Tokyo – March 1, 2018 Allianz Industrie 4.0 Baden-Württemberg (Allianz I4.0), a network designed to promote digital transformation in manufacturing industry based in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and the Industrial Value Chain Initiative (IVI), a forum of smart manufacturing for connected industries based in Japan, announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). Under the memorandum, Allianz I4.0 and IVI will make a variety of efforts to promote Industrie 4.0/smart manufacturing in international economies.
Joint activities of the Allianz I4.0 and the IVI will include:
- In-depth exchange of experiences
- Sharing use cases
- Facilitate corporate exchange and collaboration
- Other activities to which both parties agree
Concrete topics are continuously identified by mutual consent of both parties.
“Industry 4.0 is powered by advancements that include smart manufacturing, robotics, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. The collaboration between IVI and Allianz I4.0 will unite the strengths of industries both countries”, comments Dr. Manfred Wittenstein, Spokesperson of Allianz I4.0 and Chairman of the board at WITTENSTEIN SE. “We are pleased to have IVI as strong and reliable partner. With our joined forces, we’ll be able to defend our leading positions in the digital revolution.”
“The Allianz I4.0 and the IVI have continued exchanges – holding joint workshops and visiting each other,” said Prof. Dr. Yasuyuki Nishioka, President of the Industrial Value Chain Initiative. “We believe it is significant that the two organizations leading the fourth industry revolutions share experiences and challenges, especially because Baden-Württemberg and Japan have similar economic structures. We look forward to dynamically further cooperation of the two economies by this liaison with the Allianz I4.0”
Mr. Manfred Wittenstein, who is also chairing the working group “Transfer and Implementation in SME” acts as formal point of contact for cooperatively coordinating all activities under this MoU with IVI.
The Cross Industry Committee (CIC) of IVI, chaired by Ms. Hatsuko Kouroku, is the contact point for formal relationships with other IIoT initiatives. The CIC will cooperatively organize meetings and facilitate exchanges of member companies/organizations with Allianz I4.0.
About Allianz Industrie 4.0 Baden-Württemberg
Allianz I4.0 is a network that aims to pool technological expertise in production as well as IT and communications to provide support for companies in their shift towards digitalization. It focuses on manufacturing companies. The close integration of the various industries and fields of technology involved allows SME to benefit from the Allianz I4.0 through a comprehensive package of activities. The overall goal is to facilitate direct collaboration and exchange of experience among all players. For more information, visit http://www.i40-bw.de/en/.
About the Industrial Value Chain Initiative
The Industrial Value Chain Initiative (IVI), based in Japan, is a forum consisting of industrial and academic members that works on promotion of smart manufacturing for connected industries. It aims at fostering ecosystems by activities including provision of support to workgroups made up of member companies/organizations for creating use cases, coordination of platforms to provide the workgroups with solutions and compilation of specifications at different granularity from requirement specification of each workgroup to a reference architecture. For more information, visit https://iv-i.org/en/.
Contacts:
Christoph Zanker
Allianz Industrie 4.0 Baden-Württemberg
Email: christoph.zanker@vdma.org
Shio Ohtomo
Industrial Value Chain Initiative
Email: global_office@iv-i.org
