For more than a decade, the United Nations have been warning that global warming can no longer be prevented unless we directly act. While it is not too late, we are at a critical juncture where catastrophic increases in temperature can only be avoided by far-reaching climate protection measures.

As one of the largest producers of greenhouse gas emissions, business bears a special responsibility in climate protection. It would therefore not be possible to contain climate change without the proactive support of companies and start-ups. Entrepreneurs will have to overcome some challenges in this sense, but they will also have just as many opportunities to transform themselves for the future in order to find new paths to success and thus generate valuable competitive advantages.

Many companies and startups around the world have long been aware of this status quo and have therefore already taken steps to reduce their carbon footprint. From recycling and saving energy in offices to optimizing supply chains and redesigning products with regard to sustainability, many climate protection measures are already common practice in many companies.

In addition, 15 percent of the world's largest listed companies have set themselves the goal of reducing their CO2 emissions by half by 2030. As a result, global CO2 emissions would be reduced by 20 percent by 2030. But even if this goal is actually achieved, it would not be enough to meet the climate goals of the Paris Agreement.

According to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a 43 percent reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 would be necessary to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

All in all, this means for us that global temperatures will rise by 2.6 degrees Celsius by the turn of the century if we do not accelerate our climate protection strategies within the next five years.

This fact could give many entrepreneurs the impression that decarbonization plans are being held back by the high demand for energy in the economy. In reality, however, accelerated climate protection and increased energy demand are compatible. But only if the quest for more energy means a faster adoption of mega trends and new technologies.

„In short, the implementation of megatrends and technologies makes it possible to limit global warming and thus avoid an ecological catastrophe and its consequences for the economy, society and the planet.”

Driven by pressure from regulators and customers, many companies have already begun to actively embed essential megatrends and technologies into their strategy, thereby enjoying higher revenue opportunities and better competitive advantages.

It is important to know that in the foreseeable future laggards will have no other option but to do the same if they want to secure their long-term competitiveness and company existence.

The world is currently in a very critical situation, in a social and technological change process, which is also known as digital transformation. Throughout history, it has never been as important as it is today to know which megatrends and technologies need to be given special consideration in the company.

For this reason, I would like at this point, dear reader, to go into some of the relevant factors that are driving this astonishing social development in chronological order, before I get into the actual core of this article.

The most important megatrends and technologies of the current age

I. Digitization

At this point, digitization means the preparation of information for processing or storage in a digital system. In this sense, the original digitization started with the invention of the first digital computer called the Colossus from England in 1943. Together with the almost existential need to master the ever-increasing volume of scientific and economic data (big data), more and more centralized computing systems emerged in the years that followed, until finally the first PC (Apple II) was born in 1977 and the official commercialization of personal computers started in 1981.

Due to the space-saving storage option, the comparatively faster and error-free use, processing, distribution, development and playback of digital data using PCs, more and more people have tended to actively participate in the digitization process over time, so that PCs have become an indispensable part of everyday life.

In Germany, for example, according to statistics, 90 percent of all households had a computer in 2018. In addition, it is estimated that as early as 2007, 94 percent of the world's relevant human knowledge was recorded digitally. This tendency of mankind to want to control data also leads to the acceleration of digital transformation and is therefore one of the key factors of the current digital age as a megatrend.

II. Internet & Co.

When on October 29, 1969, two mainframe computers located hundreds of kilometers apart were connected wirelessly, the first network called Arpanet was born as the forerunner of the Internet. After its further development, it was finally released in 1991 for civil commercial use as the "World Wide Web" and experienced a huge rush of users in the same year.

In the years that followed, the global use of the Internet ran wild, along with new business models and websites that enjoyed great popularity. According to Wearesocial, towards the end of 2018, the number of internet users was a staggering 4 billion.

The existence of affordable laptops, desktops and smartphones, free social networks (Facebook, Twitter etc.) and messenger apps (Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger etc.), cool online stores (e-commerce), convenient online payment options (online banking, PayPal, Bitcoin payment systems etc.), secure online exchanges (Finanzen.net, IG Group etc.), attractive online marketplaces (E Bay, Shpock etc.), news portals (Spiegel Online, Zeit Online etc.) etc. leads to that people are spending more and more time on the internet.

According to studies, for example, a large part of the increase in internet users in 2018 was driven by smartphones and mobile data plans. With a world population of 7.6 billion, two-thirds of humanity (5.1 billion) owned a mobile phone in the same year, with more than 3 billion people accessing their chosen social media ninety percent via mobile devices. To date, these numbers have consistently increased.

On the one hand, all of this means that people wouldn't use tech devices like laptops, desktops, and smartphones as much without internet access, and on the other hand, they wouldn't be able to use most of the things listed above at all without internet access.

Their true function only comes into effect in combination with the Internet. The Internet makes all the things listed above possible and thus forms the basis for their use. For this reason, the Internet megatrend can be seen as one of the most important factors in the current digital age.

III. Big Data

The term "Big Data" first appeared in the literature in 1997 Article by NASA researchers Michael Cox and David Ellsworth. It is made up of the English words "Big" and "Data" and suggests that it means a huge amount of data with an enormous scope.

There is currently no clearly defined definition of "Big Data". In-depth research shows, however, that scientists and experts summarize two aspects: Firstly, the ever faster growing amounts of data; on the other hand, new technologies (new and powerful IT solutions and systems) for processing and evaluating huge amounts of data.

The second aspect indicates that dealing with this data using traditional techniques and methods of data processing is not possible. Because the "big data phenomenon" promotes the development and application of new technologies and IT systems, it makes a remarkable contribution to digital transformation and is therefore considered a key driver of the current age.

IV. Internet of Things (IoT)

There is also no generally accepted definition for the term “Internet of Things” (IoT). It was coined in 1999 by Kevin Ashton, a co-founder of MIT's Auto-ID Center. This refers to the linking and microprocessor-controlled and independent communication of smart physical objects (things) via omnipresent sensors and the global infrastructure of the Internet network.

The first smart object, a toaster that can be remotely controlled via the Internet, was invented in 1990, but the period between 2008 and 2009 is considered the official birth of the "Internet of Things". In this phase, for the first time in the world, more devices than people were connected to the Internet.

Due to all its advantages, such as higher quality of life, more comfort, security and fun, increased efficiency, cost reduction and better use of resources that the "Internet of Things" offers people, the use of so-called intelligent objects is increasing rapidly within society. This increase also results in an acceleration of the digital transformation. That is why the "Internet of Things" (IoT) is also considered a driver of digital transformation and thus one of the most important technologies of the current age.

V. Cloud

Cloud technology is still relatively young. It only became well-known in 2004, when its actual concept increasingly unfolded through the social use of Facebook after it was founded. Amazon recognized the potential of this technology early on and got the cloud business off the ground with the founding of Amazon Web Services in 2006.

However, there is still no official definition of the term cloud. The first detailed explanation of the term was undertaken by the US agency National Institute of Standards and Technology and dates back to 2009.

Broadly speaking, cloud or cloud computing means the provision of IT infrastructures (storage space, computing power and application software) via a huge ecosystem-like network of globally distributed servers that enable its users to store data, run applications and deliver content in a decentralized manner and services enabled.

Because of all its advantages, such as the elimination of investment costs for server hardware, the possibility of device-, time-, person- and location-independent access, increased data security and availability, reduced IT administration effort etc., a large number of leading companies have long since stopped dealing with their own servers content.

It is only a matter of time before cloud technology will take on its helpful function in all areas of society. Sooner or later every company will be forced to use cloud technology. This fact makes it clear that cloud is to be regarded as the dominant driver of digital transformation and thus as one of the most relevant technologies of the decade.

Vl. Blockchain

The term Blockchain was coined in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto in a so-called "White Paper" on Bitcoin and originally referred to a forgery-proof, immutable, decentralized and digital accounting register of all monetary transactions in a community.

Using a web-based, globally distributed and decentralized database management system, blockchain technology enables the four original sales intermediaries (customer, supplier, customer's bank and supplier's bank) to be reduced to two parties (customer and supplier), which are then directly connected to each other. 

This reduction in sales intermediaries greatly speeds up and simplifies the entire transaction process, which ultimately means that the transaction service is offered much more cost-effectively on the market. Scientists have already recognized that blockchain technology can be applied to many other areas of society apart from its use in finance.

Because apart from the values ​​of a currency, it is quite capable of storing data about people (dates of birth and death, relationship status, current residence permit, health insurance number, course of illness, patient reports, etc.), elections, taxes, insurance, etc. in the form of values ​​in a decentralized database to save. 

In addition to its low-cost transaction performance, blockchain technology also has other trump cards that make its institutional integration almost mandatory. The possibility of exchanging large amounts of data in real time and, thanks to its transparency, analyzing it precisely and the impossibility of changing data and a failure of the blockchain will mean that in the near future the blockchain will play a major role as the basis for transactions in many fields of application worldwide .

In economics and finance, their implementation and use (e. g. Bitcoin payment method) - as already indicated above - has long since begun and cannot be stopped even by state intervention. For this reason, the blockchain is considered another elementary driver of digital age.

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