UNIDO Industrial Development Report

The Industrial Development Report (IDR) is UNIDO’s flagship publication and represents the major output of UNIDO’s research efforts.

The IDR 2020 “Industrializing in the digital age” focuses on the future of industrialization in the context of the fourth industrial revolution, which is radically altering the nature of manufacturing production, increasingly blurring the boundaries between physical and digital production systems. By presenting fresh analytical and empirical evidence on the future of industrialization in the context of a technological paradigm shift, the IDR 2020 contributes to shedding a light on the potential opportunities and drawbacks from the diffusion and the industrial application of advanced digital production technologies (ADP) clustered around the fourth industrial revolution - such as the Internet of Things, Advanced robotics, Artificial intelligence, and Additive manufacturing - for developing and emerging countries.

The IDR 2020 argues that industrialization continues to be the main avenue for successful development: it is by engaging with industrialization that countries can build and strengthen the skills and capabilities needed to compete and succeed within the new technological paradigm.