Industry 4.0 has been a major force framing the societal, economic and technological environment after 2010. Exposed to ongoing digital transformation, companies are able to exploit opportunities offered by Industry 4.0, and are forced to manage immanent risks and barriers. However, studies on opportunities and challenges relevant for the implementation of Industry 4.0 for companies are scarce. In response to this literature gap, the aim of this exploratory research is to provide a deeper analysis of the level of digital transformation of companies in Serbia based on a digital maturity model, and examine their managers’ opinions on the most important driving forces and implementation barriers. The paper uses exploratory research design based on a survey responded to by 122 high-level managers within the Serbian manufacturing sector. Findings show that, contrary to expectations, digitally transforming enterprises do not see human resources as a driving force, but rather as an obstacle to Industry 4.0 implementation, when they lack necessary competences and skills. Resistance to change caused by Industry 4.0 implementation is not seen as an important barrier. On the other hand, efficiency factors represent the main driving force, while the lack of competences and financial resources represent the greatest barriers to Industry 4.0 implementation.

Previous research has pointed out that Industry 4.0 will lead to more sustainable production; however, it may have profound effects on European competitiveness. Today, firms in the CEE countries face a limited scope for continued economic expansion, and hence there is a growing pressure on them to move upward in the global value chain by investing heavily in advanced technology. Consequently, the authors argue that B2B firms from the CEE countries can have a massive impact on Europe’s long-term competitiveness by reversing the effect of digital transformation due to their strong interdependencies on other European economies. Therefore, in a cross-country survey, research data were collected (n = 302) about the driving forces, barriers, and role of stakeholders in the implementation of digital transformations. The authors found that some technologies are implemented much more frequently compared to others, with some indication for country specialization. The leading driving force is customer satisfaction followed by productivity and financial motives. Shortage of skilled human resources and high implementation costs are the main barriers. The firms tend to rely on universities and research centers, while the government is perceived only as a financial provider. The results are also informative for practitioners and policymakers—providing them with benchmarks.

After the fiscal consolidation is successfully over, what new policy challenges await Serbia? In the following period, beside sustainability of fiscal balance, the core challenge is going to be the implementation of the new model of economic growth. Without adequate growth, structural inflation could easily return. A new model should provide sustainability and inclusivity proposals. Before we define the new growth model, we yearn to understand the causes of vulnerability and risk exposure, as well as what underpins the recent shift in the economic and development paradigm. Also, we intend to find answers to related questions as follows. Are we ready to embrace new normal in defining economic rules based on a heterodox approach? Have we made progress in creating an environmentally friendly model of economic growth that can ensure Serbia's convergence to the EU income levels? How would a new set of policy choices impact the long-run GDP growth and wellbeing? Our intention is to provide the new growth model (and related policy platform) which would become a true force for a better Serbia capable of overcoming persistent economic imbalances and fault policy lines and forming a foundation of a sustainable and inclusive economy, both toward the people and nature.

The dominance habit, at the core of human nature, continually pushes people into conflict with each other as well as against nature. This tendency has been exacerbated to the extreme during the period of economic neoliberalism. Since economic neoliberalism has lasted for more than four decades, a great many structural imbalances and anomalies of the economic system have emerged. Consequently, the economy, society, and the entire planet have remained in an unsustainable mode. In contrast to the exponential progress made since the start of economic liberalism, during the period of economic neoliberalism the economy and society entered regression, incapable of capitalizing on the growth potential from the last two industrial revolutions (3IR and 4IR). The economy entered a structural crisis because economic rules and policy platform brutally ignored planetary boundaries and the laws of nature as well. Precisely, without inbuilt corrective mechanisms aimed at mitigating the main fractures of the system, the economy has been floating between simultaneous destructions on the supply and demand side, and finally entered a structural, multi, and permanent crisis, simply, a "permacrisis". Furthermore, external asymmetric shocks, such as climate change, pandemics, and geopolitical disputes, have continuously deepened the fractures of the system and created new ones. In this paper, we intend to argue that when the pieces relevant for the functioning of the planet, envisioned as the "system dynamics" of three layers, cannot fit together, it is necessary to start with the reshuffling of the socio-economic layer, as the root cause of today's major planetary problems not only in the economy and society but also in the physical system and biosphere. The imperative of a new era is that economic rules should respect planetary boundaries and be compatible with the laws of nature, primarily reversibility and evolution. The aforementioned implies the necessity to initiate the transition from a "new normal", actually, abnormal, to a "better normal". Negative rebounds can only be reversed through the creation of a new context capable of internalizing negative externalities resulting from prior development. The ultimate outcome of such a radical change could be the birth of a sustainable (and inclusive) economy, both towards people and nature. The transition from an old to a new system is inevitable to steer the economy and society away from the permacrisis and put it on a sustainable trajectory. If the new economy intends to be in harmony with nature, the related transition could be named the "green transition" or the path back to a green planet as the context in which the seeds of human life were originally nurtured. Following the aforementioned logic, the paper is organized into six parts, excluding the Introduction and Conclusion. In Part 1 and Part 2, our focus will be on the root causes of structural imbalances (and anomalies) within the socio-economic system and the physical system, respectively, in the Anthropocene era. Part 3 presents a literature review of the attempts to mitigate inbuilt structural imbalances of economic neoliberalism. The intention is to address the green transition as a prerequisite for a sustainable economy and society. In Part 4, we delve into the strategic audit of Serbia's economy fact sheet at the outset of the green transition. The starting point in advocating for Serbia's return to a sustainable economy path is to provide an accurate diagnosis of the situation, addressing both macro and micro aspects, including everything in between. Part 5 offers an empirical test of attitudes towards SDGs/ESG sustainability metrics in Serbia's business community. Empirical data suggests a subtle inclination toward the environmentalization of the economy and sustainability-related disclosure. Consequently, in Part 6 we discuss the government's role in preparing the green transition action plan.

Serbia's economy is full of binding constraints feeding the crisis of transitionism. Breaking away from transitionism requires a complex reform agenda, including three sets of activities. First, annulation of past failures through crisis management (or fiscal consolidation) as well as structural reforms. Second, adoption of the new growth model and economic policy framework consistent with paradigm change in economic theory and policy, as well as with new normalities. Third, investment in new fields in accordance with mega trends. This paper updates the status of debate about what to do in Serbia after success in program of fiscal consolidation 2015-17. There are two priorities. First, for catching up to the EU, Serbia must double the output in the foreseeable future. Second, to achieve meta-national advantage, Serbia's economy must undertake digital transformation. Our intention is to offer a conceptual paper, by debating broad-based institutional design questions with some nitty-gritty technical points and provide recommendations based on past experience in Serbia and successful examples of other countries. After fiscal consolidation, we propose concentrating on two remaining issues. Along with locking-in fiscal balance, our priorities are: the manufacturing-led growth model based on digital transformation and heterodox policy platform with industrial policy for ICT in the center. In the suggested growth model (and policy platform), the main sources of growth are advanced manufacturing and high value-added services. In terms of digital transformation, Serbia is lagging behind its counterparts from the EU. In closing the gap, the role of industrial policy is imminent. Our objective is to analyze the general principles to guide industrial policy for ICT sector in the long-run, as well as to discuss specific measures to be taken today. In our previous papers we have already advocated for heterodox approach giving the framework with concrete hard macroeconomic policy regime as well as the architecture of industrial policies, both horizontal and vertical. This paper explores how policy makers can facilitate transition toward digital economy and what choices they can make to prepare for the impending wave of change. In a digital transformation, Serbia must concentrate on structural reforms based on broader adoption of ICT products and solutions in advanced manufacturing that will reconfigure value chains of industry leaders and boost productivity in tradable sectors from the real economy (manufacturing, agriculture, physical infrastructure, transport and logistics, waste management, etc.). Also, it must concentrate of high value added services (science, education, health care, programming, etc.) due to their catalyst role in dynamic economic growth. Previous logic is a base for structuring the following sections. The paper is organized in seven sections, apart from Introduction and Conclusion. We start with two main realities, the fourth industrial revolution and demising orthodox approach in economics and economic policy formulation, continue with new global normalities and heterodox approach as an antidote to crawling jobless growth around the world, and finish with fiscal balance and the role of industrial policies in the new growth model as well as with the role of digitalization in tradable sectors. Special attention is dedicated to industrial policy in ICT and its role in Serbia's economic recovery.

These days in the economy and society, along with well-known and highly elaborated internal structural imbalances created by economic neoliberalism and exacerbated by fault lines in reactive policies during serial crises, new disruptive forces related to external asymmetric shocks have been unleashed. Due to widening imbalances, the economy fell in a structural crisis (cascading crisis, rolling crisis or a confluence of crises). A high probability of the emergence of apocalyptic consequences warns us that the situation is extremely alarming. The global economy and the planet are in a serious trap of dying slowly but surely. Finding a systemic solution to rising imbalances is the imperative of our time. The so-called "green transition" is a big idea to mitigate the crisis and make a recovery. It is a way to annul the existing structural imbalances and misconceptions of reactive policies, as well as a platform for sustainable economic growth in balance with the limits of nature. This approach is particularly suitable for developing economies that aspire to catch up with the developed world through new industrialization. In this paper, we attempt to concentrate, among dozens of complex issues concerning the transition from an old to a new economic order, on those solutions pertaining to the economic system adjustments in line with the natural limits in a landlocked, small, open, and developing economy such as Serbia. The great majority of economics scholars have agreed upon the root causes of the crisis as well as the key assumptions regarding problem solutions. In defining our proposals, despite different angles, we intend to integrate the most effective elements of a widely accepted but outside-the-box view. No doubt, it is not certain for how long the current crisis will last. Some mitigation activities already exist. Unfortunately, it is not enough. To reverse the regression trend, four questions need to be answered. What is a global priority for action, and what to ignore? What would be a feasible and effective conceptual platform for the crisis mitigation and the subsequent revival and establishment of a sustainable and inclusive economy? How to coordinate transformative activities in the right direction at the local level? How to weight different instruments to finance the transition from a new normal to a better normal, particularly from the perspective of the mission of economic entities and performance measurement system? To answer the previous questions, the economic theory and public policy should first replace the nexus of neoliberal rules, particularly by making well-being a relevant tenet, not only selfinterest. That requires a paradigm change, in both microeconomics and macroeconomics, by adopting a new nexus of economic rules, capable of explaining the behavior of economic agents, sometimes irrational and inconsistent, but always under the impact of natural limits and "universal connectivity" as a dominant free good in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The above requires the implementation of the circular model of growth and heterodox economic policy platform. To make the transition to a new system efficient, funding of this endeavor should be of paramount interest. Following the previous line of reasoning, the material is organized in six parts, besides Introduction and Conclusion. The Part 1 is dedicated to the necessity for a fully radical change to mitigate the structural crisis and to set up a new conceptual platform for sustainable and inclusive growth. The Part 2 is focused on the fault lines of the neoliberal economic policy platform, confirming that this platform cannot provide the conceptual base for economic policies during the system change. The Part 3 proposes the green transition as a solution to the aforementioned problems. To invigorate a greener economy, the Part 4 is suggesting the new ways of financing as a smart enough pivot. The Part 5 discusses the transition toward a greener economy as a challenging response to the current economic situation in Serbia. The Part 6 is focused on the necessity for the accreditation of the green transition program for Serbia.