1 research outputs found
Digitization of the manufacturing sector across the EU: assessing readiness for industry 4.0
Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Information Systems and Technologies ManagementIndustry 4.0 is a concept that represents the adoption by industrial companies of techniques
and processes allowed by digitization, cloud computing, the internet of things and big data to
gain competitive advantages in domestic and global markets. Measuring how the
manufacturing sector is adopting Industry 4.0 is challenging, given that there is not a closed
definition of the term and that the collection of information is not specifically directed to
Industry 4.0 concepts. Recognizing these difficulties, the present study measures the presence
of the factors that characterize Industry 4.0 across EU countries. The analysis provides
evidence that the existence of a digital infrastructure combined with the analytical capabilities
to deal with big data emerge as the two dimensions that show the readiness for Industry 4.0
in each country. At EU level, five homogeneous groups of countries were found, showing large
disparities across countries. The implementation of the single digital market strategy with
regard to the manufacturing sector demands the collection of more detailed information on
Industry 4.0