World Economic Forum launches 6 Global Councils to help with new technology governance

World Economic Forum has announced the creation of six global councils whose aim is to help with new technology governance. The six Global Fourth Industrial Revolution Councils will cover artificial intelligence, autonomous mobility, blockchain, drones, internet of things and precision medicine.

The councils will help with developing policies to govern new technologies as well as address “governance gaps” or total absence of regulations. They will provide a platform for exchanging policy and regulatory experience cross-country. They will also work on what best policy practices should involve. The councils will also co-operate with the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network, providing it with “strategic guidance” when it comes to the governance projects and planned pilots.

“Companies and governments are not moving fast enough to anticipate social expectations in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Richard Samans, Managing Director and Head of Policy and Institutional Impact, World Economic Forum. “We believe that that this bottom-up, societally-focused approach can help to build and maintain public trust in the technologies while strengthening the evidence base on which policy decisions are made by governments and companies.”

The chairs of these six councils include members of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Dana-Farber, European Commission, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Uber, and the World Bank.

BitPesa CEO Elizabeth Rossiello has been named the co-chair of Global Blockchain Council, along with Denis Robitaille, Vice President, Information and Technology Solutions, World Bank.