The effect of innovation and technological developments under Industry 4.0 on the economic growth of selected OECD countries: Panel aata analysis

In the historical process, industrial revolutions have taken place in different periods. The industrial revolution is not a spontaneous process. Almost everything that has been discovered in line with the needs of people since past centuries has emerged with the success of the previous discovery. In this study, industry 4.0 was introduced after the first, second, and third industrial revolutions and the social effects of these revolutions were examined. The importance of industry 4.0 and the reasons or factors that were effective in its emergence were discussed and examined separately. In the second part, the concepts that enable the formation of industry 4.0, the importance of technological innovation, and the variables expressing innovative technological development are examined in terms of OECD countries. In the third part, seven countries, which are among the OECD countries, were included and those are USA, Germany, France, Japan, Korea, England, and Turkey, considering their economic efficiency. In the study, Panel Data Analysis covering the years 2000-2017 was made by using the data of GDP growth rate, R&D expenditures, number of researchers interested in R&D, exports of information and communication technology products, number of patent applications, number of scientific and technical journal articles, high technology exports. According to the country-specific results, the patent application, which is considered as an innovation indicator, positively affects growth in the USA, growth, and high technology exports in Germany. The number of scientific and technological journal articles, another innovation indicator, positively affects growth in the USA, England, Japan, and Korea, and high-tech exports in the USA, Germany, France, Korea, and Turkey. Another innovation indicator, the number of researchers working in R&D has a positive effect on high technology exports in France, Japan, and Korea and on growth in Turkey. High-tech exports, which show the economic efficiency of technological developments, do not have a direct effect on growth, but in the country analysis, it has been concluded that it had a positive effect on economic growth only in the USA.