Regional factors associated with smart factory adoption in South Korea

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between regional characteristics and smart factory adoption in South Korea by analyzing smart factory data. Our findings reveal that agglomeration economies and regional occupational structures significantly influence smart factory adoption. Moreover, we identified a neighboring effect, where the presence of existing smart factories within a region fosters further adoption, underscoring the impact of local industrial ecosystems on the diffusion of smart technologies. Our findings show that the impacts of agglomeration economies, occupational structures, and neighboring effects on smart factory adoption vary across different technology levels of smart factories and types of regions, suggesting a complex interplay between regional dynamics and technological advancement in the adoption process.