Societal Transformation Related to Emerging Technologies in Industry Through Bi-Lateral Collaboration

Abstract

Emerging Industry 4.0 technologies—such as automation, additive manufacturing, and artificial intelligence—are accelerating the need for continuous upskilling in industrial workforces. While upskilling is not a new societal phenomenon, the current pace and breadth of technological change interact with national education systems, industrial structures, and funding models in ways that differ substantially across countries. This creates both challenges and opportunities for international collaboration in lifelong learning and work-integrated learning (WIL). This paper examines societal transformation related to emerging technologies through a bilateral lens, focusing on learning initiatives and institutional practices in Sweden and India. Drawing on observations and interactional collaboration between higher education institutions in both contexts, we illustrate how upskilling demands are shaped by differing national trajectories. For example, historical Swedish adult education initiatives—such as evening studies undertaken to respond to increasing internationalization—can be contrasted with contemporary patterns in India, where engineers often engage in weekend-based learning to meet rapidly evolving industrial competence needs. Despite the global nature of industrial markets, priorities regarding who funds upskilling (industry, academia, individuals, or the state), how learning time is allocated, and how competence development is evaluated vary across contexts. We benchmark a WIL-oriented model associated with Indian experiences against Swedish experiences of WIL and educational quality enhancement, including structured follow-up with participants (e.g., focus groups) to iteratively improve course design. Based on this comparative analysis, we propose an initial conceptual framework to support bilateral collaboration in upskilling emerging technologies. The framework highlights critical dimensions to align across contexts, including technology maturity, competence capability, and resource conditions such as time and financial support in both industry and academia. The paper concludes with a gap-oriented discussion of how virtual laboratories and shared e-learning platforms could enable scalable bilateral collaboration for work-integrated upskilling.