Lighting is no longer just about seeing, but about sensing and connecting to create a brighter environment — in cities, shops and at home.
Harnessing the power of light has been an obsession of humankind since the discovery of fire. Better lighting lets people work more productively, shop more conveniently and feel safer at home.
The tough part is that the world keeps shifting and taking away the firm ground that would allow us to take action. The rise of new technologies, the flood of analytics and data and the accelerating speed of the global enterprise can complicate decision making for even the most confident executive. So, how do we stay bold?
Scientific discovery, information sharing and sheer ingenuity are giving us the ability to hack our human brains to learn, do, be more. At the same time, we can model human intelligence into machines to help us gain insights, increase speed and know more.
But the cool factor of 3D printing sometimes obscures a movement in manufacturing that could have an even bigger impact: platforms that help us share ideas, suppliers and marketplaces. That emerging network is why I’m optimistic that 2014 marks the rise of the hardware startup.