The Contribution of Action Research to Industry 4.0 Policies: Bringing Empowerment and Democracy to the Economic Efficiency Arena

The article is written in the intersection of the fields of regional development and action research, which use different languages when referring to development. The first revolves around innovation revenues, market shares and competitiveness while the second focuses on emancipation, democratisation and empowerment. Based on an experience in Gipuzkoa, Basque Country (Spain), the case used in this paper tells us how a regional government, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and eleven county development agencies are collaborating in order to avoid small firms falling behind in digitalisation processes. The main argument is that action research can help construct collaborative governance modes which, as well as helping specific firms become competitive, empower territorial actors as a collective subject that decides on its own future.