We’ve had several Industrial Revolutions in the U.S.—four or five, depending on who you ask. But you don’t kick off a true industrial revolution with just one new product or industry. What you really need is an entire platform—something that creates lots of industries, launches thousands of products and services, and provides jobs for millions. 

Lessons from the Past 

Back in the 1880s, the U.S. entered what’s often called the Golden Age. Names like Vanderbilt (shipping), Rockefeller (oil), Carnegie (steel), and JP Morgan (finance) became household names. What made that era so powerful was the combination of three big innovation platforms: 

• Electricity: Changed how everyone lived and brought tons of new conveniences into homes. 

• Internal Combustion Engine: Gave us personal freedom, kicked off the trucking industry and modern logistics, and even made air travel, once a novelty, now a commercial necessity. 

• Telecommunication: The telephone allowed people to talk over long distances, which later led to radio, TV, and even the internet. 

During that time, our economy grew by over 5% per year, and living standards doubled about every 14 years. That’s the power of multiple platforms working together. 

The Five Innovation Platforms Shaping Our Future 

Here’s what’s different now: Instead of three platforms, we have five converging at once. 

• Blockchain: Changing how we record ownership and do accounting. 

• Robotics: Becoming everyday tools (my Roomba counts!), and soon there may be more robots than people. 

• Advanced Batteries: Making energy available whenever and wherever we need it. 

• Genomic Editing: Transforming healthcare by tailoring treatments to the individual. 

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Tying it all together and supercharging innovation. 

Think about autonomous taxis—a perfect example. These are robots, run on batteries, and are powered by AI. In the future, most people may never own cars—just like few people own horses now. You’ll call for a ride, and minutes later a clean, ready-to-go car will show up. This could change everything from how we design homes (goodbye, garage!) to how we use our time (reading, relaxing, or even working instead of driving). 

The Investment Opportunity 

Cathie Wood, lead manager at ARK Funds and one of the top tech analysts around, predicts that autonomous vehicles could create $8–10 trillion in revenue in just 10 years. To put that in perspective, the world’s current economy is about $100 trillion—so this single industry could boost global GDP by nearly 10%! If public companies land even half of that revenue, they could have a combined value of $50 trillion. 

Wood also expects companies in these areas to grow revenues by 40–50% per year—explosive growth. Productivity of workers using these new technologies could increase fourfold, and global economic growth could hit 6–9% per year— double or triple what we’ve seen recently. That’s the kind of growth that helps everyone get ahead, like in previous generations when we were certain that our children would be better off than we were. 

Old Leaders vs. New Leaders 

History tells us that the top companies from previous industrial revolutions rarely lead the next one. Some point to Amazon, and while it’s still strong (averaging over 25% per year* since 1997), in the past five years it returned only 8.86%*—about half the average return of the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100*. So, even giants can slip out of the lead.   

The market is hunting for new leaders, and I believe they’ll come from today’s big innovation platforms. 

The Road Ahead 

Here’s where we stand: 

• Established industries are still growing—but at a slow 2–3% rate. 

• Disruptive companies built on these five new platforms had about $13 trillion in revenue in 2022. 

• If Wood is right about a 40% growth rate, these could grow to $200 trillion in just a decade. 

Some people say 40% growth isn’t possible, but I’m happy to show you more than a dozen exciting tech companies that are actually growing even faster right now. 

Simply put: The investing world is changing. Old methods and companies may just trudge along, but we’re working hard to find the next market leaders—often in these new arenas. 

As always, Ryan and I are committed to finding these new opportunities and putting our clients ahead of the curve. The next industrial revolution is here, and we believe technology is where the action will be. 

If you’d like to talk about which innovation platforms are right for your portfolio, just reach out! 

*Source:  Investors Fasttrack, dividends included for the periods stated through this writing on July 19, 2025   

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