Cleantech takes over consumer markets

By 2020, 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet
1.2.2 Digitalisation
Digitalisation refers both to the process of converting
various forms of information into a computable form
and to the integration of digital technologies in our
everyday surroundings. It is one of the most significant
and visible megatrends of our age. Digitalisation has
all the potential to play a key role in solving growing
problems bound to urbanisation, resource scarcity,
population change, and many other domains.
The development of digitalisation is exponential.
Digitalisation disrupts traditional business models, as
digital models are global by default and not restricted
by location. Starting from disrupting the media and
banking sectors, the revolution is spreading to other
sectors. It took 10 years for the Internet to become an
integral part of daily life of billions of people around
the world. Slightly later, the social media tool Google+
needed only 16 days to reach 10 million users.
By 2020, 50 billion devices will be connected to the
Internet (Ericsson, 2011). Rather than everything
being digital or physical, the world is becoming something
else.
Most physical services and goods such as housing,
transportation, and mobility cannot be replaced by digital
alternatives to the degree that communications
and entertainment once were. Facebook, email, and other
similar services can be said to have replaced postal
services and media to a degree – AirBnB, however will
never replace property and building services. People
will always live in a physical location that needs to be
heated and cooled. Interestingly, big opportunities lie
in the intersection of digital and physical.
This ever-more speeding development of digitalisation
will allow more and more disruptive innovations
such as Uber, which can challenge the traditional businesses
and their value chains faster than ever before.
Soon all consumer products will be connected to the
Internet.
Cleantech takes over consumer markets
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