The Measurement of Industry 4.0: An Empirical Cluster Analysis for EU Countries

Abstract

Based on findings regarding existing indicators for the measurement of Industry 4.0, the goal of the presented article is to create our own composite indicator and carry out a cluster analysis for EU countries. There is a relatively large amount of academic studies in the area of the measurement of Industry 4.0 that focus on the composite indicators that attempt to capture this phenomenon statistically. At the moment, however, there are no available timelines of these composite indicators. In the empirical section, we have created our own indicator – the “Industry 4.0 relative performance index”. This Index was computed using the methodology of the World Economic Forum. Computation of our own composite indicator has made it possible to record the development of Industry 4.0 performance in time and thus evaluate the relative positions of member states. Cluster analysis was carried out for the years 2011 and 2019, and data was extracted from Eurostat and Worldbank statistics. Results of this paper may serve as guidance for future targeting of cohesive EU policy in the field of Industry 4.0 support, which in the future may contribute to strengthening the position of the EU economy as a whole.