Digitalization: Rise of the (Mega)Machines Drawing upon the work of Lewis Mumford, this paper discusses the use of digital technology in terms of polytechnics and monotechnics. The research is conducted by performing a study of prior literature on the history of digital technology in Sweden together with an analysis of Swedish government documents on digitalization. The findings reveal how digital technology was developed for military and scientific needs and then implemented in the public sector, supported by a bureaucratic structure in the 1960s. After a period of pessimism and decentralization in the 1970s and 1980s, digital technology was subject to increased expectations through renewed leadership and additional networked capabilities in the 1990s. After a setback following the dotcom crash, the terminology shifted again: through digital agendas in 2010xe2x80x932011, digitalization became a dominant term for the use of digital technology in government documents. This paper concludes by presenting five contrast pairs (decentralization and centralization, pluralism and convergence, tool and force, democracy and efficiency, and a serving technology versus a technology that demands adaptation), which can be utilized to analyze what views on technology that become dominant in policies, and practice.

Towards Industry 4.0? Digital Maturity of the Manufacturing Industry in a Swedish Region The purpose of this paper is to assess the digital maturity of the manufacturing industry in a Swedish region. Data is collected using a survey conducted among the manufacturing industry in the region. Variables are based on prior research on digital maturity and Industry 4.0, and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. An initial finding was that several of the small organizations within the manufacturing industry does not have a basic digital presence in the form of a website, email or social media accounts, which calls for alternative approaches when assessing and developing digital maturity among these actors. The results from the survey reveal that perceived potential of digitalization and organizational enablers are ranked higher than actual operationalizations in the form of technology implementations and projects. Moreover, the digital maturity varies on variables such as organization size, location of customer base, and level of technological output. Organizations with a high degree of female employees perceive a higher digital maturity concerning some variables, which is an interesting subject for further studies. The overall conclusion is that a large part of the industrial sector in the region has not implemented anything that resemble the concept of Industry 4.0 in the literature.