Programme / The Opportunities and Challenges of Digital Transformation

Technological and digital advances are bringing disruptive and transformative change to our world that will impact on every aspect of the lives of all its citizens. Government, industry, civil society and academia are striving to anticipate how the pace and scale of these advances will change the way our world works, and to identify and leverage the opportunities and tackle the challenges they will bring.

While technological and digital advances have helped to drive societal development, they have also fuelled disparities in equal rights and access to social progress, raising social, legal and ethical issues that must be addressed. For example, the unequal distribution of access to digital resources blocks the free flow of knowledge and the potential power that it confers. Innovations such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and the Internet of Things, are exciting digital developments but also invoke a fear of loss of control for many in a “black box society”. In particular, they may accelerate the exclusion of many in the developing world. This plenary Session will examine the role of machines now and over the next decade or so; the opportunities and challenges this presents to society; and its impact on human interaction and societal well-being.  It will argue that technological and digital transformation must not lead to widening disparities within societies and between nations, and it will focus on how new technologies can be used to advance development in the world’s poorer and more vulnerable states.