The European Forum for New Ideas is a conference that convenes annually in Sopot, Poland, bringing together academics, politicians, entrepreneurs, workers, and others to discuss the direction of the European economy.
This year’s conference will take place from September 28-30 on the theme of “The Future of Work: Realities, Dreams and Delusions”:
The implications of serious challenges currently facing Europe are all reflected in the continent’s labour market. The influx of immigrants, resuscitating EU unity, the technological revolution and the automation of processes will have tangible consequences for every EU citizen who wants to have a good job, decent pay and a stable future. Companies also have to tackle specific questions. Where to recruit new workers? How to retain those already employed? Which business models will be imposed by the automation of work and the possibility of artificial intelligence?
Notably from the standpoint of the Basic Income Earth Network, Guy Standing–BIEN’s cofounder and honorary co-president–will be participating in two sessions on the economic implications of technological change, both of which will be held on Thursday, September 29.
At the first, a morning plenary session, Standing will be one of six panelists. He will be joined by the author Martin Ford, who has promoted basic income as a way to cope with the automation of labor, especially in his popular book The Rise of the Robots (as well as in a recent White House roundtable discussion). Other panelists include Michał Boni (Member of the European Parliament), Michel Khalaf (President of MetLife EMEA), Ade McCormack (digital strategist), and Elżbieta Rafalska (Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy in Poland). Marek Tejchman, Editor-in-Chief of Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, will moderate the discussion, which seeks to answer such questions as “Is polarization and fragmentation of work along with its attendant rise in inequalities inevitable?” and “What does the future hold in store for us: the end of unemployment, but also the collapse of stable employment?”
Later in the day, Standing will deliver an introductory speech at a debate on the topic “Is a Flexible and Secure Labour Market a Utopia?” (although he is not a participant in the debate itself).
Guy Standing is a Research Professor at SOAS, University of London, well known for his research and writing about the precariat. His latest book, The Corruption of Capitalism: Why Rentiers Thrive and Work Does not Pay, was published in July of this year.
The European Forum for New Ideas is organized by Polish Confederation Lewiatan, in association with BusinessEurope.
For more information, including complete schedules, see the page for “The Future of Work: Realities, Dreams and Delusions” at the website of the European Forum for New Ideas.
Article reviewed by Genevieve Shanahan
Image (Krzywy domek Sopot ul. Bohaterów Monte Cassino) CC BY-SA 3.0 Topory
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