Last week, the World Economic Forum (WEF) announced that it opened its first Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) in Berlin, Germany.
The center, called the Global Government Technology Centre, is the first of its kind in a G7 country, will “connect Germany’s GovTech innovation ecosystem to a global network of experts and practitioners to inform and inspire GovTech agendas worldwide.
The GovTech network is a WEF initiative that aims to apply “emerging technologies and digital innovations to government, public administration, and public services, as a critical enabler in making them more efficient, effective and accessible,” according to the globalist entity.
It consists of a “whole-of-government approach to public sector innovation and promotes simple, efficient and transparent government.”
“Governments around the world are facing unprecedented challenges to leverage new technologies to build more inclusive societies at a time when public confidence is more critical than ever,” WEF President Børge Brende, said. “The Global Government Technology Centre in Berlin will act as a hub for innovation and experimentation and will provide an opportunity to empower citizens.”
The first C4IR was launched in San Francisco in 2017, the WEF explained in its press release. Other centres have been established in Japan, Texas, Azerbaijan, Colombia, Michigan, Israel, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Telangana, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Vietnam, and now Germany.
Some of C4IR’s initiatives include the “AI Governance Alliance,” “Bioeconomy,” “Technology for Climate Adaptation,” “Global Coalition for Digital Safety,” and others.
The WEF describes the Fourth Industrial Revolution as a “new chapter in human development, enabled by extraordinary technology advances commensurate with those of the first, second, and third industrial revolutions.”
According to the entity, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is “more than just technology-driven change; it is an opportunity to help everyone, including leaders, policy-makers and people from all income groups and nations, to harness converging technologies in order to create an inclusive, human-centred future.”
