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The 4th Industrial Revolution

Covid-19 has shaken up everyone’s lives and forced us to go more deeply online. One of the interesting consequences will be the speeding up of our move to the 4th Industrial Revolution. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, “By affecting the incentives, rules, and norms of economic life, it transforms how we communicate, learn, entertain ourselves, and relate to one another and how we understand ourselves as human beings.”

By Ellen Koskinen-Dodgson

Ellen Koskinen-Dodgson is President and Managing Partner of TMC IT and Telecom Consulting Inc. She is an IT and Telecommunications Management Consultant, electrical engineer, author, speaker, media resource and Expert Witness.

Building On...

The first industrial revolution was steam and water driven machines. The second was electricity and mass production, and the third was IT systems and automation. Each of these revolutions caused massive economic and cultural disruption, both positive and negative; nations became wealthier while some subgroups suffered greatly. Time will prove if this will also be true for the fourth industrial revolution.

Is it 4 or 3+?

The fourth differentiates itself from the third in a number of ways. First, the evolution of technology is increasingly accelerating in speed from the third, or digital, revolution from which we are transitioning. Second, these evolving and new technologies are merging with our physical lives with examples such as smart-watches and autonomous cars. Other differentiators include required government changes – for example, how do we regulate and tax technology when it may be dispersed around the globe?

What Does it Include?

Many technologies bleed between third and forth like simple Internet of Things, facial recognition and early AI. Transitioning into fourth sees solutions that combine various new technologies and human interaction interfaces indistinguishable from interactions with a person. Technologies can include impressive AI, properly autonomous vehicles, blockchain technology for money and other types of transactions, voice activated assistants, drones, genome editing, robotics, augmented reality and more.

COVID-19 Impact

Efforts to manage the spread of Covid-19 have led to governments around the world asking most people to stay home for an unspecified period, working from home if they can and finding at-home ways to amuse themselves if they can’t. School boards and students are being asked to find ways to complete their curriculum for the year on-line. All of this will lead to an increased acceptance of online work, education, socializing, and entertainment. It will also be fertile ground for clever people with too much time on their hands.

Looking Forward

People, companies and governments will all need to change their behaviours, often in major ways, just like in previous industrial revolutions. There will, as before, be winners and losers, and most predictions of the future will be wrong as major disruptors are rarely predicted.

I recommend that you include time spent in forward-looking speculation and investigation as part of your annual strategic planning exercises, as those that do this will greatly increase their chances of succeeding in the fourth industrial revolution.

This article was published in the March 2020 edition of The TMC Advisor
- ISSN 2369-663X Volume:7 Issue:2

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