CSIRO’s Future Digital Manufacturing initiative has considered how best to assist Australian manufacturers. While there are a number of attractive technologies now approaching commercialisation. The use, however, of open innovation technology development platforms, for instance; AI enhanced design tools, intelligent autonomous robotic system tools, and secure by design IIoT, offers; more rapid, more robust, more supportable complex solutions that give rise to global competitive advantage.  Also, the development and adoption of enterprise and technology frameworks, reference architectures, and standards appropriate for Australia’s manufacturing scale, capabilities, and specific requirements, are also anticipated to be important.

The key message to ambitious SME manufacturers; prepare your organisation on Industry 3.0 with broad innovation capabilities, consider the value participating and contributing to industry innovation eco-systems, and then finally there are two options: learn by climbing the Industry 4.0 maturity curve, or pursue targeted Industry 4.0 adoption guided by your organisational competitive strategy.