Officials announcing the hosting of GMIS2019 at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIE

The Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) – a cross-industry forum focusing on the future of manufacturing – announced that Russia has secured the rights to host its second edition in 2019 in the city of Yekaterinburg.

The announcement was made by the President of the Russian Fedration, Vladimir Putin, during his plenary session at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), alongside the President of France Emmanuel Macron, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Vice President of the People’s Republic of China Wang Qishan and IMF managing director Christine Lagarde. In his opening statement, Putin said the focus will be on the use of advanced, promising technologies in the economy, industry and other spheres.

A joint initiative by the UAE and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the GMIS aimed to bridge the gap between manufacturers, governments and NGOs, technologists, and investors in harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s transformation of manufacturing.

The second edition of the Summit in Russia will look at the impact of innovation and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies on the global manufacturing sector. The Summit, which will be staged in conjunction with the 10th International Industrial Fair (INNOPROM) that will be held in July 2019, promotes the development of a road map for the future of manufacturing across the world, with economic and social development at its core.

The theme of the 2019 Summit in Russia – one of the world’s biggest manufacturing heartlands – will be ‘nature-like technologies’, otherwise known as biomimetic design and biomimicry. The science of mapping design challenges to the natural world to find innovative solutions has led to some of the world’s most important inventions. By using nature to inspire manufacturing innovations, the summit will promote strategies and designs to deliver solutions that achieve sustainable industrial development.

The first edition of the GMIS was held in Abu Dhabi in March 2017. It brought together over 3,000 government, business, and civil society leaders from over 40 countries to advance manufacturing and industrial development globally, and to identify key trends and opportunities across the themes that can support the manufacturing sector of the future.

Its success led to numerous expressions of interest in hosting the Summit’s events and initiatives. As a result, the Russian Federation signed a Memorandum of Understanding in November 2017 to support Russia’s official bid to host the 2019 edition of the GMIS in Yekaterinburg.

During the second edition of the Summit in 2019, a global audience of government and business leaders, as well as representatives of nongovernmental organizations, will engage in debates, sessions and workshops, and launch global initiatives designed to empower and inspire the next generation of manufacturing entrepreneurs, innovators and pioneers.