Quantum-mechanical simulations are heralding a revolution in our capabilities to understand, predict, and design the properties and performance of novel materials and devices, and I'll try to broadly illustrate this paradigm, its consequences in accelerating invention and discovery in science and technology, and its relevance to research both in the developed and developing world.
Some real life examples will be taken from the emergent field of 2D materials, showing both the predictive accuracy that can be reached in characterizing novel or still unexplored materials, the microscopic understanding that can be gained in linking microscopic  phenomena and macroscopic performance, the support and synergy than can take place with experimental work, and the freedom that can be achieved in designing materials with novel or desirable properties.
I'll conclude my talk discussing the implications for the foreseeable future, the challenges that we face in terms of ultimate accuracy, and the opportunities that arise in managing computational science with the concepts and tools of big-data and computer science.