Industry 4.0 as a ‘sudden change

The relevance of long waves of economic development for the regional level

Bibliographic Data

ID21601903
AuthorsWalter Scherrer (0000-0002-1082-8157, University of Salzburg, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume29
Issue9
Pages1723-1737
Publication date2021-09-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Planning Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0965-4313 • E-ISSN: 1469-5944
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09654313.2021.1963054
OpenAlexW3191743906
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited19

While the rapid proliferation of the Industry 4.0 concept suggests that it brings about major economic change, the concept lacks a socio-economic foundation of change. In this context, the paper raises three questions: First, how sudden does the change brought about by Industry 4.0 occur, and, second, does it make a difference if it is conceived as sudden or not? Using a model of long waves of economic development and the concept of general purpose-technologies it is argued that much of the change brought about by Industry 4.0 is not of a sudden nature but largely represents the roll-out of the prevailing techno-economic paradigm, and that digitalization and artificial intelligence have the potential to trigger of a next long wave. The third question asks for possible implications of the long-wave perspective for adapting to an upcoming paradigm at the regional level. A major conclusion is that policy measures ought to reach beyond traditional innovation and technology-related policies and be implemented in the appropriate phase of a long wave

Economic system · Economics · Geography · Kondratiev wave · Macroeconomics · Political economy · Political science · Technological change · Third wave · Computer Science · Digital Transformation in Industry · Economic and Technological Innovation · Economic Development and Digital Transformation · Law

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access