The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives, launched, this morning, a three-day training programme for policymakers on digitalisation of the manufacturing sector, at the seat of the Ministry in Port Louis.
Resource persons delegated by the UNIDO for the training are: Mr Fernando Santiago, Industrial Policy Officer at the UNIDO; and, Professor Antonio Andreoni, who is Associate Professor of Industrial Economics at the University College London.
This training programme, an intensive training structured around full day sessions combining frontal lectures and discussions, guided exercises, policy lab activities and presentations by trainees, has as objective to achieve the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in order to transform the manufacturing sector as a driver of development. It will also equip policymakers with a set of diagnostics tools to appraise a country’s readiness to tackle the opportunities and challenges stemming from digitalisation of manufacturing.
Like previous technological revolutions, the 4IR has been opening windows of opportunities for driving inclusive and sustainable industrial development across countries and regions. Digital technologies are also seen as critical in addressing global development challenges, such as climate change within the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 (UNIDO IDR, 2022).
This training programme is expected to fill a gap regarding intelligence on practical approaches to policymaking, methodologies, and empirically tested role models to inform digitalisation agendas and industrialisation efforts articulated with long-term national development strategies. The programme will equally provide policymakers with a focused and in-depth battery of indicators which are relevant for the digital industrial revolution and digital industrial policy.
Trainees will be provided with three main references, namely: the UNIDO Industrial Development Report; Digital Readiness Diagnostic Tool – Stairway to industry 4.0 and; Advanced Digital Tool – Digital Technology Competitiveness.
