The 4th Technological Summit in Belgrade was concluded by adopting the Digital Platform for Industry 4.0 in Serbia and establishing the Alliance for its further development. More than 50 domestic and international high-tech development experts from the USA, Europe and Japan participated this year. The event was organized by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce with the sponsorship of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.
The first day of the conference was dedicated to the latest research directions and results in the field of Industry 4.0 and new production technologies in the world. The session on global trends in that area was opened by prof. Dr. Laslo Monostori, the world's leading cyber-physics researcher at the Technical University of Budapest. Prof. Monostory is also the president of CIRPA - International Academy of Production Engineering.
More than fifty domestic and international experts, scientists and researchers from the United States, Europe and Japan took part in the conference, who, in the presence of more than 200 relevant participants, analyzed the aspects of the new industrialization based on the concept of Industry 4.0.
The third day of the conference was dedicated to developing a manufacturing roadmap document that will be presented to the Government of the Republic of Serbia. The idea is that this roadmap document will be revised and updated regularly after conferences of similar scale which will be held in Belgrade every year.
"It is the plan of digitalization and automation of the Serbian industry, at all levels, using the elements of Industry 4.0, such as Internet of Things, Cloud computing, Big Data, artificial intelligence, virtual and prolonged reality. The platform contains recommendations for the policy of the Government of the Republic of Serbia in the field of economic and industrial development for the period 2020/2030. year" - said Prof. Dr. Vidosav Majstorovic, one of the authors of the platform and one of the founders of the Technological Summit.
The document includes the following areas:
- Education and training
- Production in value chains
- Application of a new way of production in small and medium enterprises
- Information and communication technologies
- Cyber-physical pilot systems
- Center of excellence for machine engineering
- Innovations and business models for a new mode of production
Representatives of universities, scientific research institutions, business associations and companies clearly indicated that comprehensive digitalization and automation of industry are a development opportunity that Serbia should not miss if it wants to bridge the technological gap of developed industries and occupies a place in the global value chain.
Carsten Vollrath, CEO of SWISS IPG Partners Group, shared the experience of Switzerland, Germany and Austria in the implementation of industry development model 4.0 during the panel discussions.
According to his recommendations Serbia has to determine areas of operation, identify partners and initiate 4.0 innovation projects with a key group of small and medium enterprises, a technology partner and network them with universities, business associations, experts and consultants.
The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce launched an initiative to form the Alliance for the Development of Digital Platform for Serbia. The Alliance was officially established on the last day of the Technology Summit, at the 18th panel on the new industrialization of the country.
A corresponding task force was formed with a goal to jointly collaborate intensively on further development of the new digital industry 4.0 platform in Serbia. IPG Grouo is nominated as a member of this important task force to contribute to the development of the new Industry Policy Serbia 2021 – 2030 including a strategy for triggering foreign direct investments (FDI) as well as a concrete concept for an integrated Industry 4.0 initiative in Serbia.