An economic epoch is defined by three factors,
The production systems and the tools these systems are
employing
The means of communication and the means for
information creation
The type of energy (power) systems engaged.
In each epoch there is a certain relationship and
interdependence between these three factors. So far in human history, each of
these factors was built over a certain technology and there was no relation
between the technologies these three factors were exploiting. In striking
contrast, the characteristic of the knowledge-based economy we have entered, as
a clearly identifiable new economic epoch, is the dominant role of information
and communications systems which are emerging as the common technological
base all these three factors. have This presupposes the digitization
and the standardization of all human activities and of all processes in
their lives. As the matter of fact, the digitization and standardization allow
the convergence of the three factors into an entirely novel framework.
Moreover, digitization allows biotechnology to emerge, for the first
time, as the fourth factor in the definition of an economic epoch.
The distinctive feature of the knowledge-based
economic activity is that it provides a new framework for planning, organizing
and coordinating resources (human or material) to an unprecedented scale, while
removing all barriers associated with location, distance and
skills: we are entering the era where all technology-related restrictions
which confine humans to implement their social functions at certain locations
only, are being removed. This opens up the opportunity to select, mobilize and
utilize the most diverse parameters and assets needed to complete a particular
task regardless of their actual physical location and regardless of the nature
of these tasks. In this way, social functions, like the deployment of new
production tool systems in an industrial complex, the handling of agricultural
robots in the fields, the employment of integrated health-care systems, the
operation and control of distributed and renewable energy systems, scientific
research, education, recreation and cultural development, etc will be rooted
back to the same standardized processes.
We acknowledge that the knowledge capital,
which knows no geographical boundaries, is an indestructible entity in striking
contrast with its first or second industrial-wave counterparts that were often
subjected to dissipation. Moreover, unlike physical resources, the knowledge
capital is not exhaustible; it can be almost instantly transferred anywhere and
can be employed or used simultaneously from an unrestricted number of human
users or machines. In parallel, this new era brings its own challenges: the coordination
of diverse and complex operations becomes an extremely challenging and critical
task. The knowledge-based economy is ushering a revolutionary wealth system but
it also includes many unchartered directions, the implications of which are not
fully understood and accounted for in all respects at this moment, while we are
not fully prepared for the many alternative outcomes.
We have passed the point where national economies are
integrated to regional ones transforming the previously isolated markets into
vast market clusters. Today, regions within a single nation, countries, unions
and even whole continents are immensely and inextricably linked creating new
opportunities while the economic interests are shifted to new directions. In
this framework, global economy is characterized from interdependency and
cooperation on one hand and from competition on the other.
This evolution has created global reach enterprises
that may leverage the features of the knowledge-based economy to become
completely location-independent, capitalizing on an automated connectivity to
and between any process, person or thing; moreover, they are designated from
their ability to scale to meet any demand. This ability, to scale to worldwide
demand but still be able to provide for the delivery of services or goods
locally, is something that requires a certain organizational and technological
framework. On the organizational front, global alliances or consortia are
formed to establish global reach with ubiquitous local access in each
geographic market. Each of these alliances will likely be anchored to one or more
large global industry leaders or service providers. In such a dynamic world,
the enterprises with the most automated operations and the alliances with
optimized global-local reach operations are those that will benefit the most
and will be able to leverage their dynamic agility to win in the marketplace.
However, the organizational framework alone is not
sufficient to safeguard better, lower-cost, value-added digitalization and
service creation. A common, standardized operating platform, overcoming the
current picture of a plethora of over-fragmented and single-purpose
technologies, is a necessity that will bring into life the potential of a
knowledge-based economy matching the ability of the over-the-top enterprises to
coordinate on both “global” and “local” scale.
This is the point where the next generation
infrastructures is expected to play a central role.
