As someone who teaches policies of competitiveness and chairs
the Global Agenda Council on Advanced Manufacturing, I often get
asked to explain the difference between manufacturing and
advanced manufacturing.  Most people think the difference is
more sophisticated manufacturing technologies. But really, it’s
about a fundamental transformation of manufacturing from an
industry based primarily on leveraging existing comparatives
advantages, such as cheap labour, to one focused on building
long-term capabilities like human capital development. The more
the knowledge of manufacturing increases in an economy, and
the more public and private sector incentives are aligned, the
more it generates growth and job creation. Advanced
manufacturing is effectively manufacturing 2.0 – what some
policy-makers described recently as the “new industrial policy.”
The power of manufacturing should not be underestimated. Firstly
because it employs a lot of people: about 300 million in 2010,
representing 14% of global employment, a