IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/ecinnt/v35y2026i3p401-423.html

From globalization to reshoring? The role of Industry 4.0 in global value chains across Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Fabio Lamperti
  • Katiuscia Lavoratori
  • Luigi Tredicine

Abstract

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies exhibit peculiar characteristics and can play a diverse role in the reconfiguration of global value chains (GVCs) and global sourcing geography. This paper explores the relationship between Industry 4.0 technologies and reshoring within Europe, focusing on additive manufacturing (AM), the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced industrial robots (AIR). Utilizing data from the OECD Inter-Country Input-Output (ICIO) tables and Eurostat’s Comext database (on international trade in goods) for 27 European countries and the UK from 2009 to 2018, the findings reveal a positive correlation between AIR adoption and reshoring. Conversely, increased IoT investment appears to reduce reshoring and the impact of AM on reshoring is negligible. The research also examines reshoring’s geographical aspects, showing that AIR adoption promotes reshoring from Asia, whereas higher IoT investments correspond to a decrease in reshoring from the region. These results highlight the complexity of reshoring dynamics, which are influenced by both specific I4.0 technologies and geographic context. The study provides new insights into the reconfiguration of GVCs and manufacturing landscapes in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabio Lamperti & Katiuscia Lavoratori & Luigi Tredicine, 2026. "From globalization to reshoring? The role of Industry 4.0 in global value chains across Europe," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 401-423, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ecinnt:v:35:y:2026:i:3:p:401-423
    DOI: 10.1080/10438599.2025.2487145
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/10438599.2025.2487145
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/10438599.2025.2487145?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:ecinnt:v:35:y:2026:i:3:p:401-423. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/GEIN20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.