The inaugural World Industrialisation Congress & Cambridge Industrialisation Annual Conference 2026 concludes in Cambridge

On 20–22 August 2026, the World Industrialisation Congress & Cambridge Industrialisation Annual Conference 2026 (WIC & CIAC 2026) was held at the University of Cambridge. It was the first annual conference organised by Cambridge Industrialisation since the Society was formally approved as a University-level organisation, and the first edition of the World Industrialisation Congress.

Under the theme Industrialisation in the Digital Age, the congress was hosted by Cambridge Industrialisation and co-organised with Tsinghua University, Peking University, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and Hong Kong Metropolitan University. Scholars from these five universities and from UCL, Imperial College London, Nanyang Technological University, King's College London, Harbin Institute of Technology, Hunan University, Shenzhen University, Jinan University, Shandong University and Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology were joined by practitioners from Deloitte, Tencent Research Institute, Alibaba Research Institute, Digital Spectrum Group and Manchester Airports Group for a full day of discussion. Deans and directors from the five co-organising universities each led a parallel forum, and 35 talks and presentations were delivered over the day.

The two most important outcomes of the congress were the formal signing and launch of the Global Industrialisation Initiative, and the founding of the Global Industrialisation Star Award Committee, whose first eight members were announced on the day.

Opening: the question of our industrial age

The congress opened at 9 a.m. on 21 August at the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge.

Professor Tim Minshall, Head of the Institute for Manufacturing and the University's inaugural Dr John C Taylor Professor of Innovation, gave the welcome address. "Any economy that hopes to be resilient, secure, sustainable and fair will have manufacturing at its core in some form," he said. "I am delighted that this congress gives us an opportunity to focus on collaboration and to address together the many challenges our global society faces now and in the future." In a short speech, Professor Minshall named Cambridge Industrialisation eight times. That repetition said more than any compliment could about the Head of the IfM's regard for the Society's founding purpose and its work.

Professor Yongjiang Shi, Congress Chair and Research Director of the Centre for International Manufacturing (CIM) at the Institute for Manufacturing, then delivered the keynote, Industrialisation: our research journey for understanding its multiple layers and interactions. Starting from the nature of manufacturing itself, Professor Shi traced more than thirty years of his team's research across the intertwined dimensions of globalisation, industrialisation, digital intelligence and ecosystems (GIDE), and drew on forty years of change in Chinese manufacturing to examine how business ecosystems respond to uncertainty. "Industrialisation is an old topic that remains full of life," he said. "We hope the first World Industrialisation Congress gives us an interdisciplinary and inspiring 'overview effect' that reaches beyond disciplinary boundaries."

The three Congress Co-Chairs each gave an invited talk in the opening session. Professor Tiyan Shen, Professor at the School of Government and Dean of the Institute of Urban Governance at Peking University, spoke on A Multi-scale Global Complex System Paradigm of Industrialisation. Professor Yong Wang, Professor at the School of Social Sciences and Director of the Research Centre for Digital Economy at Tsinghua University, spoke on AI vs. Human in Dynamic Pricing: Learning Effects and Price Complementarity. Professor Mohan Datwani, Director of The Future Centre and Professor at the Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, spoke on New Industrialisation: A Global Compact for Capability.

No industrial transformation has ever truly succeeded without the support of governance systems and urban platforms. Whether industrialisation succeeds or fails is decided, in the end, by cities rather than by factories alone. As digital technology reshapes how industries and economies coordinate across space, that lesson has become more pressing, not less. This congress deserves to be taken seriously precisely because it places governance and urban systems at the centre of industrialisation's future, rather than treating them as an optional footnote. Professor Tiyan Shen · Peking University

Technology, platforms and institutions, and the way the three interact to create and distribute value, will decide the next stage of industrial development. That is why research on industrial and economic transformation matters so much today: digital technology is spreading into every sector and reshaping productivity itself. This congress has earned its place on the world stage because it treats that transformation with the seriousness it deserves, as an economic question and as a civilisational one. Professor Yong Wang · Tsinghua University

Institutions and governance frameworks are the silent foundation beneath every lasting industrial achievement. Without them, even the most ingenious technology eventually collapses under its own weight. That is why governance deserves a central seat in any serious conversation about industrialisation, especially now that the pace of digital transformation has outrun the pace of rule-making. What sets this congress apart is that it holds to that seriousness: it treats governance as an inseparable part of industrial progress rather than a brake on it. This kind of work is not glamorous, but it is foundational. It quietly keeps economic progress steady and on course. Professor Mohan Datwani · Hong Kong Metropolitan University

At midday, delegates walked to Queens' College for lunch and a stroll through the courts, a quiet interlude of Cambridge college life in the middle of a full programme.

A historic moment: signing the Global Industrialisation Initiative

At 11:20 a.m. on 21 August the congress reached the most significant moment of the day: the signing and launch of the Global Industrialisation Initiative.

The Initiative was introduced and signed on behalf of the congress by Mr Tingrui Zhang, Founder of the World Industrialisation Congress and President of Cambridge Industrialisation. Professor Yongjiang Shi, Professor Tiyan Shen, Professor Yong Wang, Professor Mohan Datwani, Mr Raymond D. Neoh, Professor Feng Tao and Dr Norman Sze, together with other members of the congress presidium and core delegates, witnessed and co-signed it.

The Initiative opens with a plain statement: "Industrialisation is one of the most fundamental paths by which humanity escapes scarcity, creates opportunity and moves toward shared prosperity." Grounded in the purposes of peace, development and international cooperation set out in the Charter of the United Nations, and echoing the inclusive and sustainable industrial development long advocated by UNIDO, it sets out six principles: people-centred, open and inclusive, outcome-oriented, self-sustaining, policy-coordinated, and green and safe. It then calls for action in six areas: technology sharing, responsible development of intelligent industries, green and circular transition, industrialisation of research outcomes, capital and talent systems, and global partnerships.

The Initiative looks ahead to a world in which "every person, enterprise and region willing to strive can find its place in the global industrial tide … where industrialisation becomes a force that brings the world together rather than tears it apart, with more cooperation than confrontation and more trust than suspicion."

It is the first programmatic document issued since the World Industrialisation Congress was founded, and marks the point at which this international academic platform moves from building consensus to taking action.

History remembers not the societies that merely became rich, but the ones that understood how to industrialise wisely. At its best, industrialisation is an act of civilisation-building: it turns innovation into infrastructure, and infrastructure into everyday prosperity for all. The World Industrialisation Congress was born because industrialisation is entering a new and critical stage, shaped by digital technology and redefining how nations, enterprises and communities create value together. I believe that bringing the world's industrialisation research and practice into one room is exactly the kind of patient, long-term work that runs deep and quiet and serves this generation and the next. Tingrui Zhang · Initiator of the Initiative; Founder, World Industrialisation Congress; President, Cambridge Industrialisation

Acting together: the Global Industrialisation Star Award Committee

Alongside the signing of the Initiative, the congress founded the Global Industrialisation Star Award Committee. The Global Industrialisation Star is a long-running effort by the Society to evaluate industrialisation and surface exemplary cases: it aims to identify enterprises, institutions and practices around the world that are representative of, and growing through, the process of industrialisation. The congress announced the first eight committee members, in order of joining:

• Tingrui ZhangFounder, World Industrialisation Congress; President, Cambridge Industrialisation
• Professor Yongjiang ShiResearch Director, Centre for International Manufacturing, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge
• Professor Tiyan ShenProfessor, School of Government, and Dean, Institute of Urban Governance, Peking University
• Professor Yong WangProfessor, School of Social Sciences, and Director, Research Centre for Digital Economy, Tsinghua University
• Mr Raymond D. NeohChairman, Digital Spectrum Group; Founder, Global Digital Creations (8271.HK); Founder and Chairman, School of Digital Games, Nanyang Technological University
• Professor Mohan DatwaniDirector, The Future Centre, and Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University
• Professor Feng TaoDean and Professor, Institute of Industrial Economics, Jinan University
• Dr Norman SzeFormer CEO, Deloitte China; Visiting Professor, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

Five parallel forums, thirty-five talks

From 1:30 p.m. the congress ran five parallel forums, each led by deans or directors from Tsinghua University, Peking University, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and Hong Kong Metropolitan University. Together they hosted 25 presentations and 5 roundtables, which with the 5 invited talks of the morning plenary made 35 talks over the day. The plenary was chaired by Dr Ge Zheng, Assistant Research Professor at the Institute for Manufacturing and Vice President of Cambridge Industrialisation.

The closing ceremony took place at 5 p.m. Congress Chair Professor Yongjiang Shi presented the awards for outstanding presentations, and Secretary-General Mr Tingrui Zhang presented certificates to this year's Deputy Secretaries-General and outstanding volunteers. The congress also confirmed that the call for full papers remains open, with the aim of raising the share of papers receiving an award to around 40%.

The closed-door meeting

If the signing of the Initiative was the brightest moment of the congress day, the closed-door meeting on the afternoon of 20 August was where the congress found its direction.

Some twenty core participants took part: Congress Chair Professor Yongjiang Shi; Congress Vice-Chairs Mr Tingrui Zhang (University of Cambridge), Professor Tiyan Shen (Peking University), Professor Yong Wang (Tsinghua University), Professor Mohan Datwani (Hong Kong Metropolitan University), Mr Raymond D. Neoh (Nanyang Technological University), Professor Feng Tao (Jinan University) and Dr Norman Sze, together with other members of the presidium, invited guests and the congress secretariat. The meeting reviewed the congress programme, the Global Industrialisation Initiative and the preparations for the Global Industrialisation Star, and discussed in depth the future path of the World Industrialisation Congress.

Participants agreed that the meeting had moved from simply bringing people together to forming consensus and deciding how to act, and that it had exceeded expectations. It clarified the development strategy, positioning and approach of both the World Industrialisation Congress and Cambridge Industrialisation, and reached staged agreements on case collection, the evaluation framework, the building of the award committee and the international network, giving a clear outline of the next ten years for the Society and the congress.

WIC Night: formal dinner at St John's College

On the evening of 20 August the organising committee held the congress dinner at St John's College, founded more than five hundred years ago, for core members and registered delegates. Guests in formal or evening dress shared their plans for collaboration in the long tradition of the Cambridge college hall, and experienced college life as it is actually lived.

Moving forward together: from team exchanges to partnerships

Around the congress, the Society's international network kept growing. On the morning of 20 August the Peking University and Cambridge teams held the first exchange session, covering academic collaboration and the sharing of experience. On 22 August the congress met in turn with Jinan University, Nanyang Technological University, Hong Kong Metropolitan University and Digital Spectrum Group, agreeing to cooperate on talent development and training, case research, academic collaboration and industry engagement, and signing memoranda of understanding.

The World Industrialisation Congress & Cambridge Industrialisation Annual Conference 2026 closed with a full programme, serious debate and the Cambridge tradition behind it. As the Global Industrialisation Initiative puts it, innovation and practice should converge faster, and cooperation should cross borders and differences. This is the beginning.

Registration for the World Industrialisation Congress & Cambridge Industrialisation Annual Conference 2027 will open in due course. We look forward to seeing you in Cambridge next year.

Written by the WIC Secretariat and first published on the Society's WeChat account on 31 August 2026. 阅读中文版