The global manufacturing world seems to be travelling back in time. Large production plants and long assembly lines, where goods were mass produced in hundreds and thousands, may become a thing of the past. Instead we are witnessing a growing demand for products that are highly-customized to the needs of individual end customers. This is much like the years preceding the First Industrial Revolution when each product was painstakingly crafted by hand. The digital transformation of businesses allows to capitalize on the benefits of digital tools such as smart sensors, cloud computing and the Internet to add value to existing manufacturing processes.

For investors in Boo.com, WebVan and eToys, the bursting of the dotcom bubble came as a bit of a shock. Companies like this raised vast sums on the promise that the worldwide web would change everything. Then, in the spring of 2000, stock markets collapsed. Some economists had long been sceptical about the promise of computers. In 1987, we didn't have the web, but spreadsheets and databases were appearing in every workplace - and having, it seemed, no impact whatsoever.