Policy support for and R&D activities on digitising the European steel industry

The digitalisation may have large impacts on the resource efficiency in heavy industries. Downtimes and rejects may be reduced to a minimum by predicting necessary maintenance or reallocating rejects to other final products, among others. Industry has to contribute substantially to the low-carbon transformation if carbon dioxide reduction targets of 80 % to 95 % are to be met. Energy-intensive industries like the steel industry play a major role in this transformation since energy-intensive industries account for about 75% of total industrial carbon dioxide emissions (e.g. IEA, 2009). Visions for factories of the future include concepts such as one site - one tablet - one worker, zero-waste-production and complete recycling. Such major changes are likely to affect resource efficiency, as well. Studies on the current state and future implications of digitalisation in the steel industry are scarce. This contribution reviews policy activities, R&D projects and activities in the field of digitalising the European steel industry.