Make an impact on the post-COVID-19 world: Join our online conference on the role of technological innovation in the new digital age

By Einat Paz-Frankel, Start-Up Nation Central

The COVID-19 pandemic has heralded a new digital age, which forces us to transform many aspects of our lives – from shopping and doctor consultations to remote work and weddings. They say necessity is the mother of invention, and so it seems that coronavirus has pushed the development of new technologies, and the adaptation of existing ones to solve new problems. How is digital transformation about to change our lives? The way we make things? How we work? Can we seamlessly move into a new digital world without increasing digital inequalities in education and employment?

To address all of these questions and more, Start-Up Nation Central will host an interactive online conference entitled “The New Digital Age: The Role of Technological Innovation in the Post-COVID-19 World,” where entrepreneurs, policymakers, corporate executives, and thought leaders will discuss the most urgent questions and attempt to answer some of the world’s greatest concerns these days. Join our online conference to discuss how the world will change as a result of various trends accelerated by the pandemic.

The New Digital Age Conference will feature visionary speakers, including Prof. Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University; Prof. Edward Glaeser, Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University; Dr. Michal Rosen-Zvi, Director of Health Informatics at IBM Research; Dr. Peter Singer, Special Advisor to the Director-General, World Health Organization; Ash Jokhoo, Chief Information and Data Officer at Virgin Atlantic; Dan Senor, Investor and Co-Author of Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle; and many other leading local and global influencers, business leaders and decisionmakers.

Here are five of the topics the conference will cover:

The future of cities as post-coronavirus innovation hubs 

Historically, cities have been major hubs of tech innovation; high-tech clusters have concentrated mainly in urban areas. In the post-COVID-19 digital age, where remote work is becoming the norm and many tech firms are struggling to survive, city life is being reshaped and transformed. Will cities retain their status as centers of innovation in the post-corona era?

Fighting the next pandemic with technology

Has much changed in the way we confront the coronavirus pandemic, since our ancestors dealt with the Spanish Influenza of 1918? With all of our modern technology, we’ve found ourselves using similar methods: improving basic hygiene, practicing social distancing, and even living under quarantine. Formulating a coherent, global “technology playbook” will enable us to leverage the innovative technologies developed since 1918, and help global players to manage the next pandemic or future waves of COVID-19.

Will technology mitigate the devastating effects of the global economic crisis? 

Around the world, tech startups and entrepreneurs are pivoting their existing technologies or developing cutting-edge innovations to fight coronavirus. Can technology help us address the devastating economic consequences of coronavirus?

Can Israel’s high-tech industry strengthen the nation’s social fabric?

Traditionally, Israel’s high-tech sector has been a self-sustained ecosystem, somewhat disconnected from the rest of its economy. While these two economies are vastly different, both are part of the same society and support each other in times of crisis. How can a “social contract” between the tech sector, government, and civil society look following the pandemic? Better yet, what should it look like?

Reimagining industries under extreme disruption

The travel, hospitality, and tourism industries have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and may continue to undergo sever disruptions following the economic crisis. How is their “new normal” going to look like? How can technology help rebuild them?

Mark your calendars and register here for “The New Digital Age: The Role of Technological Innovation in the Post-COVID-19 World.”