In The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Klaus Schwab observes: “In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, digital connectivity enabled by software technologies is fundamentally changing society. The scale of the impact and the speed of the changes taking place have made the transformation that is playing out so differently from other industrial revolutions in human history.”
He then cites a major survey, Deep Shift — Technology Tipping Points and Social Impact — that was published in September 2015. He examines 21 technology shifts in the study and to additional ones, including the tipping points for these technologies and the dates oif their expected arrival to market.
Here are the first five, with negative, positive, and unknown impacts noted.
Shift 1: Implantable Technologies
The tipping point: The first implantable mobile phone available commercially
By 2025: 82% of respondents expected this tipping point will have occurred
Shift 2: Our Digital Presence
The tipping point: 80% of the people with a digital presence on the internet
By 2025: 84% of respondents expected this tipping point will have occurred
Shift 3: Vision as the New Interface
The tipping point: 10% of reading glasses connected to the internet
By 2025: 86% of respondents expected this tipping point will have occurred
Shift 4: Wearable Internet
The tipping point: 10% of people wearing clothes connected to the internet
By 2025: 91% of respondents expected this tipping point will have occurred
Shift 5: Ubiquitous Computing
The tipping point: 90% of the people with regular access to the internet
By 2025: 79% of respondents expected this tipping point will have occurred
He discusses each of the 25 “deep shifts” in the Appendix, Pages 120-172
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Klaus Schwab was born in Ravensburg, Germany in 1938. He is Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.
He founded the Forum in 1971 and it has since become the world’s foremost platform for public and private cooperation. Under his leadership, the Forum has been a driver for reconciliation efforts in different parts of the world, acting as a catalyst of numerous collaborations and international initiatives. (See the history page for more information).
An engineer and economist by training, Professor Klaus Schwab holds doctorates in Economics (summa cum laude) from the University of Fribourg, in Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and a Masters of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 1972 he became one of the youngest professors on the faculty of the University of Geneva. He has received numerous international and national honours.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution was published by Currency/Penguin Random House (2017).