WEF to relaunch Medellin Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution in Colombia
15 Sep 2024
A meeting of the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday, decided to re-establish a Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) in collaboration with the City of Medellín, in Colombia.
The new C4IR centre will be launched in October 2024, according to a joint statement issued by WEF executive committee member Sebastian Buckup and Medellion Mayor Federico Gutierrez.
The 22nd in the global network of C4IRs, the new centre is intended to support the responsible adoption of AI and technology-based solutions for urban transformation in Medellín, with potential impact in Colombia and Latin America.
WEF said the new centre, with participation from businesses, government and civil society, will be developed as a leading AI innovation hub for AI strategies and solutions for a more inclusive and sustainable growth.
Ruta-N Corporation will host the Colombia Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR Colombia), which will be developed on the public-private participation model, so as to spread the benefits wider.
The centre will develop and implement best practices and strategies for leveraging AI in the responsible digital transformation of cities.
For Medellin, which has already seen some progress in technology-aided growth, the new centre will help to build on previous achievements in developing the city as a Special District for Science, Technology and Innovation, Sebastian Buckup said, adding that Ruta-N’s capabilities as one of the country's leading innovation agencies, will help the centre harness Medellín’s capacities.
WEF has a network of C4IR centres spread across , Azerbaijan, Austin, Colombia, Detroit and San Francisco (US), Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and Vietnam.
The Korea Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution is planned to be launched in collaboration with Gyeonggi Province, in October 2024.