18 September 2017. Leading thinkers claim that we are entering a new age in which the current meaning and value of work will change fundamentally. At the 2018 St. Gallen Symposium current and future leaders will address the opportunities and responsibilities that come along with this trend for individuals, societies, businesses, and governments.

This student-run event will gather 600 senior leaders and decision makers from the fields of politics, business, academia, and society to engage with 200 of the world’s most promising young students, entrepreneurs, politicians and other outstanding talent under the age of 30. More than 40 speakers will seek to inspire and provoke, providing participants with new insight on the future of work.

Debate on the future of work

Historically, the meaning and role of work in societies has been in constant flux. Each work-place revolution has brought about both job losses and job opportunities, new ways of work, and a changing role of work in our lives. Now, while in the midst of a digital revolution, disruptive technologies and Artificial Intelligence in particular, increasingly pose an unprecedented threat to the human workforce. Leading thinkers predict a massive number of unemployable human workers in a few decades as AI will potentially outperform humans.

The next symposium will tackle these daunting questions and elaborate on opportunities that this new world might entail. It is the next generation of leaders that will predominantly shape a "world without work".

Join the symposium’s digital all-year-round debate

The organisers of the St. Gallen Symposium invite readers and followers to engage in a vivid online-debate on this topic. Contributors can contact the symposium and hand in their opinion on the topic, which will be published on the Symposium’s blog as well as on HuffingtonPost. Graduate and postgraduate students are invited to write an essay on the topic to qualify for an all-expenses-paid participation in the St. Gallen Symposium and to win its prestigious global student essay competition, which celebrates its 30th jubilee. The forum will be live-streamed on 3 and 4 May 2018 and the organisers will invite everyone to attend its public sessions held at the library of the University of St. Gallen.

A world-class, student-run forum

The St. Gallen Symposium is a student-run global forum that has been creating healthy debates on relevant topics for nearly 50 years – between generations, disciplines and cultures. The 48th St. Gallen Symposium will be held at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, one of the world’s leading business schools. In the past, global luminaries such as Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Professor Niall Ferguson, Harvard University, Christine Lagarde, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Jack Ma, Alibaba Group, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO, Stephen Sackur, BBC Television Centre, and Tidjane Thiam, Credit Suisse Group AG, have contributed to the "St. Gallen debates".