The International Centre for Industrial Transformation (INCIT) is an independent, Singapore-headquartered, non-profit institution committed to accelerating digital and sustainable transformation across global manufacturing. It designs and institutionalizes globally benchmarked frameworks and diagnostic instruments, including the Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI), Operational Excellence Readiness Index (OPERI), Artificial Intelligence Maturity Readiness Index (AIMRI), and Consumer Sustainability Industry Readiness Index (COSIRI).
Through these rigorously structured indices, INCIT enables manufacturers, policymakers, and investors to assess operational and technological maturity with precision. It helps them benchmark performance against international standards, identify structural and capability gaps, and formulate data-driven roadmaps for Industry 4.0 adoption and ESG advancement. Beyond assessment, INCIT delivers advanced analytics, structured capability-building programs, formal certification pathways, and cross-sector collaborative platforms. Consequently, it strengthens industrial competitiveness, fosters innovation, and advances operational excellence at scale.
In an exclusive dialogue with The Interview World at the World Futures Forum, organized by India SME Forum in partnership with WeDO, Raimund Klein, CEO of INCIT, articulates the organization’s strategic mandate and expanding global footprint. He explains the systemic transformation INCIT is catalyzing across industries. Furthermore, he evaluates the current state of India’s industrial ecosystem, examines the nation’s progress in advancing artificial intelligence capabilities, and identifies the structural gaps that demand urgent attention.
What follows are the principal insights from this substantive and forward-looking conversation.
Q: Could you elaborate on your organization’s core activities and strategic focus areas?
A: We are the International Centre for Industrial Transformation (INCIT), headquartered in Singapore. We operate as a global software-driven platform, supported by certified resources across multiple jurisdictions.
Today, we maintain an active presence in more than 70 countries. In each of these markets, we deploy trained and accredited assessors who evaluate the transformation maturity of manufacturing enterprises with methodological rigor. These assessments span the full industrial spectrum, from micro and small enterprises to large SMEs and multinational corporations.
Through this structured and standardized approach, we ensure consistent measurement of digital, operational, and sustainable transformation across diverse geographies and industrial scales.
Q: What kinds of transformation is your organization driving across industries?
A: We began with a clear focus on digital transformation and Industry 4.0. However, the data we collected revealed a structural gap: a substantial segment of companies lacked even a foundational understanding of digital transformation. Consequently, we expanded our approach.
We introduced OPERI, an intuitive mobile application available on iOS and Android, designed specifically for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. Unlike complex enterprise frameworks, OPERI addresses the immediate operational realities of smaller firms. It measures productivity improvement, strengthens digital literacy, and accelerates structured growth. Most importantly, it does so through a guided assessment that takes two to six hours and incorporates animated, easy-to-understand modules.
At the conclusion of the assessment, each enterprise receives a comprehensive diagnostic report. This report answers four critical strategic questions.
First, where do we stand today in terms of operational excellence? Second, which dimension requires immediate focus, growth, productivity, or digital literacy? Third, what measurable impact will transformation generate, and what return on investment can we realistically expect?
Fourth, are we competitive?
To answer these questions with precision, we integrate performance-based KPIs into the analysis. Moreover, companies can request support from certified OPERI assessors. Our software platform assigns these experts systematically, ensuring structured guidance and implementation support.
We then benchmark performance at multiple levels. Initially, we compare companies across four World Bank economic classifications: low income, lower-middle income, upper-middle income, and high-income economies. We analyse sector-specific peers, such as electronics manufacturers, within each classification. This enables firms to see, with empirical clarity, whether they outperform, match, or lag behind comparable organizations operating under similar macroeconomic conditions.
In addition, we conduct geographic benchmarking across 45 economic and geopolitical groupings, including alliances such as the G7 and G10. For example, an electronics manufacturer in India can benchmark directly against all relevant peers within India. This layered benchmarking framework provides immediate competitive visibility: industry leader, median performer, or laggard.
Based on these insights, the system generates forward-looking recommendations. If a company demonstrates a strong operational foundation, we advise progression toward structured digital transformation. For most micro and small enterprises, however, jumping directly into advanced domains such as artificial intelligence is premature. These organizations typically operate in reactive, day-to-day problem-solving environments rather than through long-term strategic planning.
Therefore, our system effectively supplements, or, in many cases, substitutes, the strategic function that smaller enterprises often lack. It establishes the company’s current maturity, defines the next priority dimension, quantifies transformation impact, and determines competitive positioning. By systematically addressing these four questions, we convert abstract transformation ambitions into measurable, actionable strategy.
Q: How do you assess the current state of the Indian market and industrial ecosystem?
A: I have lived in Asia for the past twenty-five years. From that vantage point, I view “aggressiveness” not as a liability, but as a strategic asset. In this context, it signifies ambition, drive, and disciplined intensity. It reflects motivation. It signals passion.
India, in particular, demonstrates this energy at scale. The country has a vast cohort of young, highly driven individuals who consistently push upward, professionally, intellectually, and economically. They compete. They adapt. They advance. As a result, India is structurally positioned to expand its global influence in the coming decades.
However, ambition alone will not secure technological leadership. Structural capability must accompany it. One critical priority is AI sovereignty. In practical terms, this means developing indigenous large language models rather than relying exclusively on external platforms. Strategic autonomy in artificial intelligence requires domestic control over core architectures, training data, and governance frameworks. For example, the United Arab Emirates developed Falcon as its own large language model. That move reflects strategic foresight.
Similarly, India must strengthen its position in the semiconductor value chain. Designing and manufacturing AI chips domestically is not merely an industrial objective; it is a sovereignty imperative. AI chips embed architectural decisions, optimization priorities, and increasingly, ethical constraints. If these design parameters originate externally, strategic influence diminishes. Therefore, nations that aspire to long-term technological authority must shape these systems themselves, technically, ethically, and economically.
In short, India possesses the demographic energy and intellectual capital to lead. Yet to translate momentum into durable influence, it must invest decisively in sovereign AI models and semiconductor capabilities. Only then can ambition convert into sustained technological power.
Q: How do you evaluate the progress of the Indian industry in advancing AI capabilities, and what gaps still need to be addressed?
A: I would not characterize my position as satisfaction or dissatisfaction. I remain neutral and analytical. What I can state with confidence is this: India stands at a similar starting point as most other nations in the evolution of industrial AI.
If we step back from the current discourse on industrial artificial intelligence, the reality becomes clear. Globally, most industries remain in the early stages. Many organizations still lack a structured understanding of industrial AI, its architecture, its dimensions, and its operational composition. In fact, defining these components forms a core part of our own training frameworks.
However, before organizations can advance into industrial AI, they must first establish a robust digital transformation foundation under Industry 4.0. Here the data is unequivocal. Approximately 90 percent of the companies we have assessed lack the maturity required to transition into industrial AI. Only about 10 percent demonstrate sufficient readiness, and these are predominantly multinational corporations.
Small and medium-sized enterprises, including micro-enterprises, comprise the remaining 90 percent. Most of them remain constrained at the digital transformation stage. For many, even adopting basic digital tools to improve productivity represents a significant leap. In this context, discussing advanced AI integration becomes premature.
In short, the challenge is not unique to India. It is structural and global. Industrial AI sits at the top of the maturity curve. Yet the vast majority of enterprises have not fully ascended the foundational layers of digital transformation required to reach it.
