Enabling Technologies of Industry 4.0 and Their Global Forerunners: An Empirical Study of the Web of Science Database

Knowledge management in organizations brings many benefits for R&D operations of companies and corporations. This empirical study demonstrates the power of large database analyses for industrial strategies and policy. The study is based on the Web of Science database (Core Collection, ISI) and provides an overview of the core enabling technologies of Industry 4.0, as well as the countries and regions at the forefront of the academic landscape within these technologies. The core technologies and technologies of Industry 4.0 and Manufacturing 4.0 are: (1) Internet of Things and related technologies (2) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), (3) Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), and (4) ubiquitous computing. It also covers (5) Cloud computing technologies, including (6) Virtualization and (7) Manufacturing as a Service (MaaS), and new (8) Cyber-physical systems, such as (9) Digital Twin-technology and (10) Smart & Connected Communities. Finally, important for the manufacturing integration Industry 4.0 enabling technologies are (11) Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), (12) Business Process Management (BPM), and (13) Information Integration and Interoperability. All these key technologies and technology drivers were analysed in this empirical demonstration of knowledge management.