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A hyper-connected world where nothing will be as we know it thanks to the development and implementation of technology in almost all aspects of life: this is the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the future that is already here. If in the 18th century the steam engine was the element that revolutionized mechanical production, the assembly line and the industrial sector were the areas in which the Second Industrial Revolution, marked by electricity, drastically changed in 1870. The last revolution It dates back to 1969, with the programming of machines and the timid but sure arrival of computing in society, leading to what is now known as automation.
Industry 4.0 is the great protagonist of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a paradigm in which the physical and digital worlds coexist in a combination that affects not only the secondary sector, but other environments as diverse as health, economy, publicity, privacy and the labor market, among others. Artificial Intelligence (AI), 5G technology and IoT (Internet of Things) are some of the digital developments that are changing the management, business and production models of companies around the world thanks to their disruptive force.
In this way, it is expected that all sectors will undergo a change driven by the new relationship between man and machine in an environment of robotization and massive automation. Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, was the first person to coin the concept 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' to refer to this reality. In 2016, he published a book of the same name where he predicted the consequences of this revolution as “a world in which virtual and physical manufacturing systems cooperate with each other in a flexible way on a global level. However, it is not just about smart and connected systems. Its scope is broader, ranging from genetic sequencing to nanotechnology, and from renewable energy to quantum computing. It is the fusion of these technologies and their interaction across the physical, digital, and biological domains that makes the Fourth Industrial Revolution different from any that came before it."
Technology that makes a difference
New technologies are responsible for changing the world as we know it. Robotics, nanotechnology, analytics, IoT... are being implemented in every aspect of life and are presented as solutions to meet the needs and demands of today, in an increasingly connected and globalized world that requires immediate responses.
The application of technology brings with it an improvement in productivity, efficiency and quality in industrial and digital processes, while the great drawbacks are cybernetic risks and threats to cybersecurity, the digital divide, qualification of staff and the requirement for companies to be quick to adapt to the changes that are already here.
The digital world and its dizzying evolution are changing the rules of the game, being the main responsible, according to the consultancy Michael Page: Artificial Intelligence (AI), IoT, cobots (they interact with people in collaborative environments) , augmented and virtual reality, Big Data and 3D and 4D printing. To these should be added robotics and its weight in changing the industrial production model, drones, nanotechnology, cryptocurrencies and autonomous vehicles, whose advances are already modifying spaces such as medicine or labor relations.
This paradigm shift is made possible by 5G technology, which will facilitate the exchange of a huge amount of data in the cloud at unparalleled speed. The implementation of the fifth generation mobile network will allow all intelligent objects, from a smartphone to a speaker, a vehicle, a refrigerator or a robot, to communicate with each other and with us in real time.
Speed is the key to 5G, which can reach up to 10GBps (gigabytes per second), being up to 100 times faster than the leading fiber optic offerings on the market when fully harnessed. This is what makes it possible to significantly increase the number of devices connected at the same time so that they can share information simultaneously and without waiting, that is, it considerably improves latency, reducing the response time when sending and receiving data packets below a millisecond. And, in turn, the 5G network requires a much lower consumption, so neither so much energy supply nor the sensors deployed for its correct operation will no longer be necessary.
The key to 5G is that it is not simply based on a technological improvement to use, more speed, connection or efficiency, it is much more. It is a tool that will bring together and enhance the rest of the technologies, from Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, Big Data or Edge Computing. Spain is going through a crucial moment in the process of digitalization and deployment of 5G, so it is time to bet on the best technology and to create a framework that encourages competition and investment in cutting-edge projects.
In this sense, it is worth mentioning Huawei, which already participates in three of the main 5G pilot projects, promoted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, through Red.es. Highlighting use cases in areas such as energy efficiency, precision agriculture, building maintenance, railway infrastructure supervision, or robotics for health emergencies...
Training to be prepared
The future that the Fourth Industrial Revolution augurs requires that workers be qualified and prepared to function in industry 4.0. In Spain, this specialization is being led by the Vocational Training (FP) modules, with the creation of courses focused on AI and Big Data to train, from education, the professionals that all sectors will demand.
Preparing for the changes that are already here has its reward: some faculties and schools of Training Cycles assure that they have occupancy levels of their students of up to 100% within the studies oriented towards automation and computer control . Thus, the British consultancy Michael Page, specialized in Human Resources, already in 2017 estimated the increase in demand for specialists in technology applied to industrial automation at 50%.
If we talked about how one of the drawbacks of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is its speed to apply changes, the labor market is a clear example of how this is translating today: there is a lack of qualified workers for the factory of the future, according to warn the companies themselves. More and more specific and high-profile skills are being requested that are capable of addressing digital transformation. In fact, the European Agency for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) estimates that by 2025, some 46 million job offers (out of a total of 107 million) will be positions related to industry 4.0; with a focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills.
In Spain, Cedefop predicts that, between now and 2030, 65% of new jobs will be created for professionals with medium qualifications (FP) and only 35% for university students. A difference in percentages that shows the good moment that is going on and that awaits the FP, since it will not compete with the university, but will be established as a complementary educational tool to be able to train the rest of the profiles that companies demand and that do not they leave campus.
Faced with this paradigm shift, the Government reinforced VT studies last year, including degrees related to industry 4.0, Big Data, robotics or artificial intelligence. During the 2020-2021 stage, the offer has included Smart Manufacturing, Digitization of industrial maintenance, Cybersecurity in production environments, Cybersecurity in information technology environments, Railway telecommunications and video games. And for the next academic year, 2021-2022, they will be ready: Additive manufacturing, 5-G infrastructure implementations, Composite materials, Artificial intelligence and Big Data, Electric vehicles, Installation and maintenance of electrical infrastructures or BIM (building information and modeling). ).
A New World
What will the world of the Fourth Industrial Revolution be like? The business sector will experience the greatest impact with digital transformation. Already in 2020, companies had to face a situation never seen before due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at which time they focused their efforts on being present on the network so as not to lose customers or business volume.
A digital transformation forced by exceptional circumstances, but which accounts for the demands of the future and that brings with it an improvement in customer expectations regarding corporations, the improvement of the product offered (whether tangible or a service to third parties), the promotion of collaborative innovation (as a result of listening to the demands of users) and new organizational forms (offshoring).
Information is power and using Big Data to obtain it from customers is vital to be able to segment the operations of companies based on the interests of each of them. In this dance of data, the reduction in latency that 5G and IoT allow is essential, as they put the devices from which users access the network in communication with company servers, creating a channel of great value from which both parties benefit.
Latency will bring about changes in broad aspects of life, thanks to the fact that it facilitates communication between the devices that surround us. In this way, for example, applications such as automated driving will be developed or environments such as industrial production will be completely digitized with the help of AI and robotics. Cities, where 68% of the world's population will live by the year 2050, according to calculations by the UN, will be fully automated thanks to the development of the IoT.
Of all the social aspects where the Fourth Industrial Revolution will have its impact, healthcare is one of the most attention-grabbing. Currently, the so-called Da Vinci Surgical System has been launched, from which remote surgery can be performed, a milestone that was broadcast live at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2019, being the first operation in the world. guided with 5G.
Companies that already use AI
In Spain, there are many companies that are already living in the future, applying the digital transformation that the Fourth Industrial Revolution brings with it and focusing it on the use of AI to improve its routine processes and the relationship with its customers. One of its greatest applications, the results of which we are already living in the present, is that of the courier and transport service. AI makes it possible to geolocate orders, know delivery times and continuously learns about failures and successes that occur during normal operating processes.
Through digitization, citizens can see in real time where their orders are, change the delivery time with just one click, access their record history, pay digitally... a reality that already exists in the Correos app, one of the national companies that is applying digital processes to its operations.
Individuals, workers, the self-employed, companies and large corporations can benefit from the application's functionalities, such as making an appointment, looking for an office or changing the delivery address with Correos Modify. With these features, the app offers a totally new experience to its users, who have in the palm of their hand the functionalities that previously depended on physical management in any of their offices. This will be the key to the digital transformation process, the creation of new business models that we still cannot even imagine through the development of these technologies and the creation of new synergies between the ICT sector, companies, administrations and other areas of the society.