Innovation 4.0: Shaping a humane fourth industrial revolution

We are global, we are fast, we are digital. And as the world we know is changing at an incredible pace, there are predictions that 40 percent of the world’s leading companies will not exist in a meaningful way after the next decade if they do not adequately prepare themselves for this era. Undoubtedly, the fourth industrial revolution is about to create a world in which virtual and physical systems cooperate with each other in a flexible way. It is changing how we work, live and relate to one another – and the very essence of what it means to be humane.

Recognizing this imperative need to discuss and redefine ethical standards and regulations in innovation and the leadership styles required across all sectors, the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition and the World Forum for Ethics in Business in partnership with the European Patent Office, the German Patent and Trade Mark Office and the Peter Löscher Chair for Business Ethics at the Technical University of Munich are organizing the ”Munich Conference Series on Ethics in Innovation.”

The first conference will take place from 26-27 June 2017 at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office in Munich and will focus on Information and Communication Technologies with special emphasis on innovations in the digital age, including artificial intelligence, internet of things and big data.

The conference will bring together 300 global thinkers and leading experts from academics, business, politics and NGOs and will address central questions such as:

• Innovation 4.0: Can growth really be the main guiding principle of the fourth industrial revolution? How can we ensure that this revolution is empowering and human-centred, rather than divisive and dehumanizing?
• Leadership 4.0: What type of leadership is needed for organizations to be able to innovate and transform in the speed needed?
• Education 4.0: Can value-based education be an answer to the need for adequate leadership?
• Corporate Social Responsibility 4.0: How can we assure that the fourth industrial revolution does not devour its own children but actually creates shared value?

Confirmed speakers include amongst others Prof. Dr. Ferdi Schüth, Vice President, Max Planck Society; Prof. Dr. Josef Drexl, Director, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition; Prof. Dr. Christoph Lütge, Peter Löscher Chair of Business Ethics at TU Munich; Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder, World Forum for Ethics in Business; Jo Leinen, Member of the European Parliament; Jaan Tallinn, Co-founder of Skype; Robert Hansor, Director of Global Sustainability Policy and Systems at Huawei Technologies; and Prof. Dr. Luciano Floridi, University of Oxford.

The Ethics in Innovation Conference will also see selected students and young professionals leading a session on “Call of the Youth”. The participating youth leaders will have an opportunity to undergo holistic leadership training along with interactions with global leaders three days prior to the conference at the ”World Youth Forum” (https://www.wyfei.org/). Over 350 youth leaders from more than 30 countries have already participated in the World Youth Forum in the past few years. For this year, almost 200 students from across the globe have already applied and the deadline has been extended till 30th May. The Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition will announce its top 50 selected candidates on 1st June.

The research linked to the Ethics in Innovation Conference and the World Youth Forum is being conducted by an international team led by Prof. Dr. Josef Drexl, Prof. Dr. Christoph Lütge, Dr. Mrinalini Kochupillai and Dr. Arul Scaria.

The conference is open to the public. For further information, registration and the complete speakers lists visit: http://wfeb.org/

About the organizers:

The World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB) is a registered public interest foundation based in Belgium (N° 822.216.342). The mandate of the Forum includes all manners of pursuing and establishing the indispensable ethical foundations of business in a globalized world. Providing a platform for the promotion and defense of ethical approaches to business enterprise and corporate governance and facilitating global dialogue and fostering cooperation among the private sector, the academic world, government agencies, international organizations, the media, spiritual as well as secular communities and all other stakeholders are among the organization’s main objectives. The World Forum for Ethics in Business is governed by its President Rajita Kulkarni and its Board MembersAbha Joshi-Ghani, Vice-President, Leadership, Learning and Innovation, The World Bank; Jo Leinen, Member of European Parliament, Nirj Deva, Member of European Parliament; Madhu Rao, CEO Shangri-La Hotels; Roland Glaser, Former CEO Minerva Schools and Ram Lakhina, Chairman of The Netherlands India Chamber of Commerce and Trade. For further information visit: http://wfeb.org/

The central focus of research at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition is on examining processes of innovation and competition and on developing proposals for designing framework conditions for these processes. The research questions are examined by a law department and an economics department. The Institute was founded in 1966 as the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law. In 2013, after the establishment of a new economics department, its name was changed to Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition. The Institute is one of 83 institutes of the Max Planck Society, one of Germany’s leading research organizations. In choosing and executing their research tasks, the Max Planck Institutes are free and independent; thus, each has its own internally administered budget, which can be augmented project-wise by external funding. The research at the Institute must meet the criteria for scientific excellence of the Max Planck Society, which is ensured by regular audits. For further information visit: http://www.ip.mpg.de/en.html