Photograph: Ruben Sprich/Reuters
The world has seen what happens when we come together. The agreement signed by 195 countries last year in Paris is probably the greatest testament to our connected power. Leaving dissection of whys and hows to the academics and commentators I can safely say one thing is abundantly clear: we are living through transformational times.
The theme of this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos is the fourth industrial revolution – the coming together of networked digital economies fundamentally reorganising the way we do business and how we interact with one and other.
The ingredients of this revolution are exactly the same ones which can help unlock a path to the low-carbon economy Paris has commanded. And within this transformation three enabling truths can be seen to shine out: collaboration, creativity and connections.
Collaboration enabled through connected Information Communications Technology (ICT) broadens the horizon of potential. Through platforms like the Caring for Climate Business Forum, the power of collaboration was harnessed to build a critical mass of engaged companies, ensuring the private sector could be an effective part of the climate solution in Paris.
Creativity and innovation are the roots of change, the sort we have recently witnessed. A report by the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) illustrates the dynamic ways innovative use of ICT can cut carbon, fuel economic growth and benefit society. The world in 2030 will be one where smart devices will empower people to monitor and mitigate their own health, delegating access to their own personal health data. It will, the report predicts, be a world in which the digitisation of learning moves us from the static classroom to anytime anywhere through remote access. And through the virtualisation of content and services to the cloud, education can become personalised lifelong learning.
And when we fully render the role of ICT in our workplaces and homes we can meet the challenge set for us in Paris. The same GeSI report plotted how if properly harnessed throughout our economies ICT could reduce CO2 emissions globally by 20% by 2030.
If the power of connecting through technology is already yielding social and economic results, imagine what could happen if we push the boundaries just that little bit further. If by increasing the use of ICT we can tackle the big challenges like climate change, can we shift the needle of moving to a truly circular economy?
In our hyper-connected world we are seeing the kernels of this change from consumers to corporates. Ride-sharing apps like Bla Bla car and disruptive platforms like Airbnb are dematerialising our economies by reducing the need to build and create, and therefore reducing the resources and impact this has. Airbnb, to borrow an example, is a company which owns no building and no hotel rooms and yet last year hosted 500,000 nightly stays.
Connecting helps us collaborate and learn, and from big data we can take those learnings and scale them up. To take an example, working alongside the Open University and Milton Keynes Council we have helped create a smarter parking revolution in the city. BT has helped establish a data hub which collects and manages data on car parking to optimise spaces and reduce the need for further parking spaces, set to save the city some £105m if fully deployed.
ICT can unlock potential and turn the nascent sharing economy to a truly circular economy. There is every indication that collaboration, creativity and connectivity will underpin its success. Increased collaboration for example, through faster adoption of cloud services, mean smaller enterprises can work seamlessly with multinationals and governments. This in turn opens new economic opportunities, generates new revenue streams, reduces the need for travel and for physical resources.
The groundbreaking innovations highlighted through the Forum’s Circular Economy awards show the breadth of exciting creativity that is borne out of ICT. For example, Autogrid a smart new start-up is using big data analytics to enable utilities to expand the electric grid, widening access to power to potentially millions of people, without consuming additional non-renewable resources.
The size of the prize is not insignificant. Harnessing the transformational power of ICT could create £122bn for the UK economy alone. This is notwithstanding the £1.3tn which could be yielded in space savings and enhanced health services through e-health opportunities available to 19.9 million across the country.
The connected future is a bright one. Together we can maintain our ambition to find innovative ways to connect the people on the planet and the people with the planet.
Content on this page is paid for and provided by BT, sponsor of the technology and innovation hub.
