This discussion paper argues that public policy should seek to accelerate automation to reap the productivity benefits, while building new institutions to ensure the dividends of technological change are broadly shared.

Self-driving cars are the next technological revolution we will face in the future. These vehicles will not only need to ‘see’ the world, but will also need to communicate and work together.

We are seeing the emergence of a Skills Revolution — where helping people upskill and adapt to a fast-changing world of work will be the defining challenge of our time. This confluence of digitization, machine learning, aging and shifting populations, polarization, consumerization and alternative ways of working means business models are being transformed.

Technology in many ways is perfectly conceived to operate in the workplace, bringing an ability to operate around the clock at increasing levels of accuracy and productivity. Since the Industrial Revolution, machines have been the ideal colleague, performing some of the most mind-numbing tasks and freeing up human partners to do more interesting and productive...

In the past, manufacturing-led development typically delivered both productivity gains and job creation for unskilled labor. Underpinning the productivity benefits was the sector’s tradability in international markets, which not only reinforced scale economies and technology diffusion, but importantly, also provided greater opportunities to access demand beyond the domestic market and increased competition.