Old Industrial Powers still ahead in foundational manufacturing

The two questions:

True, countries like Germany and Switzerland excel in manufacturing precision machinery and specialised machine tools, but could this advantage erode as China is forced to catch up due to pressure of sanctions? Also current economic stagnation in Europe throw up many challenges for the continued health of hi-tech enterprises. China has already caught up in EVs, telecom, shipbuilding, drones, robotics and so on. They are now being forced to focus on perfecting their capabilities in foundational manufacturing technologies, i.e. machine tools. Incidentally Switzerland was considered no 1 in precision engineering, at least while I was posted there in 2015-17.

Also does this model apply to the revival of other Russian military enterprises?

As for us, in the absence of an R&D drive and greater support for the few companies that do invest in R&D, we seem to be only suited for PLI type assembly incentive schemes, which does not even qualify for manufacturing. India has to gear up massively to face the new technological era.

Image credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/metal-parts-on-boxes-in-factory-18540321/

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Chairperson Sitara

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