клаус Швабб (Klaus Martin Schwab) – Klaus Schwab (German economist); founder and permanent president of the World Economic Forum in Davos since 1971.
Industry 4.0 has the potential to change the very definition of human labor. People are more and more reluctant to fulfill routine manufacturing tasks, while machines can do it with even higher effectiveness. The coming of innovative “smart” technologies will reduce consumption of energy, protect environment more thoroughly, and greatly diminish work injuries, while people can plunge into more creative tasks.
To our regret, Ukraine is more than decade behind developed countries in terms of implementing innovations. Mismatch of new technologies and manufacturing is the most burning issue here. Many enterprises stick to conservative approach in their economic activities. Integration of information technologies slips in infrastructural constraints such old roads, low internet speed, and clumsy legislation for IT enterprises.
All these issues were stipulated at the III Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF) in October, 2016.
Nadezhda Vasilyeva, CEO of Microsoft Ukraine, describes the current state and the specifics of the fourth industrial revolution in Ukrainian:
«Ukraine has well developed IT outsourcing, but the Soviet legacy in form of large enterprises focused at the state procurement badly needs to be modernized. In addition, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences has pretty vague connection with universities and businesses; the science here is not applied to life. At the same time, it requires better funding from the state. Though, in developed countries the academies of sciences are financed by business, but there they are applied… In Ukraine, we are good at creating ideas and solutions. But we need to better present and implement them in products».
In conclusion. Ukraine has been home for technological innovators for years, these are the leading IT developing companies. They are already integrated into the world space. But they mostly do not work with Ukrainian industries. De facto, IT is the only industry that is integrated into the global market.
In KNN systems, we strive to take the best from IT experience, world manufacturers and applied science to modernize Ukrainian industries. After all, innovating concerns not only manufacturing, but management and creativity as well.