Water 4.0: An Integrated Business Model from an Industry 4.0 Approach

Water is one of the most valuable natural resource used for everyday living. The era of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR); also referred to as Industry 4.0 has brought about different “Smart thinking” such as smart city, smart mobility, smart manufacturing and smart factory. In the water industry, the Germany Water Partnership is championing the Water 4.0 initiative since 2016. The essence of Water 4.0 initiative is to harness the digital revolution or decentralization of the water industry. This paper takes a close look at the business side of Water 4.0 from an 4IR perspective and aimed to develop an “Integrated Business Model” for Water 4.0 revolution. This paper is expected to answer this research question “can water industry be regarded as an integrated business?”. This paper started with a comprehensive literature reviews around the title of the research and integrated business model in relation to water industry. The literature reviews were analyzed and examined, and relevant factors considered suitable for integrated business model which are carefully selected for Water 4.0 paradigm.