The Future of Global Production Networks in the Aftermath of COVID-19

The webinar was organized by UNIDO in collaboration with the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the Kiel Centre for Globalization. COVID-19 is a seminal moment for the manufacturing sector. As governments and business scramble to understand the short-term impacts of the crisis, we need to look beyond the fog of uncertainty towards possible long-term changes to the industry. There is emerging debate that the current crisis is expected to merely accelerate our transition towards new models of production characterized by a progressive decoupling of global value chains and revival of automated domestic manufacturing. Adoption of digital production technologies is quickly becoming the source of future competitive advantage but may not necessarily be considered a panacea for developing countries’ industrialization efforts. This webinar is part of UNIDO’s webinar series "Future of industrialization in a post-pandemic world," organized by the Policy Research and Statistics Department. UNIDO’s webinar series gathers leading thinkers and experts on the topic of industrialization to address the unprecedented challenges ahead of us, and share their knowledge and insights on the future of industrialization. The webinar discusses how the ongoing pandemic will shape the future of global production networks in the context of the fourth industrial revolution.