Strategic Research & Innovation Roadmap and Business Opportunities for ICT in Manufacturing

The manufacturing sector is key to Europe’s competitiveness and long-term economic growth. It comprises approximately 21% of the EU’s overall GDP, however, in recent years European industry has been affected by an economic down-turn. The manufacturing sector, in particular, has had to face increasing competition from lower-wage economies and other high-tech rivals. In order to sustain and also extend international competitiveness, European firms need to foster constant innovation.
This handbook presents a roadmap for research priorities, innovation strategies and business opportunities for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in manufacturing. For the manufacturing sector, ICT constitute the major source of innovation, yet their potential is far from being fully exploited. So, in recent years and under the umbrella of the „fourth industrial revolution“, the technical integration of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Internet of Services in industrial processes, has led to a significant investment in novel technologies.
In light of these developments, the Road4FAME Consortium developed a strategic research and innovation roadmap for IT architectures and services in manufacturing with a specific focus on systems, which facilitate agile and flexible manufacturing processes, ease interoperability in distributed manufacturing environments, support effective collaboration in context-aware enterprises and provide the foundations for sustainable manufacturing.
The Road4FAME Roadmap serves as a strategic guide for further investment into manufacturing IT and aligns future ICT research with needs, trends and demands of European manufacturing businesses.