​In the third 'On the Horizon' blog post, a series of posts exploring future business and society trends, we explore the concept of Industry 4.0, also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and what lies beyond.

​The great thing about history is that we can trace the development of the world as we know it, and in particular business and manufacturing, to several important periods of technological and social transition - the industrial revolutions. There is an argument to be made that so far there have been three major industrial revolutions, the impact of which can be clearly identified, not only in the West, but globally. The First Industrial Revolution involved the use of steam power to mechanise much of the manual production at the time. The Second Industrial Revolution was powered by electricity and through division of labour created mass production (think Henry Ford). The Third, and most recent one, Industrial Revolution started in the 1960s with electronics, information technologies, computers and the internet. Its outcomes have become an integral and irreplaceable part of our lives. However, we might be on the brink of a Fourth Industrial Revolution, an Industry 4.0, which is based on the Third but has the potential to reshape our reality even more drastically.

​We've got another great line-up of speakers for our upcoming Milk Bar on May 19th at Grant Thornton, covering 'Disrupting Professional Services - Human vs. Machine'. Here is a quick look at our first speaker Matthew Higgs and some words about his upcoming talk.

​It’s Milk Bar week! This Friday we deep dig into the world of Virtual and Augmented Reality.  Last but not least, let us introduce you our speaker Mark Baxter, the co-fouder of Digitalnauts, a company focusing on identifying new and innovative ways to deliver learning.