Megatrends

The Fourth Industrial Revolution had sweeping effects in many sectors worldwide, predominantly in manufacturing, but unquestionably to all others. At the current threshold towards this global industrial revolution, digital technologies and AI will inevitably have their merits and their risks. How much the benefits are maximized and the risks are mitigated, will depend on the quality of governance - protocols, public policies, norms, standards and incentives that shape the development and deployment of technologies. This will be key to raising the productivity of public and private organizations.

MEGATRENDS

People and the Internet.
Computing, communications and storage everywhere.
The Internet of Things - smaller, cheaper and smarter sensors being introduced.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data.
The sharing economy and distributed trust.
The digitization of matter – 3D Printing.
AI disruption and opportunities

DRIVERS

Slowing progress in hardware provides incentives for more ingenious software.
Strong progress in “cloud” services.
Internet omnipresence.
New computing architectures — specialized chips optimized for particular jobs.
Every process becoming digital.

CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES

Boundaries between telecom, entertainment and information services are disappearing.
Disruptive technologies are changing traditional business models.
A whole new and growing market is emerging where success depends on the agility rather than size of the provider.

TECHNOLOGY

Processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge, multiplied by emerging technology breakthroughs in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, 5G mobile networks, autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, AI and quantum computing.