Especially with the disaster in Japan at Fukujima, but also with disasters like the actual flodding of Thailand, the world has learned how easy global supply chains can be affected by events, that have been in former time isolated to a country or a region. Long after the floods recede, supply chains feel the pain. To my mind this is a clear sign that robustness of supply chains will play a major role in the future. 

We set up at the centre the research ideas of collaboration and integration, which are very relevant to the global, regional and national supply chains. Anyway, the way collaboration and integration will be done in the future will be far different from today. Efficiency is still very important, but security of supply via robust supply chains will be of much greater value than today.