The 2021 edition of the World Manufacturing Forum in Cernobbio at the lake Como, is focusing on key emerging topics relevant to the resilience of Manufacturing​. ​A particular focus has been given this year on the significance of sustainability and how digital technologies are deployed to long-term resilience in manufacturing.

Further, the Forum presents also White Papers generated by 13 focus groups in the initiative “Back to the Future: Manufacturing Beyond Covid-19”. The 13 Focus Groups, each tasked to deep-dive on a specific topic, explored what the ongoing pandemic means for the manufacturing sector and how manufacturing can be a positive driver for post-pandemic recovery. Dr. Erwin Rauch was leading the Focus Group on “AI as an enabler for long-term resilience in manufacturing” bringing together 17 international experts from research, industry and government (from 12 countries over the world) to discuss the potential of AI for more resilient value chains. The White Paper has been presented on October 2021 on the first day of the WMF Forum 2021 during the Session “Proof Global Value Chains”. The session focused on important issues related to productivity, new technologies, and the changing manufacturing landscape. The session discussed the different drivers in building resilient value chains for both multinational companies and SMEs globally and explored how digital technologies (i.e. artificial intelligence) can enable long term resilience in manufacturing. The White Paper produced 19 key recommendations in 6 fields of application for companies to exploit AI in manufacturing while increasing long-term resilience and can be downloaded together with the other 12 white papers:

https://worldmanufacturing.org/report/back-to-the-future-emerging-topics-for-long-term-resilience-in-manufacturing/