Dr Jostein Hauge has recently published a book with Oxford University Press, titled “The Future of the Factory: How Megatrends are Changing Industrialization”. The book investigates how industrialisation pathways are shaped by recent technological developments, new forces of globalisation, and the threat of ecological collapse. It also charts new pathways for industrial policy and global governance.

Dr Hauge is Assistant Professor in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, based at the Centre of Development Studies and the Department of Politics and International Studies.

For centuries, industrialisation and factory-based production have been core ingredients in economic growth, development, and innovation. This symbiotic relationship between industrialisation and economic prosperity is now changing. ‘Megatrends’ – trends within the domains of technology, economy, society, and ecology that have a global impact – are changing the ability of the manufacturing sector to serve as the engine of growth, changing traditional ideas of technological progress, and changing growth and development opportunities in both the global South and the global North.

Four megatrends are particularly worthy of note: the rise of services, digital automation technologies, globalisation of production, and ecological breakdown. In this book, Jostein Hauge provides a novel analysis of how these megatrends are changing industrialisation, and charts new pathways for industrial policy and global governance.

He also offers a wide-ranging account of the role of technology, globalisation, and ecology in shaping the world economy. The Future of the Factory shows that industrialisation remains a cornerstone of economic prosperity, but that power asymmetries in the world economy create uneven opportunities for achieving economic growth, development, and industrialisation.

Jostein has had the pleasure of delivering talks about the book at the University of Cambridge, King’s College London, the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of Manchester, University College London, and to civil servants at the UK Department for Business and Trade. He has also appeared on the podcasts, The Bunker and In Pursuit of Development, to talk about the book, and has been interviewed by Bloomberg News about the book.