The world is changing with every passing second. There have never been so many social and business changes, happening so quickly, as those taking place now. The World Economic Forum presents 5 main topics that will shape our future over the coming decades.

1. Selecting information

The volume of data currently available to companies is enormous. However, quantity does not mean quality. The main challenge will be to retain and properly analyse the data most relevant to each business area or department, in order to facilitate and support data-driven decision-making at the various hierarchical levels, departments and areas of activity of organisations. In this respect, a Business Intelligence solution could be crucial for companies.

"Big Data is enabling the designers of products and services to discover things about human behaviour never spotted before. But might 'small data' be an even more powerful agent of change?"

2. Cross-referencing data between sectors

Another challenge presented is cross-referencing data between different sectors. For example, using behavioural data collected on widely used social networks, such as Facebook or Twitter, in healthcare data analysis to help improve people's eating habits and physical activity.

"What if… personal health monitors on mobiles lead to behavioural changes in diet and activity that all our research and education have so far failed to achieve?"

3. Blockchain

One of the most talked-about technologies of the moment may be the key to tackling some of today's biggest challenges, such as having a more reliable record of the origin of the food we eat. Put simply, blockchain is a technology for recording transactional data from various entities along a value chain, which makes it possible to trace certain information in a completely transparent and tamper-proof way, since the whole chain contributes to the security of the information. In the case of virtual currency, such as Bitcoin, for example, each node is a block with information about one or more transactions. The successive set of these blocks is, quite simply, the concept of blockchain: the tamper-proof record of every transaction ever made in the history of the virtual currency. This guarantees that the trail of each unit is never lost. Blockchain can be used to address global problems that previously could not be reliably traced, such as knowing exactly where the food we eat comes from, how it was produced and what impact its production has had on the environment.

"(...) imagine if you could look down at your dinner plate and know the egg that I'm eating, this is where it came from, this is how it was grown, this is the impact it has on the environment, in the same way you might want to know about any products you buy - that kind of traceability is becoming possible."

4. Looking at the world in a multidisciplinary way

To face new challenges, we need to "zoom out" and look at various issues as interconnected. For example, when we are designing new buildings in a city, we also need to measure the impact of the solutions we are considering on energy efficiency, on the climate and the environment, on technology or on the ageing of the population.

"Zooming out to look at the world in terms of "systems" - how things are linked rather than how they are separated - frees specialists of all kinds to look at challenges afresh. (...) If we get locked into our silos, as we have in the past, we won't be able to control the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it's going to control us." 

5. The population's ability to adapt to the pace of change of the new digital transformation

A great deal is changing very quickly. There is growing concern about how populations can keep up with this pace. At the same time, new challenges are emerging regarding how the wealth generated by the 4th industrial revolution should be used, for example through the creation of a universal basic income.

"There's going to be a lot of wealth created in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. That could be used for a wider social dividend, and should be used for a wider social dividend - whether that's a global Marshall Plan or a Universal Basic Income for most people."

Written by:
Openlimits

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