Unravelling the fourth industrial revolution: a comparative study of a label Online publication date: Thu, 13-Oct-2022
by Dominique Nijssen; Roger Bemelmans; Harro van Lente
International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management (IJTPM), Vol. 22, No. 4, 2022
Abstract: It is a commonplace to claim we are on the brink of a new technological revolution; many actors share such expectations and persuasive visions. This paper is concerned with the label of the fourth industrial revolution, a term re-coined in 2016 by Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum. We aim to unravel the fourth industrial revolution by connecting such visions to concrete technological developments. First, we identified influential visionary individuals; second, we distilled the most promising technologies from their visions and, third, we traced these technologies back in research, development and innovation agendas of governments. As a fourth step we monitored the evolution of 33 promising technologies for the period 2000-2019 Based on this analysis, we can conclude that the promising technologies being mentioned in the visions of influential individuals, governments and science differ in priority and have a different meaning.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management (IJTPM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook