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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the conventional approach to advanced manufacturing initiatives. Buzzwords like smart manufacturing or industrie 4.0 are directly linked to the discussions about the future of industrial activity. Little is said, however, about developed countries actively reinforcing their bets on the relevance of manufacturing.

This study opted for analyzing academic papers and governmental white papers. Somehow similar to those studies on compared experiences, here the US and German initiatives are put into perspective.

The critical interpretation of several works allows us to state that advanced manufacturing experiences consist in a set of policies aiming at industrial and technological leadership in a scenario of fierce competition. The initiatives seek to strengthen manufacturing activities by means of a mission-oriented approach, fostering enabling key technologies.

This paper fulfills an identified need to critically study the advanced manufacturing initiatives. Away from conventional approaches, the paper puts into perspectives the main ongoing initiatives on advanced manufacturing and interprets them as deliberated national efforts to strengthen manufacturing activities by means of enabling technologies. The paper also points out preliminary recommendations for Brazil.

Change agents are individuals who can successfully transform aspects of how organisations operate. In education, teachers as change agents are increasingly seen as vital to the successful operation of schools and self-improving school systems. To date, however, there has been no systematic investigation of the nature and role of teacher change agents. To address this knowledge gap, we undertook a systematic review into five key areas regarding teachers as change agents. After reviewing 70 outputs we found that current literature predominantly positions teacher change agents as the deliverers of top-down change, with the possibility of bottom-up educational reform currently neglected.