Manufacturing is undergoing its fourth industrial transformation through the development and adoption of "Industry 4.0" technologies. This includes additive manufacturing, advanced materials, robotics and automation, virtual/augmented reality, artificial intelligence and sensors and data analytics. This has broadened the view of traditional manufacturing to include pre-production activities such as R&D and post-production activities such as data-based services.

The development and adoption of new technologies, when combined with the new business models they can facilitate, offers an unprecedented opportunity for local manufacturers to grow. Importantly, as manufacturing is a core enabler of many other sectors such as medical products, minerals processing, food and beverage, recycling and clean energy, defence and space, growing the Victorian advanced manufacturing sector will accelerate growth in many other sectors.