Rare materials for industrial revolution

NOWADAYS, everyone seems to be talking about Industry 4.0 or the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0). Even politicians are now harping on the need for the nation to seriously embrace Industry 4.0, which involves artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things and data science, just to name a few.

I was in Munich recently to attend a forum on the current global interests in research and development (R&D). As expected, the deliberations were focused on the growing research investments in Industry 4.0, specifically applied research that are nearest to the market place.