Data and automation are driving innovation.

The conventional wisdom has it that American manufacturing is beginning to die. Plant closings, mass layoffs, and rusting industrial cities are now supposed to characterize that portion of our economy. When you look at the actual data, however, this grim picture shows anything but the truth.

We are literally drowning in data. Every day, the combined efforts of humans, businesses, and automated processes generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data.  We are still only approaching the upslope of an exponential curve, however. 

 “Big Data” is already really big, and as the Internet of things expands, we can expect an even greater deluge of data. Luckily researchers and scientists have come up with new and intriguing ways to make use of all that data.