This paper deals with the characteristics of German innovation policy at the edge of the fourth industrial revolution. The focus here is on Industry 4.0, which is based on the research cooperation of the German Federal Government and a project of the same name in the high-tech strategy of the German Federal Government. There are many analyzes of Industry 4.0. But the socio-political aspect of this innovation policy in Germany; such as mass unemployment and the associated German strategy in the innovation system has hardly been examined so far. This article thus examines whether German innovation policy has already taken account of a socio-political aspect of politics such as mass unemployment in the development and design of new technologies in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. Above all, the relevance between the special features of the German innovation system and the characteristics of the Industry 4.0 is analyzed. Particularly, the type of market economy as general conditions of the system of innovation is illuminated.