Determining the regional potential for development of industry 4.0

Abstract

Industry 4.0 demands specific conditions and resources from regions. Determining and assessing the potential of regions helps to improve the processes of decision-making of different stakeholders. This study aimed to present an approach for ranking regions. A new tool called the Regional Industrial Index (RII) was designed based on a set of 10 indicators. The RII was tested using data from regions in Bulgaria at NUTS 3 level for three years and showed the leading role of the capital region. Similar studies conducted in other countries of the EU and the Balkan states can be used for a comparative perspective. The research contributes to the scientific and practical discourse in the decision-making process for choosing the most relevant regions for developing Industry 4.0.