Advancing AI transformation: a roadmap for businesses and governments

The World Economic Forum’s AI Governance Alliance has launched the Industries in the Intelligent Age report series, providing a comprehensive roadmap for businesses and governments to adopt and scale artificial intelligence (AI). The nine reports explore industry trends, highlight successful applications and identify key enablers, offering actionable insights to drive innovation, boost competitiveness and promote sustainable growth.

Building on the report series, the Forum also introduced Frontier MINDS (Meaningful, Intelligent, Novel, Deployable Solutions), a new platform to scale replicable, high-impact AI use cases from across the world. The programme aims to foster solutions to global challenges such as equitable healthcare access, climate change, the sustainable energy transition, resilient supply chains, and workforce transformation. As part of this effort, the AI Governance Alliance is working with the Forum’s GAEA (Giving to Amplify Earth Action) initiative to advance AI-driven solutions for climate impact and sustainable wealth management. Nominations for Frontier MINDS are now open, and the first cohort will be announced at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2025.

“AI holds transformative potential to address society’s most pressing challenges, but unlocking this requires informed, adaptable and responsible policy-making,” said Cathy Li, Head of AI, Data and the Metaverse, World Economic Forum. “Our new report series and the Frontier MINDS programme aim to provide industry leaders and policy-makers with the insights needed to develop and scale AI solutions that can drive sustainable societal and economic progress while ensuring no one is left behind.”

The Industries in the Intelligent Age report series includes five reports focused on specific industries and functions and four others exploring broader cross-industry or regional trends, altogether providing a comprehensive view of AI’s transformative potential and how to unlock it.

“Artificial intelligence is a transformative force driving smarter decisions and unlocking new possibilities across industries,” said Ramon Laguarta, Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo. “From sustainable supply chains to personalized consumer experiences, AI is woven into PepsiCo’s operations to enable innovation and impact. The World Economic Forum’s report series provides essential guidance for deploying AI responsibly, fostering collaboration and solutions that advance business growth while delivering meaningful societal benefits.”

The report series also addresses various challenges posed by AI such as scalability barriers, fragmented infrastructure, limited data access, workforce readiness, ethical concerns, rising energy demands and trust in AI systems. The related AI Governance Alliance tackles these issues across the full AI value chain, complementing the series with a dedicated focus on governance and regulations to ensure a holistic approach to responsible AI advancement. The Alliance will build on these insights by addressing systemic challenges raised by AI, bringing together stakeholders to craft collaborative solutions to these and other issues.

 “We will see more and more real-world applications of industrial AI transforming manufacturing, infrastructure, transportation or the energy and healthcare sector,” said Roland Busch, Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG. “This technology emerges at a critical time, as industries face skilled labour shortages and productivity is stagnating in most advanced economies. Unlocking its full potential will require collaboration across industries to ensure AI creates sustainable growth and drives meaningful innovation.”