 Observations on the Fourth Industrial Revolution A regular scan of articles and insights with commentary from a parent’s perspective The beginning of the year is a perfect time to tap into our imagination. The beginning of the new year is often about planning and goal setting. Very important matters in the context of making things happen in the game of life. I realize, though, that I do not often step back and re-evaluate the aspirations and motivations behind the goals and the plans. As a driven professional and busy mom I often move forward on auto-pilot sticking with the life goals made in the past because I have not taken the time to re-evaluate them in the context of the ever-changing possibilities of the future. When was the last time you (re) imagined? If you are anything like me, you may spend most of your days consumed with matters of necessity and practicality. Work requirements, home tasks, taking care of our families. I plan non-stop and am usually doing so based on the immediate needs in front of me and underpinned by the dreams of myself and my family from a year or more ago. However, today’s shifting attitudes, emerging technologies, and resulting opportunities require more frequent thought and conversation about how the here and now impacts our planning and goal setting for the future. How often do we dare to give ourselves the time to imagine and dream? For 2023, I ask that you join me in taking more time to imagine and dream. That may mean setting aside time to not only imagine but to also find sources that inspire your imagination. For me, I am very much interested in preparing my 14- and 15-year-old teens for a future that is oriented around an increasingly integrated society, artificial intelligence, robotics, and green energy. Much of this requires a tremendous amount of imagination because many of the implications of these shifts are still unexplored or undefined. Tapping into our imaginations gives us power to shape our families, local communities, and our world. I believe the more time that you and I take to imagine and dream the more engaged we become with each other and with our future. I find my inspiration for my imaginings in articles on technology and books on tapping into the power of our brains for creativity and innovation. Where will you find your inspiration to dream? Please share your inspiration with us at info@cademuseum.org and we will include them as a resource in another post. My inspiration for today’s post: H-IQ The Net and the Butterfly Workforce of the future: The competing forces shaping 2030 Observations on the Fourth Industrial Revolution A regular scan of articles and insights with commentary from a parent’s perspective  On the day that Neptunya, a Florida-based company that uses a novel design to capture the energy of ocean waves, won first place in the 2022 Cade Prize for Innovation the founder/inventor, Rodrigo Griese, and his family also became naturalized citizens of the United States of America. It was a fitting coincidence as these two incredible moments together exemplify the American Dream which itself is rooted in the foundation of our incredible country. Did you know the United States of America is the only country in the world to include an individual’s right to own their own idea in its founding documents? Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution includes a clause often referred to as the “Inventor’s Clause”. That clause reads “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries”. Many who would argue that this individual right laid the foundation for the burgeoning innovation that came out of the United States in the 1800s and beyond. Neptunya is on the cusp of being one of those stories of American innovation. Using an innovative wind turbine design, coupled with a novel approach to stabilizing the turbines, Neptunya believes they have a product that could offer ubiquitous, cost effective, renewable energy generation with minimal impact on marine life. This could be an incredibly lucrative product for Neptunya, as the US Department of Energy reports that wind energy is the largest sector of energy-generating capacity growth in the US.
If the job requirements don’t appeal to you or your teenager, but they find the industry fascinating, remember that it takes all kinds of skills and talents to grow and sustain an industry including engineering, marketing, finance, sales, and management. American innovation in the energy sector has the potential to improve lives and drive opportunity. Neptunya is an innovator in the space, and the winner of the 2022 Cade Prize for Innovation.
Links for the Data Geeks out there: Wind Market Reports 2021 Edition Fastest Growing Occupations - Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook Wind Turbine Technician - Fastest Growing Job in America A Day in the Life of a Wind Turbine Engineer |
AuthorStephanie Bailes is the former President and CEO of the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention. She has been identified by Blooloop Magazine as a top 50 International Museum Influencer and by Florida Trend Magazine as a Person to Know in the area of Technology. She is also a wife and the mother of two teenagers who finds herself struggling to reconcile the incredible value of cutting-edge technologies associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution with the implications of those technologies on the society in which she is raising her children to participate. She believes that it is critical for parents and their children to be empowered with knowledge so that they may be active, informed participants in this coming evolution. ArchivesCategories |
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