Hamdan launches 4th Industrial Revolution Centre at Davos

Davos: The UAE on Tuesday launched the Emirates Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in cooperation with the World Economic Forum (WEF-Davos).

Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai is leading the UAE delegation to the global forum in Switzerland.

The 4th Industrial Revolution Centre is the world’s first centre to get the forum’s fellowship, and will be managed by the Dubai Future Foundation.

The centre is a new addition to the cooperation between the UAE and the forum.

Shaikh Hamdan said that he was proud to be leading the UAE delegation to the forum, which began Tuesday, and continues until January 25.

“I am proud to lead the UAE delegation participating in the Davos forum, which brings together more than 3, 000 top officials from across the world,” Shaikh Hamdan said.

He added that the UAE is participating actively in the global dialogue that pursues to find solutions to future challenges and explore development prospects for the sake of humanity.

Shaikh Hamdan met Prof Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, and discussed ways to strengthen the strategic partnership and cooperation between the UAE and the forum.

A better future

Discussions focussed on adopting future technologies and harnessing the tools of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in establishing a new model for the globalisation of knowledge and innovations that aim to improve the quality of life for communities — and ensure a better future for the next generations.

“The UAE adopts a firm approach to strengthen international cooperation and support global efforts that aim to benefit humankind. It is thus essential to support global platforms such as the World Economic Forum that seeks to tackle future global challenges,” Shaikh Hamdan said.

He underlined that the UAE’s active participation in the forum reflects the leadership’s directives regarding the importance of strengthening successful international partnerships to build on for community service. Shaikh Hamdan highlighted the importance of the forum as a global platform to develop future directions and visions.

Glossary: What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

The 4th Industrial Revolution is rooted in a new technological phenomenon — digitalization, which enables the world to build a new virtual world from which we can steer the physical world.

The industry of today and tomorrow aim to connect all production means, and to enable their interaction in real time.

Factories, using robots and transactions using artificial intelligence, make communication among the different stakeholders and connected objects in a production line possible, thanks to technology such as Cloud, Big Data Analytics and the Industrial Internet of Things.

Stages of Industrial Revolution

1st industrial revolution — 1765

This era witnessed the emergence of mechanization, replacing agriculture with industry as the foundations of the economic structure of society. Mass extraction of coal along with the invention of the steam engine created a new type of energy that accelerated the development of railroads and of economic, human and material exchanges.

2nd industrial revolution — 1870

This era came as a result of a new source of energy: electricity, oil and gas, which led to the full utilization of the combustion engine and the development of the steel industry alongside chemical syntheses that brought us synthetic fabric, dyes and fertilizer.

3rd Industrial revolution — 1969

This era appeared with the emergence of a new type of electronics — with the transistor and microprocessor — and also the rise of telecommunications and computers.