Digital Transformation in Plastics Industry: From Digitization Toward Virtual Material

Digital transformation occurs by digitalization or digitization, simply meaning the conversion of information into a digital data format. Up to 90% of all the digital data available today is estimated to been generated just over the past 2 years! At the same time, the processing power of computers is increasing exponentially, with the result that existing data can be processed in entirely new ways. Computational power increases further with development of new technologies, e.g., quantum computing. Today we are talking about the digital revolution or digital era, also in the sense of a technological paradigm that fuels innovation and affects society and economy, leading to digital transformation in all sectors. The chapter intends to first give some insights on the impact of digital transformation and the rising opportunities in the plastics industry, using partially the example of Covestro as a global supplier of plastic material and chemicals. It furthermore relates to the increasingly relevant topic of virtual materials. In the second part, this chapter provides some suggestion in how to explore, exploit, and experiment, proactively taking part in the digital transformation, again using Covestro as an example.