The World Economic Forum (WEC) will open an office called the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in San Francisco. WEC will be working closely with tech companies. They will study policies on new technologies that can also be carried out internationally.
New Policies For New Technology
Murat Sonmez will lead 50 to 60 people in about 10 different projects. He shared that half of them will be full-timers. The remaining number will be composed of personalities from the industry, academia and the government. WEC wants to achieve this by the end of 2017.
Sonmez revealed to Reuters that policies need to adapt with the advancement of technology. He explained that previous policies cannot be applied to the present time. Apparently, many of these were enacted before the emergence of the Internet.
Such innovation requires a change in policies too. WEC's Founder and Chief Executive Klaus Schwab admitted that it also calls for global cooperation between public and private institutions.
A Sustainable And More Inclusive Economy
WEC is deeply committed to building a sustainable and more inclusive economy. Schwab said that they are going to use such technological breakthroughs to their advantage. If it is done right, such new policies will add more prosperity to the world.
Sonmez added that they will also raise questions about policies. They need to maximize human benefits and minimize the downside. There should also be a good relationship between the policy makers and the tech companies.
Diversity Of Economic Growth
According to Tech Crunch, economic growth can be dependent on the ability to use technology. The lack of access for other countries can create a division.
Schwab pointed this out in his remark about such inequality. First world countries experience a lack of economic opportunity. For people in third-world countries, it's more than that. WEC has to take a different approach.
The strategy of opening a center in the Silicon Valley may be able to address these issues.
