Scaling Industrial AI Responsibly: From AI Readiness to Industrial Transformation
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how economies grow, how workforces evolve, how supply chains operate and how industries deliver value. The question is no longer whether AI can transform industries, but how to ensure that this transformation advances sustainable industrial development and an inclusive digital economy, leaving no country, sector or community behind.
Co-hosted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and IBM on the margins of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 81), this side event will bring together senior representatives from governments, industry, academia and the United Nations to explore practical approaches to scaling AI responsibly for industrial transformation.
The event will highlight concrete contributions to Objectives 2 and 5 of the Global Digital Compact (GDC), advancing an inclusive digital economy and strengthening international governance of artificial intelligence. It will focus on moving from political commitments to measurable action and from isolated pilots to scalable, country-led pathways, particularly in developing countries, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs).
The event will spotlight two interconnected initiatives designed to translate this ambition into implementation. The Global Network of AI for Industry and Manufacturing Centres of Excellence (AIM Global CoEs), under UNIDO’s Global Alliance on AI for Industry and Manufacturing (AIM Global), will provide a platform to accelerate industrial AI solutions, facilitate technology and knowledge transfer, strengthen capacities and support policy innovation in developing and emerging economies, with particular emphasis on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
The event will also feature the soft launch of the AI & Digital for Industry Navigator (AIDIN),developed by UNIDO in partnership with IBM. AIDIN assesses a country’s AI and digital maturity for industry across five enabling pillars — infrastructure, data, innovation ecosystem, capital and governance — and translates these insights into actionable industrial transformation pathways.
Together, these initiatives demonstrate how international organizations, governments, industry and technology partners can combine diagnostics, capacity-building and implementation support to scale responsible industrial AI and ensure that its benefits are more broadly shared.
Key Outcomes
- Accelerated Responsible AI Adoption for Industry: Advance practical pathways for scaling responsible industrial AI in developing countries and emerging economies through the Global Network of AIM Global Centres of Excellence, strengthening local capacities, technology transfer and innovation ecosystems.
- Actionable AI and Digital Readiness for Industrial Transformation: Soft launch the AI & Digital for Industry Navigator (AIDIN), providing Member States with a shared and comparable approach to assessing industrial AI and digital maturity and translating diagnostics into country-led transformation pathways.
- Strengthened Partnerships for Inclusive Industrial Transformation: Mobilize governments, industry, academia and development partners around concrete commitments and collaborative approaches that advance Objectives 2 and 5 of the Global Digital Compact and ensure that developing countries, SIDS, LDCs and MSMEs can participate in and benefit from the AI-driven digital economy.