(ISO: Geneva) -- New technologies, from robotics to machine learning, are ushering in a period of rapid change and development. While the aviation industry is working to reap the benefits of this industrial automation, standards, especially those of the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee 184—“Automation systems and integration,” Subcommittee 4—“Industrial data” (ISO/TC 184/SC 4), will play a key role in ensuring a smooth flight path—but only if they can keep up.

Ever since Icarus boldly strapped on his wooden-framed wings made of feathers and wax and took to the skies, human beings have been defying gravity, designing and creating all kinds of contraptions and devices to get themselves airborne. Hubris, along with solar power, did it in for Icarus, but these days, the likes of Elon Musk, founder and chief designer of SpaceX and creator of Tesla, and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com and Blue Origin, are blazing new trails in the skies, driven by their vision and a sense of adventure, and propelled by the new technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

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