REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE ERA OF INDUSTRY 4.0

Abstract

Regional development is a complex challenge for policymakers in government, business, and industrial leadership. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, labeled Industry 4.0, has created integrated opportunities for a circular economy involving actors from different society strata. This paper presents an integrated approach that combines conventional strategic planning methods with tools adapted to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The regional development methods discussed here are demonstrated with a real‐life case study from a major regional development project initiated by policymakers. The integrated approach presented here lists opportunities and challenges in regional development applications with interest to both researchers and policy makers. The case study is from the North of Israel, which also is called the Galilee. The Galilee is considered a geographical and social peripheral region in Israel, and, as such, it creates significant complexities and challenges for regional development policymakers. As a peripheral region, the Galilee suffers from major weaknesses such as low income, low productivity, poor services, and negative migration, especially of young populations. The paper presents the theoretical foundation of an integrated approach which includes an assessment using the Industrial Maturity for Advanced Manufacturing (IMAM) tool developed at the Samuel Neaman Institute, Technion, Israel. The IMAM scale assesses the maturity and ability of industrial companies to adapt and implement innovative and advanced manufacturing technologies and processes. We suggest that an integrated approach combining a strategic plan and an IMAM assessment can be replicated in other industrial zones.

Keywords

• fourth industrial revolution
• industrial maturity
• innovation and productivity
• regional development
• strategic program