Lessons on disruptions and resilience from other sectors

The analysis concerns advanced sectors whose experience is considered of help for the LEADER 2030 project, as possible differences or similarities can have a teaching effect. The sectors primarily targeted are Defence and Aerospace. Their choice was based on several elements:

 §  for their advanced nature, which could inspire the Railway sector with some lessons

§  for the heavy use they make of metals and critical raw materials

§  because they apply/develop solutions highly interesting to the Railway sector, such as highly reliable electronics, advanced materials, drones (UAVs)

§  because their market is not “mass-market”, and the numbers of product units are somehow limited

§  for the fact that they cover both military and ‘special’ civil applications; this was important for the goal of the research to understand if any ‘special channels to production inputs’ are put in place for these sectors to increase the resilience of their supply chains.

The analysis then considers other two sectors, in search for further possible useful inputs:

• the Clean Energy Infrastructures sector – therefore a segment of the wider Energy sector suitable to be of interest to the Railway sector given the green transition challenges it is also living, and the long life cycle
• ·       the Automotive sector, despite (a) it is a mass-market targeting the general public, and such numbers can influence the resilience of the sector because of its negotiation power on the supply markets. Instead, the Railway sector is based on smaller numbers, like Defence and Aerospace; (b) the life cycle of cars is much shorter than rolling stock and airplanes, and this has an influence on the ultimate goal of the analysis. However, relevant Automotive specificities have been included in the analysis to draw useful conclusions.

This version of the research includes a broader set of direct talks to companies and clusters operating in the target advanced sectors and in the horizontal Electronics Industrial Ecosystem. This was useful to integrate the desk research and make it easier to summarise the key outputs considered useful by the research team for the following project phases.

The Deliverable is composed by:

• Analysis of the Defence sector, of the Aerospace sector, of the Clean Energy Infrastructures sector, and of the Automotive sector under the point of view of dependencies, disruptions as well as policy and industrial measures adopted to reduce such vulnerabilities
• Cross-references between these sectors and the Railway sector or the previous LEADER 2030 analysis, where relevant
• Summary of take-aways/inspirations considered more relevant for the prosecution of the project tasks.