Introduction:

The modern global economy is at the threshold of the new industrial revolution, which is proved by a lot of actual tendencies. First, large duration of the global economic crisis of the early twenty-first century and impossibility of overcoming it with the help of the existing possibilities of economic systems shows depletion of the potential of the previous technological model. In the sphere of industrial production, the crisis was first manifested in overproduction of industrial goods and impossibility of selling it in domestic economic systems or in the global markets—which led to massive bankruptcy of industrial companies around the world and increase of protectionist measures from governments of various countries. Second, according to the modern provisions of the economic theory (in particular, the theory of economic cycles, the theory of crises, the theory of innovations, etc.), overcoming the global crisis requires starting a new wave of innovations. This tendency is supported by intensive progress of a lot of countries in formation of knowledge economy, due to which potential of the global economic system as to its future innovational development is strengthened. Innovations are a generally acknowledged global priority of socioeconomic development. Third, over the recent decades, scholars from different countries conducted research which resulted in new technologies, most of which are the leading production technologies (technological innovations)—i.e., they are oriented at the real sector of economy. These technologies have to form and stimulate intensive development of new high-tech spheres of industry, but they have not yet been used in practice. Fourth, at the level of separate companies and even countries, there are initiatives on revolutionary technical modernization that are aimed at achieving unprecedented innovational development. In the conditions of global competition, success of economic subjects and economic systems in the global market could be ensured only by unique competitive advantages. In order to achieve and preserve them, it is necessary to use new technologies that ensure optimization of socioeconomic and business processes. Technical direction and industrial focus on the viewed tendencies, as well as their aiming at activation of development of high-tech spheres of national economy xi and starting the process of innovational development of economic subjects and economic systems, formed the hypothesis of this research—industrial revolution of the twenty-first century is Industry 4.0, as it combines the above features and conforms to all actual tendencies in the modern global economy. The purpose of this book is to verify the offered hypothesis, to determine the potential of Industry 4.0 in starting the new Industrial Revolution in the twenty-first century, and to develop practical recommendations for managing this process.