In the short history of Hungarian industry there were relevant changes several times, which had a great impact not only on industrial production and employment, but also on the spatial pattern of industry. After the regime change and latest economic crisis Industry 4.0 or/and the fourth industrial revolution mean(s) newer challenge. Due to information and communication technologies (ICT), which can be considered the basis of Industry 4.0 radical changes can be expected in all fields of life and numerous questions will emerge. The primary aim of this paper is to reveal the geography of older and newer information and communication technologies and their relationship with the spatial pattern of Hungarian industry. The main question is whether the digital divide follows the industrial divide in the Hungarian economic space or not. According to the analysis based on different ICT and industrial indicators, there is no close correlation between the digital and industrial spaces. The geography of Industry 4.0 is characterised by a sharp north-south division.
The importance of this research stems from the need to ensure the sustainability of cross-border cooperation through a better understanding of its determinants and causal relationships. While having common features and patterns, cross-border cooperation is always expressed through the relations of specific countries and peoples. Therefore, based upon the PLS-SEM methodology, the authors consider the fundamental factors influencing the external cooperation of Hungary’s transboundary regions. The advantage of the PLS-SEM method is that it enables researchers to simultaneously identify and approximate hidden connections between input data and to construct a regression model describing the relationship between input data. Despite widespread application in economic studies, the authors have not found the use of PLS-SEM for studying cross-border cooperation issues in the current scientific literature. The authors have built a model to assess the hidden factors of cross-border cooperation and to identify the indirect influence of certain factors. The novelty of the research is to identify the determinants of sustainable cross-border cooperation and the relationship between them in a multi-level system of cross-border interaction between businesses, people, and the State. In the Hungarian context, transport infrastructure and business travel are shown to have a direct positive impact on cross-border cooperation. For the first time, tourism and socio-economic conditions have been shown to have powerful but indirect impacts. This work could be the beginning of gathering new evidence on the determinants and causation of cross-border cooperation in the context of other countries. An important finding of the study is the growing importance of indicators of the new, post-industrial economy. As for recommendations, the authors focus on state, regional, and municipal support measures, awareness of the possibilities of cross-border cooperation, the need to develop e-commerce, and alternative energy as a modern basis for converting Hungary’s cross-border position into a competitive advantage.
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