Explore how tech disruption is centralising economic power with consequences not just for democracy, but also economic participation. When we consider the Millennium Development Goals, ‘access’ to technology seems to be the key driver. This aligns with the commercial aims of the big tech firms. ‘Connectivity’ is the primary aim of Facebook for instance.

However merely increasing access to technologies, or merely increasing connectivity, misses the opportunity for these technologies to live up to the web’s initial promise. Tech giants like Uber and AirBnB undoubtedly offer disruptive new forms of convenience – but what use is this in the long term if whole sections of society are not just temporarily disrupted but permanently excluded from meaningful commercial interaction? We need structural innovation which works from the bottom up and the top down. Let’s dip our toes in this muddy water and start to imagine a better way.

In this workshop you will:

• Understand the centralising tendency of current tech business models
• Start thinking about how to respond
• Challenge your own thinking on the inherent benefit of tech disruption
• Commit to being part of the solution: on the side of a tech sector that serves humanity rather than the other way around
• Get ahead on the next massive trend in politics and business: when the distractions of Trump and Brexit have moved on, these are the challenges we will need to address
• Start building ideas for even better innovations and collaborations more likely to win hearts and minds in the 2020s

Digital Transformer & Strategist, Christopher, spent a decade running a software development consultancy called Human, focused on using technology to solve many of the challenges we face. Fascinated by the structures and habits we create with our tech and the impacts we have for good or ill now and in the future.
Ed Moss utilises innovative tools and practice, designs and delivers experiential on-the-job learning and development, facilitates events and takes a coaching and mentoring approach to bespoke organisational challenges. Ed has 10 years of experience across the public, charity, social enterprise and private sectors in the areas of leading businesses and in learning and development.