Objective

Currently everybody is talking about Industry 4.0 and there are many different explanations of its meaning. One of the increasingly common definitions of these current and developing technologies is the ‘Smart Factory, or in the case of science, the ‘Smart Lab’. This talk focuses on the key drivers forming the pillars of the latest industrial revolution and how they could be represented and applied to the modern laboratory. Taking some references from the industrial automation market place and focusing on latest innovation and trends we will explore the opportunities and impact for the modern lab and ask ourselves whether the ‚smart lab‘ is really a thing. References to key technologies such as the IIoT, Cyber Physical Systems, collaborative robots and Big Data will be highlighted as key drivers supporting a potential new dawn in the modern lab.