Guest Talk "Industry 4.0 – what comes next?"

10/12/2024

Roland Sommer 

Date/Time: 11.12.2024, 12:00 

Location: D2.2.094 

Abstract 

Industry 4.0 has been an engine of digitisation in manufacturing over the 12 years. There are several options, what might come next. All these elements will transform industry and at the same time shape European and Austrian economic policy. Roland Sommer, Managing Director of Platform Industry 4.0 Austria will present recent trends and developments.

Short Bio 

Roland Sommer serves as Managing Director of the Austrian Platform Industry 4.0 since October 2015. The platform is a public private partnership that aims at improving framework conditions for the introduction of digitalization (‘Industry 4.0’) bringing together relevant stakeholders in Austria. The focus of the work is based on innovation in production technologies and business models on the one hand and high-quality working conditions on the other hand.  

Since March 2022 Mr. Sommer is in the operative Management Board of the Austrian GAIA-X Hub. Moreover Mr. Sommer is lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Wieselburg, the University of Applied Sciences in Kufstein and the University of Applied Sciences Joanneum. Prior to this function he worked as Director of Public Affairs for AVL List GmbH. AVL List is the world's largest independent company for the development of powertrain systems with internal combustion engines as well as instrumentation and test systems. From 2004 -2011 Mr. Sommer worked as senior policy adviser for the Federation of Austrian Industries; there he was responsible for research and innovation policy, both on the national and the EU level. From 2000 to 2004 he was employed by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency respectively its predecessor institution. 

Mr. Sommer studied at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria, where he obtained his Master on the 29th of June 1998, in the course of his studies he had an Erasmus semester at the Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and he obtained a Master from the University of London, UK. He is active in various national and international bodies.

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