Circular Transformation of Industries: Unlocking New Value in a Resource-Constrained World

With an ever-changing landscape in the global economy, industrial companies are forced to rethink their use of resources and their contribution to economic growth. Circular transformation...

Global Lighthouse Network: Shaping the Next Chapter of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

A new chapter of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is under way amid continuing major global disruptions that include soaring energy prices and inflation, talent shortages, supply chain di...

A Global Rewiring: Redefining Global Value Chains for the Future

The global economy has entered a new mega-cycle characterized by value chain disruptions, resource competition, and climate change. Leading manufacturers are re-evaluating and fundamental...

The Future of Industrial Strategies: Five Grand Challenges for Resilient Manufacturing

The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge’s Industrial Innovation Policy Group, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, has identifie...

The “No-Excuse” Framework to Accelerate the Path to Net-Zero Manufacturing and Value Chains

While many companies have started their journey towards achieving net-zero emissions, no company can manage the transformation of its manufacturing facilities and value chains alone if bo...

Unlocking Value from Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing

Artificial intelligence (AI) can enable a new era in the digital transformation journey, offering tremendous potential to transform industries for greater efficiency, sustainability and w...

Global Network of Advanced Manufacturing Hubs: Annual Report 2021

The Global Network of Advanced Manufacturing Hubs (AMHUBs) is a community of communities representing industry ecosystems from around the world that come together to address the most pres...

Accelerating the Biomanufacturing Revolution

Biomanufacturing applications are exiting the labs and impacting value chains. Innovation and recent advancements in the field of synthetic biology have enabled significant expansions in ...

The Data-Driven Journey Towards Manufacturing Excellence

In collaboration with Boston Consulting Group

An Additive Manufacturing Breakthrough: A How-to Guide for Scaling and Overcoming Key Challenges

For more than a decade, manufacturing leaders have seen cycles of hype associated with additive manufacturing (AM). Although not all predictions and forecasts have become reality, the ind...

Augmented Workforce: Empowering People, Transforming Manufacturing

Although technology is an important pillar of organizational strategy, people remain essential on shop floors and will continue to be so in the future.

Charting the Course for Global Value Chain Resilience 

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and when it comes to the current state of global value chains, weakness is evident everywhere upstream and downstream. No industry is insula...

Advancing the Green Development of the Belt and Road Initiative: Harnessing Finance and Technology to Scale Up Low-Carbon Infrastructure

A massive global infrastructure investment of $66 trillion is needed in emerging economies before 2030. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) offers a new development paradigm by investing i...

Unlocking Business Model Innovation through Advanced Manufacturing

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role that manufacturing and supply chain systems play in powering the global economy. To navigate current and future market and climate ...

Financing Resilience in Post-COVID-19 Manufacturing and Supply Systems

Supply chains have been disrupted and altered over the past years in an unprecedented way as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and megatrends such as emerging technologies, sustainability...

Global Lighthouse Network: Unlocking Sustainability Through 4IR

Lighthouses have established themselves as beacons of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, adapting to four durable shifts – agility and customer centricity; supply chain resilience; speed a...

Digital Traceability: A Framework for More Sustainable and Resilient Value Chains

Leadership teams are facing a pivotal shift. To compete effectively, companies need full visibility throughout their value chains. This paper presents a framework for understanding how tr...

Shifting Global Value Chains: The India Opportunity

Beyond the unprecedented health impact, the COVID 19 pandemic has been catastrophic for the global economy and businesses and is disrupting manufacturing and Global Value Chains (GVCs), d...

The Resiliency Compass: Navigating Global Value Chain Disruption in an Age of Uncertainty

Manufacturing companies have been forced to adapt to COVID-19 and the challenges are far from over. An acceleration of megatrends including climate change, geopolitical tensions and emerg...

Global Network of Advanced Manufacturing Hubs: Annual Report 2020

The Global Network of Advanced Manufacturing Hubs engages manufacturing ecosystems at the local, state/province or national level to allow regions to share their best practices and case e...

Global Lighthouse Network: Reimagining Operations for Growth

Digital is no longer optional. Global disruptions and instabilities impose a pressing need and opportunity for quantitative and qualitative growth amidst shifts in supply, demand, and cus...

Data Excellence: Transforming manufacturing and supply systems

In collaboration with Boston Consulting Group

Regional Action Group for Latin America Public-Private Cooperation to Reactivate the Region’s Economy: Critical Industries and Strategic Investments

The Forum has created the Regional Action Group for Latin America, consisting of a committed group of trusted partners, including the foremost CEOs, public figures, civil society represen...

Global Lighthouse Network: Four Durable Shifts for a Great Reset in Manufacturing

The World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network comprises 54 leading companies that have succeeded in the adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution technology at scale, at individual ...

Building Resilience in Manufacturing and Supply Systems in the COVID-19 context and beyond: Latin America Perspectives

The COVID-19 global crisis continues to disrupt manufacturing and global supply chains with severe consequences for society, businesses, consumers, and the global economy. While the pande...

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Production: Insights from the World Economic Forum’s Global Network of Advanced Manufacturing Hubs

While powerful megatrends like global trade tensions, climate change, new technology innovations, and the current COVID-19 crisis impact all parts of the globe, the reality of those impac...

Winning the Race for Survival: How New Manufacturing Technologies are Driving Business-Model Innovation

Sinking, swimming or surfing: Perspectives on operating and business models

How to rebound stronger from COVID-19: Resilience in manufacturing and supply systems

Robots welding in a car factory

An Open Platform for Traceability: Accelerating Transparency and Sustainability across Manufacturing Ecosystems

While the manufacturing and production sectors comprise 16% of global GDP and are key drivers for economies around the world, the complex network of supply chains on which these sectors r...

Share to Gain: Unlocking Data Value in Manufacturing

In collaboration with Boston Consulting Group

Global Lighthouse Network: Insights from the Forefront of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Over the past years, a leading group of manufacturers have made impressive progress scaling Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies within the manufacturing plant environment. The World...

3D Printing: A Guide for Decision-Makers

3D printing (3DP) might revolutionize the way products are made by disrupting manufacturing patterns, creating novel visual forms that were never possible before, enabling mass customizat...

Global Future Council on Advanced Manufacturing and Production

Unlocking Manufacturing Innovation

Reshaping Global Value: Technology, Climate, Trade – Global Value Chains under Pressure

A New Era of Manufacturing in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: $7 Billion of Possibilities Uncovered in Michigan

Recent years have seen Michigan’s economy grow consistently, with its manufacturing industry a main driver of this economic prosperity. The automotive sector has long been a cornerstone o...

Supply Chain 4.0: Global Practices and Lessons Learned for Latin America and the Caribbean

This White Paper is the product of a joint effort by the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Economic Forum’s System Initiatives on Shaping the Future of Production and Shaping ...

Leading through the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Putting People at the Centre

Fourth Industrial Revolution trends are disrupting long-established business models. Growing demand for customized products. Shifts and skill mismatches in production value chains. Digiti...

Fourth Industrial Revolution: Beacons of Technology and Innovation in Manufacturing

The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with McKinsey and Company, has identified 16 “Manufacturing Lighthouses”; production sites which are world leaders in the successful adoption an...

Shaping the Sustainability of Production Systems: Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies for competitiveness and sustainable growth

The future of manufacturing is at an inflection point. Consumers are demanding personalized products and services, instantly fulfilled. Industry incumbents are racing to adjust to this ne...

The New Production Workforce: Responding to Shifting Labour Demands

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has transformed production industries with breathtaking speed and scale. Driven by macro and industry trends, global production value chains are shifting,...

Driving the Sustainability of Production Systems with Fourth Industrial Revolution Innovation

This white paper serves as a guide for optimizing the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in production, helping countries and businesses identify ways to transform their product...

The Next Economic Growth Engine: Scaling Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies in Production

After a decade of stagnated productivity, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is expected to create up to $3.7 trillion in value by 2025. Technologies such as the internet of things, advance...

Readiness for the Future of Production Report 2018

Impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on Supply Chains

Disruptive technologies are transforming all end-to-end steps in production and business models in most sectors of the economy. The products that consumers demand, factory processes and f...

Readiness for the Future of Production: Country Profiles

The nature of production is undergoing unprecedented change as new technologies transform cost structures, make new business models and methods of production available, and bring entirely...

Technology and Innovation for the Future of Production: Accelerating Value Creation

Shaping the Future of Production: Four Contrasting Perspectives in 2030

The transformative potential of technology in production systems is widely recognized, even while the precise configuration and extent of the possible transformation remain unknown. Produ...