Fourth Industrial Revolution book calls for upgrade to the way we govern technology
A new book by Klaus Schwab, Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution, highlights the urgent need for new action and thinking on the governance of emerging technologies. The speed at which technology is disrupting economic, political and social life means that leaders must act immediately to avoid negative impacts and harness its positive potential Adaptation requires governments and businesses to shift to “systems leadership” to ensure governance and values are developed alongside technology as part of a wider system Released at The World Economic Forum, the book aims to help leaders develop the techniques necessary to harness technological advances to solve critical global challenges. The book is a sequel to Schwab’s bestselling 2016 book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution. The new book provides a practical guide to understanding 12 sets of emerging technologies from a systems perspective and better appreciating the rules, norms, institutions and values that shape their development and use. Such an approach is necessary, Schwab argues, given the unprecedented speed at which technology is developing, which makes outdated and redundant the approaches of governments, regulators and companies on which we rely to manage the impact of technologies. Schwab’s response is for leaders to adopt a “systems leadership” approach to ensure that developments in technology are not able to occur without parallel consideration being given to rules, norms, values and infrastructure. Unless technology develops within an inclusive and sustainable governance system, the Fourth Industrial Revolution could exacerbate income inequality and leaving billions of people behind, while wasting the opportunity to deploy technology to help address global challenges. “It took the world more than a decade to develop a collective response to climate change. “If we take the same amount of time to respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we will have lost the opportunity to influence the development of the technologies that shape […]