Executive summary The slowdown of productivity growth over recent decades is raising concerns that the long-term economic growth and thus further improvement of living standards might be much slower than was evident during the second half of the 20th century. This became particularly pronounced in policy discussion during the recent years, questioning the sustainability of economic recovery taking placing after the global recession of 2008. These concerns, from the policy side, turned into renewed interest in the potential of new generation industrial policies to revive productivity expansion and enhance economic growth over the long-term. This interest is also linked to the expectations (both positive and negative) put on the technologies belonging to the so-advertised fourth industrial revolution (particularly automation and robotisation processes) and how new industrial policy could facilitate their development and adoption. Furthermore, skills policies also play a prominent role in these discussions, being aimed both at enabling and supporting the revitalisation of productivity growth through those new technologies as well as a reaction to the expected transformation or even the feared destruction of jobs, caused by the spread of those same technologies. Higher productivity growth is expected to be achieved through mainstreaming new industrial technologies (i.e. robotics, additive manufacturing) enabling the introduction of higher value-added activities and/or upgrading the position of industries and countries within the global value chains. Across countries, different policy interventions are put in place in this regard to support the development and introduction of these new technologies as well as to safeguard and prepare for the job destruction challenge by facilitating the transition of workers from sectors affected by job destruction towards those with a job-creation potential. Singapore’s Industry Transformation Programme (ITM) brings together different policy actions addressing these challenges. Therefore, it was chosen as the focus of this research project, being a practical example of an umbrella policy framework combining a mix of generic as well as sectorspecific policy actions aimed to raise productivity, develop relevant skills of the workforce, create high quality jobs, help companies access international markets as well as drive the overall industrial transformation of Singapore’s economy. Moreover, as a specific case study, Precision Engineering Industry Transformation Map has been chosen to inform a more in-depth analysis of the role of sector-specific layer in such a policy framework. Furthermore, this analysis will also enable an assessment of the potential of automation technologies due to the central role that Singapore’s Precision Engineering industry plays in developing those technologies and supplying them internationally. Finally, in terms of outcomes, it is expected that this research project would not only bring about some pragmatic analytical work on the contemporary industrial and skills policies, but, more importantly, would facilitate and contribute to a forward-looking reflection of the value of a combined industrial, innovation, trade and skills policy framework to address the new, post-2015, global economic environment and its challenges.
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