天美传媒

This year鈥檚 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, the 50th, took as its theme聽. It also marked聽the start of the decade of delivery towards the UN's聽听补苍诲听颈迟蝉听. As such, the role of business in delivering social and environmental outcomes is once again under the microscope. Just as a company can utilise resources more effectively than the sum of its individual stakeholders, it must also be accountable for more than shareholder returns.聽

This is why聽the idea of "Education 4.0" is crucial. In聽, the聽World Economic Forum (WEF)聽explores models of education that can better prepare young people for the Fourth Industrial Revolution,聽which is defined by intangible value creation. The jobs of the future will not only demand young people are digitally literate and globally aware, but that they are able to approach issues taking all economic stakeholders into account. They must solve problems with compassion.聽One estimate聽by Accenture predicts as much as $11.5 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2028 if countries better prepare learners for the needs of the future economy.聽

Skills to shape the future聽

The WEF defines four key skill sets: global citizenship; innovation and creativity; technology; and interpersonal skills. While 鈥渉ard skills鈥� (such as technology design and data analysis)聽are essential, academic institutions must also encourage soft skills. These聽include聽cooperation, empathy and social awareness: skills that are needed to shape a future society that is inclusive and equitable. The importance of this kind of training goes right through into higher education, where one must create an environment where accumulated skills聽鈥撀爄n anything from information technology to engineering聽鈥撀燾an be applied with a social benefit in mind.聽

Responsible businesses too will have an important role to play in education by offering positive examples of global citizenship. In August 2019, the Business Roundtable聽鈥撀燼n influential lobby group whose members are聽CEOs of leading US companies聽鈥撀燼dopted a new Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation to guide corporate governance. It affirmed the purpose of a corporation is not just to create financial return to its shareholders, but to create benefits to聽all of聽its stakeholders:聽customers, employees, suppliers, communities聽and聽shareholders.

But this alone is not enough. Without being held to account, their progress met with聽independent verification from聽specialist institutions, corporations will have limited impact on social development. Left to their own聽devices, many corporate ESG efforts will be reduced to mere tokenism and impact-washing. Perhaps the most egregious recent example of this kind of virtue signalling is Amazon's聽聽to Australian bushfire relief.聽

Academia can play an important part in holding stakeholder capitalism to account. There are three key parts to this:聽聽

• The first is academia's role in advancing an actionable insight framework for measuring social and environmental performance. Analytics are a valuable commodity in the digital age and data insights can be a powerful tool to ensure inclusive growth.聽The absence of standard metrics for聽reporting performance creates聽scope for companies to cherry-pick what they report聽to greenwash their images.聽聽

• The second is ensuring people-powered impact. Engaging with experts and researchers closest to the problem is a vital part of bringing valuable context to data.聽聽

• The third is building partnerships for scale and realising the pivotal role the government and private sector must play in connecting people to the resources and networks needed in a changing economy. Stakeholder capitalism thus requires a fundamental rethinking of corporate governance systems and legal frameworks. Regulators and lawmakers need to come together to work out the legal mechanisms that hold organisations accountable to this renewed corporate mission.聽

Data science for social good聽

Last year, at the聽Gandhi Centre for Inclusive Innovation,聽we聽hosted the聽Data Science for Social Good Fellowship,聽which brought all these key elements into play. We used that initiative to bring together a select group of data scientists and presented them with social problems they could apply data science solutions to. We sought out governments and organisations and asked them about the most pressing issues they were聽facing聽and they submitted five projects for our scientists to solve. The initiative was important because it gave our experts practical, first-hand experience.聽

By giving 天美传媒 a chance to use their existing skills and apply them to real-world problems, it allowed them to聽develop聽new ways of doing things and new systems that can benefit more stakeholders.聽The programme was also an opportunity to find new ways in which academia and business can work together.聽

Stakeholder capitalism will require comprehensive reforms on multiple fronts to deliver on its promises. What we are realising is that, there is no lack of energy or ambition among聽the next generation to change the world for the better. As the demonstrates, education can achieve much more given the right environment. By teaching the next generation the value of empathy and global citizenship, while keeping the private sector accountable, we will ensure an economy that benefits all stakeholders and create a world where opportunities are far more universal than they are today.聽