Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute / Oxford University. He is a sought expert for print and broadcast media worldwide.
After early successes in the International Physics Olympics and the Austrian Young Programmers Contest, Mayer-Schönberger studied in Salzburg, Harvard and at the London School of Economics. In 1986 he founded Ikarus Software, a company focusing on data security and developed the Virus Utilities, which became the best-selling Austrian software product. He was voted Top-5 Software Entrepreneur in Austria in 1991 and Person of the Year for the State of Salzburg in 2000. He has chaired the Rueschlikon Conference on Information Policy in the New Economy, bringing together leading strategists and decision-makers of the new economy. He is also a faculty affiliate of the Belfer Center of Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is a frequent public speaker and his work have been featured in (among others) New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Economist, Nature, Science, NPR, BBC, The Guardian, Le Monde, El Pais, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, WIRED, Ars Technica, and Daily Kos. In addition to his international bestseller “Big Data” (co-authored with Kenneth Cukier), Mayer-Schönberger has published eight books, including the awards-winning “Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age” and is the author of over a hundred articles and book chapters on the information economy.
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is also on the boards of foundations, think tanks and organizations focused on studying the information economy. He advises governments, businesses and NGOs on new economy and information society issues.
This spring is the tenth anniversary of the publication of Viktor’s book “Big Data”. Co-authored with deputy editor-in-chief of the ECONOMIST Kenneth Cukier, “Big Data” hit the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers list; it was shortlisted for the FT book of the year award. Translated into 20 languages, it sold two million copies and is still going strong. Some of its key points – such as that we would use big data and machine learning to not offer answers, but also help us ask better questions, or that data-driven machine learning needs ethical oversight in the form of “algorithmists” were new and controversial then, but have become widely accepted today, foreshadowing tools like GPT and deep neural networks.
As we are fascinated and concerned by AI and the role it will play in business and society, executives must adjust their digital transformation and data strategies. The dominant digital platform players (the GAFAMs) have already done so. But how? In over 250 keynote addresses and speeches Viktor has given, he offered a clear-cut vision of the role of data-driven AI and, equally importantly, of human imagination and ingenuity. If your clients need strategic clarity in times of change, he can provide that clarity. (The FT thought so too, selecting his book on the topic – “Framers” – as one of the best strategy books of the year.)
Last fall, the EU enacted the “Digital Markets Act”, regulating large online platforms. It implements the first EU-wide data sharing mandate, which Thomas Ramge and Viktor proposed in thier books “Reinventing Capitalism” and “Access Rules.” But the EU isn’t alone. Data sharing mandates are considered by regulators in the UK and the US. Over the past years, EU, UK, and US regulatory decision-makers have frequently sought Viktor’s expertise on this issue.
A year ago, Russia invaded the Ukraine. It initially looked like a very unequal fight, but the Ukraine surprised many as it fought back and retook a fifth of the conquered territory. Crucial for its success was its information and data strategy. In a Foreign Affairs piece, Kenn Cukier and Viktor once laid out the data advantage. It became one of the most quoted FA articles of the decade. Are your clients interested in how data and information provide geopolitical power – and how data access and data utilization is reshaping our multi-polar world?
As inflation threatens the economy, investors turn cautious, globalization unwinds, climate change looms and populism flourishes, corporations and organizations around the world wonder whether the much-touted digital tools can help them better navigate the choppy waters ahead. The good news is they can, but quite differently than we may think. That’s why asking the right strategic questions is so crucial. I can help your clients do exactly that and motivate, inspire, and energize them to move forward – through gripping keynotes and thought-provoking speeches, through in-depths workshops and strategy sessions.
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