Labour and skills – People as engines of industrial readiness FIGURE 8 Country readiness factorLeading policies and interventionsExpected impact for supply chain imperatives Develop a national human capital roadmap aligning education and r esear ch with fr ontier sectors, ensuring diverse, futur e-ready talent pipelines for ﬁelds like quantum and nuclear1 Establish industry-led “futur e skills councils” to build a national skills frameworks, deﬁne evolving skill standar ds, guide curricula and coor dinate implementation acr oss academia, gover nment and industry2 Design incentive-based pr ogrammes for industry-academic partnerships to deliver hands-on training in applied technologies such as automation, digital manufacturing and r obotics to close education-to-employment gap3 Integrate digital literacy into national skilling frameworks to pr epar e the workfor ce for AI-driven, automated industrial workﬂows4 Develop data-driven labour market observatories to for ecast skill demands, track workfor ce mobility , and inform targeted policy interventions for r egional industrial ecosystems5 Implement agile talent mobility frameworks to manage skilled migration and access specialized global talent while upskilling local workfor ce6 Strengthen labour rights and pr otection to impr ove talent r etention and cr eate a stable, high-quality workfor ce7Digitally literate workers operating intelligent platforms ensur e coor dination and adaptability across complex supply networks Deep pools of technical talent across r egions support localized pr oduction and enable smaller factories to run advanced machinery A skilled, adaptable workfor ce remains the most r esilient asset in a crisis, allowing ﬁrms to r edeploy talent in r egions facing disruptions and maintain operationsInfrastructur e Resour ces and energy Technology and innovation Labour and skills Sustainability Fiscal and regulatory Geopolitical landscape Global Value Chains Outlook 2026: Orchestrating Corporate and National Agility 23