Industry 4.0 and Competitiveness

Abstract

Industry 4.0 has come to be the beginning of a new era for humanity along with rapidly-progressive technology. Whereas this new era has favourably created fresh opportunities for governments, businesses, and individuals, it is seemingly a problematic step to swiftly integrate these new forthcoming technologies in society in order to sustain economic welfare. First having appeared in the 17th century, the industrial revolutions then prioritised manpower only as a physical force whilst Industry 4.0, last of the industrial revolutions, gives precedence to brainpower as the most prominent element in creating added value. Thus, such circumstances have led to the withdrawal of the foreign direct investments to the countries that have been drawing in these investments owing to their low-cost labour, and therefore caused vital problems within global economy and competitiveness. Industry 4.0 has changed not only the structure of labour but also significant factors that affect competitiveness such as institutions, the financial system, the infrastructure, innovation skills, health, education, and macroeconomic variables. Considerable changes can be observed regarding the competitiveness factors and creating competitive quality and advantages in this ever-changing and-developing world economy. This study evaluates these innovations and changes that have appeared after Industry 4.0 and interprets the statistics and the data. The effects of the emerging innovations on the countries' competitiveness have been investigated after which the positive and negative effects were discussed comparatively.