International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

This paper provides an overview of theoretical approaches and methods used to assess the innovative potential of human resources and identification of the key elements and conditions for development of the innovative potential. We suggest indicators to measure the innovative potential assessment which include assessment of opportunities that the external environment provides for implementation of the innovative potential, the effectiveness of implementation of the innovative potential, and the resources available for innovation. The following conditions for development of the innovative potential of human resources were identified: ethical norms and values existing in the society that support the drive to the unknown and a hard work based on the creative approach, a system of continuous education and propagation of innovative activities in the society, a high level of income and a high quality of life, an open and non-conservative social environment.

Tools, which are used while carrying out of the individual managerial functions are constantly evolving and responding to the changes of outer environment. In current conditions the most significant factor, which effects business environment, is Industry 4.0. It is a phenomenon associated mainly with automatization, digitalization and the Internet of Things. The main aim is to identify changes in the application of methods and techniques in carrying out of the individual managerial functions in the context of the impact of the Fourth industrial revolution on the theoretical level, based on a research of available scientific literature. The results of the theoretical research point to the fact that the topic of industry 4.0 is new in the context of management, and the research does not have any influence on the individual managerial functions, which are planning, organizing, controlling, human resources management and leadership. Most of the scientific work focuses on the field planning, organizing and controlling. On the other hand, not mentioned are the functions like human resources management and leadership, within the effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on the tools and methods, which are used for the implementation.

The article presents the direction of development of contemporary human resource management and the use of the human potential in the defense system based on human–employee as the capital of modern organization.

Innovative activity in a region is considered in terms of the knowledge management concept. An approach is proposed for assessing the conditions for innovative activity on the basis of three groups of indicators: indicators, characterizing the financial conditions for innovative activity; indicators, characterizing human resources; indicators, characterizing the knowledge generation sources in a region and their accessibility. The obtained integral estimation allows us to classify regions and, on this basis, differentiate innovation policy.

The formation and development of the concept "Industry 4: 0" is associated with significant changes in the structure and characteristics of human resources. It concerns the problems of the new structure of employment, the transformation of the educational system, the deepening of regional disparities. At the same time, the actions developed within the concept, including various programs, don’t pay due attention to possible social risks and measures to reduce them.

The company operates in a dynamically changing environment, it must keep up with current changes and even overtake those changes using upcoming opportunities. Moreover, the company must have strong ability to create and implement innovation, because thanks to them, in many areas of its activity, the company performs its market’s tasks and developing. The company’s innovative activity depends mainly on human resources, knowledge and entrepreneurship, which essence lies in creating and searching for innovation and discovering new relations in the economic system. The advantage of modern enterprise is its human resources and their development, learning and creativity capability. The aim of the study is to isolate the factors influencing the activity of innovative enterprises.

All European countries including Bulgaria need to promote the entrepreneur spirit through young people, to encourage the creation of new business and to stabilize the institutional and culture environment for innovations. The encouragement and advancement of present and future entrepreneurs (mostly young people) is a basic mechanism to revive the Bulgarian economy and ground the post crisis development. Using a survey is made an investigation through young people with bachelor degree in economics and their readiness for entrepreneurship. Findings from this study indicate that there are many challenges and problems that are an obstacle to start business in Bulgaria but many young people have motivation for entrepreneurship.

The maturing of markets and market relations lead to increased competiveness and consumer’s requirements as well as transform the quality as a factor of company’s success and survival. Increasing the human resource quality through using and applying appropriate methods and technics contributes to the organization stability. The human resources transformation into human capital is a basic condition for development of the enterprises. The survey is based upon own questionnaire through the employee in event management company. The results indicate that taking measures in accordance with the new good practices and motivation policies lead to positive changes and development of the company.

New information and communication technologies have entered the market, facilitating full automation across a broad range of industries. This development is called Industry 4.0. Current predictions claim, there will be a redistribution of the workforce and a redesign of job profiles. New requirements are being placed on employees in terms of digital competence, problem solving or humanmachine communication. For companies, it is going to be crucial to develop an adequate personnel development strategy as part of their corporate strategy, thus providing various accompanying measures for the change process. What are the challenges the Human Resources departments are facing in their efforts to support their employees? This paper deals with various aspects of human resources and the impact of digitalization on the workplace of the future. Therefore a capability maturity model was developed and will be presented within this article. Using the model, companies can detect their individual level of digitization in the Human Resources field and will be able to implement a future development strategy.