Resilience as Economic and Innovation Policy Goal

As an essential requirement for successfully coping with shocks, resilience tends to receive more attention in times of crisis. However, this interest is generally quick to dissipate once the crisis is over. To prevent this from happening in the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, resilience must be permanently anchored in the minds of decision-makers and in the structures of government and industry. Resilience should also be incorporated into the design of supply chains and value networks, where it should be given equal weight to other goals such as efficiency. While the lessons learnt from the current pandemic provide a useful starting point, it is important to avoid focusing too narrowly on potential future pandemics – resilience means preparing for all types of shocks. Moreover, resilience is a continuous process that seeks to actively develop and improve structures rather than simply returning to how things were before the crisis.

This acatech IMPULSE summarises the key challenges involved in strengthening the resilience of supply chains and value networks, and identifies strategies that can be used by government, science and industry to improve the resilience of economic structures against all kinds of shocks.