Assessing Indiana’s Progress in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

This report examines the complex dimensions of productivity, digitization and technology adoption, and talent deployment within Indiana’s advanced manufacturing and logistics (AML) industries and benchmarks Indiana against seven competitor states through a series of economic and proxy measures for technology adoption. Analyses throughout the report emphasize the need to enhance productivity, digitization, and talent acquisition within Indiana’s industrial landscape. The onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (“Industry 4.0”) puts Indiana’s largest industries at a critical juncture.

The report’s key findings and implications are categorized into three areas below and discussed at greater length in Section V.

Key Findings & Implications for AML Leaders and Stakeholders

Productivity & Digitization

  • Finding 1: Productivity challenges and the lagging deployment of Industry 4.0-enabling roles across Indiana’s AML subsectors emphasize and signal the need for continued technology adoption at Indiana firms.
  • Finding 2: The challenges of gauging progress and benchmarking Industry 4.0-related technology adoption among AML firms support the need for continued industry surveys.
  • Finding 3: Tech ecosystem firms are only just beginning to participate in both Conexus’ Industry 4.0 survey efforts and its related programming—this should be a point of emphasis going forward.

Industry 4.0 Talent

  • Finding 4: Industry 4.0-enabling talent development and deployment will continue to play a crucial role in Indiana’s technology adoption leadership. The need for workforce and Industry 4.0-enabling talent with the right education and skills mix is a limiting factor for both current and future AML competitiveness and growth.

Industry 4.0 Policies & Programs

  • Finding 5: Indiana’s competitor states are not standing still on Industry 4.0 investments—across the U.S., states are supporting extensive infrastructure, programming, and initiatives aimed at advancing technology adoption, addressing workforce upskilling and reskilling, investing in key facilities and technology demonstration, and providing expertise and consulting on staging investments and effective implementation.

You can view the report in its entirety below.

Download the summary