Enter the 4th Industrial Revolution!
The 4th industrial revolution is well underway in China and Korea and it will be here in the USA very soon. Think about turning on your oven from your phone on your way home or Amazon delivering your package with a drone — both of these are powered by a 5G network and are part of the Internet of Things. The IoT, as it’s called, will be a huge new industry to take a part of.
It’s not hard to imagine old school American companies like Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, General Motors, Ford, or even Apple getting in on this revolution. Whether it’s a dishwasher or fridge, or car or watch, all of these standard, take for granted, industrial 1.0 and 2.0 technologies are going to go digital as soon as the new 5G networks are installed.
An industrial revolution usually occurs when a new communication medium is combined with a new energy source and this results in new industry.
In our case, the 3rd Industrial Revolution was brought on by the internet and microprocessors. The 4th will be brought on by 5G internet and renewable energy.
It’s exciting to think about what possibilities the 4th Industrial Revolution will bring.
Some people are already thinking about it and pioneering a culture to support it. This is seen reflected strongly in places like Austin, Texas where there is a growing movement in support of decentralized organization, localized production, renewables and zero waste, eCommerce, and community based living. It’s a radical solution that’s made possible with 3rd and 4th Industrial Revolution technologies like the internet, new industrial agricultural processes, solar and wind energy, cryptocurrency, and a change in how we live together which is demanded after being borne out of the isolated early internet world we live in now.
People want to localize things and remove dependency on monolithic institutions. People want to do things like grow their own food.
These changes are not just being pursued by local Austinites, its part of a worldview that is seeping into major design firms as well. Entire Cities in China have been developed with the idea of localization of food production, green cities filled with vegetation, renewable energy sources like solar, and all of it is connected by the Internet. Here’s some concept art:
In Saudi Arabia, these proposed upgrades to our way of living have taken form as Neom, the Robotic City.
This city will be powered by 5G connectivity that will allow networks of robots to operate in this space. They are emphasizing people powered transit and removing cars and the providing excellent public transport.
So these plans and ideas aren’t limited to local circles any longer, they’ve gone global. The question is, how can you take advantage of this knowledge?
Entrepreneurs in Demand!
There was a boom in entrepreneurship during the late 2000s and early 2010s. This is when Facebook became a mega corporation and startups were being launched left and right hoping to emulate its success. TechCrunch was still a good news source, and then, the bubble burst. People stopped making startups and we stopped hearing about them.
At that time there was talk about the 4th industrial revolution, but as the world would have it, there were more important things happening and the momentum that had been built up around it dissipated. The war in Syria had taken a turn for the worse, climate change become a hot topic, and the global balance of power was being shaken. So people stopped talking about the upcoming Industrial Revolution and began listening to the news.
Fast forward to today, the end of 2020, and we’ve all suffered through the COVID-19 Pandemic and self isolation. But, some of us have used this time to embrace the changing world and get in gear for when things open back up.
Entrepreneurs, calling you! We don’t have 5G yet, but with the Clean Networks initiative in place, we are sure to get it soon. And when we do, we should follow up the roll out not with hesitation and skepticism. but with vigor and energy as we build and develop the next generation of products and services that will be key to making this transition successful.
Localized Farming
We need people focused on and investing in the Urban Farming Industry to localize production. We need to educate people on what it takes to grow their own food or create a service that plants and maintains a food forest (garden).
Robotics and Smart Devices
We need people building the next generation of robotics and networking it together to act as a hive. Think about Amazon delivery drones, the Uber network, smart devices of all sorts, and 5G connected and empowered technologies we aren’t even thinking of yet.
Cryptocurrency
We need cryptocurrencies that meet real world needs and demands instead of creating them to make a quick buck. These have the potential to completely upend the monetary market and introduce a borderless currency system that everyone can use and that is beholden to no one individual.
Renewable Energy
We need people thinking about how to deploy renewable energy like Elon Musk is doing with Solar City and creating battery packs that could someday go into homes. These technologies are foundational to the new world we are stepping into. And we should look at ways to make non-renewables more environmentally friendly as we all know the transition off them won’t be quick or easy — in the meantime we need to make the best of the dying energy industry.
Internet Real Estate
We need people to start developing web real estate and fully embracing the drive to do things online. People want to socialize online, they want to shop online, and do everything else in between, even have sex online — we need to meet this market demand with new web apps and mobile apps alike. I think we’ve prioritized mobile apps because of the growth in mobile users, but web apps should not be disregarded or forgotten.
Medicine
We need people redeveloping homeopathic medicine and traditional remedies. We all want to get off the side effect imbued petrochemical industry medicines and back towards nature based solutions. The only reason we switched to the petrochemicals is because we as a Nation needed to make money and getting people hooked on petrochemicals was the best solution. Homeopathy was destroyed in favor of a industrial chemical compound industry. We need both.
Fashion and Art
It’s going to change to reflect the new values of the world. Renewable energy, reclaiming ancient knowledge, and a general desire to move forward will impel fashion and art to new heights. From what I can see, fashion is going to be a shiny new trend that represents a shift in the ages, from modern to post modern.
This is just to name a few industries that are emerging. These are great opportunities for entrepreneurs to take advantage of because the entire collective Governments of the world are gearing up for this shift through the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Now, while I won’t specifically advise on start up ideas, I will leave that thinking process to you so you can dream up the next major American success story. It could be a return to community living and community values, it could be robotics, it could be blockchain tech, or whatever.
Dream big!!!
