Exploring the Idea of Smart Industry Symbiotics
Fons Wijnhoven, University of Twente, Netherlands
The GenAI Factory – How Generative Intelligence Redefines Smart Manufacturing
From adaptive robots to self-resilient production ecosystems
José Barata, Universidade Nova De Lisboa - Uninova, Portugal
Exploring the Idea of Smart Industry Symbiotics
Fons Wijnhoven
University of Twente
Netherlands
www.utwente.nl
Brief Bio
Dr Fons Wijnhoven studied research methodology and mathematical political science at the University of Nijmegen and gained a PhD in Business information Systems at the University of Twente. He was an assistant and an associate professor of business information systems at the University of Twente and has become a consultant in information technological future analysis since his retirement. Fons has been co-chairing the ICSBT program from 2020 till 2025. He collaborates with Schneider Electric researchers on data centers and AI sustainability.
Abstract
Key statement and problem
In the evolution of human smartness, people have increasingly created powers to exploit human and environmental resources until its limits have become manifest, as reported in IPCC reports. Artificial intelligence further accelerates human exploitation powers with limited care for human and ecological limitations. This presentation describes system dynamics as a tool to understand these industrial smartness dynamics and as a tool for finding back the symbiotics between smart activities and our ecological needs. This is illustrated by the case of data center build outs in the USA and some European regions. The presentation is completed with a smart industry research agenda for the near and longer term future.
Approach
The presentation will starts with a short literature review of the dimensions of smartness in industrial contexts and a presentation of ethical and ecological smartness dimensions. System dynamics is introduced next for the analysis of the shorter term and longer term impact of AI ecological costs and benefits for different AI and data center development scenarios. Finally, the presentation will discuss the idea of symbiotics between industries, information technologies and ecology and how researchers can contribute to the development of smart industry symbiotics in their projects.
Outcomes and use
Participants are given concepts, theories and methods of smart industry development, hand-on skills in symbiotic industry environment analysis with system dynamics, and an agenda for symbiotic smart industry research and teaching.
The GenAI Factory – How Generative Intelligence Redefines Smart Manufacturing
From adaptive robots to self-resilient production ecosystems
José Barata
Universidade Nova De Lisboa - Uninova
Portugal
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Brief Bio
José Barata is Full Professor at the Electrical and Computing Engineering, Member of the Scientific Committee of the Doctoral Program in Electrical and Computing Engineering at the NOVA-FCT, where he is currently responsible for the courses units Robotics, Systems Integration, Telerobotics and Autonomous Systems, and Robotics Systems and CIM. He is senior researcher at the CTS – Centre of Technology and Systems at the UNINOVA Institute, where he is also coordinating the research group RICS – Robotics and Industrial Complex Systems, that develops research in the areas of service robots and smart industry. RICS has more than 20 members, including 4 PhDs, 8 Phd Students, Master Students, and Technicians. Together with his RICS group he has won the INCM (Mint House and Official Print) INNOVATION Prize that was awarded in May 2018. He is currently the scientific coordinator of the Collaboratory Laboratory aiming to boost Digital Innovation in Agriculture: the SFCOLAB: Smart Farm Collaborative Laboratory. His main research interests are in the area of SMART Manufacturing (Industry 4.0) with particular focus on Complex Adaptive Systems, involving intelligent manufacturing devices, and Robotics systems, focused on multi robot interactions. For Industry 4.0 he has contributed to some of the basic concepts behind Industry 4.0, namely about intelligent modular components or cyber physical systems, and participated in some of the initial industrial demonstrators of these concepts, together with companies such as FESTO, SIEMENS, PHILIPS, and ELECTROLUX. For the Robotics area he has contributed to the development of all terrain, aerial, and surface vehicles. He has published over 250 original papers in international journals and international conferences. He is a member of the IEEE technical committees on Industrial Agents (IES), Self-Organisation and Cybernetics for Informatics (SMC), and Education in Engineering and Industrial Technologies (IES). He is also a member of the IFAC technical committee 4.4 (Cost Oriented Automation).
Abstract
The emergence of Generative AI (GenAI) marks a turning point in Smart Manufacturing, where adaptive automation, cognitive assistance, and dynamic design converge. Much like cyber-physical systems reshaped production in Industry 4.0, GenAI now introduces radically new ways of generating insight, managing workflows, and enabling autonomy. Whether in defect detection through multimodal fusion, predictive maintenance and design exploration using generative models, or self-optimizing production through explainable reinforcement learning — GenAI is poised to redefine how factories think, evolve, and create value.
This keynote situates GenAI not only as a technological upgrade, but as a revolutionary paradigm that reshapes the role of humans, the nature of industrial knowledge, and the boundaries of production ecosystems. Through examples from European AI-enabled manufacturing initiatives, this talk explores how generative models can contribute to sustainable, resilient, and human-centered industrial futures.