Keynote speaker Dr Günter Hörcher from Fraunhofer IPA described standardization as a "dry topic" at the beginning of his presentation on the German standardization roadmap for Industry 4.0, in which he himself is involved. However, the topic turned out not to be dry at all, especially as he encouraged SMEs: "Of course, large companies are currently more involved in the standardization process because they have more capacity to participate. However, SMEs are free to participate at any time. So they can certainly exert influence." Hörcher is responsible for Research Strategy at his institute.