The theme for WEF 2019, which concluded on Friday, was “Globalisation 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
Ndabeni-Abrahams said the theme was in line with the global vision which sought to redefine major transformations and manage the new technologies that have been spurred on by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (also known as high Information and Communication Technology), as well as the shift in global economic leadership.
“The scale and force will alter our systems of production, distribution, consumption and possibly the very essence of the evolution of our socio-economic policies, as outlined in the country’s National Development Plan,” the minister said at a gathering of Team South Africa at the World Economic Forum.
Fourth Industrial Revolution, by definition, is meant to bring about disruptions to digital technology across industries. This brings new scope in all economic sectors such as the job market of the future, skills development and education of the workplace.
According to Wikipedia, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is the fourth major industrial era since the initial Industrial Revolution of the 18th century. It is characterised by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres, collectively referred to as cyber-physical systems.
It is marked by emerging technology breakthroughs in a number of fields, including robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, quantum computing, biotechnology, the Internet of Things, the Industrial Internet of Things, Blockchain, fifth-generation wireless technologies (5G), additive manufacturing/3D printing and fully autonomous vehicles, Wikipedia says.
Klaus Schwab, the executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, has associated it with the “second machine age in terms of the effects of digitization and artificial intelligence (AI) on the global economy, but added a broader role for advances in biological technologies.