Trade wars are hammering manufacturers, from Shanghai to Stuttgart to Seattle. But, awful as today's economic outlook appears, Industry 4.0 is alive and well, its most ardent backers say. Industry 4.0 is the catch-all term for the implementation by businesses of big data, improved robotics and artificial intelligence systems. And it's still expected to be a major driver in global growth over the next decade, and beyond. By 2035, this A.I.-powered push will provide a $14 trillion boost to the global economy, consulting giant Accenture predicts.

Global technology major Accenture is looking to use the power of combination of the best technologies in the world to build solutions that are unique for their clients. "Accenture is like a glue organisation," says Marc Carrel-Billiard, global managing director -Technology R&D, Accenture. Accenture's technology R&D division is working towards combining different technologies wherein Artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) are at the core of it. Their engineers are combining AI with deep learning and machine learning to interpret the large amounts of data being generated from the 20 billion connected devices today. "So, if you combine all the data coming from the sensors with all the computing power, machine learning...we have the best of both worlds. We need to combine them and the combination is a cure, that's exactly what I am talking about - combining things together that makes a big difference," says Carrel-Billiard.

Accenture's technology R&D head urges China to scale up smart machine trials at home and abroad, Chen Yingqun and Zhang Xia report. China should step up its efforts to adopt artificial intelligence in its industries to boost the country's economic transformation, according to French technology expert Marc Carrel-Billiard. The development of artificial intelligence is a hot topic in China, he said, especially since the central government unveiled the Made in China 2025 strategy, which largely aims to upgrade the manufacturing industry with high-technology over the next decade. AI refers to machines or systems that can understand, learn and act independently, allowing them to take on cognitive functions otherwise performed by a human, such as problem-solving. Carrel-Billiard said such technology is important due to the shift toward greater connectivity, either through cloud computing or smart networks.

Artificial intelligence (AI) may conjure up far-fetched ideas of robot assistants, or perhaps an all-seeing presence like HAL 9000, the sentient machine in the movie 2001. But the likelier truth is that AI will come in the form of software running in your data center. And it will be coming very soon: Research firm Gartner predicts that "smart machines" will have a widespread impact on business within the next four years. In general terms it's likely that AI will be able to help IT departments do their job - and help businesses be more productive – by ensuring that "processes get applied, stuff is accurate, errors are eliminated, and compliance is met," according to Dr Stuart Anderson, a research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford. It will also be quite unremarkable, according to some.