The Open Industry Alliance 4.0 (OIA) has emerged as a leading candidate global forum promoting IoT, 5G and edge technologies as well as standards, after gaining some major multinational members with Microsoft latest to join. Siemens has also added weight as a new recruit given its huge manufacturing base, but being German that is a less significant addition to what had initially looked like a European club. Indeed it was dominated initially by German manufacturers and electronics companies after its formation in April 2019, and these still account for the majority of its members now numbering almost 80. That reflects both the pre-eminence of German manufacturing and the country’s leadership role in the industrial IoT (IIoT), which has led to…