Boy Luethje

​The talk will give a critical assessment of China’s Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Under the Made-in-China 2025 program digitalization of manufacturing initially followed Germany’s “Industry 4.0” as a strategic model. However, in China and globally, many of the promises have not been met and digitalization of production has proceeded much slower than expected. On the other hand, the industrial internet has developed rapidly and new models of platform-based manufacturing are emerging, especially in China. IIoT is one of the key responses to the U.S.-lead trade and technology “wars” against China and rising protectionism in Europe. The speaker will examine some key problems and ask which lessons can be learned, especially for digitalization and upgrading of small and medium enterprises, the transformation of work, and the regulation of data platforms.