The Sixth Wave

Throughout modern history, the tide of innovation and progress has ebbed and flowed but a clear pattern existsfive waves of innovation, beginning with the Industrial Revolution, have each transformed society, economies, and industry. The fifth wave was dominated by information and communications technology but its peak is beginning to fade and a new, brighter star is emerging. The sixth wave of innovation will be about resourcesnatural resources, human resources, and information. Economic growth will no longer be tied to resource consumption or waste production and industry will no longer think in terms of products but in terms of services. Everything, from the smallest leaf and light switch to the largest cities and online communities, will have a value that can be measured, so nothing is ever wasted. Driving this will be a spectacular boom in technologies ranging from clean technology to digital mapping to online collaboration.