Toward inclusive growth: technology in development economics through the lens of bibliometric analysis

Abstract This research uses a bibliometric analysis of literature that came out between 2019 and 2024, using the Scopus database, and using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) for the identification of the effect of different digital technologies that include artificial intelligence (AI), ICT, and green technology with regard to economic development. It focuses on manufacturing, urbanism, and sustainable supply chain management to show where digitalization adds value and enables a company or organization to meet its sustainable development goal objectives. Thus, the initiatives in the sphere of digitalization, legal foundations, and financial incentives at the state level, as well as regional programs for the development of technological infrastructure and economic activities, are shown to be the essential prerequisites of advanced technological development and corresponding economic processes. The major themes like smart cities, green agenda, and fourth industrial revolution are placed at a strategic vision of future research acknowledging new economic paradigms for sustainability. At the same time, the analysis supports the multimodal perspective on discussing digitalization in terms of inequality and participation as well as the role of education in the worldwide context. The study offers also relevant recommendations for further studies, such as a regional analysis and the consequences of AI and green development over a longer period. In total, they provide substantial inputs into the debate on digitalization and economic development calling for multidisciplinary approaches to embracing the social effects of the social transformation.