RANKED: The 16 countries set to benefit the most from the next industrial revolution

The idea is that computer automation and robots will take jobs, fundamentally changing the structure of the global economy.

Some countries will win, and others will lose out as the world changes, and it's not clear yet who is best placed to cash in.

But analysts at UBS, led by Paul Donovan, put together a ranking of which countries are most likely to do well in the next 20 years based on a combined metric of the flexibility of their labour markets, how skilled their workers are, and how prepared the education system is for change.

UBS also looked at how well the countries' legal systems protected private property rights and whether their physical infrastructure can cope with the change. The lower the total score, the better placed the country is to take advantage of the coming industrial revolution.

On an economic level, all countries are competing for scarce resources and capital.

In the words of UBS, this list differs from other rankings that don't take into account the "economic structure that is likely to evolve over the course of the coming decades."

The UBS analysts said: "We are about to live in interesting times. Revolutions are always interesting to observe, though often stressful to participate in."