Book Review: Workshop: The Fourth Industrial Revolution by NAP

The first revolution was powered by steam and led to the spinning jenny and the railroad. The second was driven by a better understanding of electromagnetism and chemistry, which led to telegraphy, telephony, the light bulb, photography, the automobile, and flight through propulsion. The third—the digital revolution—is still developing in terms of increasing sophistication through ongoing development and miniaturization of computing components.  And the Fourth Industrial Revolution involve a convergence of technologies and disciplines, nonlinearity, and a re-emergence of digital into material and physical domains. With a multi-system impact. New technologies—such as 3-D printing, bioprinting, artificial intelligence, blockchain, virtual reality, and augmented reality—are creating pressures and raising questions about how these technologies should be used.

It begins by re-emphasizing the importance of data. Why we need to address the recognized four V’s of data—volume, velocity, variety, and veracity—in order to make effective decisions about what we’re trying to accomplish and create. Followed by a look at the internet revolution: more than connecting people to one another, what is new is connecting machines to machines.

Next part examines the convergence of disciplines. And the questions, the introduction of these technologies raise. Does the technology do what it is supposed to do? How do you measure and improve the performance of the technology? How do we make sure these different technology components can work together as seamlessly as possible?

The last part is about its effect on the human aspect. How the transformation to new and emerging technologies— artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things, and many others- is going to change the way we produce goods, provide services, and collaborate with our colleagues. 

This report cleared many questions I used to have about the future. Where new opportunities can arise from: one needs to look towards value creation within the context of emerging digital and distributed tools for manufacturing.