4IR, Sustainable Development, ESG analysis and innovative solutions
There has been much written about the SDGs; how they should be addressed, who should address them and who will pay for them and how. But exploring how the SDGs will be ‘successfully’ attained given the speed of innovation and the change in technology has only lightly been addressed. In my role as Sustainability Director of World Wide Generation, I have been confronted with the amazing transformational ability of technology. I have come face to face with the very real advantages that the fourth industrial revolution, or industry 4.0, or 4IR can bring to the equation in delivering the SDGs.
In his book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, has stated his thesis on the elemental difference in Industry 4.0, denoted by its’ advances in technology and how that technology change will fundamentally change how we do, produce, manage and govern all aspects of society. The shift from the third industrial revolution to the fourth impels businesses and actors to new ways of doing things and the need for continuous innovation. How 4IR has the potential to improve and measure the quality of life at a very granular level. I also concede that there are some causes for concern, as can be expected with disruptive events.
Meanwhile, the SDGs are asking the world to view and address the worlds largest challenges in a different way, essentially asking us all ‘to do something different.’ As Manjula Lee, the Founder and CEO of World Wide Generation (WWG) is known for quoting, “We are the first generation that can address the issues of climate change because of technology, and the last due to the speed of degradation to the planet.” It would seem that the demands of the SDGs and 4IR are a perfect match; do to things differently to attend to massive global challenges combined with innovative technology tools to effectively and productively address these challenges.
Actors who invest in and finance the SDGs seek dual returns of financial and impact - known as return on investment (ROI) and return on impact (RO Impact). The 4IR and its mix of cyber-physical, internet of things, and internet of systems disrupts existing value chains. Thus, 4IR is elemental in aiding in the measuring, monitoring and managing quickly, robustly and effectively all types of returns in an innovative way. The current financial world has profited from the third industrial revolution, computerisation, allowing financial players to access investment relevant information easily and without much lag time, thereby, finding prices, market levels, and confidently trading; simply, carrying out basics of investment activities with all necessary financial information at their finger tips. Now, as the market for impact investing grows, simple, basic, and rudimentary impact information; information needed to make effective investment decisions, need to keep up with its financial informational counterparts.
How can one make investment decisions based co-equally on investment AND impact knowledge when information provided for one is delivered second-by-second and the other is so antiquated to be nearly useless?
Currently, the informational needs supplied to ESG, Impact, and SRI investing analysts rely on public and data scraping, news items - gleaned from news alerts, and public-annual published reports, which provide data that are at times 8 months old, or older. 4IR can now disruptively change that - accelerate information to make efficient and effective data on which investment decisions are then based on ‘real time’ impact knowledge.
4IR has some demonstrable impacts on both the supply and demand side. On the supply side, consisting of disruptive flows from innovative actors who develop global digital platforms which can expel well established players faster by improving speed, quality and price at which value can be delivered. And the demand side, where transparency is demanded, high level of engagement with user-friendly design is required and clarity in market delivery of goods and services. The supply and demand side will need to be harmonised if the SDGs are to be successfully delivered.
WWG is on the forefront, on the cutting edge of this revolution; using smart technology to change the face of risk monitoring and supply of information needed to deliver the SDGs. WWG elegantly co-mingles the supply and demand sides to disrupt existing industry structures - re-inventing ESG and SDG essential data collection; providing robust SDG risk measuring, monitoring and managing. The WWG platform convenes people (partnerships), assets (Natural and Human), and data; furnishing robot and timely SDG information that is more inline with the speed of key financial notifications. WWG is the leading light in brining ‘real time’ robust SDG data to the world of impact investing. Essentially providing a new way to measure impact of products, services and company behaviours on delivering the SDGs.
When does ‘doing something different’ start? When does it begin to happen and ‘how’ is success measured? I would posit that 4IR is starting the when ‘something different’ happens and WWG is providing the ‘how’.
Cutting Edge Revolution
WWG is on the forefront, on the cutting edge of this revolution; using smart technology to change the face of risk monitoring and supply of information needed to deliver the SDGs. WWG elegantly co-mingles the supply and demand sides to disrupt existing industry structures - re-inventing ESG and SDG essential data collection; providing robust SDG risk measuring, monitoring and managing. The WWG platform convenes people (partnerships), assets (Natural and Human), and data; furnishing robot and timely SDG information that is more inline with the speed of key financial notifications. WWG is the leading light in brining ‘real time’ robust SDG data to the world of impact investing. Essentially providing a new way to measure impact of products, services and company behaviours on delivering the SDGs.
When does ‘doing something different’ start? When does it begin to happen and ‘how’ is success measured? I would posit that 4IR is starting the when ‘something different’ happens and WWG is providing the ‘how’.
Comments