A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF INNOVATION-BASED AND IMITATION-BASED ECONOMIES IN THE ERA OF THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Abstract

Nowadays, we live in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in which the digitization, automatization and robotization process enabling the wider use of information and communication technologies reorganizes the operation of the economies. In previous research, innovationand imitation-based economies have been classified using multivariate statistical methods to highlight the duality of technological progress. The Fourth Industrial Revolution offers an opportunity to reorganize global power relations; innovation followers can become innovation leaders due to new technologies, as well as, innovation leaders can lag behind without innovation. The World Economic Forum creates the new Global Competitiveness Index 4.0 which measures the relevant components of competitiveness in 140 countries in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This research aims to compare the economic performance of innovationand imitation-based economies in the relevant field of technological progress based on GCI 4.0 using multivariate statistical methods.