Track: Special Track: Industry 4.0

Abstract

Contextualizing technology and digitalization, in a period of having to meet sustainable development goals (SDGs), requires a paradigm shift, which calls for collaboration from multiple stakeholders, as well as diverse mechanisms. The current turbulent environment requires an investigation into ways of adopting the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) as a pertinent mechanism for accelerating sustainable development goals. The need to formulate a conceptual framework and adapt it to the South African context, requires careful mapping of the elements of 4IR, the relevant infrastructure and resources, as well as the roles of the relevant stakeholders. The management of perceptions as well as resistance to change in fully attaining the SDGs needs to be borne in mind throughout the process, and the current paper contributes in this respect. The study reported on here, was exploratory in nature, involving a systematic review to effect and respond to the abovementioned investigation. During a review of the literature, 70 articles were reviewed, of which 53 inclusive of peer-reviewed articles and an  archive on 4^th industrial revolution in South Africa met the criteria that the researchers set for ecosystem. Due to limited research on this topic, possible impacting (exogenous variables, were explored to add value and contribute to the study. The review of literature and government archive on the 4^th industrial revolution revealed, some of the ecosystems of 4IR which the current paper demonstrates practically how the 4^th Industrial revolution technology accelerates the achievement of SDGs. Furthermore, the facilitating tools to accelerate the 4^th industrial revolution is smart factories, smart cities, integrated systems, green technologies, cybernetics, the internet of people, the internet of energy, and the internet of things. The paper further makes contribution to the body of literature by conceptualizing the results in the South African context, showing the applicability of the ecosystems onto the local context, and making recommendations in this regard.