The Global Lighthouse Network

The Global Lighthouse Network is a World Economic Forum initiative in collaboration with McKinsey & Company. It examines the future of operations and considers how Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies are shaping production. This growing community of organizations is setting the trends of the future with their use of digital and analytics tools across the value chain to drive growth and productivity, improve resilience, and deliver environmental sustainability.

Featured video

Lighthouses Live: Shaping the next chapter of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Replay this event from Lighthouses Live on October 13, 2022, broadcast from the World Economic Forum studios in Geneva and New York. Highlights include panel discussions featuring Lighthouse CEOs and global leaders, the introduction of the Network's newest members, and insights on how Lighthouses are scaling Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies across networks and value chains.

Featured insights

Article

The next chapter: Lighthouses shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution
– The story of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is moving forward at speed, with members of the Global Lighthouse Network grasping the pen and writing a tale of the need for scale.
Article

The continuing evolution of the Global Lighthouse Network
– The growth of the Global Lighthouse Network showcases the opportunities for Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to make a positive impact for people and the planet.

Register for upcoming Global Lighthouse Network events

Register

Lighthouses Live

Powering productivity and environmental sustainability: Asia-Pacific Session
– Replay this event from the World Economic Forum studios in Geneva and New York. Event highlights include panel discussions with CEOs from Lighthouses across the Asia-Pacific region, including details of the newly designated sustainability Lighthouses.
Watch the video

Powering productivity and environmental sustainability: North America-Europe Session
– Replay this event from the World Economic Forum studios in Geneva and New York. Event highlights include panel discussions with CEOs from Lighthouses with a focus on North America and Europe, including details of the newly designated sustainability Lighthouses.
Watch the video

Contact us to learn more about joining the Global Lighthouse Network

Contact us

Knowledge collaborations

114 down, 10 million to go: The Global Lighthouse Network’s mission
– Global Lighthouse Network members show that Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies help to deliver better workforce engagement, improved sustainability, and increased productivity.

How businesses can drive growth through Industry 4.0
– Matteo Mancini, senior partner based in our Singapore office, explains the concept of ‘lighthouses’, McKinsey's collaboration with the World Economic Forum on the Global Lighthouse Network, and the opportunities business leaders can capture to effectively utilize Industry 4.0 technologies.

What is driving adoption and advances for Industrial 4.0 technologies across Asia?
– Karel Eloot, senior partner in our Shanghai office, discusses what is driving adoption and advances for Industrial 4.0 technologies across Asia, and shares how leaders should think about the future of manufacturing in region.

Industry’s fast-mover advantage: Enterprise value from digital factories

– Manufacturing’s leaders in applying Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) digital technologies are building on their head start—generating even more value across the entire enterprise.
Read the article

Ramping up operations and business activity post-COVID-19

– Four strategic actions can help companies to effectively prepare and ensure a successful ramp-up of production and business activity for a post-COVID-19 world.
Read the executive briefing

Resuming operations and business activity post-COVID-19

– Perspectives on how companies can return to work and resume operations and business activity as early as possible, while ensuring employees’ safety and preventing new infections.
Read the executive briefing

The 114 Lighthouse sites enjoy outsize performance improvements

>89%

faster to market

>250%

productivity increase

>97%

CO2 emissions reduction

Insights on the future of production

Katy George & Enno de Boer: How digital factories lead in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

McKinsey partner Enno de Boer and senior partner Katy George highlight research findings from the Global Lighthouse Network project and talk through the power of manufacturing innovation at scale.

From our blogs

Blog Post

A global lockdown opens up new manufacturing insights

– The ‘lighthouses of manufacturing’ initiative, which identifies the most advanced manufacturing facilities in the world, does some innovating of its own.
Blog Post

Lighthouse manufacturers illuminate path to the next normal
– The Global Lighthouse Network of leading manufacturers are using flexible automation, connectivity, and intelligence at scale to move further and faster than their peers.
Blog Post

Sparking the Fourth Industrial Revolution in U.S. manufacturing
– An encouraging call to action rings out for U.S. factories to join the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network of advanced manufacturers.
Blog Post

Up to $40b a year up for grabs in manufacturing revolution – Australian companies must act
– Australian manufacturing and resource companies could boost earnings by A$20-40 billion a year if they follow the lead of global “lighthouses” to navigate the unfamiliar waters of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
Blog Post

Lighting the way: New leaders in the fourth industrial revolution
– The latest additions to the network of “industrial lighthouses” confirm the impact of adopting 4IR technologies at scale and across the value chain.
Blog Post

The potential impact from manufacturing’s lighthouses in China
– China accounts for 5 of the 16 Industry 4.0 “lighthouse” manufacturing sites that the World Economic Forum (in collaboration with McKinsey) has identified as world leaders in successfully implementing Industry 4.0 at scale.
Blog Post

The Fourth Industrial Revolution’s scarcest commodity? Time
– There’s no longer much debate on whether the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is here. It is.

Our people

Partner, New Jersey

Enno de Boer
Senior Partner, New Jersey

Katy George
Senior Expert, Geneva

Yves Giraud