The new technologies part 2
Today some developing countries can build cars, machinery, electronics devices etc. but these are products of the industrial age which involve mostly labors and equipments. The future belongs to new technologies or products of the information age which involve advanced knowledge and skills.
New technologies such as information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology are creating products that could not have been imagined even a few years ago. For example: the advancement in information technology have created many products that have dramatically changed the way people communicate and do business such as computer, mobile phone and the internet. Few years ago, no one can imagine that mobile phone can also be music player, camera, and computer. No one can imagine Facebook, software that connect half of people on earth into a social network of friends. With the advancement in knowledge of genes, biotechnology has led scientists to a new era of personalized medicine where treatment is based on each patient’s genetic structure with effective results. With modified genes, scientists have created crops that have ten times more yields, resist disease, drought and can be grown in many places. A crop scientist declared: “If we can grow rice in the desert, there will not be starvation in the world anymore.” With the advancement of nanotechnology, company can modify molecular structures to offer many products that are impossible to imagine. These products can come in all sized and shape, from microscopic robots that can be introduced to the blood stream to destroy cancer cells to composite materials that can withstand significant pressure and heat. These new technologies will change everything we do today and the near future.
These new technologies are becoming increasingly important to the economies of developed countries as they replace the old technology of the industrial age and affecting virtually everything. For example, it would be impossible to find a business in developed countries that does not depend on the use of information technology. From machines that control manufacturing assembly lines to applications that track and respond to stock market demands. From large global corporations to small local business, computers and software applications have automated, simplified and controlled in order to make works more efficient, effective and accurate.
With low cost labor available in developing countries, many businesses have shift their industry-age technologies and operations to countries such as China and India. As more people have jobs, more things they will buy so these companies can expand their reach to new markets where they can sell more products. Most developing countries are happy with manufacturing relocation and assembly line factories and ignore the side effects of pollution and toxic wastes. As developing country leaders build their economic strategies based on labor-intensive industries, they also allow developed country leaders to concentrate on the knowledge-intensive industries and improving their economies.
Successful businesses of the future will be based on innovation and standard processes which allow maximum efficiency and higher productivity. Future workers will be trained in specific knowledge and have skills to make their own decisions based on their roles. Schools will have to adapt new curricula to provide different approach and training to management compared to managers deciding what to do and giving orders to workers, as is the case of traditional hierarchical today. Future managers will be focusing on managing technology, not people as many tasks will be executed and controlled by robust software applications and machinery based on new technologies. Markets will be increasingly global instead of local as national boundaries will be diminished. Online businesses will flourish as people will do business everywhere and at anytime, in their own home instead of go to the market. The influential of social media will made people more knowledgeable about the products that they want to buy and businesses will have to ensure that they meet these demands. Businesses will also have to respond quickly to customer preferences via the application of software that monitor and track market changes. Businesses who can quickly change and adapt to demands of the market will gain a superior competitive advantage.
There will be more changes that affect all countries. Some powerful developed countries may lose their advantages and emerging developing countries will move quickly to capture those positions. A decrease in population of European countries will affect the supply of workers and lead to slower economic growth there. Almost two third of European countries do not have enough young workers to support their future economic growth. It is not a surprise that today European leaders are quickly changing their immigration laws to allow more young skilled workers to immigrate and work there. Asian countries that have faster population growth will be able to expand their economic power if they have skilled workers and know how to seize this opportunity. While its population is not shrinking in the US, it is ageing. Businesses that do not foresee the impact of these global trends may see their profits disappearing. That is why so many large U.S companies are investing heavily in new technologies to maintain their positions. Investments in information technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology have increased over 300% in past few years valued to several hundred billion dollars. It is predicted that in the near future these will be the major fields of study as more students will enroll in these fields because that is where the major jobs will be.
Today the world is changing fast with the advancement of completely new technologies. Changes in population of some regions will shifts the balance of economic power. Every business and all countries will inevitably be affected by these trends. How they approach the trends and how they adjust to them will depend on their understanding and how they take actions. Some will thrive and some will fail; some will move ahead and some will stay behind. However the world in the next decade will be dramatically transformed significantly and it is hard to even imagine what it will be.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
