The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) launched its 2020 Industrial Development Report (IDR) on Industrializing in the digital age at an event held on the sidelines of the eighteenth Session of the UNIDO General Conference.
The emergence and diffusion of advanced digital production (ADP) technologies clustered around the fourth industrial revolution is radically altering the nature of manufacturing production, increasingly blurring the boundaries between physical and digital production systems.
Advances in fields such as robotics, artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing and data analytics generate significant opportunities to accelerate innovation and increase the value-added content of production in manufacturing industries.
Yet the significant requirements of ADP technologies—particularly in terms of digital infrastructure and human capital—are leading some observers to question whether industrialization is still a feasible or even a desirable strategy to achieve economic development.
The 2020 IDR contributes to this debate by presenting fresh quantitative and qualitative evidence on the future of industrialization in the context of a technological paradigm shift. One key finding of the report is that industrialization continues to be the main avenue for successful development. The main findings of the report were presented and discussed with a panel of leading experts in the field of industrial development.
“This report brings an original perspective to the analysis of new technologies and the fourth industrial revolution, and reaffirms the role of industrialization as a driver of development,” said DG LI.
The report looks closely at the interconnections that exist between the absorption of ADP technologies, the transformation of productive structures and the role of industrial development driving this process.
According to the report, the impact of ADP technologies on developing countries will ultimately depend on their policy responses. There is no “one-size-fits-all” policy strategy to make new technologies work for inclusive and sustainable industrial development. Still, IDR 2020 provides some strategic policy directions as the fourth industrial revolution deepens in the coming years.
Read and download UNIDO Industrial Development Report 2020.
Original source: UNIDO
Published on 05 November 2019
