Publications

FES London and NEF (July 2014): The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the New Economics Foundation (NEF) launched a new report on tackling inequality and the living standards crisis at root. The public and politicians are waking up to the corrosive effect of vast income and wealth divides on society, economy and democracy. The question is, what policies can break the spell? Tax and redistribution measures alone are no longer keeping inequality at bay, even in traditionally more equal countries like Sweden. Rather than a silver bullet, tackling the drivers of disparity requires concerted action in multiple areas– from childcare to the jobs market.

Daniel Buhr (April 2015): Industry 4.0 – a digitised and networked production – is still a vision, but global competition for the best ideas and most successful concepts is already steaming ahead. In order to understand Industry 4.0, Daniel Buhr outlines the vision behind the concept, the impact on society and the tasks for a successful innovation policy. Buhr argues that society will play a major role in the innovation process as driver of technical and social innovations. Systemic innovation policy is needed which includes firms, unions, civil society and academia, besides mere policy-makers. Only a holistic approach to Industry 4.0 allows technical innovation to contribute to social progress.

Daniel Buhr (2015): Industry 4.0 is more than just technical innovation – it’s also social innovation. Hence, we need to analyse closely the opportunities and challenges the world will face. This will allow us to make recommendations for policy-makers and to suggest possible ways to support the shift towards Industry 4.0. This study by Daniel Buhr contributes to this discussion and identifies ten points analysing what the outlined opportunities and challenges mean for innovation policy.