Process Industries 2

6And Tomorrow…

Chapter written by Jean-Pierre DAL PONT.

We are living a revolution that has no equivalent in the history of humanity and that, moreover, is a global revolution. It can be rightly argued that the steam engine or the invention of the printing press caused considerable upheaval. This is correct, but these were local events that took decades to spread out.

What is striking about the current revolution is its speed, its globality and also its violence. Two giants are clashing: the United States and China. The United States dominated the 20th Century as a “hyper present country” as well as “hyper-powerful”, to quote Philippe Labro (2012).

China, with a market of more than one billion consumers, has gone from copycat to inventor due, in part, to leading universities and a highly centralized power. Two giants, therefore, whose digital societies dominate the world and shape it through their capitalistic and technological power.

The European attitude in this context is worrying. What will happen to old Europe if it does not catch a train that is already running at full speed? What will be the role of Africa, of developing countries in the face of this technological surge? As the saying goes, “no one knows what tomorrow will be made of”; this is currently true!

In the context of this book we try to identify a few key ideas without any pretension. The readers will have to form their opinions for themselves!

6.1. The beginning of an epic: business, science, technology, ...