The Sixth Wave : How to Succeed in a Resource-Limited World

Throughout modern history, the tide of innovation and progress has ebbed and flowed but a clear pattern exists - five waves of innovation, beginning with the Industrial Revolution, have each transformed society, economies and industry. The fifth wave was dominated by information and communications technology but its peak is beginning to fade and a new, brighter star is emerging. The sixth wave of innovation will be about resources - natural resources, human resources and information. It will see humanity finally make the break away from resource-dependence. Economic growth will no longer be tied to resource consumption or waste production (such as carbon) and industry will no longer think in terms of products but in terms of services. Everything, from the smallest leaf and light switch to the largest cities and online communities, will have a value that can be measured, so nothing is ever wasted. Driving this will be a spectacular boom in technologies ranging from clean technology to digital mapping to online collaboration. This book is for anyone who is interested in understanding how all of the massive changes in the world fit together. It is a business book, a motivational book, a popular science title, a bold prediction and a roadmap for the future all in one.

James Bradfield Moody is a general manager of International Development at the CSIRO and a judge on ABC TV's The New Inventors. James sits on a number of company, association and advisory councils and boards, including the Brisbane Institute and the National Australia Day Council, the Bureau of Meteorology and Australian Bureau of Statistics. In the early part of the decade, James Moody was involved with the United Nations, and from 2000 to 2002 was co-facilitator and Australian representative of the youth advisory council to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). In 2000 James was also awarded Young Queenslander of the Year and in 2001 was a finalist in the Young Australian of the Year awards, in the Science and Technology category and is a member of the Federal Government's National Environmental Education Council. Bianca Nogrady is a science communicator and journalist.