Is Wichita ready for the ‘Third Wave’?

You’ve probably seen those TV commercials where people are in their cars or on vacation and use their cellphones to switch off the lights or lock the doors in their homes, often far away. This is just one example of the next “Big Thing”: the Internet of Things (IOT).

AOL founder Steve Case calls the IOT and the multiple innovations it will spawn the internet’s “Third Wave” in his new book with that title. The first wave was the construction of the web’s backbone itself, the long-distance cables across countries and under oceans, mostly in the 1990s. The second wave, spanning the past decade, was the build-out of multiple apps, especially for mobile phones. In the Third Wave, all kinds of devices, products and buildings will be connected, most likely through wireless devices and sensors, to the internet.

Wichita missed being at the center of the first two waves of the internet. We used the technologies during these phases, but our companies didn’t make them.

Fortunately, as Case points out, in the Third Wave all parts of the country, not just big cities on the coasts, can and will participate. That is because “flyover” cities like Wichita make a large proportion of the “things” that will soon be connected to the internet.

One presenter at 1 Million Cups in late April, Chris Callen of Builders Plus, shows that he gets this. He showed how his company is incorporating such recent technologies as 3-D printing and virtual reality into the design and construction of new buildings, which will be connected to the web. Remarkably, all of this is possible with currently available off-the-shelf technology.

This is the future, not just for Builders Plus buildings and those Wichita construction companies that would be wise to seek Callen’s counsel and expertise, but eventually for builders of all new residential and commercial structures in the United States.

3-D printing and internet connections will also be integral to all manufactured things and for driverless vehicles.

Which brings us to the big question for Wichita: Are our companies ready for the Third Wave? We can either be part of the wave or sit back and watch it wash over us, like the first two internet waves. Clearly, we’d rather be participants, and ideally among the leaders, at least among builders and manufacturers.

We have the manufacturing capability, and plenty of people like Callen who can piece together emerging technologies to integrate them in the things we currently produce. Our universities, especially Wichita State University (which will be home to one of the country’s largest 3-D printers on its Innovation Campus), Friends, Newman and Wichita Area Technical College, and our businesses need to be in the lead, preparing our city and our workers for the future.

This story was originally published July 8, 2016 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Is Wichita ready for the ‘Third Wave’?."