If there is a specific moment when the Fourth Industrial Revolution was born it was, arguably, at Hannover Messe in April 2011. The then director of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, Professor Wolfgang Wahlster, opened the conference by describing how the Internet was driving a profound shift in industrial processes.
It was the first time many had heard of Industry 4.0. Today, the term is used as shorthand for the interplay between the physical machine and digital technologies, cloud computing, ultra-fast communication, blockchain and the Internet of Things, among other advances. Over a decade later, how has the food industry been impacted by Industry 4.0?
This is not the first time the food industry has gone through radical transformation. Changes in food technology over the past 300 years have mapped the world’s four industrial revolutions. In the 18th century it was steam mechanization, in the 19th century it was electrification, and the 20th century brought information technology, robotics, and automation. Today, it is digitalization that drives the Fourth Industrial Revolution.