In a classic J-curve growth chart, the biggest change happens as the trend rounds the curve and drives upward. The chart is commonly applied to a company, or even an industry. But Azeem Azhar, founder of Exponential View, uses it to describe historical shifts such as the emergence of the Industrial Age, or to a period like right about now.
“We have crossed the kink in the curve,” he says. “We are now in the Exponential Age.”
Five technologies have laid the foundation for this era: robotics, technologies of new biology, renewables, blockchain, and AI and computation. “And they are improving at a rate of 20% to 100% per annum,” notes Azhar in a presentation at Signal 2020. “This will result in a new style of business based around platforms and innovation and fundamentally forcing us to rethink how we run our businesses.”
See Azhar’s full presentation at Signal 2020 here:
