Challenges ahead

The European manufacturing sector faces an intense and growing competitive pressure in global markets. European companies are faced with a continuous competition in the high-tech sectors from other developed economies, such as the U.S., Japan and Korea.

Manufacturing has to address the challenge of producing more products with less material, less energy and less waste. Our living standards are on the rise; global manufacturing today has to meet a constantly increasing demand for consumer goods. Manufacturing has to improve its innovation activity. New ideas have to be transformed into new products and processes. Many of the manufacturing companies are SMEs and only a few of them have research capacity and the financial potential to implement high-risk innovative manufacturing technologies.