Technological advances and digital development are unstoppable within the knowledge era. High speed changes and continuous growth will set its evolution, with commonwealth and prosperity as its main goals through high value added services and products.

The new industrial revolution will have great impact on enterprises as well as Administration and citizenship over social, economic and industrial issues.

How products are made, searching for new business models and new key factors for the productive system will become ineluctable.

Continuous transformation will shape our times.

Chances and challenges

Citizenship will play a major role in the upcoming years. As online users, citizens will set production and consuming trends with their digital power. Work relations will also change, talent embracing enterprises instead will become the turning point. This will be even deeper within the education field.

Enterprises must search new business models based upon talent and personalized products, services and technologies. Any enterprise willing to be part of new markets shall adapt itself in a continuous flow of innovation, besides investing constantly in R&D.

On the other hand, Administrations must push innovation throughout a good educational system to generate talent, research oriented and willing to enable financial help.

In this new industrial revolution, will unemployment rates rise?

Technology (mobile devices, Big Data, the iCloud, IoT, 3D and 4D printers, drones and robotics) and digital development (Social Media and Internet defining new ways to socialize) will produce several impacts originating the new industrial revolution. Let’s see some examples:

Impact over the education system: this implies coming up with new learning methods fostering creativity. Changing roles played by schools and teachers is already a reality, although they will not disappear.

Impact over business: using robotics and 3D and 4D printers will overtake traditional manpower based upon traditional production and crafting methods. Future jobs are going to be influenced entirely by IT and CPS.

Impact over health systems: diagnosis will be faster due to computer implementation able to analyze bigger amounts of data in less time. Of course, doctors will still play a major role, but with better tools to perform their task.

Impact over Mass Media: will machines be able to write news like reporters do? The answer is yes, writing a report and a tribune might be something different, though. Professional tasks must adapt to technological improvements.

Impact over transportation: cars, trains and planes will become driverless. In this case, again, role re-invention will also be

Industrial revolutions’ impact over the years has overtaken manpower adapting its tasks, like evolving from the primary sector of the economy to the secondary one. So, this fourth industrial revolution goes beyond. It is based upon new role requirements and capabilities within the technological and creativity fields obtained through new continuous education processes.

As a society, we are heading towards a new vital theatre where jobs will become less intensive embracing knowledge economy. Thus, adaptation capability to changes is required.

The most balanced situation, being realistic, among the different issues brought up, would become a hybrid between technology and the human factor, always having as a common factor continuous education.