These four future scenarios illustrate how Manufacturing as a Service could evolve by 2040, exploring key transformations in resilience, human-centric innovation and sustainable, data-driven production. Together, they offer a forward-looking vision to guide Europe’s strategic roadmap toward a more flexible, digital and circular manufacturing ecosystem.
First Future Scenario
Designed for Survival: Europe’s quest for sustainability in a changing world.
Europe turns to sustainable design and remanufacturing to compete in a world where China dominates manufacturing and democracy is under threat.
Second Future Scenario
Friendshoring: The West’s united front against a rising tide.
The US and Europe forge a “friendshoring” alliance to build a sustainable, circular economy and counter China’s rise in a deglobalized world.
Third Future Scenario
The Third Pole: Europe navigating the crosscurrents of US-China rivalry.
Amidst US-China rivalry, a divided Europe struggles to maintain autonomy by prioritizing local production, hyper-flexible factories, and a creative economy.
Fourth Future Scenario
Industry 7.5: Europe’s leadership in the age of advanced AI.
A unified Europe leads global manufacturing in a world transformed by advanced AI, robotics, and environmentally conscious consumers, with a focus on localized production and bio-based materials.
