Policy-makers and business leaders are under increasing pressure to respond to the societal impact of rapid technological advances. Yet, they must do so without restraining entrepreneurship, innovation and growth that are enabled by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Solving this dilemma requires a more agile approach to governing advanced technologies, creating public-private partnerships and managing business models. To that end, the World Economic Forum, as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation, is convening the first Global Technology Governance Summit in San Francisco on 21-22 April 2020 in close collaboration with Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) Network. This global network comprises more than 40 governments and international organizations as well as 150 companies.
Responding to the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Data in all its forms is becoming one of the most valued resources for human development as well as technological development. This new context has raised policy concerns about exclusion, inequity, and inequality but also practical questions about data ownership, privacy, pricing, and remuneration.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is now the focal point of many national and industry initiatives seeking to respond to data- and privacy-related concerns. The absence of a global framework and core principles for data policies is hindering these efforts. Stakeholders must mitigate the risks to stop fragmented governance policies and suboptimal regulatory environments from setting in. This dynamic repeats itself in multiple technological domains. Mitigating this risk is the primary focus of the C4IR Network. This inaugural summit will highlight the Forum’s work in the following domains:
- From Artificial Intelligence to Quantum Computing
- From Autonomous Vehicles to Drones
- From Big Data to the Internet of Things (IoT)
- From Blockchain to Digital/CryptoCurrencies
- From Cybersecurity to Data Privacy
- From Gene Editing to Synthetic Biology
The two-day summit will focus on three core pillars of global technology governance:
1. Accelerating Agile Governance through Public-Private Cooperation
2. Improving our Future Readiness for Frontier Technologies
3. Assessing the Economic, Ecological and Societal Impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
For more information click here:
