SINGAPORE -- Countries with strong manufacturing know-how, including Japan and Germany, have an opportunity to regain their competitive technological edge as big data ushers in the "Industry 4.0," era, Christian Brecher, Director of Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology, said Thursday at the opening session of the Nikkei Asia300 Summit 2018 in Singapore.
Noting that the U.S. and China had dominated the consumer internet, he said Asia and Europe have an opening in this new era of manufacturing.