Nuclear fusion is the holy grail of energy, a common perspective worldwide when discussing this field. A few months ago, many wrote about a significant step towards clean and unlimited energy. In short, at the Joint European Torus (JET) in the United Kingdom, which laid the foundations for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and future fusion power plants through innovative experiments, nuclear fusion produced the highest amount of energy in a single experiment to date, and this was achieved without using toxic beryllium dust. This has once again brought fusion into the spotlight, admired by some and feared by others. Of course, few are experts in this segment, so it is not surprising that fusion is rarely discussed or written about, but we all hope that scientists will quench the energy thirst and provide clean energy for the entire world in this century, thanks to ITER and other plants. In other words, it is an ideal example of the holy grail of the industry.
Quick Solutions
Before we proceed, we need to define the term ‘holy grail’. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it is something that people want and seek, but is extremely difficult to find or obtain. Of course, this has changed over decades and centuries, as long ago the holy grail was to fly, which spurred the invention of the airplane. Today, we are a bit more focused on digital and so-called quick fixes.
In the technology sector, the holy grail is quantum computing, a technology that applies quantum mechanics phenomena to build new supercomputers, or high-performance computers used to solve complex computational tasks. Thanks to such computers, drug development, energy storage, manufacturing, and agriculture can become better, faster, and more sustainable. On the other hand, it could also expose the cybersecurity infrastructure worldwide and thus become a threat to national security. Nevertheless, most companies in this field see the positive sides of quantum computing. Among the prominent competitors in the race for the holy grail in IT are Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon.
While many of them announce quantum computing, expert journals and papers indicate that the holy grail in this area is still in its early developmental phase. A slightly more attainable one is seen in the automotive industry, with autonomous vehicles that recognize their surroundings, including traffic, pedestrians, and physical hazards. There are six levels of automated driving, from complete control by a physical driver using advanced technology to vehicles that can operate without any human control, i.e., fully autonomous self-driving cars. Several automotive companies are working on this, but none have yet achieved the scenarios from American movies where the car takes complete control. Therefore, fully automated vehicles remain the holy grail of that industry.
The Hardest for Marketing
Let’s step away from the technology sectors and look at what holy grails we have found or plan to find in other areas. It seems that marketing has the hardest time, as it receives a new holy grail every few years. Some will say that it is cross-channel marketing, while others argue that it makes no sense because not all communication channels work equally, so why try? From directly targeted ads that customers do not even realize are ads, to absolute customer loyalty and influencing habits… marketers truly have many holy grails that continuously change, but somehow they always return to customer engagement – the only holy grail everyone agrees on. Closely related to marketing is sales, so it is not surprising that the holy grail of that segment is customer experience.
For every part of human life, for every activity, and for every problem, there is a holy grail that humanity has recognized. Take hangovers, for example. Everyone swears they have a quick solution to resolve it ‘in just a few minutes’, but there is simply no instant cure. A few hundred years ago, the same was true for the elixir of life, a potion that would grant eternal life to anyone who drank it, or the philosopher’s stone, which (besides reminding one of the brilliant series by author J. K. Rowling) turns ordinary metal into gold. Today, it is the hangover cure and the cleaning product The Pink Stuff from the British company Star Brands, which many influencers present as the holy grail of cleaning because it supposedly ‘cleans absolutely everything’.
