Media Accreditation Opens for Global Technology Governance Summit 2021

• The inaugural Global Technology Governance Summit will take place 6-7 April 2021

• The theme is Harnessing New Technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

• The summit aims to be the foremost global multistakeholder gathering dedicated to the responsible design and deployment of emerging technologies through public-private collaboration

• Media accreditation is now open at www.weforummedia.org; more information on the summit can be found here

Media accreditation for the inaugural Global Technology Governance Summit (GTGS) is now open. The meeting will take place on 6-7 April, with the Government of Japan’s support. More than 500 leaders from business, government, civil society and media will participate.

Under the theme, Harnessing New Technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the summit aims to cover the following key topics:

• Industry Transformation: No industry has been untouched by the global response to COVID-19. The world can no longer operate as it has, and markets will have to respond to its new and evolving needs. To survive, every business will have to become a technology company.
• Government Transformation: The transformation of government will be front and centre in digital infrastructure as technology services become an essential public utility comparable to electricity, water, or roadways.
• Global Technology Governance: The extent to which the benefits of technology are maximized, and the risks mitigated, depends on the quality of governance protocols – policies, norms, standards and incentives shaping the development and deployment of technologies.
• Frontier Technologies: Embracing frontier technologies will be essential across all sectors. Technologies such as 3D printing can revolutionize supply chains, enabling mass customization and offering new pathways to increase the circularity of products, or halt environmental damage caused by climate change.

The outcomes will shape the agenda for the World Economic Forum Special Annual Meeting 2021 in Singapore and the Forum’s ongoing global initiatives.

The summit co-chairs include: Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries, India; Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister in Charge of the Smart Nation Initiative of Singapore; Marc Benioff, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Salesforce, USA; Sharan Burrow, General-Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Belgium; Alice Gast, President, Imperial College London, United Kingdom; Yuriko Koike, Governor of Tokyo, Japan; Hiroaki Nakanishi, Executive Chairman, Hitachi, Japan; Elizabeth Rossiello, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, AZA, Kenya; Jim Hagemann Snabe, Chairman, Siemens, Germany; and Susan Wojcicki, Chief Executive Officer, YouTube, USA.

Media accreditation is now open. If you would like to cover this event, please register online at www.weforummedia.org. If you have any questions, email Randa Kamal, randa.kamal@weforum.org.

About the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network

With hubs in 13 countries, the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network works with governments, leading companies, civil society, innovators and experts from around the world to pilot new approaches to technology adoption and governance.

The network helped Rwanda write the world’s first agile drone regulation, scaled throughout Africa and Asia. It has developed a toolkit for using blockchain to provide transparency and trust in supply chains, worked with the UK government to implement a procurement framework for artificial intelligence, co-designed the first Industrial IoT Safety and Security Protocol, and created a personal data policy framework with the United Arab Emirates.

Notes to editors

Read more about the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network

Explore the Forum’s Strategic Intelligence Platform and Transformation Maps

Explore The Great Reset Transformation Map

Learn about the Forum’s impact