Barcelona Digital City

Technology continues to revolutionise industry. The fourth industrial revolution is based on the real time availability of all relevant information about a product. That information is provided by a network which has access to the entire value chain through the combination of different technologies: the Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, cybersecurity and digital manufacturing.

This is possible thanks to the digitalisation and unity of all production units and organisations in an economy.

Industry 4.0 has five main principles. The first is vertical networking, consisting of the interconnection of the cyber-physical system.

Secondly, virtualisation, whereby the real world is read by sensors and transformed into virtual images.

Decentralisation is another principle, whereby decision-making is carried out by cyber-physical systems and predictive models.

Another defining trait is real time response, which consists of capturing information, processing and decision making.

Finally, customer orientation, which is possible thanks to the fact that industry 4.0 is designed to establish direct feedback between user, product and the person who designed it.

Barcelona City Council wants to promote the creation of platforms and collaborative work between companies and relevant industry bodies. The aim is to boost industry digitalisation and the collaboration of engineers, manufacturers, technology providers, associations, research centres, universities and the municipal government to identity, develop and promote best practices in the field of industry 4.0.