Following the invitation of Prof. Sarkis and Prof. Zhu from the Foisie Business School of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Dr. Erwin Rauch from the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano gave a lecture at the PhD Seminar on “Industry 4.0 and the way towards smart and digital factories of the future”. In addition to a general introduction to Industry 4.0, it was shown which technologies this term includes and how Industry 4.0, in symbiosis with economic, ecological and social sustainability, can also be introduced in small and medium-sized enterprises. PhD students from different engineering disciplines in Entrepreneurship, Operations and Supply Chain Management as well as Information Technology participated to this event in Washburn Shops on September 4^th 2019.