Faster, more intelligent, more networked:
The fourth industrial revolution
A good two hundred years ago, the industrial era was rung in with mechanical production.
Since then, revolutionary innovations shape our everyday lives at shorter and shorter
intervals. We are currently experiencing the fourth industrial revolution, which is radically
changing our everyday lives. A look back – and a few questions for the future.
1780
1790
As of 1784
Era of water and
steam power
Manual work
becomes
mechanised
1790
Mechanical loom
1800
Edmund Cartwright is considered to be the inventor
of the first mechanical loom
called the Power Loom.
1810
Railway
1804
In 1804, Richard Trevithick
built the first steam locomotive that travelled on rails.
The problem was the cast
iron rails that broke under its
weight.
1820
First industrial revolution
1830
1840
Mechanical
production systems
Camera
1826
The oldest surviving heliography most likely dates back
to 1826/27. The exposure
time was several hours.
1850
1860
1870
Standardised
processes
As of 1870
Era of electrical
energy
Second industrial revolution
Mass production based
on division of labour
1880
Light bulb
1890
1900
1910
1878
Joseph Wilson Swan
patented a functioning light bulb – two
years before Thomas
A. Edison. After several
legal disputes, the two
of them founded a
company together in
London in 1883.
1894
1913
1920
Telephone
Distortion-free sound
was transmitted for
the first time at the
end of the 19th century. The foundation
for this was developed
by Alexander Graham
Bell in around 1876.
Assembly line
Henry Ford had his famous Model T
manufactured on an assembly
line – the beginning of mass production.
1930
1940
Microprocessor
1968
The first microprocessor was developed
at the beginning of the 1970s in which
all the components of a processor were
combined on one chip. That was the
beginning of miniaturisation, which has
continued to this day.
1950
1960
As of 1969
1970
Era of stored
program control
Powerful
and fast
1971 E-Mail
1980
1975 RFID
1983 Mobile phone
1990
Third industrial revolution
Electronics and IT
for the automation
of production
1989 WWW
1993 NATEL D
1995 GPS
2000
2003 Skype
2004 Facebook
2005 YouTube
2006 Twitter
2009 WhatsApp
2010
Everything is
networked with
everything
Today
Era of sensors/robotics
and worldwide
networking
of intelligent things
(Internet of things)
Fourth industrial revolution
Blending of the virtual
and real world
Everything is networked with everything. This results
in gigantic data volumes (big data). Intelligent algorithms
gradually take over our intellectual work.
2020
Are you ready?
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