European Forum Alpbach 2017 - Technology Symposium

This year's Technology Symposium with the main theme "Conflict & Cooperation" will be searching for new pathways and tools for a society in transition. The battle for resources, new disruptive technologies, climate change and many other factors like approaching limits to growth require new solutions for economic and social issues. The digital world is especially suitable for creating innovative approaches. The virtual world seems to have almost no borders and sharing and cooperation are highly popular. Will new digital technologies help us to achieve more equality by cooperation? Social networks, big data and the internet of things offer huge opportunities which have not been exhausted so far. The competition of ideas and the dispute over them are essential for innovations and social developments. However, only broad-based cooperations uniting researchers, enterprises and citizens will enable us to finally tackle the big social challenges. For example, how can smart cities with new sustainable mobility concepts or decarbonization in general help us to regain balance with ourselves and the world? In any case, cooperation will be one of the decisive factors for the development of mankind and the whole evolution of life.