Introduction to Transforming Industrial Policy for the Digital Age. Production, Territories and Structural Change

The beginning of the twenty-first century is turning out to be full of challenges for economies and societies. Climate change, world population growth, migratory pressures, are pressing challenges; the financial crisis has had dramatic effects and many economies have had difficulties in recovering their pre-crisis development levels. Meanwhile, innovation and technological changes are accelerating in various fields, including genomics, information and communication technologies, nanotechnologies, robotics and artificial intelligence, and so on. The changes induced are so disruptive that there is now consensus that we are experiencing an industrial revolution. The chapter analyses all these challenges and argues that there is a need to further explore the current structural changes in industries and in economies, as well as societies, in order to outline their policy implications and define appropriate industrial policies to accompany and positively orientate these changes.