The World Manufacturing Forum is one of the world’s foremost summit meetings for the manufacturing industry. It gathers together institutions, international experts, industry leaders and academics to discuss the challenges set by the fourth industrial revolution. As of 2018 its venue will be moving permanently to Lombardy.
The Forum handed the helm over to this region at its 2017 edition In Monterrey, Mexico on November 9th, after several years of being hosted in a succession of different countries.
The Vice President of the Lombardy Region, Fabrizio Sala, attending the event, stressed the significance of this decision for the entire economic system of the region: “The World Manufacturing Forum is an event of world-wide significance at which the challenges and objectives of the manufacturing sector are laid out, with a major focus on growth and innovation. We are proud that as of next year, the Forum will have a permanent home in Lombardy; the move also represents a massive opportunity for our local communities and businesses”.
Monterrey was the last step in a long journey that the Lombardy Region embarked upon in conjunction with the Lombardy chapter of Confindustria (the General Confederation of Italian Industry), the Politecnico di Milano and other leading players across the region and Italy as a whole. The highlight of the journey was arguably the World Manufacturing Summit that took place in June 2017 at Cernobbio, on Lake Como. The President of the Lombardy Region and the other partners in the initiative officially announced the successful outcome of Lombardy’s bid to host all future World Manufacturing Forums at the Summit: “We are proud to have been chosen to permanently host the World Manufacturing Forum, which acknowledges Lombardy as the leading manufacturing region in Italy and one of the most important in Europe,” stated the President. “No other Italian region invests as much as Lombardy in innovation and research, in the region’s time-honoured tradition, and manufacturing is undoubtedly its driving force. Long-term, Lombardy’s industries are facing an ongoing challenge: that of bringing together manufacturing with innovation and research, and the Region is determined to help them rise to that challenge. Lombardy is the right place to invest: its hallmark is business, but also culture, tourism and fine food. Lombardy is ‘the place to be’ ”.