‘Fixing Our Future’ explores the future of manufacturing in Europe and collaboratively creates a hopeful vision, outlining where we imagine manufacturing will be as we move towards 2030 for EIT Manufacturing (EITM).
For manufacturing to have a future, we first need to ensure there is a planet to live on. Whereas sustainability and tackling climate change were once ʻsomething good to do on the sideʼ, they are now at the forefront of global conversation as a necessity to address. Climate change will impact everything, including manufacturing. We are living in a time where uncertainty, complexity and volatility are the new normal. EIT Manufacturing (EITM) recognised that this is a crucial moment of transformation that requires all parts of society, industry, companies, academia and people to move together. Manufacturing included.
There are many unknowns and questions in the mind of manufacturers. For example:
- What will be the new skills needed, and what to do with the current skills gaps?
- How do we ensure an inclusive future where new generations of employees are inspired to shape the future of manufacturing?
- How to ensure that a fair human-centred transformation is also a green transformation?
- What will we be producing in a future where resources are limited?
- How to create future-proof factories in 2030, considering people, planet and profit?
That is why we worked with the leadership team and stakeholders of EITM to explore the future landscape of manufacturing, understand the main drivers and forces shaping it, and develop and write an optimistic vision of a desired future for manufacturing in Europe that can serve as thought leadership for EITM and inspire action and discussion among relevant stakeholders.
“Fixing Our Future” is rooted in the present and full of inspiration for the future. I’d love you to visit and revisit it. Let me and the EIT Manufacturing team know your thoughts about it – I’m looking forward to our conversations.
– Klaus Beetz, CEO EIT Manufacturing
Over the course of a couple of months, we worked with collaborative horizon scanning and multi-stakeholder workshops across the European manufacturing ecosystem, which helped generate shared understanding, surface tensions, and build legitimacy. Insights were generated, and scenarios were used to explore how different combinations of drivers and uncertainties could reshape manufacturing up to 2030.
‘Fixing Our Future’ was the final result of this collaborative process. It presents an optimistic view of what manufacturing in Europe could become, a shared vision of hope for the present and a desired future, to meet the needs of current generations without compromising the needs of generations to come. Within this vision, ethics, circularity, and collaboration emerged as important themes for EIT Manufacturing. With this vision and the stories of change, EIT Manufacturing created a guiding star for new and better futures for the European Manufacturing System.
This compelling vision and future-oriented storytelling aim to inspire thought leadership and help us consider how today’s decision-making will impact future generations. However, to achieve change and truly ‘fix’ our future, we need ideas, products, technologies, services, and processes that build towards the realisation of these imaginations.
Link: Fixing Our Future
And https://www.eitmanufacturing.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/eitm-vision-2030-fixing-our-future-23.pdf
Credits: Delivered as part of Bespoke. Role: Strategic Foresight Lead
