First Industrial Revolution (1800s): It used water and steam power to mechanise production. Example: Steam engine.

Second Industrial Revolution (early 1900s): It used electric power to create mass production. Example: Electricity.

Third Industrial Revolution (late 1900s): It used electronics and information technology to automate production. Example: Computer and Internet.

According to the Executive Chairman of WEF, Klaus Schwab, “the fourth industrial revolution is a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work and relate to one another”.

It is the information-intensive transformation of manufacturing and related industries into smart factories.

It involves the integration of some of the key emerging technologies and trends such as the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI).

The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with McKinsey, launched the Global Lighthouse Network (GLN) in 2018 to identify organizations and technologies in the vanguard of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

A lighthouse (in this context) is a manufacturing site that has successfully implemented 4IR technologies at scale, with a significant operational impact.

Today, 103 lighthouses—such as Tata Steel’s plant in Kalinganagar, India, and select Henkel Laundry & Home Care production sites—have been identified around the world.

It is characterised by the use of technology to blur the boundaries between the digital, physical, and biological worlds, and is driven by data.

The pacemaker is a near-perfect example of the ongoing fourth industrial revolution (4IR).

The four wireless sensors of the pacemaker monitor vitals such as temperature, oxygen levels and the heart’s electrical activity.

The device then analyses the vitals and decides when to pace the heart and at what rate. Doctors can wirelessly access the information on a tablet or smartphone.

When the researchers put the xenobots into a petri dish, they were able to gather hundreds of tiny stem cells inside their mouths and create new xenobots a few days later.

In November 2020, the Modern Coach Factory (MCF) at Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, rolled out smart railway coaches that are fitted with a battery of sensors to provide a comfortable experience to passengers.

The sensors monitor odour levels in toilets, check if the doors are safely closed, avoid fire outbreaks and stop unauthorised travel using CCTV cameras with face recognition capabilities, among other technologies.

Two species of Xenopus are regularly used by biologists, Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis. Both species are fully aquatic, and are easy to maintain in captivity.

The xenobots can move toward a target, perhaps pick up a payload (like a medicine that needs to be carried to a specific place inside a patient) — and heal themselves after being cut.

Hardy, fully aquatic and easy to maintain in the laboratory,

Eggs are a reliable and flexible material for research,

Embryos are a good model for vertebrate development,

Genetically similar to humans thus a good model for human disease

They are defined as plastics less than five millimeters in diameter—smaller in diameter than the standard pearl used in jewelry. It can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life.

E.g. Microbeads found in personal care products, plastic pellets and plastic fibres.

This breakdown is caused by exposure to environmental factors, mainly the sun’s radiation and ocean waves.

They targeted five common plastics, including Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), and polyethylene.

Half the samples contained PET plastic, which is commonly used in drinks bottles.

A third contained polystyrene, used for packaging food and other products.

A quarter of the blood samples contained polyethylene, from which plastic carrier bags are made.

Microplastics can latch on to the outer membranes of red blood cells and may limit their ability to transport oxygen.

The particles have also been found in the placentas of pregnant women, and in pregnant rats they pass rapidly through the lungs into the hearts, brains and other organs of the foetuses.

Microplastics cause damage to human cells in the laboratory and air pollution particles are already known to enter the body and cause millions of early deaths a year.

In general, babies and young children are more vulnerable to chemical and particle exposure.

Elimination of Single Use Plastic: In 2019, the Prime Minister of India pledged to eliminate all single-use plastic in the country by 2022, with an immediate ban in urban Delhi.

Important Rules: Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 state that every local body has to be responsible for setting up infrastructure for segregation, collection, processing, and disposal of plastic waste.

Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules 2018 introduced the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

The Collective seeks to minimise externalities of plastics on the ecological and social health of our planet.

Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML): The GMPL was launched at the Earth Summit in 2012 in response to a request set out in the Manila Declaration.

London Convention, 1972: The 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping Wastes and Other Matter was signed to control all sources of marine pollution and prevent pollution of the sea through regulation of dumping into the sea of waste materials.

Plastic Pacts: The Plastics Pacts are business-led initiatives to transform the plastics packaging value chain for all formats and products.

On World Environment Day, 2018 the world leaders vowed to “Beat Plastic Pollution” & eliminate its use completely.

Cutlery items including plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives, trays;

Polystyrene for decoration

The Ministry had already banned polythene bags under 75 microns in September 2021, expanding the limit from the earlier 50 microns.

From December, the ban will be extended to polythene bags under 120 microns.

While manufacturers can use the same machine for 50- and 75-micron bags, the machinery will need to be upgraded for 120 microns.

Those found violating the ban can be penalised under the Environment Protection Act 1986 – which allows for imprisonment up to 5 years, or a penalty up to Rs 1 lakh, or both.

Only about 8% of plastic gets recycled in the US. It is far cheaper to make things out of newly produced plastic than from recycled plastic.

European Union issued a directive calling for consumer brands to use at least 30% recycled content in plastic bottles by 2025.

out of 9.46 million tonnes of plastic waste generated every year in our country, 43% is single use plastic.

An average American uses and throws away 50 kilograms of single-use plastic every year whereas an average Indian uses less than one-twelfth of an American.

In the process of breaking down, it releases toxic chemicals (additives that were used to shape and harden the plastic) which make their way into our food and water supply

Petroleum-based plastic is not biodegradable and usually goes into a landfill where it is buried or it gets into the water and finds its way into the ocean

CAUSES HORMONE DISRUPTION AND CANCERS

It will help provide better and affordable health care through AI-driven diagnostics, personalized treatment, etc.

It can enhance the farmer’s income by introducing technologies for crop improvement, better yield, real-time advisory, advanced detection of pest attacks, and prediction of crop prices to inform sowing practices.

It will help strengthen infrastructure and improve connectivity from villages to cities- bridging the urban divide.

The ease of living and ease of doing business will improve by the use of smart technologies.

The smart city mission, drone policies, Gati Shakti scheme, etc, are the evidence of the revolution influencing the policy-making in the country.

COINED BY KLAUS SCHWAB (founder of WEF)

Modern data is data that’s available instantly — it grants unprecedented access and insights so its users can make decisions that drastically affect an outcome. It is data that empowers people to make decisions in the moments that matter most.

But it’s also about the responsible, ethical use of data for good, without compromising the regulations or policies in place designed to protect people who use and rely on such data every single day

The trusted web shares elements of Web3, the concept of a new and decentralized internet based on public blockchains, but its developers are specifically concerned with maximizing mechanisms for trust as a basis for data distribution.