In every issue of Beyond Imagining Issue 4, the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ’s) digital magazine on advances in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), we examine a different theme. These themes are always relevant to our times and, in recent months, have included discussions on how 4IR intersects with education, healthcare and the environment.

But as the world battles Covid-19, there is perhaps no topic more pertinent than the economy. While some 33 million (and counting) of the world’s population of 7.5 billion people have been affected by the virus physically, there is barely a nation, community or individual that has not been affected economically.

We have all felt or observed the impact of businesses closing and mass retrenchments, of diminishing essential goods and rising food prices.

How – in this context specifically as well as generally – do we begin to think about economic sustainability? What is it, and what role does technology play in helping us to make it a reality? Read on as we explore this theme in our fourth issue of Beyond Imagining issue 4.