36 Industry4wrd : National Policy on Industry 4.0 MOVING FORWARD POLICY Objectives Already, a number of initiatives and organisations have been established at national, state and regional levels by both the Government and industry to develop action plans to strengthen the manufacturing industry. This support for, and focus on, manufacturing firms are important. However, these initiatives have largely been developed independently and often have overlapping objectives and industry audiences. There is a need for a more streamlined and cohesive national agenda under which these initiatives and organisations can be integrated to accelerate Malaysia’s transformation into a smart and modern manufacturing system. This will also include the need for a greater alignment across Government, research and academia regarding priority industries, specific goals, enabling actions, and their funding. Countries like Germany and Japan provide examples of best practices where Government, research and academia are tightly integrated with the manufacturing industry through collaborative public-private partnerships (PPPs) that develop innovative solutions for specific industry needs. With this in mind, Malaysia has put in place the National Policy on Industry 4.0 – Industry4WRD – that provides a concerted and comprehensive transformation agenda for the manufacturing sector and its related services.