Panel A: Digitization of Payments and Economy
Nowadays the worlds of economy and information technologies are closely interrelated with each other. Moreover, they happen alongside the development of our society. Some of the significant steps that need to be taken are to improve people’s attitude towards economy, to facilitate their understanding, to save people’s capital and to absorb financial crises is the digitization of payments.
The advantages of digitization are that it might reduce financial losses that are made by cash transactions; also digital transactions provide transparency, security, control and speed of any digital transactions. People need a fast and safe way to manage their money in the rapid pace of the world around us.
How is this going to influence the digitization of payments and economy in the financial market in the Czech Republic? What should be done to improve people´s attitude towards financial digitization? Where do we stand in comparison to other countries?
Panel B: Education 4.0. and Impact on the Labour Market
Society and our lives are going to change due to the impact of digitization which will affect both personal and work-related life in the short term. These changes are coming with a wave of development, the so called Industry 4.0. Digitization is entering our lives in a way that none of us could imagine.
Digital education provides limitless opportunities to improve IT skills. Digital technologies have a positive effect – they increase productivity, develop the integration of processes and products, increase the flexibility of production and shorten the innovation cycle. On the other hand there is a question of the Czech labour environment. Education 4.0 is surely going to influence the labour market due to partial replacement of human work and due to increasing demand on digitally educated people.
What are the main advantages of digitization of education in the Czech Republic? How is digitization going to influence the process of education? What should be taught in the future at schools? What will the effect of digital (r)evolution be on the labour market?
Panel C: E-Mobility
It should be emphasized that our modern society prefers an efficient lifestyle.The role of transport is significant today. A person spends 1/5th of their day traveling somewhere. It must be taken into account that one of the key elements which provides us access to this ability is urban mobility, especially digitization.
The most important factor of digitization of transportation is safeness. Special technologies should not disturb a person on his/her way or cause accidents. It is clear that there should be special infocenters with free access to necessary information (schedules, traffic flows, tickets provision, maps, transport order etc.). Moreover, other important elements are pricing and payment.
What are the main advantages of digital transportation in the Czech Republic? How should the digitization of transportation be implemented in practice? What are the most important factors that influence the process of technological feasibility of digital transportation?
Panel D: Cyber Security
In the 20 seconds it takes to read this paragraph, 680,000 internet searches are going to be made and 8 million emails are going to be sent all over the world. The possibility of immediate information transport that the internet provides is a big advantage when used for legitimate purposes. On the other hand, the practically limitless possibilities of the internet provides space for virtual criminals.
The internet contains the information of not only ordinary people, but also databases of public and state institutions. This is the reason why the question of cyberspace security has come to the fore. Via cyberspace, hackers have the opportunity to break through protected networks and gain valuable information.
What kind of steps should the government take to improve their cyber security? How should cyber security be maintained? How should the balance between freedom of internet access and assurance of cyber safety be maintained?
Panel E: E-Health
Digitization is a great means to achieve more effectiveness in health services. Computers are already making the jobs of doctors and nurses easier. Highly intelligent equipment helps to make swift diagnoses and thus help shorten the duration of treatment.
Therefore, it is quite remarkable that HTA – Health Technology Assessment, a system for evaluating the impact of new technology, equipment and techniques of treatment – does not exist in the Czech Republic health service. One attempt at this, albeit feeble, is being carried out by the equipment committee of Ministry for Health.
A trend of increasing health expenditures related to the implementation of new technology and innovative cures can be expected.
What are the main advantages of digitization of health services? In what direction should the digitization process be aimed? How best to ensure that new technology helps doctors, without creating extra work?