A Vision for the Future
Focusing on What’s Next
The fundamental purpose of an entrepreneur is to answer “what’s next?”
As the web and mobile have evolved, and data has moved up the stack, we’ve seen an unbelievable amount of entrepreneurs answer the “what’s next?” question, pushing the boundaries of what we ever thought was possible – social networks with hundreds-of-millions of users, countless apps for consumers and businesses, the emergence of the distributed workforce – it’s truly amazing.
Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, GE Global Research
At GE, we’ve been answering “what’s next?” for over a hundred years – inventing advanced machines and technologies that build, move, power, and cure – and we continue that today. The “Next List” represents GE’s guiding framework for digitizing industry, investing in and building the best technology that delivers outcomes for customers, solving the world’s biggest challenges for society, and capitalizing on huge technology shifts in cloud, mobile, big data, and connected machines.
2,650 of the best scientists, engineers and technologists in our nine Global Research Centers around the world are working on breakthrough innovation in critical areas like health, energy, manufacturing and advanced analytics that will help the world work better. We are constantly innovating in many areas, doubling R&D in the past decade. The future of GE and future of industry is bringing hi-tech, deep science, and domain expertise together to do the impossible.
The Next List:
- Extreme Machines:
Technologies will perform in any situation and any place, no matter how severe. - Super Materials:
What used to be heavy will be the lightest and strongest it’s ever been. - Industrial Internet:
Machines will help us make smarter decisions by talking with us and each other. We will be able to plan downtime, redirect resources and make entire industries from healthcare to power generation more efficient. - Mapped Minds:
We will see and understand the brain better than ever. As a result, severe neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s will become manageable. - Brilliant Factories:
The next industrial revolution will bring unseen level of productivity. With the cloud’s help, we will 3D-print any part, anytime, anywhere. - Energy Everywhere:
New forms of reliable power will reach places far off the grid.
I’d like to call attention to just one example of how the Next List is already in motion. In the aviation industry, few people would consider putting ceramics inside a jet engine, but a team of scientists at GE Global Research thought it could be a revolutionary idea. They talked to their peers at GE Aviation about their needs and developed Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs). These tough, light and heat resistant materials allow jet engines to operate at higher temperatures and make them more powerful, more efficient and cleaner. Today, CMCs serve inside the next-generation LEAP engine. With $78 billion in orders, the LEAP has become the bestselling engine in history.
At GE’s Global Research Centers we are working on many game-changing projects like CMCs — investing in R&D to accelerate our businesses, bring the best technology to our customers and solve big challenges for society.
By drawing on the best people, shared technology across our businesses, and our R&D centers, the goal is to deliver better outcomes for customers, investors and society and help make the world a better and more sustainable place.
By focusing on what’s next, we are ready to shape the world of the future.
This article is a part of GE’s “What’s Next” collection that gathers perspectives from the makers of tomorrow. Do you have a vision for the future? Tweet @generalelectric for the opportunity to collaborate on “What’s Next.”
