Industry 4.0 — also called the Fourth Industrial Revolution or 4IR—is the next phase in the digitization of the manufacturing sector, driven by disruptive trends including the rise of data and connectivity, analytics, human-machine interaction, and improvements in robotics. This is seen by many as the next industrial revolution. In Germany 84% of the companies feel the pressure to digitize and 57% are expected to significantly change their business model due to the digital revolution. This makes Germany the world leader in this technological revolution.
The project’s main objective was to close the gap between the 2 Seas area and Germany & other leading countries by developing and demonstrating the necessary key technologies to be adopted by companies, resulting in a facilitation for the conversion towards I4.0.

Cross-border cooperation allowed INCASE partners to have access to shared knowledge. Due to the complementarity of the partners, stronger interregional cooperation and cross pollination occurred. Using similar basic equipment, jointly developing demonstrators and pilots provides more intensively (on large scale) tested demonstrators and better pilots. 
Cross-border cooperation made large scale testing on new emerging technologies possible. Such as the “interconnected factory” using ProfiCloud combines national demonstrators into 1 interregional large-scale demonstrator giving new test possibilities; acquired knowledge on national demonstrators was shared among the partners, who spread it to the local industrial partners.
Additionally, all partners had a large number of joint industrial events. Several partners gave numerous lectures in other countries, exchanging know-how and methods across countries. Several partners moved their pilots to different fairs in different countries. The organization and large
demonstration actions (involving the moving of all these pilots) was not possible without the support of the project. All partners exchanged and gained knowledge during the TTM days. During these days, one partner gave a course or workshop on a specific topic. Finally, all partners exchanged knowledge and know-how (especially tips and tricks) on “technical days” and “internal conferences”. All partners enjoyed the cultural city visits in combination with the management meetings.