The speed of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is exponential rather than linear, and the consequences of 4IR are deeper and more profound than ever before, according to David Aikman, China Chief Representative Officer and Member of the Executive Committee of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos, kicks off next week from September 18 to 20 in Tianjin, China. This year's theme is all about shaping innovative societies in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. From Aikman's perspective, the 4IR is different from past disruptions, as its speed is "exponential" rather than "linear."

"I think it's different because we are talking about the speed of change, which is very difficult for us to grapple with. Human beings are used to dealing with linear change. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is exponential change, very hard for us to deal with," Aikman said.

"How do you regulate technology like artificial intelligence, how do you make sure you can use these algorithms to benefit people with better public services and so on, but also recognize that there's going to be job replacement, you need to reskill and rethink your education system. The consequences of this revolution are deeper and more profound than anything we've ever seen," he further explained.

Recently, the WEF selected nine of the most advanced factories from a survey of over 1,000 manufacturing sites that are already applying 4IR technology at quite a rapid pace. 

Aikman spoke highly of those listed factories in the report, as all of them have agreed to become “lighthouses” to open up and share their successes, challenges and failures with others.

"You launch, embrace new technologies, but it's actually quite hard to get return on investment. It's actually quite hard to re-engineer your factory flows, reskill your workers. So the fact that these factories have agreed to open up to share not only their successes but their challenges and failures is really important for us, and is really valuable for the world," Aikman noted.

He also stressed that scaling the technologies of the 4IR in a really sustainable and inclusive way is going to be a secret for both companies and governments to make the most of the opportunity.

But the wheels of 4IR revolution are not rolling on without suffering winds and waves. Aikman noted challenges remain. "The challenge we have is that these technologies don't know national boundaries."

Aikman shared an example with CGTN: "We are talking with the labor minister from another country. He said we were very worried about robots. And I said why. And he said because in his nation, we are not going to be able to move from an agrarian society to a manufacturing society. We are not going to be able to create those factory jobs that China created, that give people opportunities, which allowed China to move up the value chain and allow the Chinese middle class to develop. We won't be able to create those opportunities in our country because we are going to go from farming to robots. It's a fascinating but scary time."

Therefore, he said the WEF devoted to applying 4IR technology "in systems terms rather than just individual projects and initiatives".

"First thing we've done is try to shift ourselves to become a platform organization. So it's not about the WEF initiatives anymore. It's about how do we help the red cross launch humanitarian impact bonds, how do we help companies create alliances to clean up a battery supply chain. It's a different way of working where you have to support platform and think in systems terms rather than just individual projects and initiatives," Aikman made the opinion clear.

(CGTN's Michael Wang and Gao Songya also contributed to the story.)