The World Manufacturing Forum 2016 has been held in Barcelona last May, organized by the EU Commission, the Milan Politecnico University and IMS, Intelligent Manufacturing Systems. The event aimed to promote the dialogue among some of the major companies in the global manufacturing sector, such as PTC, IBM, Comau, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Bosch and McKinsey and Governments representatives and policy makers in the EU Commission, in order to converge on planning guidelines for the future of manufacturing in the EU, a key contributor to economic growth of industrialized countries.
A peculiar focus has been on the importance of connected policies joined by Governments, industries, academic and research worlds, triggering and sustaining real innovation and evolution. Under the main topic of 4th Industrial (R)evolution, also discussed have been circular economy, on optimization of the use of resources by eliminating waste, improving re-use of products and recycling materials, and industry digitalization, with new technologies offering opportunities especially to SMEs, as well as breakthrough technologies such as augmented reality and the convergence of digital and physical worlds.