How to win the 4th Industrial Revolution

1. HOW TO WIN THE 4TH
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA
President and CEO, Society of Physician Entrepreneurs

2. DEFINITION
• The 4th Industrial Revolution is a mental model created by the leaders of the Joint
Economic Forum and describes how physical, digital and biologic technologies have
collided and the resulting challenges and opportunities that presents.

3. HOW TO WIN
• Firstly, we must focus on systems rather than technologies, because the important
considerations will be on the wide-reaching changes to business, society and politics
rather than technologies for their own sake.
• Example: Sick care cannot be fixed from inside and will depend on the coherence of
diverse ecosystems.

4. HOW TO WIN
• Secondly, we must empower our societies to master technologies and act to counter a
fatalistic and deterministic view of progress. Otherwise, there is no room for
optimism and positive transformation, and society’s agency is nullified.
• Example: We must change how we educate and train the future workforce. In
medicine, that will require a re-engineering of workflow, competencies, structure
and processes of delivering care as we evolve from a sick care system to a health
care system

5. HOW TO WIN
• Thirdly, we need to prioritize futures by design rather than default. Collaboration
between all stakeholders must play a central role in how we integrate these
transformative technologies. Otherwise, our future will be delivered by default.
• Example: Design thinking needs to place the patient and doctors first

6. HOW TO WIN
• And lastly, we must focus on key values as a feature of new technologies, rather
than as a bug. Technologies used in a way that increase disparity, poverty,
discrimination and environmental damage work against the future we seek. For the
investment in these technologies to be justifiable, they must bring us a better world,
not one of increased insecurity and dislocation.
• Example: The 4th Industrial Revolution, like the 3 that preceded it, has already
produced inequalities in value and wealth distribution that will exacerbate an
already contentious global society.

7. BOTTOM LINE
• Ultimately, winning the 4th sickcare industrial revolution will mean 1)
reengineering the processes of care, 2) delivering user defined value, and 3) doctors
and patients saying "no" to unnecessary and wasteful spending as the price for
access and quality.