World Manufacturing Industries in the Post-industrial Society: Tendencies and Regional Shifts

Different paces and directions of the development of countries and world regions reflect the transformation of the spatial configuration of the world manufacturing industry. The key trend in the development and transformation of the modern spatial structure of the world manufacturing industry is a rapid growth of high-tech production. The purpose of this research is to reveal regional shifts in the world manufacturing production, including high-tech production, which is a driving force behind the economic growth and development of countries in the post-industrial era. The authors used the statistical base of UNIDO, the World Bank, the US Science Foundation, and many other sources to collect data for the research. The basis for the calculations was the database of Science and Engineering Indicators. The work analyzes the dynamics of manufacturing industry production, as well as production and export (import) of high-technology products in regions and countries in 2001–2016. The work shows that there is a shift toward Asia in the location of production capacities in the world during the analyzed period. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.