FORTUNE Global Forum 2016
FORTUNE Global Forum 2016

Friday Dec. 2, 2016

Rome and Vatican City

2:15 PM: Working Group 3

Jobs: Technology, Innovation, and Inclusive Growth

Topics covered: Artificial intelligence, job creation, digital divide, digital entrepreneurship, deploying technology to improve lives

Pope Francis has said that “when technology disregards the great ethical principles, it ends up considering any practice whatsoever as licit.” At the same time, he has also encouraged science to be used in the service of others.

Over the last decade, the rapid spread of digital technology has both advanced and disrupted the global economy, with profound implications for the social, political, and economic development of communities. While technology has solved key challenges, the resulting disruption raises an important question: Who are we leaving behind and at what cost? In many instances, digital technologies have led to increased efficiency and more opportunity, yet some would argue their impact has fallen short, creating uneven dividends.

What can be done to address the fallout of jobs lost and wages lowered as the global economy deploys more automation and artificial intelligence? How can training and education counter these forces of change and how can innovation encourage and impact the quality of these efforts? How can refugees being integrated into local communities be quickly assessed and employed, especially in areas where low-skill labor is vital and needed? How can technology be used inside refugee camps to help families better their lives?

More than 4 billion people, mostly in developing countries, still lack basic Internet access and thus have no ability to access the benefits that come with connectivity. How can technology be used to help communication, not hinder it? How can the private sector bridge the digital divide to ensure the gains from technology and globalization are shared more broadly?

Subject Expert:

James Manyika, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company; Director, McKinsey Global Institute

Co-chairs:

Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President, and CEO, IBM

Mike McNamara, CEO, Flex

Martin Sorrell, Group Chief Executive, WPP

Moderator:

Adam Lashinsky, Assistant Managing Editor, Fortune

Photograph by David Yoder/Fortune Global Forum

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