**1. Introduction**

The chapter is closely linked to Industry 4.0 framework. The geographic focus, while developing this chapter further, is the region of Häme in the southern part of Finland. The various activities within the region are evaluated from the perspective of smartness and their ability to support Industry 4.0 framework, as well as the renewal of operations in the region.

The development of competitiveness of the region, while maintaining and developing it as an attractive location for companies requires, co-operation between various stakeholders. Industry 4.0 can be applied as a framework for regional development. Universities have a major task to support competence development of relevant topics in various fields. In the field of manufacturing industry, the Industry 4.0 is increasingly relevant topic and the universities should identify their role to support local industry in its adaptation.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
