Solactive has launched the Solactive Industry 4.0 Index, an equity index tracking leading companies across five innovative technology themes: advanced robotics, augmented reality & 3D printing, cloud & big data, cyber security and internet of things.
Timo Pfeiffer, Head of Research at Solactive.
“Industry 4.0” is a name given to the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies.
This shift has also been referred to by some as the “fourth industrial revolution”, where the first revolution refers to production through initial mechanization, water power and steam; the second to mass production through the use of assembly lines and electricity; and the third to the incorporation of computer technology and automation within production lines.
According to Solactive , 3D printing makes fabrication of components much more flexible, cost effective, distributed, and on-demand, while augmented reality helps to speed up the production chain and has a significant impact on maintenance costs.
Cloud solutions and big data allow real-time communications for production systems as well as real-time decision-making support and optimization, while the internet of things provides a monitoring tool to control and access infrastructure across the network.
Due to an increasingly connected, online world, the importance of cyber security has become paramount to protect the integrity of the software overseeing automated industries.
Timo Pfeiffer, Head of Research at Solactive, commented, “Industry 4.0 promises enormous productivity advancements and it is certainly not exaggerated to say that this is a turning point in history. The Solactive Industry 4.0 Index is a great opportunity for investors to gain exposure to this exciting market.”
To be eligible for inclusion in the index, companies must be listed on a developed market stock exchange and have a minimum market capitalization of at least $200 million as well as a minimum average daily value traded of at least $2m.
The methodology uses FactSet’s Revere Business Industry Classification System (RBICS) to locate which firms operate primarily within the above five sectors. For each of the five categories the index selects the top ten companies based on market capitalization except for the internet of things sector where constituents are chosen based on the highest R&D-to-sales ratio.
Each of the five index categories and their individual components are weighted equally.
Stocks from the US account for two-thirds of the total index weight with the next largest country exposures being Japan (5.6%) and the UK (5.5%).