Bratislava, 11/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Saturday 9 July, the US economist and sociologist, Jeremy Rifkin was the guest speaker at the 7th Summit of the Regions and Cities. He argued that the third Industrial Revolution is essentially horizontal and decentralised and would, in this sense, primarily be built much more at a grassroots level by the local and regional authorities.
He believes that contrary to the second Industrial Revolution, characterised by a guiding centralised policy, the third industrial revolution will essentially be more horizontal and decentralised. In the long term, this will provoke a major shift from the centre of gravity of powers towards the local and regional authorities.
According to this American thinker, the third Industrial Revolution is based on five different areas: the transition of societies based on fossil fuels towards renewable energies; - the transformation of all buildings into mini generating plants; - the development of new sources of energy (hydrogen); -the capitalisation of digital technologies in the development of energy sharing grids; and finally, the transition to an electric transport system fuelled by solar power.
Rifkin, believes that the Hauts-de-France region is the most advanced in the EU, he informed EUROPE. This is because he is an adviser to the Nord-Pas de Calais region and the Regional Chamber of Commerce since 2012 in the implementation of a “Master Plan”, which is to a large extent, financed by Structural and Investment Funds. He believes that the fact that the region has experienced a rise in power of the Front national will not endanger this transition because the plethora of stakeholders involved in the plan is much greater than those involved in the political field. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)