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OI4 All Members Conven­tion 2025

AMC 2025
in a nutshell

The 2025 OI4 All Members Conven­tion brought together members and industry leaders with one clear message: progress through collab­o­ra­tion. With lively discus­sions on AI, Robotics, and the Asset Admin­is­tra­tion Shell, and plenty of hands-on exchange, the day was all about moving ideas into action. The energy and commit­ment in the room made it clear — the OI4 commu­nity is ready to keep driving indus­trial trans­for­ma­tion forward.

CONTENT RECAP BELOW

Breakout 
session #1

Initia­tive: OI4 Soft­ware-Defined Automa­tion Stack
The session revis­ited the results of the first project phase, where OI4 members demon­strated that automa­tion can indeed be soft­ware-defined — decou­pling control appli­ca­tions from dedi­cated hard­ware through container­ized envi­ron­ments. At the Conven­tion, the focus shifted to scaling this concept. Phase 2, presented as the OI4 SDA Stack, is building the foun­da­tion for a modular automa­tion ecosystem in which apps can be flex­ibly deployed, updated, and orches­trated across devices from different vendors. Using Open­De­vS­tack for contin­uous inte­gra­tion and deploy­ment and aligning with margo compli­ance, the initia­tive now aims to prove inter­op­er­ability at scale within real indus­trial envi­ron­ments. The discus­sions centered on archi­tec­ture, orches­tra­tion chal­lenges, and how the SDA Stack links to the broader Manufacturing‑X ecosystem.

Factory‑X Archi­tec­ture & MX-Port in Prac­tice
This session high­lighted how compa­nies can imple­ment the Factory‑X archi­tec­ture to estab­lish secure and inter­op­er­able data spaces in produc­tion envi­ron­ments. Experts explained the core building blocks — including the MX-Port compo­nents that handle data discovery, access control, and policy-based connec­tion between shop-floor systems and data spaces. Real imple­men­ta­tion exam­ples demon­strated how these inter­faces bridge brown­field and green­field setups, making trusted cross-company data exchange possible. Partic­i­pants gained an under­standing of how Factory‑X’s refer­ence archi­tec­ture trans­lates into prac­tical use, how it fits into existing infra­struc­tures, and how it connects to OI4 tech­nolo­gies through shared prin­ci­ples of open­ness and inter­op­er­ability.

ZETA and AAS Busi­ness Action
ZETA and part­ners shared their expe­ri­ences applying the Asset Admin­is­tra­tion Shell (AAS) beyond the proto­type level into real produc­tion contexts. The session showed how stan­dard­ized AAS data models stream­line processes across engi­neering, oper­a­tions, and main­te­nance — connecting manu­fac­turers, suppliers, and system inte­gra­tors. Concrete use cases illus­trated measur­able busi­ness impact: shorter engi­neering cycles, fewer inter­face errors, and improved data consis­tency across the life­cycle. The presen­ta­tion empha­sized that AAS is no longer just a tech­nical frame­work but a proven enabler for busi­ness value creation, enabling collab­o­ra­tion and trans­parency across vendors and domains.

Digital Twin Roadmap — Exam­ples from Uhlmann
Conple­ment, Twin­dus­trial, and Uhlmann presented their joint work on the Digital Twin Roadmap, using prac­tical exam­ples to demon­strate the matu­rity and value of AAS-based twins in manu­fac­turing. The talk showed how Uhlmann applies digital twins to connect engi­neering, produc­tion, and service data, improving trace­ability and reusability across the entire product life­cycle. Beyond the tech­nical show­case, the discus­sion also focused on method­ology — how compa­nies can system­at­i­cally iden­tify use-case poten­tial, struc­ture their data models, and align different systems under a common twin frame­work. The exam­ples provided clear guid­ance for others seeking to turn digital twin concepts into oper­a­tional tools that create tangible value.

Breakout 
session #2

Margo — first joint project
The session intro­duced the Margo Edge Inter­op­er­ability Project, presenting a shared vision for open and vendor-inde­pen­dent automa­tion. Demon­stra­tions showed how Margo-compliant apps and devices can seam­lessly work together, regard­less of manu­fac­turer or manage­ment plat­form. This setup allows apps to run on devices from various vendors, devices to host appli­ca­tions from different ecosys­tems, and manage­ment systems to orches­trate all of them trans­par­ently. The discus­sion focused on how this approach lays the ground­work for a true multi-vendor ecosystem, where inter­op­er­ability and flex­i­bility replace propri­etary depen­den­cies.

AI is a Gamechanger! Shaping AI in OI4
Led by Nova­zoon, this session explored the growing role of arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence as an oper­a­tional enabler for indus­trial inno­va­tion. Instead of focusing on generic AI trends, the discus­sion revolved around prac­tical use cases — from predic­tive main­te­nance and produc­tion opti­miza­tion to intel­li­gent resource manage­ment. Speakers illus­trated how AI, when embedded in the OI4 archi­tec­ture, can help bridge OT and IT by turning real-time data into action­able insights. The audi­ence engaged in conver­sa­tions about chal­lenges such as data gover­nance, explain­ability, and orga­ni­za­tional readi­ness for AI-driven trans­for­ma­tion. The session under­lined that AI in OI4 is not a buzz­word but a key compo­nent of the ecosystem’s roadmap — one that supports automa­tion, effi­ciency, and new data-based busi­ness models.

a sign with a question mark and a question mark drawn on it

The OPEN Inno­Com­mu­nity — Funding and Collab­o­ra­tion in Prac­tice
In this session, members learned how the OI4 Alliance became part of the OPEN Inno­Com­mu­nity, coor­di­nated by the Virtual Automa­tion Lab at Hochschule Esslingen. The OPEN Inno­Com­mu­nity oper­ates under the DATIp­ilot program of the German Federal Ministry of Educa­tion and Research (BMBF) and brings together compa­nies, researchers, and soft­ware providers to co-develop digi­tally assisted, manu­fac­turer-inde­pen­dent solu­tions for indus­trial automa­tion. During the session, the struc­ture and process of the commu­nity were explained — from idea submis­sion and public Hyper-Pitch-Days to trans­parent eval­u­a­tion and collab­o­ra­tive project selec­tion. Partic­i­pants also discussed how easy it is to join, how to prepare project ideas, and how funding mech­a­nisms within DATIp­ilot accel­erate inno­va­tion. The OI4 team shared how it contributes prac­tical expe­ri­ence in Asset Admin­is­tra­tion Shells, Digital Twins, and data-driven service archi­tec­tures, connecting real indus­trial needs with applied research and acad­emic exper­tise.

POC AAS Sync + Data­space 4 Every­body
The session, presented by Fraun­hofer IESE, connected two closely related initia­tives showing how Asset Admin­is­tra­tion Shells (AAS) and data­spaces comple­ment each other. In the POC AAS Sync project, partic­i­pants saw how an AAS can be auto­mat­i­cally gener­ated for a product made up of several compo­nents — forming the foun­da­tion for the Digital Product Pass­port 4.0. The project also explored how carbon foot­prints are calcu­lated from indi­vidual parts and when Type or Instance AASs are used, assuming compo­nent AASs are already avail­able and synchro­nized into a consis­tent overall product view. The Data­space 4 Every­body envi­ron­ment demon­strated how this concept can be tested and scaled. It enables fast proto­typing, flex­ible inte­gra­tion of AAS repos­i­to­ries, and ready-to-use blue­prints for different data­space setups. Members were shown an open testing envi­ron­ment based on Eclipse BaSyx and prac­tical exam­ples such as Furniture‑X, where digital product pass­ports for the furni­ture industry are being devel­oped and vali­dated within the data­space.

and that’s
a wrap!

The Conven­tion ended with genuine excite­ment and a sense of shared purpose. People stayed long after the last session, still talking, exchanging ideas, and plan­ning what to do next. It was clear that this commu­nity doesn’t come together out of duty, but out of passion — for tech­nology, for collab­o­ra­tion, and for making things real. You could feel the drive in every conver­sa­tion: everyone here wants to move industry forward, together, and have fun doing it.

Sounds like some­thing you’d like to join next time?

All of these topics are LIVED intensely in the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance. Join our commu­nity and live digital trans­for­ma­tion instead of just talking about how great it can be.

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