Countries Strategic Approach in Facing The Fourth Industrial Revolution
The Indonesian government officially launched a roadmap called "Making Indonesia 4.0" in April 2018 as a part of establishing measured steps towards Indonesia’s emerging industry 4.0 era. The fourth industrial revolution is driven by the advances of science and technology which are the promoters to optimize production chains. The world is now experiencing Industry 4.0 and is expected to experience very rapid and wide transformations. This is the reason that countries all over the world are making strategies and preparations to adjust accordingly and remain competitive. We have compiled several examples of how both developing and developed countries are handling the industry 4.0 era.
Morocco (Africa)
As the fifth economic power in Africa, Morocco seems like a relatively small country, yet it is not only the second emerging country the more promising for the investment behind the South Africa but also the list of emerging countries most promising in the world. Morocco had been deploying two main sector known as "E-Morocco" and "Morocco Numeric 2013" since 2000, it also adapts an industrial strategy for the long-term up to 2030 which covers a broad scope of topics: smart cities, innovation, education and training, digitalization of the State, electronic commerce and the industry.
It is true that industrial development is essential to the economic prosperity of Morocco. They designed in a first time the creation of 500,000 industrial jobs that will represent an envelope of 20 billion dirhams, and the construction of the industrial parks to rental vocation to facilitate access to land such as the Tangier Free Zone and Kenitra. This allocation affects mainly the automotive and aeronautics sectors which are based on the productive ecosystems.
China (Asia)
China has always been willing to invest in big infrastructure to secure its future. In 2019, China's steel industry developed well and increased its share in world steel production. According to experts, the key to overcoming the negative effects of COVID-19 in the future lies in the production of material to support new infrastructure which refers to government investment in resisting the risks of economic slowdown and recession. This strategy can open bigger steel demand in the key areas of new infrastructure for instance, information network, energy network, and road network.
Besides many challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the condition greatly contributes in accelerating the use of advanced technologies. Support for genuine mergers and acquisitions is expected to facilitate industrial concentration as well as further support in environmentally friendly technologies and equipment is being forecasted.
Canada
Canada is currently a center for innovative technology. This includes blockchain and AI to complete digitalization. The Canadian government is even trialling implementations on blockchain in their communications. It also has an impressive myriad of funding opportunities for innovation and new business. In the World Economic Forum’s Drivers of Production, Canada ranks a reasonable 33rd with its current structure of production. It ranks 7th as a driver of production. With time and preparation, Canada could pioneer the state of production globally.
Australia
In terms of integrating renewable energy sources to their manufacturing industry, Australian manufacturers are increasing investment in solar PV. There are challenges in optimising the intermittent nature of the generation and companies are pursuing renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs) but these provide cheap energy only while generation output is high. Industry 4.0 technologies help optimise integration of renewables by enabling predictive demand management and storage strategies.
In the effort of equipping their human resource capabilities to face industry 4.0, the Australian Government’s Industry 4.0 Higher Apprenticeship Program trains technicians to a higher skill level for the economy of the future. As part of the program, apprentices enroll in an associate degree which covers topics including advanced manufacturing processes, automation and robotics, IoT, cloud computing, advanced algorithms and smart sensors.
United Kingdom (Europe)
In UK, the number of automated systems and robots installed in the English companies’ which remain modest compared to other countries of the European Union. To encourage the British companies to have more productivity by using automation, the government has adopted an industrial strategy to 2020, to provide the support to all sectors of activities, mainly concerning the Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS). The major objective of this strategy is the development of real industrial technology as the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) or the management of industrial processes, and the computer integrated manufacturing (CIM).
In conclusion, existing productive activies are not compatible to adress sustainable development goals and adapt to the new era of manufacturing without the advancement of technology. Countries all over the world has initiated investments for technology and digital infrastructure in response to the industrial 4.0 transition. Despite the challenges present, each country has the responsibility to become more flexible and increase