About Rii Forum 2021
The Research and Innovation Forum (Rii Forum) is an annual conference that brings together researchers, academics, and practitioners in conceptually sound inter- and multi-disciplinary, empirically driven debate on key issues influencing the dynamics of social interaction today. Technology, innovation, and education define the rationale behind the Rii Forum and are at the heart of all discussions held during the conference. The Covid-19 pandemic and its social, political, and economic implications have confirmed that a more thorough debate on these issues and topics is needed, and Rii Forum 2021 will be devoted to this end.
Themes and topics
Specific questions that Rii Forum 2021 delegates will address include, but are not limited to:
- Is the Covid-19 pandemic having a lasting effect on technology and innovation? Is it prompting a new wave of innovation in industry and business? Is it promoting open innovation? Will it allow the business sector and industry to transform to meet the demands and imperatives of Sustainable Development Goals? Will that transformation persist?
- Is the Covid-19 pandemic permanently altering how we see and use technological advances in our daily lives, our work, travel, and tourism? How is it affecting migration patterns and trends worldwide? How is it influencing the creation and presentation of artwork, cultural artefacts and events? What is its impact on education? How is the switch to distance learning affecting the quality of education worldwide? What is its impact on pupils and students and their future professional lives? How can we monitor this switch and deal with the unwanted outcomes?
- From another angle, is the Covid-19 pandemic altering international relations and foreign policy? How is it influencing the balance of power in global affairs? Is it leading to a new wave of exclusion? Is it serving as an excuse to engage in strategically disruptive activities in certain already contentious regions and areas of policy?
- Finally, is the Covid-19 pandemic redefining how we think of and design smart cities? How is it influencing the process and practice of innovation and the ways in which we see, define, and manage space in smart cities?
Goals and objectives
The Rii Forum 2021 will promote academically rigorous in-depth discussion of these issues. It will act as an arena for debate on how sophisticated ICT – including artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, big data, cloud and edge computing, 5G, IoT, and social networking – can help stakeholders to manage continuity, innovation, and change in the post-Covid world.
The organizing committee of Rii Forum 2021 is particularly interested in track, panel, and paper proposals on such topics and issues as:
- technology-enhanced teaching and learning
- smart cities and smart villages
- information management
- innovation management
- information and communication technology (ICT) in healthcare
- ICT, international relations, and foreign policy
The committee is also interested in how the Covid-19 pandemic and its implications may lead to:
- The establishment and consolidation of alliances among diverse stakeholders
- More effective data-driven strategy and policy at local, regional, national, and global levels
- New divisions between the Global North and Global South
- A weakening of democracy, transparency, and civic and human rights.
Panel and paper proposals include, but are not limited to, topics such as:
- The management of pandemics and their implications through the use of AI, and its value in healthcare, education, smart cities, economics, and foreign policy
- Blockchain and its application to the post-Covid world
- Social networking sites and digital space vs politics, economics, and business
- Information management in times of uncertainty
- Big data: the promise and the caveats
- Covid-19 and the international economy in the AI-era: crisis, rupture, and new opportunities
- Social implications of the Covid-19 pandemic: migration, exclusion, and poverty
Please send your track/panel proposal (a maximum of 400 words, including title, keywords, rationale, and objective) to the conference team at info@rii-forum.org