HANOVER FAIR: OPEN INDUSTRY 4.0 ALLIANCE PRESENTS THE FIRST INDEPENDENT APP STORE

• OI4 Community App Store: Independent store makes industry-relevant apps suitable as easily available as consumer versions
• 74 companies now members of the Alliance
• ACCELERATE: Alliance sets up collaboration platform to accelerate communication with each other
• Another DIGELERATE event ten days later

Reinach, Switzerland, 24 March 2021 - The Open Industry 4.0 Alliance, an association of industrial companies aiming to drive digitalisation and create real added value on factory floors, will present itself in detail to a broad audience at Hannover Messe from 12-16 April 2021. The Alliance will offer interested parties many opportunities for access and interaction. Under the motto "Industrial Pioneers are Open", the Alliance, which has now grown to 74 members, will demonstrate its progress in the Technical Committee at Hannover Messe 2021, along with four industry working groups, from discrete manufacturing to process industry and intralogistics.

The Alliance will be highlighting the "Open Industry 4.0 Alliance Community App Store" created in the Alliance environment. The app store was also awarded the "Open Industry 4.0 Alliance Community" label for the first time as a member project. The OI4 Community App Store makes hardwareindependent apps suitable for industry available as easily as consumer apps on a smartphone.

To accelerate the exchange of information between members, especially in the midst of the pandemic, and to create more cohesion, the Alliance is also working on a collaboration platform called ACCELERATE, the basic features of which will also be presented at the fair. Those who cannot make it to the Hannover Industrie Messe can visit the Alliance virtually and will have the opportunity to catch up just 10 days later in the Alliance's virtual event - DIGELERATE. It will take place under the motto "Your access to an open and digital future". DIGELERATE offers interesting discussion and exchange opportunities and will take place on 22 April 2021.

"For Hannover Messe 2019, we have launched the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance. What was initially a crazy idea has now become reality. After two years of successful work, we have reached 74 members, about three weeks before the trade fair," explains Nils Herzberg, Spokesman of the Board of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance and Global Head Strategic Partnerships for Digital Supply Chain and Industry 4.0 at SAP. "The members are a good mix of large corporations and strong medium-sized companies, all pursuing a common goal: to actively live the transformation of industry in the supply chain and bundle existing industry standards into usable solutions in a very practical way. This has also convinced companies from Asia and America to follow the example. We anticipate being able to announce further important members at the Hannover Messe."

"The exchange among the members is intensive, and we are effectively pursuing our common goals. In the meantime, a reference architecture has been established, and the first products have been developed that follow the Alliance's guidelines. The first project from the community is also living proof of the Alliance's activities," explains Dr Christian Liedtke, Chairman of Membership and Sales of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance and Head of Strategic Alliances at KUKA. "The Open Industry 4.0 Alliance Community is the informal environment of the Alliance in which members develop their commercial offerings for cross-vendor Industry 4.0 solutions. When we give the 'Community' label to selected offerings, we express accord with the Alliance's goals. The OI4 Community App Store for hardware- Open Industry 4.0 Alliance, page 2 independent apps was the first product to receive the label. Within the Alliance, we do not pursue commercial interests, but we are pleased when such practical implementations emerge in the community that drive the industry's transformation."

Virtual meeting "DIGELERATE - Your access to an open and digital future" on 22 April 2021

The virtual event organised by the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance shortly after Hannover Messe will delve further into the content and go even further into the practical aspects of the technologies and the workgroups. Anyone who is not yet familiar with the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance can find out more at the virtual event. From the virtual showroom and various roundtable discussions to the individual workgroup presentations, a wide range of information is available. With a speed-networking area and the possibility of direct communication with members of the Alliance, nothing stands in the way of an open and digital exchange. Following the DIGELERATE event, the Alliance will offer what is known as a trade fair party - a casual exchange - this year, unfortunately, only digitally.