BRICS and Industry 4.0: skills gaps and skills development 

The continuous loop connecting the physical and the digital will frame the jobs of the future. Digitalization and automation are the salient dimensions of the process we have been calling the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The phenomenon has no borders and will affect industries all over the globe. Nevertheless, Industry 4.0 impacts each country and each sector in different ways. Highly developed countries are discussing in-depth these changes and their potential impacts. The reality of the emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, however, is fairly different. Having economies in different positions and diverse political stands, BRICS countries must seek for topics and challenges of common interest aiming at establishing proper and shared platforms, networks and alliances.

The skills that tend to Industry 4.0’s needs are quite different from the ones that have always been valued in traditional industries. In order to gain competitiveness in the future business landscape, each country’s workforce must adapt. It is therefore of utmost importance that the BRICS countries have an adequate understanding of their current skills gap, so that appropriate policies for skills development can then be developed. This project identifies and analyzes trends and impacts of the industry 4.0 upon the labor market in BRICS countries.

The following Fact Sheets provide and organize data around the skills gaps in the main industries in the BRICS countries, allowing protective analysis about future strategies for BRICS’ workforce based on the challenges of the 4th industrial revolution. It was developed in partnership with the Brazilian Section of the Skills Development Working Group (SDWG) of the BRICS Business Council (BBC).

Publications

Experts

Institutional Support