The Fourth Industrial Revolution represents a fundamental change in the way we live, work and relate to one another. It is a new chapter in human development, enabled by extraordinary technology advances commensurate with those of the first, second and third industrial revolutions. These advances are merging the physical, digital and biological worlds in ways that create both huge promise and potential peril. The speed, breadth and depth of this revolution is forcing us to rethink how countries develop, how organisations create value and even what it means to be human. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is about more than just technology-driven change; it is an opportunity to help everyone, including leaders, policy-makers and people from all income groups and nations, to harness converging technologies in order to create an inclusive, human-centred future. The real opportunity is to look beyond technology, and find ways to give the greatest number of people the ability to positively impact their families, organisations and communities.
Forum Institutional
We need tech solutions that value human interaction more than ever
In a new "low touch", remote working economy, companies must find tech solutions that both protect mental wellbeing and enable growth and performance.
Emerging Technologies
Space junk: what it is and why cleaning it up matters
Scientists are engaged in a complex process to clean up space junk which is a hazard to satellites as well as to space missions carrying astronauts.
Fourth Industrial Revolution
The biorevolution is kicking off. Here's how to harness its opportunities early on
Advances in biotechnology have the potential to improve our health and longevity, stave off threats to the environment and provide a buffer to the agricultural sector.
Health and Healthcare Systems
Microfluidics: The next medical breakthrough you haven't heard of
Microfluids travel through channels thinner than a hair which can be made of glass, polymers, paper or gels and tiny valves can turn the flow on or off.
Emerging Technologies
The iTeam: How researchers created a group of robots that work together
The method of Distributed Local Search improves the robot team’s performance by adding or removing individual robot’s trajectories from the group’s overall plan.
Cybersecurity
The US pipeline attack shows the energy sector must act now on cybersecurity. Here are 6 ways how
Critical infrastructure such as oil and gas must get used to the idea of a continually escalating cyberthreat landscape – and plan accordingly
Fourth Industrial Revolution
Researchers control Venus flytraps using electric signals
This non-invasive technology detects electric signals from the surfaces of plants without damaging them and was controlled by scientists using a smartphone.
Education and Skills
5 questions to ask now to shape blended learning of the future
COVID-19 has revealed the benefits of technologically enabled virtual learning. We must now find a mid-way, taking digital and in-person to make the perfect blend.
Energy Transition
4 charts that show how technology is enabling the transition to low carbon energy
According to recent studies, technology is playing a crucial role in low carbon energy innovations. Here's how tech is boosting the shift towards green energy.
Forum Institutional
Want to understand the extent of the world’s digital divide? Look at these 3 charts
The World Development Report 2021, Data for Better Lives seeks to highlight and address inequalities with regards to data connectivity.
Health and Healthcare Systems
This is what healthcare leaders see as the future for digital health
The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital health and telemedicine, with digitalization set to continue strongly over the next three years.
Fourth Industrial Revolution
How digital payment systems can boost Bangladesh's push to meet the SDGs
Bangladesh's already strongly performing economy will be helped by the drive to digitize payments for workers in the crucial ready-made garment sector