Tackling Turbulences in Tech and Society

All around the globe, major shifts are happening in society, politics and technology. In this DLD20 talk with Hannes Ametsreiter (Vodafone Germany) and Andrew McAfee (MIT Sloan), moderator Amy Wilkinson (Ingenuity) got the pulse on how people in Germany are perceiving the turbulence in comparison to the U.S. With society in both countries increasingly polarized, the panelists discussed steps that companies and academic institutions can take to counteract the negative developments.

In order to attract more innovation to Germany and Europe, Hannes Ametsreiter argued that it’s important to build on the region’s strengths. For him, this means continuing to make the region a great place to work and live as well investing in education. However, he believes that there also needs to be more venture capital in Europe in order to get entrepreneurs to launch a startup – and stay – there.

On the other hand, Andrew McAfee said that while the U.S. had already done a good job of “becoming a magnet for entrepreneurial talent”, it needed to improve its infrastructure outside of cities. “I don't think we know what to do about the playbook of people feeling so profoundly left behind, and what to do with communities that just aren't as economically relevant as they used to be.”