The Visegrad Group and the Industry 4.0

The technological innovation like artificial intelligence (AI), robotic, 3D-printing or digital platform contributes to the economic growth of countries. This study focuses on the innovation capabilities of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. This countries are called the Visegrad Group (V4). The industrial policies, different indicators (for example R&D expenditures, number of patents) and indices (for instance European Innovation Scoreboard) are examined. The data shows that these countries analyzed are innovation followers. The research highlights those factors which can help the V4 to improve their industry 4.0 readiness and their innovation positions in the European Union. In spite of the innovation adopter position, a few Czech, Hungarian, Polish or Slovak firms could achieve enormous success on the global market. For example the Hungarian NNG LLC introduced their iGO Navigation software in 2006. Globally it was the first that fit the Europe map on a one gigabyte memory card. Therefore the second part of our research collects the success factors and skills of those companies. This kind of list could help the entrepreneurs to enhance their business activity. It also supports political decision making, because it collects the critical factors of the firm analyzed.