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Industrial policy

Industrial policy refers to an intervention or government policy that attempts to improve the business environment or to alter the structure of economic activity towards sectors, technologies or tasks. Such interventions are expected to offer better prospects for economic growth or societal welfare.

European industry is facing major challenges in a changing industrial landscape. The future of the industry relies on its ability to adapt and innovate over time. This means investing in new technologies and embracing changes resulting from the rise in digitisation and the move towards a low-carbon and circular economy.

Topic

Recent updates

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Digitisation in the workplace

Research into the transformative potential of the digital revolution tends to take a quantitative approach in an attempt to monitor changes in employment levels due to digitalisation. The fear of...

25 October 2021
Publication
Research report

Eurofound research

Given the importance of the manufacturing industry for productivity growth, competitiveness and sustainable job creation in the EU, Eurofound has carried out a pilot project on the Future of Manufacturing in Europe (2015–2019), proposed by the European Parliament and delegated to Eurofound by the European Commission (DG GROW).

Research covered a range of related topics such as reshoring, regional industrial policy capacity, new game-changing technologies, born globals and international supply chains, among others.

For more information on the project, see the web page Future of Manufacturing in Europe (FOME).

Key outputs

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The future of manufacturing in Europe

The pilot project The Future of Manufacturing in Europe is an explorative and future-oriented study. It explores the future adoption of some key game-changing technologies and how this adoption can...

10 April 2019
Publication
Research report
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Reshoring in Europe: Overview 2015–2018

Reshoring – namely the relocation of value chain activities back to the home country or its nearby region – has attracted an increasing interest both among scholars and policymakers. The...

1 April 2019
Publication
Research report

EU context

In September 2017, the European Commission set out a renewed industrial policy strategy aimed at investing in a ‘smart, innovative and sustainable industry’. This was updated in May 2021, to take into account the circumstances around the COVID-19 crisis. The strategy brings together new and existing initiatives in many areas of industry such as cybersecurity, plastics, renewable biological resources, intellectual property rights, public procurement, manufacturing and sustainable finance. According to the Commission, EU industrial policy aims to stimulate growth and competitiveness in the manufacturing industry and the EU economy as a whole.

Eurofound expert(s)

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Ricardo Rodriguez Contreras

Ricardo Rodriguez Contreras is a research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound and focuses on comparative industrial relations, social dialogue and collective bargaining...

Research manager,
Working life research unit
Publications results (15)

Adaptation of national apprenticeship systems to advanced manufacturing

Apprenticeships combining alternating periods at the workplace and in training institutions are well suited to providing young people with an entry point into the labour market and to supplying enterprises with skilled workers. This report examines apprenticeship systems and practices in the manufac

31 October 2018
Publication
Research report
Skills and training
Industrial policy
Anticipating and managing the impact of change
Labour market policies
Employment and labour markets
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Employment effects of innovation support

Government-backed initiatives to support innovation in business are widespread across the EU. These support measures, if designed and implemented correctly, have the potential to also create jobs – better-quality jobs – to upskill the labour force, to improve job quality and to boost the employment

17 October 2018
Publication
Policy brief
Employment and labour markets
Industrial policy
Innovation

New tasks in old jobs: Drivers of change and implications for job quality

This overview report summarises the findings of 20 case studies looking at recent changes in the task content of five manufacturing occupations (car assemblers, meat processing workers, hand-packers, chemical products plant and machine operators and inspection engineers) as a result of factors such

06 September 2018
Publication
Research report
Structural change
Working conditions
Employment structure
Industrial policy
Digitalisation
Anticipating and managing the impact of change
Job quality
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

Game changing technologies: Exploring the impact on production processes and work

This overview report summarises the findings of five case studies on the likely impact of game changing technologies on production and employment in the manufacturing sector in Europe up to 2025: advanced industrial robotics; industrial internet of things; additive manufacturing; electric vehicles;

05 April 2018
Publication
Research report
Structural change
Industrial policy
Digitalisation
Anticipating and managing the impact of change

Developing regional industrial policy capacity

This overview report synthesizes and compares industrial policy capacity within nine European case study regions which have been analysed as part of the pilot project Future of Manufacturing in Europe.

15 January 2018
Publication
Research report
Industrial policy
Anticipating and managing the impact of change
Innovation
Blogs results (3)
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Europe’s low-carbon transition makes economic sense

At the very outset of its mandate, the new European Commission presented the European Green Deal, establishing the objective of becoming the first climate-neutral bloc in the world by 2050. The initiative emphasises the seriousness which the European Commission places on the climate and biodiversity

21 February 2020
James Higgins
Blog
Employment and labour markets
European Green Deal
Industrial policy
Job creation
Just transition
Labour market policies
Structural change
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The future of manufacturing – is it in Europe?

Over the past four years a special project delegated to Eurofound has looked in detail at ongoing changes in manufacturing on a global scale, analysed how the industry will change further in the future, and assessed what the impacts will be for Europe. Looking at everything from changes in tasks for

9 April 2019
Donald Storrie
Blog
Employment structure
Industrial policy
Job creation
Employment and labour markets
Restructuring
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Are blue-collar jobs turning white?

Manual jobs in European manufacturing are being transformed as blue-collar workers take on more intellectual tasks. This is a consequence of the increasing use of digital tools and the growing importance of quality control in production. The severe losses of middle-paying jobs in the manufacturing

27 September 2018
Martina Bisello
Blog
Digitalisation
Employment structure
Industrial policy
Job quality
Employment and labour markets
Work organisation
Anticipating and managing the impact of change

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