The adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies: the case of Italian manufacturing SMEs

The concept of Industry 4.0 underpins a wide range of technologies, with different applications and potential impacts. This article enriches the limited research on this complex topic by investigating opportunities, barriers and drivers of processes through which firms select and adopt Industry 4.0 technologies by investigating a sample of Italian manufacturing SMEs. Results highlight that the adoption of I4.0 technologies mainly follow two trajectories, product and process innovation, and require to be consistent with the firm’s competitive and innovation strategies. Future research directions are also discussed.