Editor’s note: this is a guest post from Fred Mazzella, co-founder and executive chairman of European tech scale-up BlaBlaCar.
The digital revolution has brought significant societal benefits. By connecting the world like never before, it has brought unprecedented gains in productivity, diffusion of information and quality of life. But like other revolutions before it, it is also creating some real challenges – particularly for the portion of the workforce whose skills might become increasingly obsolete, as AI and automation take over their jobs.
The challenge this time around is that revolutions are operating on shorter cycles, with a duration of around 20 years, whereas those of the past often lasted many decades. Back then, individuals only had to adjust once in their lives, if at all.