Industrial revolution race: who will be the global winner of 4IR?

Today's largest manufacturing country headed the output league table nearly two centuries ago before being ousted by Britain in the first industrial revolution. China accounts for 20 per cent of global output, followed by the United States with 18 per cent, Japan 10 per cent, Germany 7 per cent and South Korea with 4 per cent, according to the most recent (2015) data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. The UK is ninth with 2 per cent. In the intervening centuries there have been sizeable shifts. China reclaimed its crown after 150 years by overtaking America during the past decade.