If you needed another indication the IoT (Internet of Things) era has arrived, look no further than this year's World Economic Forum annual meeting, which begins January 20 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. As noted on the prestigious and influential event's website, the 2016 meeting's theme is "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution," a concept heavily dependent on IoT:
Earlier Industrial Revolutions advanced human progress through new forms of power generation, mass production and information processing. Building on a ubiquitous and mobile internet, smaller, cheaper and more powerful sensors, as well as artificial intelligence and machine learning, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is distinct in the speed, scale and force at which it transforms entire systems of production, distribution, consumption – and possibly the very essence of human nature.
Central questions that will be asked of the Fourth Industrial Revolution include: how will it transform industry sectors, including health, mobility, financial services and education? How can technology be deployed in ways that contribute to inclusive growth rather than exacerbate unemployment and income inequality? How can breakthroughs in science and technology help in solving problems of the global commons from climate change to public health? How will emerging technologies transform the global security landscape? How can governments build institutions capable of making decisions when the challenges they face are more complex, fast-moving and interconnected than ever before?
Co-chairs of this year's event include Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam. The extensive list of event partners includes a who's who of companies from the software, manufacturing, banking, consumer goods and other industries.
Previous Davos event have focused on the advent of cloud computing and the Web for their impact on the world economic and social economy, notes Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Andy Mulholland. "So it is interesting to see IoT now has its turn, and how they see this as a transformation of everything, rather than the tendency in IT to see it as a few sensors added to current systems."
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