Chris McDonald to deliver Keynote Speech on Digitisation and Decarbonisation
Chris McDonald will be delivering the keynote speech at the International Students Conference in Metallic Materials taking place on 12th and 13th July 2021 and organised by the EPSRC and SFI Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Metallic Systems at the University of Sheffield.
The title of the presentation is:
Going Smart and Going Green: Digitisation and Decarbonisation to Meet the Challenges of Industrial Strategy
The focus will be how globalised modern economies, like the UK, face an unprecedented challenge as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, in responding to shifting geopolitical power, racing to decarbonise and protecting our sovereign security. Digitisation is a major part of the solution to these challenges, but brings with it disruption to jobs and communities, as hard won skills are made redundant, and step changes in productivity that risk mass unemployment. The Green Industrial Revolution is also heavily reliant on critical materials, often sourced from unstable, undemocratic and unethical regimes.
The response that is required is an optimistic, interventionist industrial strategy, that places a just transition at its heart. By targeting the required green investment in the places where skills are being released from digitisation, will ensure these new industries can be successful, as well as securing a just transition for communities. Nations that are successful in this transition will invest heavily in innovation and commercialisation of intellectual property and act to secure critical materials in their economy, protecting sovereign capability in defence, infrastructure and critical manufacturing.
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/metallicscdt/national-student-conference
5 July 2021
