 Fellow St. Lucians, St. Lucia joins the global community in observance of world standards day on October 14th. The observance is an opportunity to focus attention on the important role that standards play and appreciate the work of the thousands of experts who develop and promote the use of standards. The International Organization for Standardization, ISO, has established this year's theme as International Standards and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution? The term revolution denotes abrupt and radical change. Throughout history, new breakthrough technologies have brought about many such periods of significant, non-linear change that profoundly alter economic systems and social structures. The arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is a new period of exactly this type of deep, transformative change. The first profound shift for human civilization came with the agrarian revolution 10,000 years ago, domestication of animals coupled with new farming technologies, improved food production, spurred dramatic population growth, and led to the rise of fixed settlements. This agrarian revolution was followed around 1760 with the First Industrial Revolution, driven by the rise of steam power, railways, and mechanized forms of production. The Second Industrial Revolution began in 1890 with the rise of electricity and new approaches to manufacturing based on assembly lines and mass production. The Third Industrial Revolution emerged in the 1960s with the rise of semiconductors and the spread of computers and the Internet. Today, we face a Fourth Industrial Revolution, building on the digital technologies of the Third Industrial Revolution, powered by a wide range of new breakthroughs not only in the digital realm, such as artificial intelligence, but also in the physical realm, new materials as well as the biological realm, bioengineering, unprecedented breadth and depth. The Fourth Industrial Revolution will change everything. The new technologies and the interaction between them will offer new ways to create and consume, will transform how we deliver and access public services, and will enable new ways to communicate and govern. Almost every aspect of our lives will be touch, jobs, business models, industrial structures, social interactions, and systems of governance. The Fourth Industrial Revolution will even challenge the very concept of what it means to be human, accelerating the pace of change. New technologies are emerging faster, being adopted more quickly, and delivering greater impact than ever before. Fixed Line Telephones first developed in 1878 and it took 75 years to reach 100 million users. Mobile phones which emerged in 1979 took 16 years to reach 100 million users. The Internet, which was launched to the public in 1990, took 6 years to reach 100 million users, whereas the Apple App Store unveiled in 2008 took just 3 years to reach 100 million users. Nowadays, machine learning and big data analytics mean the process of discovery and analysis often no longer require human agency. The processing power of computer chips from the Third Industrial Revolution has increased by 1 trillion times over the past 50 years, and quantum computing has the potential to perform tasks that are barely conceivable today. Equally important, digital networks allow products, services, ideas, and knowledge to scale and reach critical mass more quickly than ever before. One consequence of all this change is that the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be extremely hard to predict, with the following being commonplace. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Advanced Robotics and Forms of Automation Ubiquitous Mobile Internet Sensors and the Internet of Things Blockchain and Distributed Ledges 3D printing Autonomous vehicles such as cars and drones New materials such as Graphene Genetic Advances Bioengineering Personalized and Precision Medicine New energy sources and storage technologies Quantum Computing The rapid pace of change brought by the Fourth Industrial Revolution has its challenges. Robots and artificial intelligence will take over more and more tasks previously done by humans. Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, will change the way we make goods and give us the ability to print things at home. And as everything from planes to baby monitors are connected digitally, the vulnerability of data and the consequences of a breach are growing exponentially. These are only some examples of the issues presented by a new generation of smart technologies characterized by big data, increased integration, cloud storage, and open communication of devices to name a few. International standards are a powerful way to ensure safety and minimize risk. For example, security standards can keep our data safe and detail hackers. And the safety standards for robots will make it easier to interact with humans. International standards provide a platform for ensuring interoperability which encourages investment and supports innovation. Moreover, the ongoing work of the International Organization of Standardization on Innovation Management will offer tried and tested frameworks that help organizations unleash their innovative potential. This includes future standards ISO 50501 on innovation management systems and ISO 50503 on tools and methods for collaborative innovation partnership. ISO President John Walter recently reiterated that standards will once more play a key role in the transition to a new era. The speed of change we are witnessing would not be possible without them. Innovators rely on international standards like those produced by IEC, ISO, and ITU to ensure compatibility and interoperability so that new technologies can be seamlessly adopted. They are also a vehicle to spread knowledge and innovation. The fourth industrial revolution has begun. But in order to seize its full potential for the betterment of society, standards are needed. The St. Lucia Bureau of Standards is charged with managing and promoting the use of international standards to help our country, network, and seize the opportunities that this technological revolution affords to help advance economies and improve the quality of life of citizens of this country. The St. Lucia Bureau of Standards has shown its capability in building a platform for protection of health and safety, the environment, and trade facilitation through standards, conformity, assessment, and metrology. St. Lucia will depend more on that commitment and knowledge for engagement in the successes that the fourth industrial revolution promises. Let me therefore wish you a happy World Standards Day 2018. I thank you.