Industry 4.0 and Urban Development – The Case of India

Industry 4.0 and Advanced Manufacturing are topics of a high international relevance. They are currently intensively discussed both in the academic literature, and in practice within the framework of Industry 4.0 which refers to the so-called 4th industrial revolution. They depend to a high degree on the availability of adequate digital infrastructures and well-functioning logistics systems, and they have a number of repercussions on cities and regions.

As there has not been much work done yet regarding the interrelations between Industry 4.0 (“Advanced Manufacturing”) and urban development, the report by the Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften (acatech) presented here is dealing with a new field of academic and practical interest, especially as it also takes up an international development cooperation perspective.

The acatech project reported here on “Advanced Manufacturing/Industry 4.0 and Urban Development – Connected, sustainable and urban economic activities in the industrial sector in the context of local, regional and global ICT-based value and logistic chains using the example of selected Indian metropolises” was commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ). The study was conducted in close cooperation with the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE).