Andrew Maynard, Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies and the Director of the University of Michigan Risk Science Center, and Tim Harper, Director of Cientifica Ltd., have released a new report, “Building a Sustainable Future: Rethinking the Role of Technology Innovation in an Increasingly Interdependent, Complex and Resource-constrained World”. The report is aimed at decision-makers in corporations, governments and global institutions, and outlines the opportunities and challenges of using new and emerging technologies to develop timely, cost effective and acceptable solutions to global challenges. There are mounting concerns that developments in some of these new technologies, such as nanotechnology and synthetic biology, could potentially have profound and catastrophic impacts on human health and the environment, if mishandled. There is also a danger that na\u00efve perspectives on these emerging technologies could jeopardize progress toward social and economic goals. The paper outlines seven specific fronts on which progress needs to be made if new technologies are to support a safe and sustainable future. The report says: “Without a doubt, we are facing an ever-greater array of global risks that are stretching our ability to ensure a sustainable and resilient society. But perhaps the biggest risk of all is we continue to see these risks as unavoidable. In the same way that international organizations are able to mitigate the effects of fiscal crises and geopolitical conflict, many risks, from climate change to energy prices, can be mitigated through the effective use of technology. It is only through the application of new technologies that the human race has moved from small bands of hunter-gatherers to supporting almost seven billion people. Technology has vastly improved the quality of life for the majority of the world’s population, and provides a wide variety of solutions in food, water, and energy. But the safe and successful development and use of new technologies is far from certain. If we are to continue to improve the quality of life on a planet challenged with supporting 9 billion people, critically important initiatives such as the Risk Response Network must enable more sophisticated approaches to how we develop new technologies, and use them to reduce emerging risks.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Andrew Maynard, Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies and the Director of the University […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology-update"],"yoast_head":"\n