Przemysł 4.0 w Unii Europejskiej

The aim of this paper is to present the European Union’s (EU) approach to Industry 4.0. In order to do this the term “four industrial revolutions” is defi ned fi rst. The Industry 4.0 development has been made possible as a result of Internet and other ICT technologies which were developed in the late-20th and early-1st centuries and which are described here The concept of Industry 4.0 originated in Germany, where it brought a new way of organising industry. This idea has since spread around the world. To present the overview of Industry 4.0 in the EU the term “industry” is defi ned and its place within international classifi cations of economic acti-vities shown. EU industrial policy is briefl y described to make clear that industry is a subject of European competition law and, in fact, industry must cope with the transformation itself. However, there are many ways to support this process but mainly on three levels: national, regional and European. This is the subject of further discussion in this paper. Europe-an countries and regions are creating plans to foster the developmentsof this form of industry – something which is expected to increase industrial effi ciency by around 30%. The EU is strongly supporting this process. So far the development of Industry 4.0 has been most advanced in Europe. The paper concludes with a brief comparison of developments with the US and China.