Global Lighthouse Network: Rewiring Operations for Resilience and Impact at Scale (World Economic Forum Financial Services)

Summary

• The Global Lighthouse Network has expanded from 16 factories to 223 sites across more than 30 countries and 40 industries.p.4
• In 2025 the Network welcomed 34 new Lighthouses spanning 11 countries and now encompasses 1,150+ solutions.p.8
• GenAI could lift the productivity growth rate tenfold to 3% annually through 2030, compared to 0.3% annually in a business-as-usual scenario.p.11
• A 2024 McKinsey survey found that 86% of companies view digital twins as relevant, only 44% have implemented them and just 15% plan to do so.p.13
• Between November 2022 and October 2024, AI inference costs dropped 280x and hardware costs declined by 30% per year.p.22
• Lighthouses on average have onboarded roughly 36% of their customers and suppliers onto their IoT platforms.p.26

Key insights

1. The Network was co-founded with McKinsey & Company and began with an initial cohort of 16 sites.p.5
2. Analytical AI/ML solutions made up 68% of top solutions presented for designation at one stage of the Network's evolution.p.6
3. Siemens Numerical Control in Nanjing achieved +50% units per hour, -12% cycle time and -83% delivery lead time using digital twins.p.14
4. Tüpraş upskilled over 1,500 employees in analytics, forecasting and digital tools.p.18
5. AUO Corporation cut attrition in the first 90 days by 81% using AI-powered interview optimization.p.21
6. More than 40% of organizations still lack visibility into tier-1 supplier performance.p.26