Swinburn’s Social Innovation Research Institute and La Trobe University have come together to deliver a Technology forum.
12.00PM 1.30PM AEST
TUESDAY 15 JUNE 2021
The impact of technology on our society is one of the defining challenges and opportunities of our time. In this context, it is critical to consider how technology and innovation affects not just our industrial systems, but entire political, social, and economic systems.
Public interest technologies put people and society at the centre of our technological choices and strive to ensure that the benefits of technology are widely shared. However, there is limited understanding in Australia of the notion of public interest technology, in part because the use and meaning of the term is contingent on the ongoing and – in the wake of Covid – emerging questions about what constitutes the public interest. Drawing on perspectives from three experts in industry and academia, this forum socialises the concept of public interest technology, reveals recent applications of public interest technology, and issues a call to action for cross-sector engagement and collaboration to advance the development and implementation of public interest technology.
Who should attend?
- HASS and STEM academics and researchers whose work would benefit from increased involvement with one another
- Industry professionals who want to partner with universities to create public interest technology
- Civic-minded technologists
- Digitally fluent leaders, public officials, entrepreneurs and change agents
About the Technology x Society Forum
The Technology x Society Forum provides a space for engagement between STEM and HASS academics with an interest in the design, development and application of public interest technology. Their aim is to stimulate multi-disciplinary collaborations to address complex social challenges. Forum activities will include a series of curated conversations on key topics, organised by Forum leaders and seeded by the Forum Steering Group. The goal of each forum is to generate opportunities for research, leadership and social innovation by researchers at Swinburne and La Trobe and their partners.