AMNC24: What you need to know about industry transformation

In recent years, significant disruptions have impacted industries and supply chains, from the pandemic to broader economic, political, and technological shifts.

Transformation is essential for all industry sectors to withstand disruption and prosper in the long term by taking advantage of technological shifts and change.

Done right, transformation is essential for businesses' survival, but can also pave the way for sustainable sources of new growth.

The Annual Meeting of the New Champions will address the challenges and opportunities resulting from these shifts, bringing together experts to explore the landscape in 2030.

In the Opening Plenary, President of Poland, Andrzej Duda set the scene, saying: “There is no industrial development without innovation... For us to be able to set new roads, to blaze new trails, we need innovative mindsets."

All times are CST (GMT+8)

25 June

Lighthouse Manufacturers Lead the Way

How can smart manufacturing be successfully implemented? And what opportunities could this open across supply chains?

This session, linked to the work of the World Economic Forum's Global Lighthouse Network, featured insights from Xie Haiqin, Vice-President, Haier COSMOPlat; Liu Zongchang, Chief Data Officer, Foxconn Industrial Internet; Liew Chin Tong, Deputy Minister, Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia; Jay Lee, Clark Distinguished Professor; Director, Industrial AI Center, University of Maryland and Aanchal Gupta, Managing Director, Asia–Pacific, Tulip Interfaces.

Panellists discussed how AI and tech stacks are transforming operations in smart factories - and the importance of upskilling, particularly with digital skills, and on-the-job training.

Catch up on the full session below.

26 June

AI Breaking New Ground: What's Next for Industry?

How is AI - and other technological breakthroughs - reshaping industries? From neuromorphic computing to AI super chips, numerous advances are set to accelerate computing power and change industries.

Warren Jude Fernandez, CEO, Asia-Pacific, Edelman; Vincent Henry Iswaratioso, CEO, DANA; Van Dinh Hong Vu, CEO, ELSA; Samuele Ramadori, CEO, BrainBox AI, and Jay Lee Clark, Distinguished Professor; Director, Industrial AI Center, University of Maryland were on the panel.

Vu Van, whose company created an AI English Language Speech Assistant said the efficiency of AI means it can enable powerful "hyper-personalization of learning" which "allows for better student engagement, better learning outcomes".

Fernandez said the challenge for every communications organization would be "to grapple with is this amazing paradox that with AI, you will have the ability to generate an infinite amount of content very quickly at very low cost."

But "as AI goes up, trust goes down... We may have infinite content, but we all do not have infinite attention, infinite time to engage. So we will be looking for a sense of who do we trust, who can I rely on to give me good, credible, reliable information? I think that's the next big challenge."

Catch up on the full session in the X thread below.

Can Better Factories Give Us Better Growth?

Value added by global manufacturing industries is forecast to achieve annual growth of 4% over the next 5 years. So what will current shifts mean for future growth and how firms should respond?

Xu Niansha, President, China Machinery Industry Federation, joined William Yu, President, China, Honeywell China; Julie Zimmerman, Vice-Provost, Planetary Solutions, Yale University; Jia Shaoqian, Chairman, Hisense Group, and Jiao Chengyao, Chairman, Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery Group Co. Ltd, to discuss.

Catch the full session below.

Transitioning Industrial Clusters Annual Report: Learn more about the experiences of 20 industrial clusters in the Forum's Transitioning Industrial Clusters Initiative.

The New Era of Industrial Strategies: Tackling Grand Challenges through Public-Private Collaboration: Industrial strategies are undergoing significant change, but how should stakeholders respond?

Views from the Manufacturing Front Line: Workers’ Insights on How to Introduce New Technology: How can businesses master the art of introducing technologies to the shop floor? Learn more about the perspectives on workers on the ground on the process of technology introduction.

Global Lighthouse Network: Adopting AI at Speed and Scale: Learn more about how members of the Global Lighthouse Network are innovating to take advantage of the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

AI for Impact: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Social Innovation: For social innovators, ethical adoption of AI has the potential to maximise their impact. Read more in our white paper about how those working in the space can better understand, access and deploy the technology.