Creative Industries & Future Technology

The World Economic Forum with the Council on the Connected World produce the only publication that tracks governance gaps related to the Internet of Things (IoT). This report surveyed more than 270 experts from around the world to understand the current state of play and to highlight the need for universal governance protocols to secure connected devices. The report enumerates areas of concern – such as ethical use of data and universal access – and makes recommendations for the public and private sectors to secure these devices collaboratively.

The next era of the internet is coming. The metaverse is an immersive, interoperable and synchronous digital world that will change how we interact, work and play.

In May 2022, the WEF launched the Defining and Building the Metaverse Initiative, whose goal is to bring together major stakeholders from academia, civil society, government and business to advance consensus and create a metaverse that is economically viable, interoperable, safe, equitable and inclusive. The initiative is divided into two workstreams: governance and economic and social value creation.

We’ve all heard of the metaverse - an immersive virtual world that’s a digital twin of the real world - or a bit like ‘climbing into the internet’, depending on who you talk to. But how many of us know exactly how it works? Despite the increasingly slick headsets, the hype and bold predictions, the real potential of the metaverse is not obvious.

Learn more here about the basics of the metaverse and how it has and will impact our daily lives.

Business of Fashion’s new report ‘The BoF Sustainability Index’, benchmarks 15 of the industry’s biggest companies against ambitious environmental and social goals and finds fashion is falling short.

Documentary - This is a story about clothing. It's about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world. The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. The True Cost is a groundbreaking documentary film that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and asks us to consider, who really pays the price for our clothing?

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation conducted a deep dive, exploring how applying the principles of the circular economy to urban development will create cities that are able to thrive in the long-term, bringing prosperity to their citizens within planetary boundaries. Buildings, mobility, products and services, and food systems are examined in detail as these are urban systems that play an important role in our lives, and where transformations can be made.

‘2040' is an innovative feature documentary that looks to the future, but is vitally important now. Award-winning director Damon Gameau embarks on journey to explore what the future would look like by the year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them into the mainstream. Structured as a visual letter to his 4-year-old daughter, Damon blends traditional documentary footage with dramatised sequences and high-end visual effects to create a vision board for his daughter and the planet.

The Economist x Pictet: Cities may occupy just 2 per cent of the earth’s land surface, but they are home to more than half of the world’s population and generate 80 per cent of all economic output. And their dominance is growing: by 2045, an extra 2 billion people will live in urban areas.

At Pictet, we think it will put pressure on infrastructure, resources and the environment. Encouragingly, those responsible for planning and building the urban centres of the future are up to the challenge. Worldwide, authorities are working ever more closely with the private sector in an effort to make our cities safer, more sustainable and better connected.

In this report, Deloitte explore what it means to use AI to benefit society and share insights from their own experience and that of those in academia, business and not-for-profit sectors.

Advancing data justice research and practice is a collaboration between the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) and The Alan Turing Institute. The project aims to widen the lens of current thinking around data justice and to provide actionable resources that will help policymakers, practitioners, and impacted communities gain a broader understanding of what equitable, freedom-promoting, and rights-sustaining data collection, governance, and use should look like in increasingly dynamic and global data innovation ecosystems.

Microsoft has recently launched a new service called Microsoft Gaming Accessibility Testing (MGATS), an optional testing service, to help identify accessibility and inclusivity issues for prerelease/launched Xbox and Windows PC titles.

World Government Summit - As technology continues to reshape the global economy, digital dexterity - both in how we learn and how we work - is becoming increasingly vital for driving opportunities and promoting equity. To stay competitive in this rapidly changing landscape, it is crucial that we use technology to reskill and upskill the workforce, making education more accessible and career-relevant. However, to make meaningful progress, we must also focus on narrowing the digital divide and fostering digital inclusion in both learning and work.