The Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as 4IR, Industry 4.0 or the Intelligence Age, is a neologism describing rapid technological advancement in the 21st century. It follows the Third Industrial Revolution (the "Information Age"). The term was popularized in 2016 by Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum founder and former executive chairman, who asserts that these developments represent a significant shift in industrial capitalism.
A part of this phase of industrial change is the joining of technologies like artificial intelligence, gene editing, to advanced robotics that blur the lines between the physical, digital, and biological worlds.
Throughout this, fundamental shifts are taking place in how the global production and supply network operates through ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology, large-scale machine-to-machine communication (M2M), and the Internet of things (IoT). This integration results in increasing automation, improving communication and self-monitoring, and the use of smart machines that can analyse and diagnose issues without the need for human intervention.
It also represents a social, political, and economic shift from the digital age of the late 1990s and early 2000s to an era of embedded connectivity distinguished by the ubiquity of technology in society that changes the ways humans experience and know the world around them. It posits that we have created and are entering an augmented social reality compared to just the natural senses and industrial ability of humans alone. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is sometimes expected to mark the beginning of an imagination age, where creativity and imagination become the primary drivers of economic value.
History The phrase Fourth Industrial Revolution was first introduced by a team of scientists developing a high-tech strategy for the German government. Klaus Schwab, former executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), introduced the phrase to a wider audience in a 2015 article published by Foreign Affairs. "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution" was the 2016 theme of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.
On 10 October 2016, the Forum announced the opening of its Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in San Francisco. This was also subject and title of Schwab's 2016 book. Schwab includes in this fourth era technologies that combine hardware, software, and biology (cyber-physical systems), and emphasizes advances in communication and connectivity. Schwab expects this era to be marked by breakthroughs in emerging technologies in fields such as robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, quantum computing, biotechnology, the internet of things, the industrial internet of things, decentralized consensus, fifth-generation wireless technologies, 3D printing, and fully autonomous vehicles.
In The Great Reset proposal by the WEF, The Fourth Industrial Revolution is included as a strategic intelligence in the solution to rebuild the economy sustainably following the COVID-19 pandemic.
First Industrial Revolution
The First Industrial Revolution was marked by a transition from hand production methods to machines through the use of steam power and water power. The implementation of new technologies took a long time, so the period which this refers to was between 1760 and 1820, or 1840 in Europe and the United States. Its effects had consequences on textile manufacturing, which was first to adopt such changes, as well as iron industry, agriculture, and mining–although it also had societal effects with an ever stronger middle class.
Second Industrial Revolution
The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, is the period between 1871 and 1914 that resulted from installations of extensive railroad and telegraph networks, which allowed for faster transfer of people and ideas, as well as electricity. Increasing electrification allowed for factories to develop the modern production line.
Third Industrial Revolution
The Third Industrial Revolution, also known as the Digital Revolution, began in the late 20th century. It is characterized by the shift to an economy centered on information technology, marked by the advent of personal computers, the Internet, and the widespread digitalization of communication and industrial processes.
A book by Jeremy Rifkin titled The Third Industrial Revolution, published in 2011, focused on the intersection of digital communications technology and renewable energy. It was made into a 2017 documentary by Vice Media.
Characteristics In essence, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is the trend towards automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies and processes which include cyber-physical systems (CPS), internet of things (IoT), cloud computing,Jürgen Jasperneite:Was hinter Begriffen wie Industrie 4.0 steckt in Computer & Automation, 19 December 2012 accessed on 23 December 2012Kagermann, H., W. Wahlster and J. Helbig, eds., 2013: Recommendations for implementing the strategic initiative Industrie 4.0: Final report of the Industrie 4.0 Working GroupHeiner Lasi, Hans-Georg Kemper, Peter Fettke, Thomas Feld, Michael Hoffmann: Industry 4.0. In: Business & Information Systems Engineering 4 (6), pp. 239–242 cognitive computing, and artificial intelligence.
Machines improve human efficiency in performing repetitive functions, and the combination of machine learning and computing power allows machines to carry out increasingly complex tasks.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution has been defined as technological developments in cyber-physical systems such as high capacity connectivity; new human-machine interaction modes such as touch interfaces and virtual reality systems; and improvements in transferring digital instructions to the physical world including robotics and 3D printing (additive manufacturing); "big data" and cloud computing; improvements to and uptake of off-grid: solar, wind, wave, hydroelectric and the electric batteries (lithium-ion renewable energy storage systems and EV).
It also emphasizes decentralized decisions – the ability of cyber physical systems to make decisions on their own and to perform their tasks as autonomously as possible. Only in the case of exceptions, interference, or conflicting goals, are tasks delegated to a higher level.
Distinctiveness Proponents of the Fourth Industrial Revolution suggest it is a distinct revolution rather than simply a prolongation of the Third Industrial Revolution. This is due to the following characteristics: Velocity – exponential speed at which incumbent industries are affected and displaced Scope and systems impact – the large amount of sectors and firms that are affected Paradigm shift in technology policy – new policies designed for this new way of doing are present. An example is Singapore's formal recognition of Industry 4.0 in its innovation policies.
Critics of the concept dismiss Industry 4.0 as a marketing strategy. They suggest that although revolutionary changes are identifiable in distinct sectors, there is no systemic change so far. In addition, the pace of recognition of Industry 4.0 and policy transition varies across countries; the definition of Industry 4.0 is not harmonised. One of the most known figures is Jeremy Rifkin who "agree[s] that digitalization is the hallmark and defining technology in what has become known as the Third Industrial Revolution". However, he argues "that the evolution of digitalization has barely begun to run its course and that its new configuration in the form of the Internet of Things represents the next stage of its development".
Components
The application of the Fourth Industrial Revolution operates through: Mobile devices Location detection technologies (electronic identification) Advanced human-machine interfaces Authentication and fraud detection Smart sensors Big analytics and advanced processes Multilevel customer interaction and customer profiling Augmented reality/wearables On-demand availability of computer system resources Data visualisation
Industry 4.0 networks a wide range of new technologies to create value. Using cyber-physical systems that monitor physical processes, a virtual copy of the physical world can be designed. Characteristics of cyber-physical systems include the ability to make decentralised decisions independently, reaching a high degree of autonomy.
The value created in Industry 4.0 can be relied upon in electronic identification, in which the smart manufacturing requires set technologies to be incorporated in the manufacturing process to thus be classified as in the development path of Industry 4.0 and no longer digitisation.
Trends Smart factories
The Fourth Industrial Revolution fosters "smart factories", which are production environments where facilities and logistics systems are organised with minimal human intervention.
The technical foundations on which smart factories are based are cyber-physical systems that communicate with each other using IoT. An important part of this process is the exchange of data between the product and the production line. This enables more efficient supply chain connectivity and better organisation within a production environment.
Within modular structured smart factories, cyber-physical systems monitor physical processes, create a virtual copy of the physical world, and make decentralised decisions. Over the Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems communicate and cooperate with each other and with humans in synchronic time both internally and across organizational services offered and used by participants of the value chain.
Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) has a wide range of applications across all sectors of the economy. It gained prominence following advancements in deep learning during the 2010s, and its impact intensified in the 2020s with the rise of generative AI, a period often referred to as the "AI boom". Models like GPT-4o can engage in verbal and textual discussions and analyse images.
AI is a key driver of Industry 4.0, orchestrating technologies like robotics, automated vehicles, and real-time data analytics. By enabling machines to perform complex tasks, AI is redefining production processes and reducing changeover times. AI could also significantly accelerate, or even automate software development.
Some experts believe that AI alone could be as transformative as an industrial revolution. Multiple companies such as OpenAI and Meta have expressed the goal of creating artificial general intelligence (AI that can do virtually any cognitive task a human can), making large investments in data centres and GPUs to train more capable AI models.
Robotics Humanoid robots have traditionally lacked usefulness. They had difficulty picking simple objects due to imprecise control and coordination, and they wouldn't understand their environment and how physics works. They were often explicitly programmed to do narrow tasks, failing when encountering new situations. Modern humanoid robots, however, are typically based on machine learning, and in particular reinforcement learning. In 2024, humanoid robots are rapidly becoming more flexible, easier to train, and versatile.
Predictive maintenance Industry 4.0 facilitates predictive maintenance, due to the use of advanced technologies, including IoT sensors. Predictive maintenance, which can identify potential maintenance issues in real time, allows machine owners to perform cost-effective maintenance before the machinery fails or gets damaged. For example, a company in Los Angeles could understand if a piece of equipment in Singapore is running at an abnormal speed or temperature. They could then decide whether or not it needs to be repaired.
3D printing