Where education is meeting industry.
Manufacturing and supply chains are being reshaped by rapid digital innovation, an ageing workforce and mounting economic and geopolitical pressures. As technology accelerates and talent pools shrink, employers face growing uncertainty about whether the future workforce will have the skills needed to compete and adapt.
Technological change and global instability are increasing the pace of transformation across manufacturing and supply chains.
Retirements and declining working-age populations are creating critical shortages in technical and digital skills.
Skill shortages are limiting productivity, slow investment and weaken industrial competitiveness.
There is a critical need to build a robust, future-ready talent pipeline of young people equipped with the core technical and digital skills required.
The Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains accelerates responsible industry transformation by bringing together the world’s foremost multistakeholder manufacturing and supply chains community to exchange best practices, develop new insights and scale cross-industry collaborations.
Beginning in 2026, SmartStart will be introduced through pilot programs in selected U.S. regions, delivered in collaboration with a growing network of partner schools and industry stakeholders. These pilots are designed to test and refine program components within diverse, real-world learning contexts, generating practical insights to support future scale-up.
Through hands-on, industry-aligned learning, the pilots will demonstrate how education can keep pace with the evolving needs of modern manufacturing and supply chain careers. SmartStart integrates academic learning with practical exposure to the technologies, tools and processes used in today’s industrial environments which prepares students for both entry-level roles as well for continued education and training pathways.
Curriculum informed by employer input to reflect real jobs, skills and technologies.
Learning by doing through modern equipment and digital tools embedded into coursework.
Seamless progression into apprenticeships, further training or employment through stackable credentials.
Positioning technical and manufacturing careers as modern, skilled and future-facing.
SmartStart launches following a multilateral dialogue on preparing young people for the future of manufacturing and supply chain careers.
Industry leaders, educators and workforce stakeholders co-develop the SmartStart curriculum framework.
In-person convening of SmartStart USA Ambassadors.
SmartStart launches its pilot program in partner high school in the United States.
Regional expansion with continuous curriculum refinement aligned to industry demands and workforce needs.
SmartStart
A World Economic Forum Initiative