Industry 4.0 in industrial districts: regional innovation policy for the Toy Valley district in Spain

ABSTRACT

This study is focused on how Industry 4.0 is diffused within a Marshallian industrial district (MID) through collective action. It explains how MIDs adopt Industry 4.0 through collective initiatives for digitization, bypassing many barriers to change through the utilization of a collective project built upon a key feature of MIDs: cooperation. Results from interviews show a real living lab built upon a place-based bottom-up-oriented policy initiative co-designed by policymakers, collective actors and local firms, aimed at facilitating transition into Industry 4.0 in the Toy Valley district in the Valencia region of Spain. The results contribute to the emergent literature on district digitization.

KEYWORDS:

• industrial district
• Industry 4.0
• collective action

JEL:

• O3
• R1

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. See https://www.plattform-i40.de/PI40/Navigation/EN/Home/home.html.

2. For the distinction among them, see Teece (2018) and Martínelli et al. (2021).

3. For example, Smurfit Kappa, packagingfocused; and Johnson Controls or SGR, both first-tier automotive-component firms.

4. For more, see https://www.aiju.es/en/about-us/#about.

5. For more, see https://www.clustervalle.es/.

6. For more on the Valencian Innovation Strategic Plan, see http://www.indi.gva.es/es/web/industria-e-i-d-i/estrategia-politica-industrial.

7. Marcelino Huerta, former Top executive at Famosa.

8. We were granted permission for disclosure because it is a public funding initiative.

9. SABI Bureau van Dijk database, accessed September 2020.

10. See https://www.industriaconectada40.gob.es/Paginas/index.aspx.

 

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Generalitat Valenciana [grant number AICO/2020/123]; and the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades [project number AEI/FEDER UE RTI2018-095739-B-100 ‘Innoradical4.0’].