I have more commonly heard and seen the term Industry 4.0 or '4th industrial revolution'. This includes includes cyber systems, IoT, cloud/quantum computing, machine learning/AI, and now I would say blockchain as well.

Interesting question, because the revolution is in information technology but, in this specific case, the it revolution impact on the industrial sector. I think that is the reason why the IT sector is selling the term "4th Industrial Revolution"

Industry 4.0 ist more common. The "4th industrial revolution" is driven by the information technology but describes many other aspects like business models, mechanical flexibilty and the human-machine-interaction

Information 4.0 is typically for adding a "4.0" to everything in sense of making it more appealing.

The core term is "Industry 4.0" defined by the Acatech group in 2011 and known in many other countries as Smart Manufacturing (USA) or Intelligent Manufacturing (CAN).

Information 4.0 might be used for explaining a new level or quality of data. Today we have not only data, but we are able to get the "right" data in real-time, which makes it much more easy to plan and control the production shop floor as 10 or 15 years ago although we were speaking about CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) also in the 1980ies. The web technology brought a new quality level of data which makes it the "gold of the 21st century".

Apparently, we are now living in the era of the fourth technological revolution, known as Industry 4.0.

The previous three technological revolutions:

1. The industrial revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, determined mainly by the industrial application of the invention of a steam engine.

2. Electricity era of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century.

3. The IT revolution of the second half of the twentieth century determined by computerization, the widespread use of the Internet and the beginning of the development of robotization.

The current fourth technological revelation, known as Industry 4.0, is motivated by the development of the following factors:

- artificial intelligence,

- cloud computing,

- machine learning,

- Big Data database technologies,

- Internet of Things.

On the basis of the development of these IT instruments and technologies, business analytics of companies such as Business Intelligence and the above-mentioned areas have been dynamically developing in recent years.

I invite you to the discussion.

I only just found this question. I am president of the Information 4.0 Consortium. The two terms are related, but not the same. We conceived of Information 4.0 not as "adding a 4.0 to everything in sense of making it more appealing," but as the informational response to Industry 4.0. We noticed that the various platforms promoting Industrie 4.0, Smart manufacturing, Industrial Internet, etc. never mention information, or if they do, it's with an airy statement of the type "data will be transformed into information" without specifying how or by whom.

In the consortium, we try to define certain qualities we think are essential for information, which needs to drive this fourth industrial revolution. The definition is by no means doctrinaire or fixed, it is just an attempt to meet what we think are the needs of the future, and we might be wrong on many counts. But at least we have got people talking about it.

The Information 4.0 Consortium includes 268 members from every corner of the world, and provides a platform for networking and idea exchange. Please have a look at our site, www.information4zero.org.