Strategic priorities for strengthening the economic security of the state in the context of Industry 4.0

The article outlines strategic priorities for strengthening the state’s economic security in the context of Industry 4.0. It examines how interconnected production technologies influence productivity, critical economic functions, employment, and dependence on infrastructure and suppliers. The research addresses the transition from broad technological objectives to feasible public programs under resource constraints. The methodological framework combines systems and structural-functional approaches, comparative analysis, scenario modeling, and economic assessment of alternatives. Ukrainian and international research provides the theoretical foundation. A hypothetical numerical example illustrates portfolio selection; its assumptions do not reflect estimates of actual government expenditure or observed program performance. Five complementary priorities are identified: resilient critical infrastructure, the diffusion of advanced production technologies, workforce competencies, a reliable data environment and diversified supplies of technological components. Each priority links an economic constraint, a public intervention, and a verifiable outcome. The proposed procedure distinguishes mandatory conditions from the ranking of economically attractive alternatives. Program assessment considers additional social benefits, full resource costs, implementation readiness, and dependencies. Benefits are measured against a baseline without the new intervention, with explicit attention to double counting and the distinction between social value and fiscal transfers. Monitoring focuses on changes in downtime, productivity, the application of acquired skills, data access costs and the capacity to restore critical supplies. A five-year hypothetical example compares five indivisible programs. The initial budget is set at 100 conventional monetary units, while benefits are expressed as present values under a common real discount rate of five per cent. Infrastructure resilience is mandatory, and selected programs require complementary investment in competencies. Under these assumptions, the feasible portfolio with the highest net social benefit combines infrastructure, industrial technology adoption, workforce development and data infrastructure. Its costs equal 100 units, its present benefits total 165 units, and its net social benefit is 65 units. Reducing the budget to 85 units makes it necessary to defer the separate data program while retaining the prerequisites for technology adoption. A uniform 20 percent decline in expected benefits reduces the net benefit of the initial portfolio to 32 units. The example demonstrates why individual benefit-cost ratios cannot replace the assessment of feasible program combinations. Practical application requires transparent access criteria, assigned responsibilities and predetermined review conditions. Further research should quantify sectoral spillovers, regional differences and correlated technological and infrastructure risks. Keywords: economic security of the state, Industry 4.0, strategic priorities, industrial policy, digital transformation, social benefits, resource constraints.