Paper short abstract:

The rising of "Industry 4.0" paradigm in Europe has posed different challenges that remain unsolved in the way to a post-industrial society. In this sense, open manufacturing emerges as an alternative enabler for this transition that can meet the gap that a new industrial revolution can create.

Paper long abstract:

From 2010 there is a growing popularity of the "Industry 4.0" paradigm in Europe. This new term has stressed the need of industry digitization in order to overcome the challenges that a new production ecosystem is imposing on current factories. Moreover, the EC has also pushed forward a strategic agenda aimed to promote public-private partnerships combined with national programs that can meet the particularities of the different industrial regions in Europe.

But this transition has different challenges ahead that remain unsolved like the adoption of new business models, the availability of great investment funds for SME´s and the shortage of skilled workforce able to lead this transition in different organizations.

At the same time, we are witnessing how an emerging industry is also rising deeply rooted in the values of the maker movement. The expiration of a set of patents in the Digital Fabrication and the Internet of Things, as well as the democratization of open design has made possible a new wave of innovation coming from Fab Labs, Makerspaces, Hackerspaces and the like where Academia, Industry, Institutions and Society as a whole can develop collaborative projects outside the usual pathways.

In this contribution we would like to explore the role of open manufacturing as an alternative enabler for the transition to the Industry 4.0 paradigm. We claim that there is also a need to invest in citizenship throughout these self-organized spaces in order to overcome the digital divide that this new paradigm will probably create in society.