Digitalization and Society: The Fifth Industrial Revolution

Catalog description

The course studies digitalization - or what is aptly described as an economic and industrial revolution - and the long term societal impact driven by AI related technology and entrepreneurship. We will examine how digitalization influences practically every industry and segment of society, unraveling conventional business and economic logic, resulting in broken (even if previously effectve) business models and societal dislocation. Using case studies involving, for example, the entertainment and media industries, IoT, Machine Learning applications, and Natural Language Processing, we will navigate not only an assessment of abstraction, but practical specifics. The course explores how a digitally interconnected world introduces advantages and efficiencies providing welcomed benefits, and whether these benefits deliver trade-offs, such as the commodification (and exploitation) of personal data giving rise to information oligopolies, socio-economic barriers, and fervent disagreement on the role of digital technology. We will assess the role of government regulation within this dynamic. Our course of study will not transform you into a technology specialist. Instead, the course aims to construct a working understanding of the possibilities created by digitalization’s influence on tomorrow’s markets, organizations and society.