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UCL lecture series on Innovation and the Welfare State at the British Library

2 May 2019

A new series of public lectures by the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose began on Thursday 2nd May, held at the British Library.

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After a sold out 2018 lecture series titled “Rethinking public value and public purpose in 21st century capitalism”, the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) returns to the British Library with a series focusing on “Innovation and the Welfare State”.

The welfare state and the innovation economy are often pitted against each other: one the wealth creator and the other the redistributor of that wealth. But could this dichotomy obscure the real opportunity? Could there be ways to unite the power of the welfare state—in its capacity to create a healthy and educated population—with the full power of the fourth industrial revolution?

There are six lectures in total, each co-chaired by Professor Mariana Mazzucato, Director of the IIPP, Professor Rainer Kattel, Deputy Director of the IIPP, or Roly Keating, Chief Executive of the British Library.

Professor Mariana Mazzucato comments, “After the success of our 2018 event, this year we will attempt to break the usual divide between value creation in Silicon Valley and value distribution, by acknowledging that the way we distribute and create services affects the kind of value we create.

“We will ask how the relationship between technology and the welfare state can be co-designed to result in inclusive growth. This is very topical amidst current debates over whether or not robots will take away jobs from human beings.”

The events in the series are as follows:

  • Thursday 2nd May: Harnessing data for green growth (Carlota Perez & Kate Raworth)
  • Thursday 16th May: Next social revolution: rethinking public service delivery (Hilary Cottam & Tom Loosemore)
  • Thursday 30th May: Access to knowledge and inequality (Victor Adebowale & Alissa Davies)
  • Tuesday 11th June: Data ownership: who owns what and why? (Isabella de Michelis & Evgeny Morozov)
  • Thursday 20th June: Empowering citizens through data (Francesca Bria, Gabriella Gόmez-Mont & Jaideep Gupte)
  • Thursday 27th June: Artificial intelligence and public health (Ian Hogarth & Carol Sinclair)

The lectures are being held at the Knowledge Centre at the British Library, 96 Euston Road NW1 2DB.

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