The importance of the “Great Reset” digitalization agenda

The "Great Reset" initiative of the World Economic Forum (WEF) is understood by Schwab and Malleret (2020) as a necessary response to the global economic and social grievances triggered by globalization and neoliberalism and exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis. The "Great Reset" agenda aims to comprehensively reshape global economic and political relations, the direction of national economies, priorities within societies, existing business models and the management of global commons. The promise repeatedly made by the WEF and its members in this context includes a "fairer, greener, more sustainable, smarter and more resilient world". Schwab and Malleret (2020) contrast fears of a global surveillance society with the benefits of a "Fourth Industrial Revolution" or "hyperdigitalization" accelerated by the Covid-19 health crisis. The winners of this change are the technology and healthcare sectors, while the service industry in particular will have to reinvent itself.