Building the future of platforms together

Digital platforms are undeniably and powerfully shaping our lives. In turn, we want to understand the issues and shape the debate.

Platform Leaders draws together players across disciplines and sparks the conversations that might not happen otherwise. As we collectively build the platform economy, practitioners, entrepreneurs, academics and policymakers can all benefit from each other’s insights and expertise.

Past insights, future possibilities

The upcoming conference will start new conversations but also continue threads from past Platform Leaders events. We’ll return to the topic of impact, which we touched on with DeliveryHero CEO Niklas Östberg and during our panel on platform resilience. The real-world implications of platform ecosystems will again be a theme, as it was for our previous panels on regulation design and the connection between trust and platform governance.

This November, our focus will be on three main themes: transformation, design and impact.

Rewriting the rules of the game

The shift to digital has been dramatically accelerated by COVID-19. Entire industries are being digitalised and transformed at speed. In this panel, we’ll discuss platform-centered digitalisation strategies and what it takes for them to succeed.

Christoph Heyn, GVP Product Management at IKEA, will offer insights into how IKEA expanded their business by investing in digital transformation. We’ll hear from Marie Taillard, professor at ESCP Business School and author of Digital Makeover: How L’Oreal Put People First to Build a Beauty Tech Powerhouse, about the importance and power of community building. And Thibault Rémy, CEO of Meilleurs Agents, will share how their real estate business went fully digital and helped to catalyse an industry-wide transformation.

The panel will be moderated by Jennifer Schenker, founder of The Innovator and an experienced journalist whose resume includes the Wall Street Journal Europe, Time Magazine, International Herald Tribune, Red Herring and BusinessWeek.

Offering choice that makes sense for consumers

Platforms add value by selecting, framing, curating, and connecting participants. Part of their role is to help users make choices more easily – which involves decisions about what choices are available and how those choices are presented. As choice architects, platforms have significant influence over their participants. The articles people read, the holiday they select… are choices increasingly framed by platforms.

This panel will explore the importance of recognising these issues and their implications for consumers. We’ll be joined by representatives of different stakeholder groups: academics, policy makers, and practitioners.

The panel includes Joost Rietveld, Assistant Professor at the UCL School of Management and platform researcher, Stefan Hunt, Chief Data and Technology Insight Officer at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), who will give a public policy lens on choice architecture. Tobias Kretschmer, Professor at University of Munich, will also provide academic insights on platforms and consumer behaviour. And Adam Cohen, Director of Economic Policy at Google, will share his views on how Google offers choice to customers.

A global and personal impact

The impact of platforms is too-often underestimated by their participants, especially as platforms have become part of everyday life. In the social impact space, though, the interconnection between platform participants is uniquely highlighted.

We’ll speak to Chris Tsakalakis, CEO of microfinancing platform Kiva, about positive outcomes and Kiva’s focus on financial inclusion. Run as a not-for-profit tech company, Kiva is a fascinating example of platform impact in action. We’ll talk with Chris about the company’s vision, how to measure impact, and how embracing technology can enable the non-profit sector.

Your chance to participate

The Platform Leaders Conference brings together leading voices to talk about issues that matter. This event is a unique opportunity to be part of that conversation. Sign up now to save your place.

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