Industry 4.0 is a division based on different stages of industrial development. According to the consensus, Industry 1.0 is the era of steam engines, Industry 2.0 is the era of electrification, Industry 3.0 is the era of information, and Industry 4.0 is the era of using information technology to promote industrial change, that is, the era of intelligence.

The concept of Industry 4.0 first appeared in Germany and was officially launched at the Hannover Messe in 2013, with the core purpose of improving the competitiveness of German industry and occupying the opportunity in the new round of industrial revolution. Subsequently, it was included by the German government as one of the ten future projects proposed in the "German High-Tech Strategy 2020". The project is jointly funded by the German Federal Office of Education and the Ministry of Research and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, with an estimated investment of 200 million euros. It aims to improve the intelligence level of the manufacturing industry, build a smart factory with adaptability, resource efficiency and genetic engineering, and integrate customers and business partners in business processes and value processes. Its technical basis is networked physical systems and the Internet of Things.

Germany's so-called Industry 4.0 refers to the use of the Cyber-Physical System (CPS) to digitize and intelligentize the supply, manufacturing, and sales information in production, and finally achieve fast, effective and personalized product supply.

The cooperation between "Made in China 2025" and Germany's "Industry 4.0" has a long history. In May 2015, the State Council officially issued the "Made in China 2025", deploying and comprehensively promoting the implementation of the strategy of manufacturing power. Industry 4.0 has entered a new era of Sino-German cooperation, and in the "Sino-German Cooperation Action Program" signed by China and Germany, there are 4 articles on Industry 4.0 cooperation, the first of which clearly puts forward that the digitalization of industrial production is "Industry 4.0" for the future Sino-German economic development. The two governments believe that the two governments should provide policy support for business participation in the process.