OICT Series: The Future of Work - Skills to Help People Thrive in a Time of Rapid Technological Change
Secretary-General António Gutteres has emphasized the indispensable role of innovation in policymaking process on November 6, 2017: “From my perspective, what is important is to combine innovation and public policy to make sure that innovation works for the good of humankind.” In today’s world, technology is the driving force for innovation. Office of Information Communication Technology (OICT) will be offering a series of 4 lectures covering a variety of topics in order to increase the understandings on technology and how it can facilitate the core of the United Nations.
Participants in these lectures will receive trainings from technology experts from OICT. The courses are designed to help participants better understand the current world’s issues with the help and appliances of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analysis. This lecture’s objective is to develop participants’ capacities, increase participants’ knowledge on modern technologies and eventually, encourage and inspire innovations.
To enable participants to:
- Gain knowledge on modern technologies and how they could be applied to social issues;
- Understand the implications of technology for sovereignty and economic stability;
- Anticipate and assess the risks and opportunities for the use of technologies in different regions and fields;
- Analyze the benefits technologies could bring for the UN system and how it may change the policy-making process.
Fast-moving technology innovation is changing the economics of machine and human involvement in occupations. While different workers are affected in different ways, we are beginning to understand the patterns through which machine learning, robotics, sensors, and other technologies have affected jobs and may continue to do so. Computers will not eat all jobs, but they will profoundly change many of them. Technology has profound implications for the skills that people need. It also enables profound new ways to give workers the future-ready skills they need.
This seminar will have two parts. In the morning, we will examine what is happening and what is possible. We will start by sharing insights on how technology is reshaping the occupational landscape and what the future may hold. Next, we will discuss ways in which employers, schools NGOs are already preparing workers for new and better jobs through methods such as online courses, gamified assessments, refugee education programs, blockchain certificates, hybrid online/offline degree programs, and novel methods of on-the-job training. Then we will examine ways in which the United Nations and MIT in collaborating with Governments and other interested parties around the world can help to provide future-ready skills to people who need them.
In the afternoon, interested participants will reconvene to consider specific solutions. Not every solution needs to be technology enabled, and not every worker needs to be a technology worker. But many workers can benefit from skills to use technology or to adapt to the changes that technology brings to their jobs. Many of the tools already exist in online, offline and hybrid programs around the world. Countries and companies are starting to understand the need to make their people more future-ready. In this session, we will work together to identify potential projects and collaborating institutions. We will also consider how to turn our initial conversations into a broader movement that can improve the lives of millions of workers around the world.