Building Skills for an Inclusive Economy

Location: Wong Auditorium (2 Amherst Street, Cambridge, MA 02142) The MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE), along with Eric Schmidt and Robert DeLeo, addressed “Building Skills for an Inclusive Economy”, a panel highlighting how technology can close the skills gap, increase equity, and build a more inclusive economy. Hosted by the IDE’s flagship initiative the Inclusive Innovation Challenge, the panel featured leading experts:   Eric Schmidt, Alphabet, Inc. Executive Chairman Robert A. DeLeo, Massachusetts Speaker of the House Erik Brynjolfsson, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy Shawn Bohen, Year Up National Director for Growth & Impact Kara Miller (Moderator), WGBH Host and Executive Editor Our panelists examined methods and efforts to close the opportunity gap and develop job-ready skills for the changing American and global economies. Topics included:

• How job skills are changing and what skills will be required in the future of work
• What strategies the MIT IDE and Year Up are undertaking to help people adjust to these changes
• How these strategies can be further embedded into public policy, as well as state and local workforce programs

The event was held on Wednesday, May 3 at the MIT Sloan School of Management’s Wong Auditorium (2 Amherst Street, Cambridge, MA 02142) from 3:30pm - 4:30pm.  An audience Q&A session was held at the conclusion of the panel. Read about the event in the Boston Herald and MIT Sloan. We appreciate this engaging discussion of a grand challenge of our time -- creating shared prosperity for the many, not just the few, in the future of work. An "on demand" version of the live stream is available below; the permanent version of the video is also available on our YouTube channel.