INTERNET OF THINGS AND THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF ECONOMY WITHIN THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Abstract

The paper analyzes the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) and argues that IoT is the ultimate stage of digitalization and the core and engine of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) marks the beginning of a new era of technological and economic development and is a synthesis of many new scientific and technological fields that are driving farreaching and radical changes in the economy and social life. A developed and highly structured digital economy is a prerequisite for the development of 4IR. The base of key new technologies driving 4IR is the digitalization of everything. We can say that the process of digitalization, unceasingly growing and developing through the conquest of all areas and domains of economy and society, is being transformed into the Internet of Things, thereby establishing itself as one of the leading technologies of 4IR. Realizing the full Internet of Things in the near future is expected to bring about many radical and allencompassing changes, which bring about unprecedented challenges and raise many new questions.