Authors: Roberta Capello and Camilla Lenzi

The 4.0 technological transformation rests on the creative recombination of basic and general technologies with specific domains of application. Basic hardware and software technologies and basic connectivity systems support wideranging technological fields. Digital networks, mobile digital devices, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, simulation algorithms for learning machines, the Internet of Things, sensors, big data applications and cybersecurity are only some of them.

The recombinatorial nature of 4.0 technologies leads to a radical reconfiguration of technology markets. It opens up possibilities for obtaining profits from creative inventions to small and new firms, including firms located in laggard regions (Map 1). In countries leading 4.0 technological trends (i.e. Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and Switzerland), almost all regions contribute (and not negligibly) to the production of recombinatorial 4.0 patents with a specific application, and several regions making a significant contribution are located in advanced areas of follower countries (e.g. Italy, Spain and Belgium). However, the phenomenon is not confined to leading regions. Inventing areas also emerge in eastern countries such as Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary, and in the Baltics (notably in Estonia). They are generally regions that host the capital city or second-tier cities in the national context (Map 1).