An introduction to the new challenges and promise of I-4.0 based commercialisation in the COVID-19-induced 'low-touch economy' ecosystem

The Fourth Industrial Revolution - Industry 4.0 (I-4.0) provides innovators new commercial promise and challenges. For the first time, service-based disruptive technologies are included as harbingers of the Schumpeterian economic industrial waves. The strategic, tactical, and operational importance of disruptive technologies and their resultant discontinuous innovations that underpin a new industrial wave are game-changing for state, regional, national, and global economies. However, there are always barriers, both technical and social, to new technology product adoption. The COVID-19-induced industry forcing function has created a ‘low-touch economy', changing business action and creating a new normal. We focus on the challenges to the realisation of I-4.0. We use the internet of things (IoT) as our exemplar. IoT is the first service-based technology to support an industrial revolution. It challenges the traditional view of how firms compete. It is creating wealth and jobs and is an agent of societal transformation. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.