Knowledge Sharing as a Central Idea of Open Science and NDT 4.0

NDT 4.0 has become a buzz word in the world of NDT in recent years. At the same time, terms like open science, open access or open peer review cross our ways regularly and define present and future concepts to advance knowledge sharing in society. This article brings the concept of open science and NDT 4.0 together. While knowledge sharing as part of artificial intelligence and the internet of things are often in focus when talking about Industry 4.0 or NDT 4.0, this paper draws on the importance of knowledge sharing between humans as a substantial aspect of Industry 4.0, and more specifically NDT 4.0. Knowledge sharing between humans has especially become relevant with the introduction of the internet and the world wide web (www), but its importance cannot be disregarded in times where everybody is talking about technical developments, machine learning and artificial intelligence. On the contrary, sharing knowledge openly between humans remains central to advancing todays developments and innovation. The NDT community has had the benefit to share, create and exchange knowledge at an early stage of the internet through a unique platform that was established in 1996; NDT.net. After reviewing the concepts of open science and NDT 4.0, this paper illustrates how the NDT community has had the benefit of knowledge sharing since the early days of the internet through the establishment of NDT.net. This open access platform has been playing and continues to play a central role in advancing ideas of open science and NDT 4.0.