The 3rd wave of industrial revolution: impulses for the coatings industry

 
The so-called 3rd wave of industrial revolution will challenge the traditional players in materials and process industry, but also bring huge opportunities to create and execute innovative business models. Advances in analytical techniques, robotics, artificial intelligence, and new methods of digital data processing / visualization are the disruptive forces that will shape the future of coatings industry. With these forces, the quantity and quality of the information about the interactions within the formulations on molecular level will increase exponentially which will create knowledge on much deeper level of model based understanding than it is possible now. Therefore it is misleading to believe that the disruption in technology is limited to improvements in manufacturing efficiency or the application of big data for a different marketing approach. The whole business model can be disrupted and now role paradigms will be created for the people working, thinking, and innovating in the coatings industry, suggesting new skills and qualifications necessary to thrive in that new business environment.