Abstract:

The challenge of Industry 4.0 requires a strong transition from physical to digital processes and breaking away from some of the existing production methods. Firms face many problems and difficulties throughout their path, as they need to ensure high levels of quality and diversification of their products and services to maintain or expand their activity. Business ecosystems are moving towards new competitive landscapes where some will fully adopt the existing solutions in Industry 4.0. However, there are tough barriers associated with this transformation process, which may be intrinsic or extrinsic.

The expected fourth industrial revolution has been slightly below expectations for some governments and policy makers from different countries, which could compromise their development and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. Therefore, there have been some discussion about the causes of the resistance to change and lack of adoption of the new solutions, including the lack of information available about I4.0, the lack of personal and technical skills needed, the short-term strategic vision of managers, the financial and financing difficulties and all the coordination problems associated with structural transformations in daily processes.

Thus, the main purpose of this research is to draw an analysis that answer the question: “What are the critical barriers for Portuguese companies in the i4.0 adoption?”. This research is based on a survey that intends to identify and characterize the major challenges to industrial innovation and to detect which have the biggest impact on Portuguese firms. Moreover, we compare the existing literature on barriers to the implementation of industry 4.0. This study aims to verify whether the challenges faced by companies vary according to their size. Given the relevance of this subject for different countries, our conclusions may help to draw some policy recommendations to enhance the implementation of Industry 4. 0. This research is based on survey data and aims to identify which are the main obstacles to industrial innovation and their impact on Portuguese firms. The empirical results will also be compared with the existing literature on barriers to the implementation of industry 4.0. Our conclusions are important for policy recommendations to enhance the implementation of Industry 4.0, especially for the Portuguese case.

Keywords:

Competencies, digital transformation, upskilling, training, industry 4.0.