Key Research Priorities for Factories of the Future—Part I: Missions

This chapter investigates research priorities for factories of the future by adopting an approach based on mission-oriented policies to support manufacturing innovation. Missions are challenging from a scientific and technological point of view and, at the same time, are addressing problems and providing results that are understandable by common people. Missions are based on clear targets that can help mitigating grand challenges. Based on the results of the Italian Flagship Project Factories of the Future, this chapter proposes seven missions while identifying the societal impact, the technological and industrial challenges, and the barriers to be overcome. These missions cover topics such as circular economy, rapid and sustainable industrialisation, robotic assistant, factories for personalised medicine, internet of actions, factories close to the people, and turning ideas into products. The accomplishment of missions asks for the support of a proper research environment in terms of infrastructures to test and demonstrate the results to a wide public. Research infrastructures together with funding mechanisms will be better addressed in the next chapter of this book.