EU Commissioner finds out about the Industry Business Network 4.0

EU politicians are showing very great interest in Industry Business Network 4.0 e.V.: As part of the annual reception of the Parliamentary Circle of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Europe (PKM Europe), the association presented itself at an exhibition in the EU representation of North Rhine-Westphalia in Brussels. The topic of the evening: digitalization of medium-sized industry. The EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel, personally informed herself about the solutions of the Industry Business Network 4.0 e.V..

The Swabian MEP and spokesman for the EU Parliamentary Group of SMEs, Markus Ferber, has long been concerned with the question of how the digitization of medium-sized industry could work. On the occasion of the annual reception of the European Parliamentary Group of SMEs, he had the solution in his luggage: At his invitation, the Industry Business Network 4.0 e.V. presented itself to the approximately 150 invited guests from top EU politics as part of an accompanying trade fair.

Among them was the EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel. She visited the association's stand to find out about the solutions offered by the manufacturers' association of innovative SMEs and now intends to take a closer look at the association's unique concepts in a more detailed follow-up meeting. "The Industry Business Network's business model gets to the heart of the need for improvement in digitization," Markus Ferber summed up afterwards. And Igor Mikulina, Chairman of the Board of the Industry Business Network 4.0 e.V., is grateful for the consistently positive feedback: "As an association of innovative medium-sized companies, we are now moving into the concrete implementation of cross-manufacturer networked manufacturing. Against this background, we are very pleased that we are also perceived and supported as a development consortium at European level".

The Parliamentary Group of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Europe (PKM Europe) represents the interests of small and medium-sized enterprises in the EU Parliament. At its annual reception, the focus is on topics that are of existential importance to medium-sized companies. On this year's topic "Digitization of medium-sized industry", Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, delivered the keynote address. Further keynote speeches followed from Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Ing. Arndt Günther Kirchhoff, CEO Kirchhof Group and member of the presidiums of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA), as well as from Prof. Michael Hüther, Director of the Institute of the German Economy (IW). At the accompanying trade fair, companies such as the Swabian robot manufacturer Kuka presented themselves alongside the Industry Business Network 4.0 e.V..

Representatives of Industry Business Network 4.0 e.V. welcomed high-ranking representatives from politics, science and business at their booth (from left): Thomas Mann (Member of the European Parliament), Igor Mikulina (Chairman of the Board of Industry Business Network 4.0 e.V., CEO MicroStep Europa GmbH), Dr. Markus Pieper (Member of the European Parliament and Chairman of the EPP SME Policy Group), Prof. Michael Hüther (Director of the Institute of the German Economy), Mariya Gabriel (EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society), Konstantin Kernschmidt (Project Coordinator Industry 4.0 of the Industry Business Network 4.0 e.V.), Markus Ferber (Member of the European Parliament), Arndt Günter Kirchhoff (CEO Kirchhoff Group and Member of the Presidiums of the BDI and BDA), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Johannes Schilp (University of Augsburg and Fraunhofer IGCV Augsburg).