Social Networked Industry

The term "Social Networked Industry" consists of two components. On one side the networked industry and on the other side the social network. Topics such as Industrie 4.0 and the Internet of Things deal with the connection of technology. But also in today's society networking is an essential factor.

Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Xing connect people, but networking is also becoming increasingly important in companies. 

Those networks also promote transparency and the efficiency of knowledge and information sharing.

With the vision "Social Networked Industry", the Fraunhofer IML aims to counteract the image of a deserted factory through increasingly autonomous acting systems and to focus on people instead. It is about the conception of new hybrid services under the influence of a "Social Networked Industry". The focus here is on a holistic view of the innovations created by Industrie 4.0. In addition to technology, social factors such as qualification and acceptance, but also organizational aspects such as communication and hierarchy, must be examined.

Within the context of a "Social Networked Industry", the social network is seen as an organizational platform for people and technology. This enables, among other things, a targeted distribution of information, connection of people and technology, but also an expert search. The social network as an organizational platform addresses the following three main challenges: common understanding of people and technology (information and metadata management), integration of technology into the social network (conception and development of a framework) and a transparent distribution of information to the connected participants.