Abstract

Despite the declining share of eu gdp, the manufacturing industry is still contributing substantially to overall economic growth because of its higher productivity trend. In 2012, the eu Commission in a communication on industrial policy (com 2012,582 final), stressed the need to reverse this negative trend and set back the manufacturing contribution to gdp to above 20 percent. The editorial points out the opportunities and challenges the industry is dealing with, underlining that the manufacturing industry of the future will be very different from the one of the last thirty years. Manufacturing firms do much more than simply make products, they provide solutions to customers and these activities are generating a higher value added. To foster this transformation at national and eu level, governments must support the presence in such high value added activities both strengthening competition policies and speeding up the path towards the single European market.