Industry 4.0 is the trend towards automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies and processes which include cyber-physical systems (CPS), the internet of things (IoT), industrial internet of things (IIOT), cloud computing, cognitive computing and artificial intelligence.

The concept includes:

• Smart manufacturing
• Smart factory
• Lights out (manufacturing) also known as dark factories.
• Industrial internet of things also called internet of things for manufacturing.
• Industry 4.0 fosters what has been called a "smart factory".
• Within modular structured smart factories, cyber-physical systems monitor physical processes, create a virtual copy of the physical world and make decentralized decisions.
• Over the Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems communicate and cooperate with each other and with humans in real-time both internally and across organizational services offered and used by participants of the value chain. Industry 4.0 is the subset of the fourth industrial revolution that concerns industry.
• The fourth industrial revolution encompasses areas which are not normally classified as industry, such as smart cities, for instance.