The Future of the Firm: The Impact of Technology, Innovation and Industrial Change

*** This Event is by invitation only. ***

Corporations, and other forms of business associations, have been the subject of intense study including their history, governance, and obligations to stakeholders and the public at large. However, surprisingly, the future of business and the corporate form has been somewhat neglected. Triggered in part by technological advances in recent years, this is now changing. The Conference on the Future of the Firm aims to contribute to this emerging scholarly focus, bringing together research and stimulating debate in a cutting edge area of the law.

Organisers
Felix Steffek, University of Cambridge
Martin Petrin, University College London
Carsten Gerner-Beuerle, University College London and ECGI
Marc Moore, University of Cambridge

If you have any queries about this confernece please email Dr Martin Petrin at UCL

The Programme

The conference is structured around several panels, organised thematically around the research streams identified above which are intended to stimulate further interventions and discussion between all attendees.

9:00 – 9:35: Registration & Coffee

9:40 – 10:00:
The Future of the Firm - The Impact of Technology, Innovation and Change: An Introduction
Colin Mayer (Said Business School, University of Oxford and ECGI)

10:00 – 11:20: Firm Governance & Purpose

Self-Driving Corporations
John Armour (University of Oxford, Faculty of Law), Horst Eidenmüller (University of Oxford and ECGI)

Corporate Purpose in an Age of Fintech
Christopher Bruner (University of Georgia School of Law)

Corporate Governance in an Algorithmic World – The Impact of Corptech on Boards of Directors
Luca Enriques (University of Oxford)

11:20 – 11:35: Coffee Break

11:35 – 12:35: Management & Employment:

Platform-based Flexible Work and the Implications for the Contractual Structure of the Firm and Related Risk Factors
Marc Moore (University of Cambridge)

Corporate Management and AI
Martin Petrin (University College London, Faculty of Laws, and ECGI)

The Working Investor
Elizabeth Pollman (Loyola Law School, Los Angeles)

13:00 – 14:00: Lunch

14:05- 14:25:
Corporate Governance and the Law-Technology Cycle
Simon Deakin (University of Cambridge and ECGI)

14:25- 15:45: Capital & Regulation

The Law and Finance of Initial Coin Offerings
Aurelio Gurrea Martinez (Singapore Management University)

Future Sources of Funding for the Firm: What are the Core Issues for Consideration?
Elizabeth Howell (University of Cambridge)

Regulatory Competition in the Digital Age: A Corporate Race to the Blockchain?
Florian Möslein (Philipps-University of Marburg (Germany) and ECGI)

15:45 - 16:00: Coffee Break

16:05- 16:30: Technology & Insolvency

Technology and Financial Distress: The End of Corporate Insolvency Law?
Speaker: Felix Steffek (University of Cambridge)

16:45 - 17:30: Reception