In March 2020, the world was hit by a perfect storm: the COVID-19 pandemic. Already in 1994, Laurie Garrett made a case for “newly emerging diseases in a world out of balance”, expressing concern about the appearance of new infectious diseases. More recently, many other thoughts and warnings were expressed on this topic, for example by Bill Gates in his 2015 TED Talk. And now it is happening, shaking the very foundations of our society and economy. The outbreak of the Wuhan Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease has transformed the world as we know it into a new normal – a kind of a brave new world 2.0 – disrupting the business models of civil society, (higher) education, world economy, business, governments, policies. It is clear – we are on the eve of a paradigm shift, and it is up to us whether we will influence it or simply allow it to happen, not only in science-knowledge but also in human interactions and behavior, basically all aspects of our up-to-now comfortable life. Disruption came in a different shape and form. This article discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a number of selected and strategic industries. © WMSCI 2020 - 24th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, Proceedings. All rights reserved.