Companies and governments need to come together to redesign their industrial strategies to ensure productivity, innovation and economic growth, according to a new white paper from the World Economic Forum, the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the University of Cambridge’s Industrial Innovation Policy Group.
Co-author, UNIDO’s Adnan Seric, says, “Manufacturing industries stand at a critical juncture due to an increase in global disruptions, ranging from those caused by geopolitical and macroeconomic events to the impact of the accelerating pace of technological innovation.”
According to the report, three global megatrends are creating increasingly frequent disruptions, which are in turn reshaping global value chains and pushing manufacturing systems to transform themselves.
These megatrends are: emerging technologies, climate change and geopolitical tensions. Their fallouts – ranging from economic uncertainty and changes in governance to environmental degradation and technological step-changes – are becoming ever more common, requiring a two- pronged approach of short-term adaptation and longer-term transformation from manufacturers and governments alike.
The World Economic Forum in collaboration with Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy, University of Cambridge, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), identified five grand challenges for companies and governments to work on and help inform the next generation of industrial strategies.
The strategies include, decarbonising manufacturing operations, products and supply chains, enhancing supply chain resilience, accelerating the scaling up and adoption of novel industrial technologies, securing the future of the manufacturing workforce and linking business values with social and environmental responsibility.
The industrial development agencies note that public and private sector leaders need to design new mechanisms for collaboration and coordination that ensure continuous knowledge exchange, which is the key to unlocking future industrial strategies that ensure productivity, innovation and growth.
“The Forum will continue to provide a neutral space for leaders from across industries, public sector, civil society and academia to understand and anticipate global trends and their implications, share best practices and knowledge, incubate new private-public collaborations and inform policy that supports manufacturing industries in navigating ongoing challenges while preparing for the future,” the report added.
