A NEW WORLD FORMING, ARE YOU FUTURE- READY?

An excerpt from the President’s message, at Toyota’s website clearly expresses the intention of one of the world’s largest corporation to be future- ready. Do you have the same intention?

In the fourth paragraph, Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor declares to the world, “Our circumstances are likely to change in the future and there is increasing uncertainty in societal trends. At the same time, automobiles themselves are reaching a critical turning point.
Since its foundation, Toyota has grown through pioneering innovation. In January this year we established Toyota Research Institute, Inc. to accelerate research and development of *Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, a key to future society. It is an integrated part of our ‘purpose driven investments’ “

THINGS ARE CHANGING, ADAPT FOR SUCCESS

In its white paper, “Extreme automation and connectivity: The global, regional, and investment implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” UBS researchers note that the level of success, a nation can garner from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, will be determined by how an economy and labor force adapt to the changing economic structure.

And, the change will be massive. Depending on where you read it, as much as 50% of jobs today will be obsoleted in the new economy driven by extreme automation and connectivity. Moderates think that the figure is closer to 50% of 50%.

UBS believes that a decline in aggregate unemployment is unlikely. An optimistic estimate by others predicts a fourfold increase in jobs. However, from all analytics and guestimates, they will not be low skilled or routine chores. UBS admits that it is “usually difficult to envision today what the jobs of the future might be.” They believe that the extreme automation and extreme connectivity could actually increase demand for customized “human” work.

CHEAP BUT LOW SKILLED LABOR WON’T WORK

The clues, the white paper alludes to, to enable success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution are “flexibility” and the liability of hogging the cheap, low skilled labor market.

Flexibility in the labor markets, educational systems, infrastructure and legal systems. The certainty in the uncertainty of the job market is that low skilled and routine jobs, including those in the mid-levels, will be yielded to robots and other extreme automation devices. Smart grids, clouds and blockchains will be the new critical infrastructures. Intellectual properties, which are vulnerable to plunder, will be the dominant assets. In this domain, a responsive legal system is critical.

Future work will revolve around being responsive to an environment of heightened and widened connectivity driven by the ubiquity of mobile devices with humongous processing power and storage capacity. The speed of shared intelligence is the winner’s edge.

FLEX YOUR FLEXIBILITY

Customized “human” work will largely centered around enabling and extending the power of artificial intelligence (AI), extreme automation including robotics, the Internet of Things (IOT) and disruptive technologies such as 3-D printing, drones and autonomous vehicles.

Perhaps, the biggest risk that can pause the march of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is cyber security. In the UBS whitepaper, it is recognized that the smart grid systems, while improving energy efficacy, maybe vulnerable to hacks that will shut down electricity transmission or generation systems entirely. With the widened connectivity, a security breach can be a global disaster.

Therein also lies a great opportunity to provide the level of protection and insurance needed. Cyber security capability is a good example, illustrative of the need to adopt the STEM approach to upskill for the future. The streamlined approach to service and production will be largely dominated by robots. Flexibility will be the human edge to address the challenges of the new world where what can be automated, will be automated.

THE STEM OF APPROVAL

The setting up of Penang STEM is an initiative for us to embrace the same intention as Toyota; to be future- ready. As the right honorable Chief Minister of Penang has articulated, Penang STEM will prepare our young for the future, as well as preparing the future for our young. It is a platform to empower our current and future labor force; and emerging entrepreneurs, with the right mindset and skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The team’s mission is to reach out to the length and breadth of the State, delivering the opportunity for a coherent STEM education, harnessing the powers of the current six STEM centers; the extensive curriculum of PSDC, PSC and KSLC, the research facilities at PDL, the  collaborative opportunities at @CAT and the inspiration and motivation from TechDome.

 

Authorities and experts have cautioned. This is an industrial revolution like no others. The scope and speed with the generation of new and disruptive technologies is unprecedented. It has started to roll. And gaining momentum. Huge corporations like Toyota are sitting up, taking notice and throwing their resources, through ‘purpose driven investments’ into garnering success from the Fourth Industrial Revolution. You should ready yourself to be future-ready.

(*Emphasis, mine.)