A Declaration of Interdependence … Don Tapscott calls for a new “social contract” for the digital society
September 26, 2018
The European Business Forum is the premier meeting place for business leaders in Europe. It brings together the continent’s top business people with the world’s leading management gurus in “the Davos of business thinking”.
The forum is hosted by Thinkers50, the world’s leading network of business thinkers, and located in Odense, Denmark. The home of Hans Christian Andersen, and now one of Europe’s leading robotics hub, is the perfect place to write the story of the future.
Don Tapscott called for “A declaration of interdependence” and a “new social contract for the digital society” in the opening session of this year’s European Business Forum.
Tapscott, author of Wikinomics and Blockchain Revolution, said “Technology is breaking down our the agreements that grew from the industrial age – about employment, economic opportunity, public discourse, the integrity of democracy and other profound issues.” He went on “The Digital Age has revolutionized the media industry by changing it from a centralized, one-way flow of information to a free-flowing system where multiple people, regardless of status, can participate. While this is a great change caused by technology, this is not the case with youth employment. Social inequality is growing larger in many countries across the globe, and technology is a factor in this divide.”
You can download his exclusive white paper: A Declaration of Interdependence: Towards a new social contract for the digital society
The speech, called “the Odense Moonshot”, kicked off two days of fast and stretching thinking by many of the world’s top business academics – including the world’s #1 business thinker, Roger Martin, to Switzerland’s business model champion, Alex Osterwalder – and Europe’s business leaders – such as Google’s President in Europe, Matt Britten, and Siemens and Maersk’s chairman Jim Hagemann Snabe.
Tapscott is a colourful Canadian. The Hammond B3 organist in the band Men in Suits, he also happens to be one of the world’s leading authorities on the economic and social impacts of technology. He regularly advises business and government leaders around the world. His latest book, entitled Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the Worldis, according to Harvard Business School’s Clay Christensen, “the book, literally, on how to survive and thrive in this next wave of technology-driven disruption.”
Other speakers at this year’s European Business Forum included:
- Roger Martin, author of Creating Great Choices, the world’s #1 business guru
- Alex Osterwalder, co-author of Business Model Generation, and #7 business guru
- Matt Brittin,President of Google EMEA, one of Europe’s top business leaders
- Jim Hagemann Snabe, Chairman of AP Moller-Maersk, and Siemens AG
- Mikael Trolle, CEO of Volleyball Denmark, co-author of Dreams & Details with Jim Snabe.
- Martin Lindstrøm, Brand futurist, one of TIME’s 100 most influential people in the word
- Whitney Johnson, Harvard expert on personal disruption, author of Build an A-team.
- Chris Zook, Bain & Co partner, author of The Founders Mentality
- Johanna Mair, Social innovation expert, editor of the Stanford Social Innovation Review
- Alexandra Christina, co-author of the The Sincerity Edgeat Stanford University Press
- Tania de Jong, Founder and CEO Creative Universe
- Jimmy Maymann-Holler, Previously CEO of Huff Post and EVP of AOL, chairman of TV2
- Javier Goyeneche, President & Founder of EcoAlf
- Sasja Beslik, Head of Sustainable Finance at Nordea
- Andrew Shipilov, INSEAD professor, author of Network Advantage
- Esben Østergaard, founder and CTO of Universal Robots
- Andrew McCarthy, IE Business school, expert in Design, Creativity & Innovation
- Tanyer Sonmezer, CEO at Management Centre Türkiye (MCT)
- Peter Fisk, forum host, innovation and growth expert, author of Gamechangers
- Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove, Thinkers50 founders, curating the best ideas
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