That grandest of global gabfests, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, kicks off in Davos in a couple of weeks, with the usual gaggle of world leaders and other luminaries. This year the theme will be “Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
The event overview states: “We are entering into a Fourth Industrial Revolution shaped by advanced technologies from the physical, digital and biological worlds that combine to create innovations at a speed and scale unparalleled in human history.”
True, but it continues: “Collectively, these transformations are changing how individuals, governments and companies relate to each other and the world at large. In short, we are fast approaching a new phase of global cooperation: Globalization 4.0.”
Meet Globalization 4.0
The WEF is no stranger to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and appears to be the originator of Globalization 4.0. Writing on the Nexus of Globalization 4.0 and 4IR in November 2018, WEF founder and executive chairman, Klaus Schwab, said:
“…. the challenges associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) are coinciding with the rapid emergence of ecological constraints, the advent of an increasingly multipolar international order, and rising inequality. These integrated developments are ushering in a new era of globalization. Whether it will improve the human condition will depend on whether corporate, local, national, and international governance can adapt in time.”
The forces he enumerates are certainly co-incident but I don’t see much integration between them. Nor do I see this nexus between “Globalization 4.0” – whatever that is – and 4IR. Nor do I think the WEF’s claim that “We are fast approaching a new phase of global cooperation: Globalization 4.0,” driven by 4IR stacks up.
Force for collaboration, or competition?
Industry 4.0 has been identified as a key enabler of the fourth industrial revolution and is often seen as a synonym for 4IR. Rather than facilitating greater collaboration it is more often seen as something that will confer a distinct competitive advantage on — and, conversely seriously disadvantage — those companies and nations that do not embrace it.
Last October Optus released a white paper Enterprise 4.0 – The Blueprint for Success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, billed as the largest study of its kind in Australia to date. It claimed to investigate how ready Australian industries, enterprises and executives are for Industry 4.0 and how their business’ digital transformations are progressing.
According to the white paper’s author, Rocky Scopelliti, Optus Business Director for Industry 4.0: “Australian businesses are underestimating the speed, scale and impact of the next industrial revolution – but their global counterparts aren’t. Competition in this new era will be terrestrial.”
In short, be very circumspect about anything coming out of WEF 2019 that promises to suggest the fourth industrial revolution will contribute to greater global co-operation and further the WEF’s lofty goals for Globalization 4.0.