The Fourth Industrial Revolution has transformed the way we work and live. Digital platforms have upended traditional business models and are disrupting ever more industries in a post-COVID world. Novel technologies (AI, robotics) are replacing ever more human tasks, raising fears about increasing unemployment.

While technological innovation is a source of prosperity, its impact on business and society needs to be carefully managed. Our panel considers both the disruptive nature of technological change and the practical ways we can respond to it from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Meet our speakers

Niamh Dunne is an Associate Professor of Law at LSE, teaching in the areas of competition and EU law. She has also worked in competition enforcement for the Competition Authority of Ireland, and as a consultant in competition policy, primarily for the OECD. She is a course contributor to LSE’s online certificate course Technological Disruption: Managing the Impact on Business, Society and Politics. 

Robert Falkner is an Associate Professor of International Relations at LSE and the Research Director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. His research centres on global environmental politics and international political economy, with a particular focus on climate policy and the role of business in international relations. Previously, he held academic positions at the universities of Oxford, Kent, and Essex, and was a visiting scholar at Harvard University. He is the Course Convenor of LSE’s online certificate course Technological Disruption: Managing the Impact on Business, Society and Politics.

Carsten Sørensen is an Associate Professor of Information Systems and Innovation at LSE. He has studied the business and consumer impact of mobile and ubiquitous information technology innovations, organisational innovation with mobile computing. His research has also focused in particular on the innovation dynamics of mobile infrastructures and platforms. He is a course contributor to LSE’s online certificate course Technological Disruption: Managing the Impact on Business, Society and Politics. 

Leslie Willcocks is an Emeritus Professor of Work, Technology and Globalisation in the Department of Management. His major research interests include service automation, artificial intelligence, digital transformation and emerging technologies. He is also engaged in looking at technology in globalisation and the strategic use of IT, IT leadership and  IT enabled organisational change. He is a course contributor to LSE’s online certificate course Technological Disruption: Managing the Impact on Business, Society and Politics. 

More about this event

This event is part of the LSE Festival's 'Skills for a Post-COVID World' series. LSE experts discuss research trends in their field about professional skills we need for success in a post-COVID world. The series is hosted by LSE Executive Education and Online Learning. Find out more about online certificate courses.

The LSE Festival: Shaping the Post-COVID World is running from Monday 1 to Saturday 6 March 2021, with a series of events exploring the direction the world could and should be taking after the crisis and how social science research can shape it.

Twitter hashtags for this event: #LSEFestival #LSECOVID19

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from How to Manage Technological Disruption: tech giants, competition, and the future of work.

A video of this event is available to watch at How to Manage Technological Disruption: tech giants, competition, and the future of work. 

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.