ifkad articles

Investigating the implications of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies on sustainability

Nicola Bellantuono, Pierpaolo Pontrandolfo, Barbara Scozzi

Despite their heterogeneity, Industry 4.0 enabling technologies have been recognized as a unique multi-faceted set of innovation that is able to provide disruptive innovation and define a new industrial paradigm, whose pervasiveness is experienced irrespective of sector, company size, or adopted business model. In this paper, we present the preliminary results of an analysis, based on case studies retrieved in extant literature on this topic, aimed at investigating whether and in which way Industry 4.0 enabling technologies impact on companies’ sustainability, especially with respect to the environmental and social dimensions. The goal is to contribute to provide an overall view wherein the different Industry 4.0 technologies are analyzed in terms of their implications on the social and environmental dimensions of sustainability.

IN: Proceedings IFKAD 2019 – Knowledge Ecosystems and Growth
PP: 1677-1686