Building Skills for an Inclusive Economy

MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE) invites you to join us, Eric Schmidt, and Speaker Robert DeLeo for “Building Skills for an Inclusive Economy”, a panel highlighting how technology can close the skills gap, increase equity, and build a more inclusive economy. Refreshments will be available prior to the event.

Hosted by the IDE’s flagship initiative the Inclusive Innovation Challenge, the panel will feature 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 will examine methods and efforts to close the opportunity gap and develop job-ready skills for the changing American and global economies. Topics will include:

• 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

We look forward to 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.

About the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy

The MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE) is a team of visionary, internationally recognized thought leaders and researchers examining how people and businesses work, interact, and will ultimately prosper in a time of rapid digital transformation.

The IDE’s research helps companies adapt to new ways of doing business in the digital economy,helps NGOs and other organizations understand how the digital transformation is affecting society and everyday life. And it helps people become more productive and thrive in a time of great and uncertain change.

About Google in Massachusetts

Located in the heart of greater Boston’s technology community and across the street from MIT in Kendall Square, Google Cambridge is our second largest office east of the Mississippi River. We opened a small Boston sales office in 2003, joined a new engineering team in Cambridge in 2006, and opened our current office in 2008. Our Cambridge office has more than 1,000 employees working in sales and many product areas, including search, travel, Android, YouTube, networking infrastructure, and Google Play.

About Year Up

Year Up is an intensive training program that provides low-income young adults with a combination of hands-on skills development, coursework eligible for college credit, corporate internships, and wraparound support.

Year Up’s mission is to close the Opportunity Divide by providing urban young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education.