On 10^th July, David Leal-Ayala of IfM ECS's Policy Links Unit delivered a keynote talk at the Global Manufacturing Summit (9-11 July, Yekaterinburg, Russia), presenting the headline findings of a new report on the Safety and Security Dimensions of Industry 4.0.

The Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) was established in 2015 as an industry association to build bridges between manufacturers, governments & NGOs, technologists, and investors in harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s transformation of manufacturing to the regeneration of the global economy. A joint initiative by the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), GMIS is a platform that presents the manufacturing sector with an opportunity to contribute towards global good, working to the benefit of all.

As part of their mission, GMIS recognises that the emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), or “Industry 4.0”, is radically changing the ways in which firms manufacture products, the business models they adopt and even how they innovate. In order to realise the full benefits deriving from Industry 4.0, manufacturers will need more proactively to understand and address new safety and security risks and requirements arising from the adoption of 4IR technologies.

Against this backdrop, the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS), on behalf of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF), has commissioned Policy Links to explore the safety and security implications of 4IR technologies based on a review of the latest international evidence.

This review constitutes the first stage within an open, multi-stakeholder project by GMIS and LRF that aims to bridge the safety and security knowledge gaps in the deployment of 4IR technologies in manufacturing. The end goal is to promote better knowledge of the safety and security risks and requirements deriving from 4IR in order to design concrete implementation plans for industry stakeholders to adopt 4IR technologies confidently through pilot studies.

Lead author, Dr David Leal-Ayala said: “Although a large number of academic, industrial and policy documents have been published in recent years on the topic of Industry 4.0, the focus has generally been on the technological aspects. Published work addressing the safety and security implications of Industry 4.0 remains scarce in spite of its importance. In this regard, this report by Policy Links represents a practical knowledge source for stakeholders interested in gaining a deeper understanding of safety and security issues related to Industry 4.0.”

Co-author, Dr Jennifer Castaneda said: “Although a range of international responses are emerging across key enabling action areas aimed at tackling emerging safety and security risks and facilitate compliance with new requirements for the adoption of 4IR technologies, open themes remain that could form the basis of an agenda for future actions between industry, academia and policy-makers. In this regard, the report by Policy Links outlines key areas of future work that could be the basis of pilot projects to bridge the safety and security knowledge gaps in 4IR deployment.”

Head of Policy Links, Dr Carlos López-Gómez said: “A key finding from the report is that safety and security can no longer be treated as separate issues. An integrated approach to safety and security is required for the successful deployment of 4IR technologies.  A new paradigm is therefore required whereby safety and security systems do not allow unsafe operations, but safety systems can guarantee their integrity and not be abused into a method of bypassing security or causing greater harm than they should prevent.”