The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a rethink of and changes to business models across the world, beyond the economic and health disruptions and consequences. In part, the pandemic has reinforced the critical role of digital technologies and platforms in building resilience and collective capacity to confront global socio-economic shocks and to seize opportunities, reorganise, and transform the benefits of technology for fair and justifiable world order.

The Technology and Management Centre for Development (TMCD) and its flagship Inclusive Digital Model (IDMODEL) Project brings together renowned experts and speakers to assess these issues on the theme ‘Digital technologies and platforms in the Covid-19 era: Challenges and prospects for developing countries’. Across the conversations, key reflections and discussions will focus on the development of digital technologies and platforms, and the key challenges and prospects these new technologies and platforms pose for economic recovery and inclusive development in developing countries

The conference is supported by ESRC-GCRF funded IDMODEL project.

Speakers

• Professor David Gann - CBE, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Development and External Affairs, University of Oxford, UK
• Professor Diego Sanchez-Ancochea - Head of Department, Oxford Dept. of International Development
• Professor Xiaolan Fu - Professor, University of Oxford, UK and TMCD Director
• Mr. Wu Cheng- Senior Vice President, Tencent
• Mr. Marcio Cruz-  Senior Economist, Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice, World Bank Group
• Mr. Torbjorn Fredriksson - Chief, ICT Policy Section, UNCTAD
• Professor Pervez Ghauri - Professor, University of Birmingham, UK
• Mrs. Sonia Kabir - CEO of SBK Foundation and Vice Chair, Council of UN Tech Bank
• Professor Pinar Ozcan - Professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
• Mr. Richard Alex Roehrl -Senior Economist, UN DESA