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.
Emerging Technologies
You might not have heard of them, but these new materials will change the world
There is a reason we talk about the Bronze Age and the Iron Age: because materials can change the world. These new ones will do just that.
Fourth Industrial Revolution
These next-generation batteries could end energy poverty
Solar and wind power capacity have been growing at double-digit rates, but the sun sets, and the wind can be capricious. Battery breakthroughs could hold the answer.
Emerging Technologies
Here's what will happen when 30 billion devices are connected to the internet
A house that unlocks the front door when it recognizes its owner arriving home from work, an implanted heart monitor that calls the doctor if the organ shows signs of failing. Prepare for...
Cybersecurity
3 ways to fight cyber criminals
Governments and businesses are in an arms race with cyber criminals. Here's how to win.
Fourth Industrial Revolution
Leadership challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Leadership is about working together to shape the future. And that future will be defined by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, writes Lee Howell.
Fourth Industrial Revolution
How can we teach innovation? A view from China
On a recent trip to the US, as I drove my rental car through various cities and suburbs, it occurred to me that all of the conventional assumptions we make about our future and that of ou...
Fourth Industrial Revolution
Does capitalism need some Marxism to survive the Fourth Industrial Revolution?
The cross-pollination of ideas between capitalism and Marxism might be needed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Fourth Industrial Revolution
A good idea isn’t enough. 3 lessons from building Skype and TransferWise
People have ideas every minute of every hour of every day. But how do you take an idea from the back of a napkin to the first beta product? And then to something that’s used the world over?
Nature and Biodiversity
Q&A: What has the panda got that the giant clam hasn’t?
When we think about conservation, we often think of species which are as photogenic as they are fragile. That needs to changes, says Mei Lin. Part of our XxXX series of interviews profili...
Nature and Biodiversity
Q&A: Toxic waste taints polar bears and human breast milk. Here's a solution
He Jianzhong tours the world's most polluted sites to find waste-eating bacteria that can break down harmful chemicals. Part of our XxXX series profiling 10 women in science.
Education and Skills
Q&A: The university of the future must break down walls between disciplines
Shirley Ann Jackson, the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate from MIT, on how education needs to break down the walls between disciplines
Fourth Industrial Revolution
What if: drugs are printed from the internet?
Pharmacists and drug dealers alike might fear for their livelihoods thanks to recent advances like 3D printed medicine and the synthesis of opiates from yeast. What if patients (or hacker...