Debate Tech & Society: “Technology is the new power paradigm”

Aspen Institute España and Fundación Telefónica hosted the third session of the VII Edition of the Tech & Society Program with Darío Gil, IBM Senior Vice President and Director of Research. This debate brought together thirty Tech & Society Program participants from the public sector, business, the media, and academic institutions.

Darío Gil participated in the first edition of the Tech & Society Program in 2017 with a session on “Beautiful Ideas and the Power of (non)Consensus“. He was also a speaker at the Aspen Ideas Program in the session on “Joining forces in times of crisis: building a better future” , which took place in 2020.

For the last twenty years, technology has been the most powerful force of globalization, but it now appears that the next decades will be defined by how the world aligns into different tech camps—changes driven by societal values, economic and national security  considerations, and nationalistic interests. Advanced technologies—from AI, to semiconductors to quantum computing—are the new currency of value creation and power, fundamental to all national agendas both economically and security-wise. Access to these technologies are redefining who has power, how much, and why. What’s the new model for international cooperation on technology amongst allies? And more specifically, what are the implications of the current revolution in AI to business, governments, and society?

Darío Gil

He is IBM Senior Vice President and Director of Research. Dr. Gil is responsible for IBM Research, one of the world’s largest and most influential corporate research labs. He directs innovation strategies in hybrid cloud, AI, semiconductors, quantum computing, and exploratory science. He also leads the technical community of IBM and is responsible for the company’s intellectual property strategy and business. An advocate of collaborative research models, Dr. Gil co-chairs the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, which advances fundamental AI research to benefit industry and society. He also co-chairs the Executive Board of the International Science Reserve, a global network of open scientific communities that provides specialized resources to prepare for and help mitigate urgent, complex global challenges. Dr. Gil is a member of the National Science Board (NSB), the National Science Foundation (NSF) governing body. He also serves on the President’s Research Council of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), the MIT School of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council, and the Aspen Global Cybersecurity Group. Dr. Gil serves on the boards of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), New York Academy of Sciences, New York Hall of Science, and Research!America. Dr. Gil received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.

VII Edition of the Tech & Society Program

Aspen Institute España and Fundación Telefónica launched the VII Edition of the Tech & Society Program. The VI edition will bring together leaders from all sectors of civil society to discuss the new technological challenges and their influence in areas as diverse as human relations, politics, education, culture, economics and medicine