THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Christian Manrique

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.

la cuarta revolución

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.

the robot armies

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.

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURES IN A WORLD IN TRANSITION

We find ourselves immersed in a world in transition in which radical changes are being operated. Before a deep change and fast rhythm situation, and having on account that people are the most valuable pieces for global development, it becomes fundamental to understand the importance of being prepared to evolve at the same time as events. Our capacity for re-invention will give us the measure to face these changes with success.

But, on the other hand, not only people must take action to re-invent themselves. Infrastructures, as a mechanism contributing to give answers for new social, economic and environmental needs that are being taken, must also take the path of re-invention from the very first moment of their study and planning. It has become essential to reinforce the strategic element when defining our urban models, from a full analysis and giving planning a long term perspective.

Mega-trends

In the short and middle term we will have to encounter a series of factors among which these can be underlined:

  1. By the year 2050 world population will reach 9.6 trillion inhabitants.
  2. 66% of population growth will take place in developed world cities and will put together a population of 6 trillion inhabitants.
  3. India will replace People’s Republic of China as the most populated country.
  4. Over 30% of population within developed areas will be 60 or over.
  5. By the year 2050, 50% of world population will be middle class and acting and behaving closer to a collaborative economy environment rather than competitive. They will have to face climate change economic, social and environmental side effects.
  6. World vehicle stock will grow at an annual 3% until 2030.
  7. By 2050 the volume of natural resources consumed will reach 140 trillion tones, the triple than currently.
  8. The new industrial revolution which brought the Internet, the Internet of Things (Iot) and Social Media, together with the latest advancements in the field of robotics, drones, self driving cars, nanotechnology, ICT, 3D printers and M2M will move towards in depth re-balance, producing a new global order.
  9. By 2020 there will be 30 billion of connected devices within a digital environment in which intelligent objects will increase their capability to interact with human beings.

Re-shaping the world

“If you don’t like change, you are going to like irrelevance even less” (Tom Peters)

Re-inventing ourselves has stopped being an option. The need for continuous learning to become competitive must overpass the good intentions speech.

Something must be clear: professions and jobs for future generations haven’t been named yet. They do not exist yet. The key point lies in our capability, as a society, to adapt, learn and refuse old ideas and concepts in a reasonable high speed.

It is absolutely required to create a new paradigm capable of transforming changes, a model that will forge the base for the pillars of the future, enabling and empowering the capability to acquire knowledge and tools for decision making, tending to stimulate the search of efficiency and excellence as a goal.

It is meant to evolve towards an integrating model, based upon a holistic point of view, where an interactive environment must be established amongst population, infrastructures and new technologies, giving answers to new social, economic and environmental needs.

This new pattern must keep within its DNA integrated sustainability to impact learning and education, energy (new technologies: waste), technological (big data, IoT), economic, environmental, infrastructures and urban development fields.