DWIH New Delhi hosts event on “The Future of Work”
(27.03.19) What will a factory look like in the future? How can humans work together with robots? Which jobs may be taken over by computers? Will gender relations change when the home office becomes the norm? And how can social safety-nets be saved in the face of informal work and a growing gig economy?
Questions such as these were at the centre of this year’s DWIH flagship conference entitled “The Future of Work”. With the conference, the DWIH – Deutsches Wissenschafts- und Innovationshaus, or: German Centre for Research and Innovation – sought to initiate dialogues between academics, policy makers and industry representatives from India and Germany, and to address issues of growing importance in both countries. DFG India Office was closely involved in the planning of the event and participated on all three days – among other things, by providing information on Indo-German research funding opportunities to many interested conference participants.
With 600 registered guests and a full house throughout the six sessions, the event at the India Habitat Centre in central New Delhi certainly hit a nerve. “Everybody talks about automation in the work place – but often, you just hear buzz words,” Dr Vaibhav Agarwal, deputy director of DFG India Office said. “The DWIH event was a welcome change, with lots of in-depth insights about what is actually happening in the world of work.” The speakers at the event came from both India and Germany and represented many fields. From the academic side, persons from computer science and robotics, innovation management, economics, gender studies and architecture were present; in addition, members of academies of science and think tanks such as Acatech and the Delhi Policy Group, policy makers and industry representatives actively participated.
The DWIH New Delhi, of which DFG India is an active supporter, will organize many more events in the fields of science and innovation. This year, its guiding theme is that of “Artificial Intelligence”.