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Funded by
European Commission
DG Research,
6th Framework Programme
Joint Call IST-NMP,
Specific Support Action

Manufacturing Visions

Integrating Diverse Perspectives into Pan-European Foresight

What are the Objectives of Manufacturing Visions?

In order to become the world’s most competitive economy by 2010, the manufacturing and service engineering sectors will have to play a vital role in an enlarged Europe. Industry, government and other stakeholders need a strong vision of the future of the European economy based on an assessment of possible alternatives in order to develop their strategies. Manufacturing Visions aims to develop new and powerful visions of manufacturing for Europe in the decades to come. Such visions of manufacturing will support the development of policy and strategy focused on the proactive support of manufacturing.

What will be the outcomes of the project?

Powerful visions do not appear all of a sudden nor can they be declared by state authorities. They cannot be based on single perspectives or specialised approaches. For this reason, a new integrated knowledge community concerned with the future of manufacturing will be created, including as many actors and stakeholders as possible from Europe and beyond. As a tool for initiating future-oriented thinking and to promote the linking of such diverse perspectives, a series of European workshops and a pan-European Delphi survey dealing with manufacturing issues will be launched. The Delphi results will be supported by the development of European scenarios on the future of manufacturing.

How will the results of the project be used?

The results will

• be fed into the long-term planning of the European research funding for Manufacturing,
• be integrated in the debate on the “Manufacturing Technology Action Plan” which is currently being developed by the European Commission (www.manufuture.org),
• be published and disseminated to potential users in government, industry and the general public,
• be presented and discussed at a final “Future of Manufacturing” conference,
• be made available for developing manufacturing strategies on a company, sector or national level.

Approach

The core activity of the project will be a pan-European Delphi survey dealing with manufacturing. The Delphi methodology, the most widely established tool for generating longterm visions among a heterogeneous and widespread community, will be adapted to the special purpose of this project, based on a survey which will be launched in 22 European countries. Experts from all these nations will be involved in shaping the content and scope of the survey via workshops in all of the participating countries. The electronic questionnaire used in the survey will comprise general and sector specific statements on the future of Manufacturing, which the respondents will be asked to assess.

In order to avoid an isolated view of Europe’s manufacturing issues, experts from overseas will be involved in the development of the statements of the Delphi questionnaire and will also comment on the results of the survey.

Emphasising and elaborating the demand side perspective on manufacturing is an important aim of this project. Because of this, the views of users, consumers and other societal groups concerned with manufacturing will contribute to the development of the Delphi survey. In parallel to the Delphi activities scenarios on the development of the demand side of manufacturing are being elaborated.

All Delphi participants will receive a personalised response based on the general results of the Delphi survey as well as the scenario development. Finally policy recommendations will be derived and presented at the international conference.

Which aspects of Manufacturing will be covered?

The Delphi survey and the scenario discussions will cover developments in all relevantaspects of manufacturing from technologies via organisational concerns to questions of the working environment. Enabling technologies for developments in all of these areas will be identified. New demands on skills and competencies will also be derived from the results, while sustainability issues will be a special focus throughout the whole project. Some statements in the Delphi questionnaire will deal with sector specific developments such as transport, machinery, or rubber and plastics.

How will participants benefit?

All experts who participate at their national workshop for statement generation or in the Delphi survey will

• contribute to the European Union policy on manufacturing,
• have access to the new manufacturing knowledge community,
• receive personalised responses enabling a comparison of their vision with the visions of diverse stakeholder groups,
• receive all projects results,
• be invited to the international “Future of Manufacturing” Conference (fee reduced by 50% for participants).

Who is conducting the project?

A core team of researchers from eight European institutes is conceptualising and conducting the Delphi survey. All these institutes have a solid background in research on manufacturing foresight issues, each of them focussing on particular aspects needed for an holistic view on manufacturing. National partners from all together 22 European nations will support the survey in their countries.