Nature-like and Convergent Technologies - Driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution - UNIDO
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Nature-like and Convergent Technologies Driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Nature-like and Convergent Technologies Driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution
© UNIDO 2019. All rights reserved. This document has been produced without formal United Nations editing. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or its economic system or degree of development. Designations such as “developed”, “industrialized” or “developing” are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. Mention of firm names or commercial products does not constitute an endorsement by UNIDO. For reference and citation, please use: United Nations Industrial Development Organization, 2019. Nature-like and Convergent Technologies Driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Vienna.
CONTENTS
Abbreviationsv
Acknowledgmentsvi
Introduction1
1. Nature-like and convergent technologies as a response to global challenges 4
Sustainable economic development opportunities for nature-like and convergent technologies 11
Convergetics and synergetics 15
Convergence of life, bio- and medical sciences 16
Convergent or nature-like technologies in medicine 20
2. Frontier technologies driving the fourth industrial revolution 22
The 4IR and Industry 4.0 23
Convergence drives divergence 28
Potential impacts of the 4IR on the Sustainable Development Goals 30
Challenges33
Preparedness for 4IR 34
Moving towards Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0 36
3. Megascience and international collaboration as a basis for the
development of nature-like technologies 39
4. Readiness to develop and implement convergent technologies—NBICS 44
Recommendations on potential mechanisms for minimizing and removing barriers 47
5. Resolution of the Forum 61
Global Forum on Nature-Like and Convergent Technologies 61
Notes63
References65
Biographies of speakers 70
iii
ABBREVIATIONS
4IR Fourth industrial revolution OECD Organisation for Economic Co-
AI Artificial intelligence operation and Development
AR Augmented reality PaaS Products-as-a-service
CRISPR Clustered regularly interspaced short R&D Research and development
palindromic repeat R&D&I Research, development and
GMIS Global Manufacturing and innovation
Industrialization Summit SDG Sustainable development goal
IAI Industrial artificial intelligence SLM Selective layer melting
ICNR International Centre for Neutron SMEs Small and medium-sized enterprises
Research SSRS Specialized synchrotron radiation
IDC International Data Corporation source
IFR International Federation of Robotics STEAM Science, technology, engineering, arts
IIoT Industrial Internet of things and mathematics
IoT Internet of things TVET Technical and vocational education
NBICS Nano-, bio-, info-, cogno-, and and training
socio-technologies UNDESA United Nations Department of
NTI National Technology Initiative of Economic and Social Affairs
Russia VR Virtual reality
WHO World Health Organization
iv NATURE-LIKE AND CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGIES DRIVING THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This report was prepared by Olga Memedovic, September 2018. The Forum was organized by
Chief of the Business Environment, Cluster and UNIDO in cooperation with the Ministry of In-
Innovation Division (BCI) in the UNIDO Depart- dustry and Trade of the Russian Federation and
ment of Trade, Investment and Innovation (TII). the National Research Centre (Kurchatov Insti-
tute), and funded from the Voluntary Contribution
Oliver Authried, Brigitt Roveti, Christi Thomas, of the Russian Federation to UNIDO Industrial
Iana Iakovleva, Linda Lampel, Svetlana Erkenova, Development Fund. The main spokespersons and
Ekaterina Seteykina and Jun Yamashita provided moderators of the Forum were Andrey Fursenko,
background research and support. Assistant to the President, Vladimir Kalamanov,
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Mikhail
The report benefited from the research papers pre- Kovalchuk, President of the National Research
pared by M.V. Mikhail Valentinovich Kovalchuk, Centre (Kurchatov Institute), Hiroshi Kuniyoshi,
President, Oleg Stepanovich Naraikin, Vice-pres- Deputy Director General of UNIDO, and Alexan-
ident, and Ekaterina Yatsishina, Deputy Director, der Sergeev, President of the Russian Academy of
National Research Centre (Kurchatov Institute); Science.
and Oleg Movsesyan, Director, Moscow State Uni-
versity Science Park. We are grateful to the team at Communica-
tions Development Incorporated — led by Bruce
The publication has benefited from the contribu- Ross-Larson and including Joe Brinley, Joe Ca-
tions of keynote speakers and panellists during ponio, Mike Crumplar, Peter Redvers-Lee, Chris-
the Global Forum on Naturally-based and Con- topher Trott and Elaine Wilson—for editing and
vergent Technologies held in Sochi, Russia, 28–29 designing this publication.
v
While human ingenuity may devise various inventions to the same ends, it will never
devise anything more beautiful, nor simpler, nor more to the purpose than nature
does, because in her inventions nothing is lacking and nothing is superfluous.
Leonardo da Vinci
INTRODUCTION
Today we are faced with a crucial challenge of re- Nature-like and convergent technologies prom-
alizing sustainable development in the face of an ise unprecedented and previously unimaginable
ever-increasing demand for energy and natural possibilities. The basis of convergent technology
resources, primarily water, food and other bio re- is connecting the capabilities of modern digital
sources. As Kovalchuk et al. observe, the primary technologies, such as microelectronics, with the
cause of the current crisis lies in the antagonism creations of nature. Advances in electronics, na-
between biosphere (natural capital) and techno- noscience, bioscience, information technology,
sphere (manufactured capital) formed over the cognitive science, social sciences and humanities,
past 300 years.1 Creating our civilization and in- and their integration, will allow us to develop pre-
teracting with nature, humanity behaved not as an viously unachievable human-centred utilities and
integral part but as a dominant force, exploiting services to improve our lives and leapfrog tradi-
natural resources in unsustainable ways. Over the tional impediments. These technologies are also
course of the industrial revolutions, people have referred to as frontier technologies because they
perfected industry, which benefited from tech- are innovative, fast-growing, deeply interconnect-
nological advancements. The scale of production ed and interdependent and are driving the fourth
increased, but its harm to the biosphere also in- industrial revolution (4IR) forwards.
creased, today approaching a critical threshold.
The deep-seated contradiction between nature In industry, emerging technology trends, such
and the technosphere caused the ever-growing as big data, cloud computing, industrial artificial
threat of natural resource depletion and of envi- intelligence, additive manufacturing, industrial
ronmental, climatic and technological disasters. internet of things, blockchain and new materials
are changing the face of manufacturing, manufac-
The history of science, primarily physics, shows turing-related services and the future of work and
that the end result of an ever-deeper penetration industrial skills. Nature-like and convergent tech-
into the properties of matter was the discovery of nologies are being used to create new values by
new types of energy: thermodynamics, steam ener- designing new materials, products and processes
gy (steam engines); electrodynamics and electricity in industry and to pursue circular economy, thus
(electric generators, electric motors); atomic phys- enabling sustainable consumption and produc-
ics and nuclear and thermonuclear energy (atomic tion patterns. Technological convergence has also
and thermonuclear reactors). In the process of this allowed creating nodes for convergence between
development, energy generation grew by more than previously separate industries and economic sec-
three million times, but human energy consump- tors, facilitating economic diversification. Indus-
tion grew even faster. Nature-like and convergent tries traditionally led by a few leading companies
technologies are essential for collaborative engage- are adopting open innovation models to bring
ment with nature in this new era of digitalization. perspectives from other industrial and economic
A conjunction of digital technologies and nature- sectors. Furthermore, agriculture is industrializ-
like technologies will allow us, for the first time, ing with new technologies, removing the limita-
to understand the natural world, social events and tions of land and of decreasing returns to scale in
humanity as complex, hierarchical systems. some subsectors.
1
FIGURE 1 established authorities. One such initiative was the
Global Forum on Naturally Based and Convergent Global Forum on Naturally Based and Conver-
Technologies gent Technologies convened in Sochi, Russia, from
28–29 September 2018 (figure 1).
From the plenary session on Naturally Based Technologies as a
Response to Global Challenges at the Global Forum on Naturally
Based and Convergent Technologies, with Mikhail Kotyukov, Minister
of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Andrey The forum sought better understanding of the
Fursenko, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Science
Foundation, and Hiroshi Kuniyoshi, Deputy Director General, UNIDO challenges and opportunities of nature-like and
convergent technologies. The stakeholders it drew
included convergent technology experts, govern-
ment representatives, international development
organizations, financial development institutions
and the private sector. Panels covered new ap-
proaches to global challenges through nature-like
technologies, the alignment of 4IR and nature-like
technologies, operationalizing and commercializ-
ing nature-like technologies, megascience projects
underlying the development of nature-like tech-
nologies, the role of development institutions and
challenges to international security.2 The forum
was the first event of its kind organized specifi-
cally to discuss nature-like and convergent nano-,
bio-, info-, cogno- and socio- (NBICS) technolo-
Source: UNIDO (2018). gies driving the 4IR. The key topics were:
The exponential technological progress of the 4IR, • Recent industrialization trends and techno-
propelled by self-reinforcing processes of tech- logical progress driving the trends.
nological change, presents challenges and risks.
Today’s governance systems and accompanying • Key concepts and issues behind nature-like
institutions are inadequate to ensure a smooth and convergent technologies —
their current
transition to the 4IR. Their working principle had status and projected future.
been to respond to the needs of the second indus-
trial revolution, characterized by factory-based • The importance of building awareness of
mass production, where economic development nature-like and convergent technologies and
was conceived as linear and mechanistic. With their implications for inclusive and sustain-
4IR evolving, laws, norms, standards, mind sets able economic development in developed and
and regulations require change and adaptation. developing countries.
To this end, governments will need to work closely
with academia, business and civil society. • Lessons from enterprises and institutions con-
ducting in-depth research and development
Multilateral online and offline platforms are need- and applying the emerging technologies in
ed for expert dialogue on nature-like and conver- industry.
gent technologies, their implementation, gover-
nance, management and oversight. The transition • The impact of nature-like and convergent
from techno-optimism and techno-pessimism to technologies on the environment; on material,
a new, science-based agenda for governing and energy, and human resources; and on inclu-
managing future disruptive technological chang- siveness of marginalized countries and disad-
es needs to be informed by discussion among vantaged population groups.
2 NATURE-LIKE AND CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGIES DRIVING THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
• Benefits of standardization to ensure interop- • The role of financial development institutions
erability in industry. and international organizations, such as the
United Nations Industrial Development Orga-
• Barriers to the uptake of digital, nature-like nization (UNIDO), in supporting digital and
and convergent technologies in industry in convergent technologies, their application in
developed and developing countries, and poli- industry and cooperation in relevant risk as-
cy implications. sessment, management and communication
mechanisms.
• Industrial and technology trends, policy coor-
dination and workforce skill requirements. • Follow-up actions to build awareness of the po-
tential of digital and convergent technologies
• Addressing skill mismatches at the nation- for supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustain-
al level, such as the lack of digital skills and able Development and related Sustainable De-
qualifications in science, technology, engi- velopment Goals (SDGs)—in particular SDG 9
neering and mathematics. for industry, innovation and infrastructure.
Introduction 31 NATURE-LIKE AND CONVERGENT
TECHNOLOGIES AS A RESPONSE
TO GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Speakers: Technogenic and anthropogenic problems have
driven the biosphere—the surface of the planet
Aleksandr Dynkin, Primakov National Research
occupied by living things—to critical degradation.
Institute of World Economy and International
Each of the scientific and technological revolutions
Relations
in the history of civilization resulted in economies
Andrey Fursenko, Russian Presidential Aide of scale and scope but at the cost of a distorted bal-
ance between biosphere and technosphere, casting
Christophe Béhar, FAYAT Group doubt on the preservation of civilization itself.
Veniamin Kondratiev, Governor of Krasnodarsk
Kray Our society has acknowledged the need to change
how we treat the planet and its resources. Many
Mikhail Kotyukov, Minister of Science and anthropogenic environmental problems are dis-
Higher Education of the Russian Federation cussed at the global level, as they become more de-
structive, such as urbanization, deforestation, un-
Mikhail Kovalchuk, President, National Research
sustainable consumption patterns, contamination
Centre (Kurchatov Institute)
of natural water resources, and global warming
Hiroshi Kuniyoshi, Deputy to the Director due to excessive emission of greenhouse gases into
General, United Nations Industrial Development the atmosphere.
Organization (UNIDO)
Climate change is the most notable problem of
Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade
modern society. Many scientists believe that the
of the Russian Federation
main factor contributing to global warming is
Vladislav Panchenko, Chairman of the Board, the exhaustion of the ocean buffer to increasing
Russian Foundation for Basic Research temperatures—the straining of oceans’ heat sink
capacity as the carbon dioxide dissolved in them
Aleksandr Sergeev, President, Russian Academy increases, changing their composition.3
of Sciences
The emergence of large urban communities and
This session addressed opportunities of nature- megacities (with a population of over 10 million)
like and convergent technologies, the concept of threatens 21st-century social and environmen-
technological convergence through nano-, bio-, tal sustainability. Megacities, in addition to their
info-, cogno- and socio- (NBICS) technologies great environmental impact, pose significant
(figure 1.1) and biomimicry. The chapter is based problems for health and well-being. Some 92 per-
on the conference presentations and research pa- cent of the world population lives in areas where
pers produced by the Kurchatov Institute staff, led air pollution exceeds the guideline levels set by the
by Mikhail Kovalchuk. World Health Organization (WHO).4
4 NATURE-LIKE AND CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGIES DRIVING THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONAt the global level, access to clean water and sani- of creating a nature-like technosphere is to re-
tation is a priority. As more and more people strive store a kind of “metabolism” to nature—a natural
to control water sources, water has become a valu- self-consistent resource turnover that has been
able resource due to its scarcity in some regions. disrupted by today’s technologies and torn from
In response, processes such as filtration using the natural context.
nature-like technologies may enable the provision
of water similar to natural conditions. The nature-like technosphere is not an artificial
speculative construction, but a natural, regular
Access to energy is another issue. The manu- stage of the scientific and technological develop-
factured technosphere is extremely energy-in- ment of humanity.7 The origins of the idea of na-
tensive today. For instance, processing and re- ture-likeness, as well as the reasons for its recent
ceiving one simple voice message sent from a identification, are rooted in the peculiarities of
smartphone consumes the same amount of en- cognition. The historical cognitive and trans-
ergy as boiling 1 litre of water (about 0.1 kWh). forming activity of humans developed from their
According to the International Energy Agency, perception of the surrounding nature, as an in-
by 2025 the share of energy consumed by the comprehensible but integral whole, through seg-
information and communication sector (termi- mented models of nature that are accessible to
nals, user network equipment, network commu- analysis and through the formation of highly spe-
nications and data centres), without counting cialized sciences and economic sectors.
energy consumption by the information and
computing infrastructure of the industrial sec- At the initial stages, there was natural philoso-
tor, will exceed 30 percent of the world’s electric- phy. Subsequently, physics, biology, chemistry
ity production.5 This will create serious energy and other natural sciences stood out on the nat-
constraints for the digital economy in the near ural side, while the philosophical side became the
future. incubator of the humanities—psychology, sociol-
ogy, history and linguistics. That natural process
Competition for natural resources has become accompanied the first industrial revolution, the
a critical issue in economics and politics. It can era of geographical discoveries, when the thrust
cause conflict between states, even military ones. of new knowledge required the isolation of in-
But the real pressing challenge has been largely dividual disciplines. Following the path of in-
ignored—maintaining the fragile balance between depth knowledge of the world, accompanied by
nature and economies to keep our planet alive, the the division of the subject matter into ever small-
antagonism between natural and man-made capi- er fragments, science has studied many process-
tal. To address this global challenge, the scientific es in detail but has lost an integral picture of the
community faces the difficult task of rethinking world.
how humans and economic systems should inter-
act with nature. Over time, the reverse process, the fusion of sci-
ences, began on a new level of the dialectical spi-
The only solution is creating a technosphere based ral. Its origin dates back to the end of the 19th
on technologies that reproduce systems and pro- century, when linking sciences began to emerge,
cesses of living nature in the form of technical sys- such as biochemistry, geochemistry, biogeochem-
tems and technological processes integrated into istry and so on. The development of science was
the natural resource flow. Scientists see the solu- increasingly determined by the integration and
tion in nature-like and convergent technologies. interpenetration of various areas, which led to the
According to Kovalchuk et al.,6 such technologies emergence and expansion of the interdisciplinary
should form the basis of a fundamentally new research that has emerged today in technology
technological base of civilization. The purpose (figure 1.1).
Nature-like and convergent technologies as a response to global challenges 5FIGURE 1.1 To search for tools for creating nature-like tech-
From interdisciplinarity to nature-likeness nologies, the emergence and rapid development
of supra-disciplinary, supra-industry information
technology and nanotechnologies are of great sci-
The natural course of the development
of science: entific and methodological importance. Informa-
Shifting the emphasis to the Output of interdisciplinary research in
tion technology considers the storage, processing
“living” technology: and transmission of information regardless of its
Linking science:
Biophysics, geophysics Additive technologies, kind. In this sense, it connects the living and non-
Biochemistry, geochemistry including biomedicine living at the information level. Nanotechnology, as
Bioengineering, bioinformatics Bioenergy—energy
Neurophysiology, production due to metabolic a methodology for constructing materials of any
neuroeconomics, and so on processes in living systems
Nanotechnology—atomic
type by atomic-molecular manipulation, connects
compounds of “living” and living things with non-living things at the atomic
“inanimate”
level. Thus, nano- and information technologies
return science to a holistic picture of the world
Source: National Research Centre (Kurchatov Institute). and serve as the basis for creating tools for nature-
like technologies.
These processes have spread to the human sci-
ences, which combine with natural science. For Today, the convergence of nano-, bio-, informa-
example, cognitive research was originally car- tion, cogno- and socio-humanitarian sciences and
ried out by the methods of linguistics, psychology technologies (NBICS — or convergent technolo-
and sociology. Today, the main tools for cogni- gies) serves as such a tool, with each part perform-
tive research are positron emission and comput- ing its own functions. Nanotechnology, operating
ed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and with atoms and molecules, makes it possible to
other physical methods. The results obtained are obtain a fundamentally new substance or material
described in concepts and terms of physics, math- with desired properties, using the same techno-
ematics, computer science and other natural sci- logical methods as nature itself. Additive technol-
ences (figure 1.2). ogies make the product, while saving material and
cutting waste. The symbiosis of nano- and bio-
FIGURE 1.2 technologies allows not only reproducing living
Natural, humanitarian and social sciences matter, but also creating fundamentally new bio-
organic materials and structures. Such materials
NATURE PHILOSOPHY are already used, in particular in medicine. Infor-
mation technologies make it possible to reproduce
the natural processes of information transforma-
NATURAL HUMANITARIAN and tion in artificial objects.
SOCIAL SCIENCES
SCIENCES
PHYSICS Synthesizing nature-like systems, humanity will
MATHEMATICS ARCHAEOLOGY
ANTHROPOLOGY approach the creation of anthropomorphic tech-
CHEMISTRY ETHNOGRAPHY
nical systems with elements of consciousness and
BIOLOGY the ability to know. To pursue this, cognitive sci-
GENETICS LINGUISTICS ence and technology are needed. At the next stage,
SOCIOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY we will talk about creating a community of an-
COGNITIVE SCIENCE
thropomorphic devices and systems that interact
with each other and with the external environ-
“Protein factory” PHILOSOPHY
ment, including humans, and are endowed with
social functions. Finally, in order to make rational
Source: National Research Centre (Kurchatov Institute). and effective use of the capabilities of convergent
6 NATURE-LIKE AND CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGIES DRIVING THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONsciences and technologies, a radical transforma- FIGURE 1.3
tion of human social consciousness is necessary. The nano-, bio-, info- and cognitive technologies converge
All this is possible only through the integration of to build a new noosphere
nano-, bio-, informational and cognitive technol-
ogies with the achievements of social sciences and
technologies.
A better understanding of the laws of nature will
further scientific discoveries and innovation as
well as increase energy efficiency without harming
the planet, thus helping countries to realize sus-
tainable industrial and economic development.8
Convergence in sciences is merging scientific dis-
ciplines and technologies, creating biosimilar ma-
terials and devices and, in the long run, enabling
harmony between the techno- and biospheres. Source: Kovalchuk, Naraikin and Yatsishina (2012).
Merging organic and inorganic chemistry in new
materials and devices, coupled with information pollution, resource depletion, food scarcity and a
technology and the “vivification” of resulting sys- resulting struggle to secure scarce resources.
tems with algorithms imitating the working pro-
cess of a human brain, is a new stage of cognition. Convergent technologies will change how produc-
It is not simply an interaction between separate tion is organized, and inevitably, socioeconomic
technologies for the sole purpose of achieving sus- relations. A modern human being as the subject
tainability, but rather the collaboration of disci- of practical and cognitive relation to the world it-
plines that at first sight are distinctly different. self, sooner or later, becomes the object of scientif-
ic and technological influence. That is why the “S”
The preservation and future of civilization depend component in NBICS—socio—is essential (figure
on the emergence and development of convergent 1.2). The emerging socio-humanistic issues must
technologies— NBICS. The NBICS technologies be solved jointly with scientific and technological
will create a harmonious noosphere in which the ones.
biosphere, technosphere and sociosphere supple-
ment each other and are closely interconnected In the early 1960s, it was predicted that if devel-
and convergent. However, without a change in oping countries, for example China or India,
human consciousness and approaches to civiliza- reached the energy consumption level of the Unit-
tion, these prospects could be empty (figure 1.3). ed States, a worldwide resource collapse would
follow. Today, such a collapse would affect all
According to Mikhail Valentinovich Kovalchuk, socio-economic aspects of public life—economics,
the President of National Research Centre (Kurch- finance, energy, environment, social connections
atov Institute), humans achieve significant break- and political systems.
through discoveries using still-developing prin-
ciples based on the highly specialized study and At the beginning of the first industrial revolution,
analysis of the world around them.9 Convergent our planet supported 500 million people, now
sciences will raise civilization to a new stage of de- the population has surpassed 7 billion. Without
velopment that overcomes the main discrepancies new technologies, it is impossible to provide even
of the modern technosphere—the techno physi- the minimum living requirements. The artificial
cal objects in the environment — environmental technosphere (physical or man-made objects)
Nature-like and convergent technologies as a response to global challenges 7has reached an unprecedented size. As a result, Among others, the goal of convergent technolo-
60 percent of dryland territory is so intensely uti- gies is a new energy industry, since only sufficient
lized that animal and plant life is running out of energy can ensure sustained development. Solar
space.10 Humans are consuming greater amounts power models the natural process of photosyn-
of the biota,11 causing imbalances, severe loss thesis by using a semiconductor structure, unlike
of species and growing threats and effects from green leaves that have a hard-to-reproduce bio-
climate change. For nearly 300 years, humans organic structure.
have constantly increased labour productivity
and production output through scientific and In nature each quantum of sunlight is used with
technological progress, without considering the high efficiency, because nature is a very econom-
effects of that growth. Today the technosphere ical power user. But in the artificial technosphere
is an ever-g reater burden on its surrounding we use machines and mechanisms that consume a
12
nature. huge amount of energy, and nature-like conserv-
ing technologies may not provide enough for them
The Kurchatov Institute’s NBICS Centre (fig- to work. What’s next? Following nature’s example,
ure 1.4)— where nanotechnologies are already one can build essentially new technologies and hy-
being combined with the achievements of mo- brid systems that consume a very small quantity
lecular biology, bio- and genetic engineering, of energy.13
and microelectronics—has established the infra-
structure for convergent nano-, bio-, info- and The natural, self-sufficient and self-regulating
cognitive studies. The centre uniquely combines processes of the biosphere are integrated and
mega-installations, synchrotron radiation and harmonious. They have maintained a cyclical ex-
neutron sources, a supercomputer, nuclear power, change of energy and matter for millions of years.
electron microscopes science and clean room Human development over the ages has achieved
areas to develop super-pure semiconductors, new significant scientific and technological feats, in-
biomaterials and hybrids of living and non-living cluding greater labour productivity and unprec-
structures. edented levels of production. At the same time,
the relationship between the natural environment
FIGURE 1.4 and the ambitions of humankind has created
The Kurchatov NBICS Centre, Russia deep contradictions.
The disregard for nature has come at a great cost.
For example, through industry’s technological ac-
tivity, five to six billion tons of living matter is lost
each year. This collision between the biosphere
and the technosphere has disrupted human con-
sciousness. That is, “the man-made technosphere
has triggered an antagonistic contradiction with
nature.”14
This is not new, as some have been quick to high-
light. V. I. Vernadsky wrote, “In the geological
history of the biosphere, a bountiful future will
open up before mankind if it does not use its in-
tellect and labour for self-destruction.”15 Human
neglect of its responsibility has led to a systemic
Source: National Research Centre (Kurchatov Institute). crisis encompassing civilization. To respond, the
8 NATURE-LIKE AND CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGIES DRIVING THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONfoundations of the entire technological enterprise convergent technologies.”21 The scientific pro-
must be restructured, with the “inseparable rela- cess no longer copies, but instead creates natural
tionship of its scientific, industrial, sociopolitical, systems through the convergence of sciences and
and humanitarian components.” technologies.
Human influence on the evolution of the bio- An example is nanotechnology, developed by “a
sphere has been of great importance, and the new technological culture based on the ability of
growth of industrial society made this more ap- direct manipulation of atoms and molecules to
parent. According to Vernadsky, “the biosphere obtain fundamentally new substances, materials,
of the 20th century is turning into the noosphere, structures and systems having preassigned prop-
created primarily by the growth of science, scien- erties. In this capacity, nanotechnologies are a su-
tific understanding and social labour of mankind per-segmental field of research and technologies,
that is based on it.”16 integrating special natural sciences. As a unified
material basis, nanotechnologies make it possible
Historically, with the accumulation of knowledge for man once again to comprehend the world as a
and the growing complexity of cognitive tasks, unified whole and, most importantly, to replicate
“man began to artificially partition unified, in- this world using the same ‘technological methods’
tegral, and therefore extremely complex natural that nature does.”22
systems into simple segments accessible for analy-
sis,”17 making way for the appearance of branches To take advantage of this possibility and create
of science. As knowledge expanded, the sciences a new technosphere harmonized with the natu-
took highly specialized directions giving “birth ral environment, humanity “in essence faces the
to segmental technologies and predetermined the necessity of replicating objects of technology and
segmental form of industrial organization.”18 The technological processes.”23 However, this is im-
segmented technologies are models of particular possible without the mutually complementary
natural processes isolated from an integral natu- combination of nanotechnological approaches
ral system and replicated in artificial conditions with achievements in molecular biology, bioengi-
to obtain certain products. Only the components neering, genetic engineering, and so on. Ultimate-
of natural processes needed to make a product are ly, an interdisciplinary symbiosis is needed.
replicated, and all other components are ignored.
The convergent technologies address human be-
The technosphere today, with such segmented ings’ needs. The new materials and systems are
principles, cannot be “objectively harmonized used for housing, transport, medicine, production
with the biosphere and converted into an organic of goods, communication and environmental pro-
part of nature.”19 So technological solutions sug- tection. The convergent technologies also increase
gested for global ecological problems only have a people’s physical and mental abilities significantly.
local effect. The author infers that “mankind faces At the next stage science will become able to re-
a complex and ambitious task: creation of funda- produce systems and processes of living nature
mentally new technologies and energy systems, (for example, synthesizing cells, artificial tissues
i.e. the replacement of today’s energy systems by and organs) like living organisms composed of
ones that replicate living nature.”20 The creation proteins determined by DNA—biological struc-
of a noosphere, where the technosphere will be- tural elements of nanometre range.
come an organic part of nature, is needed: “it is
necessary primarily to discard the segmental ap- Examples of nature-like technologies include:
proach to science and technologies and switch
to a paradigm of convergence of science and the • Light-harvesting photonic materials that
construction on its basis of fundamentally new mimic photosynthesis, structural composites
Nature-like and convergent technologies as a response to global challenges 9that imitate the structure of nacre (mother- • Cheap autonomous buildings with self-suffi-
of-pearl), and metal actuators inspired by the cient energy systems adapted to local condi-
movements of jellyfish. tions for heating, cooling and cooking.
• Architectural bionics —the use of natural • Hybrid cars with combined engines operating
forms in the construction of architectural from various sources, saving non-renewable
objects, as part of the synthesis of nature and energy sources, especially during stops.
modern technology.
• Cheap sensors at public places and industrial
• Sonar for submarines, the principle of action sites, allowing real-time monitoring for com-
that was inspired by dolphins. bating international terrorism and boosting
industrial safety.
• Boundary layer polymer fluids (polyethylene
oxide and acrylamide), an analog of mucus • Technologies for the circular economy and
covering the bodies of fish, for submarines its effective use of material resources, by
that reduce hydrodynamic resistance and in- eliminating or significantly reducing waste
crease speed. production and the use of toxic materials in
production.
• Devices with bionic principles of movement
and positioning. • Radio frequency identification of commercial
goods, allowing just-in-time supply chains
• Biomineralization—controlled formation of bio- and boosting industrial safety.
composites, which is promising for shipbuilding.
Currently, options are being explored for bio- • Miniature computers that can be mounted in
mineralization in coatings and structural solu- various items.
tions. Such processes can also serve as a platform
for creating new interesting crystal structures • Quantum cryptography, for using quan-
for fields such as microelectronics, medical ap- tum methods to encode information when
plications, biorobots and robotic systems. transmitted.
Industrially significant nature-like technologies • Rural wireless communication systems, en-
are presented in box 1.1. abling wide use of telephone and internet
communication.
The most promising areas for uptake of nature-
like and convergent technologies include: • Genetically modified cereals and forest cul-
tures, enabling production of food products
• Solar power engineering, enabling the con- with additional vitamins and trace elements;
struction of cheap solar systems for heating adaptation of grain crops to local conditions,
and hot water that can be used in developing permitting increased food production; and in-
and least developed countries. creased resistance to agricultural pests, allow-
ing reduced use of pesticides.
• Fast bio-testing technologies, allowing rapid test-
ing in order to confirm the presence or absence • Targeted medical therapy in the human body,
of specific substances in various environments. delivering the drug to a particular tumour or
pathogenic microorganisms without harming
• Filters, catalyst technology and other equip- healthy tissues and cells.
ment and materials for water purification.
10 NATURE-LIKE AND CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGIES DRIVING THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONBOX 1.1
Examples of industrially significant nature-like technologies farthest advanced in Russia
Nature-like technologies and materials for medicine mechanical properties of the materials are identical to those of
natural biological tissues. They are used in regenerative therapy,
Protein-based materials—analogs of natural cells: These materi- first of all in burn therapy, as well as for preclinical and clinical
als are absolutely biocompatible with human cells, biodegrad- trials of medicinal, cosmetic and protective products.
able to individual amino acids and nontoxic. They are used in
regenerative medicine for manufacturing artificial vessels and Pilot industrial technology and equipment for 3D additive pro-
artificial neurons, and for generating muscle cells of the heart duction of biomodels, implants and fragments of human organs:
and cartilaginous and bone tissue. A single gram of protein tis- These use individual tomographic data of the patient, transferred
sue is enough to cover thousands of stents or other transplants. remotely from medical institutions directly to the production
Pilot facilities have been established and experimental–indus- centre. They have been tested in dozens of Russian clinics.
trial manufacturing technology is being developed. These medi-
cal devices are currently being tested. Neurocognitive technologies
A new generation of drugs based on artificial monoclonal anti- A prototype of the neurocognitive interface intuitively controlled
bodies: At present, the technologies for creating artificial anti- by brain activity: It can be used in control systems of biomedical
bodies and their production in large quantities are being mas- devices (bioprostheses, wheelchairs for disabled people, and so
tered by Russian pharmaceutical companies. The first Russian on), pilotless aerial vehicles and robotic complexes.
medication based on monoclonal antibodies, Azellbia, is cur-
rently available. It is used to treat lymphoma, a type of cancer. Technologies for revealing the mechanisms of hidden human
memory by using magnetic resonance imaging (a new generation
Tissue-engineered bioartificial equivalents of human skin, tra- polygraph): They can be used to solve a wide range of problems
chea, airway epithelium and bile ducts based on recipient cells from rehabilitation of patients with brain disorders and central
and artificial polymeric matrices: These elements possess the nervous system disorders to revelation of a hidden goal setting.
ability to stimulate the budding of blood vessels from the recip-
ient tissue and the formation of a vascular micro network. The Source: National Academy of Sciences (2014), Russian Federation.
• Tissue engineering technologies, enabling the energy, both in conversion and storage. They are
design and replacement of human organs. more efficient and their environmentally accept-
able industrial separation and cleaning processes
• Improved methods of diagnosis and surgery are protecting the environment, and are enabling
that will increase the accuracy and effective- a circular economy.
ness of surgical procedures, thereby reducing
invasiveness and recovery time. Energy efficiency
Sustainable economic development Nature, existing for millions of years within the
opportunities for nature-like and framework of a closed, self-consistent resource
convergent technologies turnover, does not know resource crises or energy
hunger. The explanation is in the striking balance
Convergent technologies will provide break- of the natural system and the extremely high en-
throughs and solutions for sustainable develop- ergy efficiency of natural objects. For example, the
ment. The new materials created have great poten- human brain consumes no more than 30 watts,
tial for realizing energy efficiency and renewable while modern super-computers consume tens of
Nature-like and convergent technologies as a response to global challenges 11megawatts (MW). At the same time, the effective- producers and consumers. Future electricity
ness of all computers in the world does not reach supply has to be flexible, accessible, reliable and
the effectiveness and efficiency of the brain of an economic.
average person (see box 1.9). So, merely increas-
ing energy generation is not enough; revolution- Future electricity networks will be similar to the
ary changes are needed in energy consumption internet because decision making will be distrib-
technologies. uted and bidirectional in flow. Artificial intelli-
gence will direct smart grids to balance produc-
In 2010, 15 percent of the world’s population tion and consumption. Huge quantities of data
lacked access to electricity and 29 percent relied will be created, stored and analysed in real time.
on traditional biomass for fuel. Energy is geostra- However, cybersecurity will become an even big-
tegic and essential for the world’s future. As the ger challenge.
world population increases—it is projected to be
around 10 billion by 2050—clearly energy is the Energy storage systems can be based on mechan-
single most important commodity for peace, com- ical factors, electrochemistry, batteries, the pro-
merce, security, overcoming poverty and ensuring duction of hydrogen, the use of magnetism, super-
quality of life. conductivity and super capacitors or phase change
materials for thermal systems. However, while
According to Christophe Béhar, FAYAT Group, there has not been a real breakthrough, nature-
new energy sources never completely replace like or convergent technologies could help in find-
the preceding dominant source.24 In view of the ing a solution moving forward.
greenhouse effect, nuclear fission, nuclear fusion
and renewables are likely to co-exist in the future. For example, nanomaterials will allow the produc-
The key task in ensuring energy efficiency while tion of new electrodes for hydrogen production
imitating nature is to understand how fundamen- or storage. Carbon nanotubes could help build
tal energy processes work in living systems. Using supercapacitors or even increase the efficiency of
the metabolic energy of organisms to produce fuel cells. Similar technologies need to be har-
electricity is an example of a nature-like technol- nessed to reduce the use of non-renewable energy
ogy in energy.25 sources and to help the low-carbon power indus-
try develop.
About two billion years ago, seventeen nuclear
fission events occurred naturally in Oklo, Gabon, Biomimicry (figures 1.5, 1.6; box 1.2) is influenc-
in Western Africa. Despite their modest power ing sustainable design and innovation to save ma-
output (100 kilowatts on average), the Gabon nat- terials and energy in a variety of fields such as in
ural nuclear reactors were remarkable because industry and urban infrastructure planning, de-
they were spontaneous, and they continued to sign and management.
operate in a stable manner for up to one million
years.26 More recent work has tried to imitate the Environmental management
ways stars produce energy —by nuclear fusion.
Many experiments are now conducted with new Geospatial monitoring platforms use advanced
technologies in the field of renewables. If this new sensors and satellite imagery in combination with
energy mix of nuclear energy and renewables re- large-scale data analytics to track and monitor ac-
places current energy production, future produc- tivities in important environmental systems. The
ers and consumers must be more closely connect- rapid development of satellites, drones and sen-
ed to networks and storage capacity for usage to sors, supplemented by intelligent algorithms and
be efficient. Another challenge comes from local technologies, could provide a real-time flow of
generation, which will enable users to be both data on greenhouse gas emissions. These practices
12 NATURE-LIKE AND CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGIES DRIVING THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONFIGURE 1.5
Levels of biomimicry
Source: Volstad (2008).
FIGURE 1.6
Examples of mimicking nature
Source: Biomimicry 3.8 (n.d.).
Nature-like and convergent technologies as a response to global challenges 13BOX 1.2 BOX 1.3
Biomimicry Bioplastics
Plastic accumulation on land and sea is a rising
global challenge that needs to be addressed urgent-
ly. Microplastics (smaller than 5 millimetres in di-
ameter1) are polluting the environment, especially
water. The debris, along with industry-related ac-
tivities such as shipping, boating and fishing, dam-
ages fauna and flora in water bodies. It also harms
coastal tourism, according to the World Economic
and Social Survey 2018.2 And floating plastics and
debris can be breeding grounds for disease-carry-
Source: Airbus (2018); Biomimicry Institute (2019); Aprilli (2014). ing organisms and microbes.
Bioplastics—derived from renewable biomass sourc-
will significantly improve the transparency of re- es, such as vegetable fats and oils, corn starch, straw,
porting, monitoring and verifying data, all critical wood chips and food waste—offer a sustainable solu-
to the accountability and effectiveness of global tion. They address “the needs of consumers without
climate agreements. damaging our environment, health and economy.”3
Advanced materials will change product design But the United Nations Department of Economic
and manufacturing. Innovations in materials and Social Affairs has noted with concern that, as
science and materials used will be critical to de- of 2014, bioplastics constituted less than 10 percent
veloping the next generation of environmentally of the total plastics market. Furthermore, capacity
sustainable technologies and products, including for producing bioplastics was only 1.3 percent of
bioplastics (box 1.3), wind turbines, high-perfor- total capacity for producing polymers.
mance solar cells, electric vehicles, high-capacity
batteries, low-energy desalination membranes, Positive change will depend on the rate at which
energy-efficient transportation systems and car- bioplastics can replace conventional plastics.
bon technologies for high-performance data col- Hence, investments in the plastics sector that can
lection and storage. alter the way plastics are produced, consumed and
disposed of, as well as in the production of bio-be-
Spatial monitoring and planning nign materials, should be encouraged.
Spatial monitoring and planning will also apply Notes
nature-like technologies. A 2017 strategic envi- 1. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html.
ronmental assessment of the socioeconomic devel- 2. University of Minnesota, Center for Sustainable Polymers
opment strategy of the Novokuznetsk municipal (2018).
district of the Kemerovo region offers a Russian 3. Peplow (2016).
example. The study assessed the average value of Source: UNDESA (2018).
biodiversity of Novokuznetsk municipal district
(thousand RUB /ha/year) and the value of eco-
system products and biodiversity resources of consider the economic value of ecosystems and
Novokuznetsk municipal district (million RUB / the economic damage and income generated from
year). The assessments let municipal authorities allocating land for various types of use.
14 NATURE-LIKE AND CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGIES DRIVING THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONNature-like technologies are also being used in proposed in the early 1970s by Hermann Haken, a
the Russian Arctic for the restoration of disturbed German physicist at the University of Stuttgart, to
lands. Methods for cleaning oil from the soil, such designate a new discipline that studies the general
as dredging wetlands, active desorption of oil and laws of systems that organize themselves without
microbiological methods, are used to combat oil external control. Synergetics studies systems with
pollution. The purification of old oil sludge with a very large number of parts, components or sub-
bio-preparations has proved to be more environ- systems that interact in a complex way. Haken said
mentally efficient than incineration or burial. that all phenomena in transition from disorder to
The passive separation of oil sludge phases using order show a similar behaviour of elements with
bio-surfactants and the after-treatment of solid oil a cooperative, synergistic effect. Unlike tradition-
sludge with bio-methods turned out to be ecologi- al scientific fields, synergetics studies general laws
cally and economically more attractive alternative of evolution—development in time and space—of
to soil-washing plants. Oil companies are active- systems of any kind.
ly cooperating with scientific institutions to im-
prove such methods and to enable their practical This interdisciplinary methodology explains the
implementation. emergence of macroscopic phenomena from the
interactions of microscopic elements. The starting
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) point for all research in synergy is an adequate de-
allow three-dimensional visualization of global scription of a system at multiple levels.
changes on earth. The ATLAS VR virtual world,
created from remote sensing data of earth from Synergy covers all stages of the universal process
space, allows for visualizing changes occurring in of self-organization—its origin, development and
ecosystems and for simulating the environmental destruction.
consequences of planned projects. Using images
taken from space, a digital copy reliably recreates Synergetics provides an integral theory of order
the relief and landscape, flora and fauna, marked and chaos, describing the causes and mechanisms
dump sites and simulated forest fires. These of emerging, relatively stable structures and their
eco-monitoring data are then loaded into a virtual subsequent decay. The main properties and sub-
modelling system that demonstrates the progress jects of research are non-equilibrium, openness
of water, soil and air pollution and the effects on and nonlinearity. The last, nonlinearity, is an un-
vegetation. The virtual space allows for modelling usual reaction to external influences, when a “cor-
objects and complex phenomena and processes rect,” although weak, impact influences the evolu-
—natural disasters (fires, floods and hurricanes), tion of the system more than a stronger impact.
artificial accidents and catastrophes—in variable
scenarios. This artificial intelligence is used for Convergetics refers to the convergence of scienc-
risk assessment, strategy development and miner- es and technologies of a fundamentally new qual-
al resource estimation.27 ity. The convergent development of knowledge
through interdisciplinary research creates oppor-
Convergetics and synergetics tunities for a revolutionary effect—the emergence
of a large number of breakthrough technological
“Convergetics” denotes the entire multidisciplin- solutions and new applications (markets) in a fair-
ary set of sciences, and the technologies based on ly short time, due to a synergistic effect.
them, that address nature-like and convergent
properties. Convergetics is analogous to synerget- Convergetics includes the “big four” technologies:
ics, the interdisciplinary scientific study of self-or- biotechnology, nanotechnology, information and
ganization in living and non-living nature. Syner- communication, and cognitive technology. The fu-
getics, from ancient Greek synerge—action—was ture of the natural sciences lies in the development
Nature-like and convergent technologies as a response to global challenges 15of these technologies and of interdisciplinary cells) and their systems (cell membranes, ribo-
research in chemistry, physics and biology. Ac- somes, mitochondria and chloroplasts), and the
cording to M. Kovalchuk, in addition to these big processes and products of their vital activity. Bio-
four technologies there is a natural necessity to technology is the field of knowledge and techno-
connect a fifth one, socio-humanitarian technol- logical methods of manipulating living objects or
ogy. Indeed, all these new principles of building their elements (components) to obtain biologically
the nature-like technosphere are only possible active substances, destroy harmful substances and
through their adaptation to society and to each materials and extract energy (box 1.4).
human individual. Such humanitarian scienc-
es as psychology, linguistics, culturology and art Technological development has allowed under-
become more and more objective and measurable standing the main properties of nanotechnology
due to new physical IT methods and techniques and exploring the structures and properties of in-
that supply instrumental control and objectifica- organic, organic and hybrid biological material.
tion to those sciences. Moreover, NBICS-technolo- Hybrid systems currently being developed, such
gies become part of everyday human life, through as a microrobot with a bacterial flagellum as an
instruments and devices incorporated in medical engine, do not differ fundamentally from natural
care, activities, bodies and even minds, so that (virus) or artificial systems. The similar structure
new principles of ethics, jurisprudence and social and functions of natural biological and artificial
rights must be developed. nano objects lead to a pronounced convergence of
nanotechnology and biotechnology.
Information technology and nanotechnology
should become the basis for the convergence of Combining cell, molecular and biological ap-
science and technology. Convergetics highlights proaches with nanotechnology greatly increases
the following modern developments in the natural the possibility of developing bio-artificial systems
sciences: —functional anthropomorphic devices, materials
and organs.
• A transition to nano dimensions.
Bioartificial systems, since they can be used in
• The development paradigm changing from place of people and other living beings, solve long
analysis to synthesis. standing ethical issues of testing treatments and
modelling processes. Advances in non- invasive
• The rapprochement and interpenetration of surgical procedures (no intrusion in the skin is
inorganics and the organic world of living created and there is no contact with the mucosa or
nature. internal body cavity beyond a natural or artificial
body orifice), growing artificial organs and devel-
• An interdisciplinary approach in place of nar- oping similar bioartificial products, all following
row specializations.28 nature-like principles for regeneration, and offer
new medical opportunities. Understanding the
Synergetics is fully included in convergetics and is organic processes of the natural environment and
a subset of it. converging them with available innovations can
make for great gains in biotechnology.
Convergence of life, bio- and
medical sciences New high-tech industries using the principles of
similarity and convergence include bionics (box
Biotechnology offers methods and technologies 1.5) and synthetic biology (box 1.6). Constructive
for producing substances using natural biological and systemic solutions inspired, initiated and test-
objects (microorganisms and plant and animal ed by wildlife, formed the basis of the practical
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