The Age Of The Human

From how we shop, to how we work, to how we access healthcare, to how we socialise - technology is changing every aspect of our lives. The nature of these changes makes science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills more vital than ever before. That said, success in STEM requires well-developed human skills such as problem solving, creativity, collaboration and adaptability which leads me to emphasising the importance of ‘you’ – the human.

We continue to live, as we have since the 1970s, with the hope that technology will improve how we do business and how we live, adding disproportionate value to all our experiences. In many cases, it positively transforms our lives (think Apple) but that can blind us to the fact that technology does not always bring benefit.

Much has been written by famous thinkers like Jaron Larnier and Hal Crowther about how humans have become the servant of technology rather than technology being a servant of the people. We have become enslaved, seduced and confused as we try to understand the real value of technology in our lives.

Research over a decade ago with US college students found that as many as 30% of survey respondents believed it would be beneficial to have their mobile phone technology embedded under their skin like a chip, allowing them to

Professor Mark Durkin, Executive Dean, Ulster University Business School (UUBS) reflects on the value of human interaction in a tech-driven world.

make calls simply by touching their armnegating the need to carry a device they could lose. Not worrying at all…

Over three quarters of retail businesses surveyed in 2022 say that the pandemic has accelerated their use of technology. In retail, there has been a 13% increase in technology investment relative to 2019 and the sector is expected to grow by 5% (£21bn) as a result by 2040. Some of that may translate into you doing more of your shopping yourself - either battling through apps or dealing with unintended challenges with the tech-enabled selfservice checkout.

Think banking - in the late 1980s banks provided an invaluable community service, both financial and social, as people visited their branch for their banking needs but also to chat, and have a service encounter with a fellow human. No longer. Despite the desire for human connection, and the value created through such connections, banks have closed most physical branches, forcing customers to shift to digital banking channels in many cases.

As far back as 1975 a researcher called Chase warned that technology would replace people but that ‘the differentiator for organisations lies in people, so discard them from your service offer at your peril’.

The Importance Of People In Education

We work in a service organisation. People are not just a resource, they are the key resource. It is people delivering our core service proposition by way of imparting knowledge and skills to young people and mature learners. It is people providing the support infrastructure wrapped around the delivery of that core service.

While many universities shifted much learning online through the pandemic, the importance of physical place should not be underestimated. Learning is a social, co-created experience. Technology is a servant, an added value dimension of the human contact of course, but that inperson on-campus experience is critical.

At Ulster University, our distinct campuses provide multiple locations across Northern Ireland where educational services are delivered. We have just opened a brand new 75,000m2 state-of-the-art extension to our campus in the heart of Belfast. Hosting over 15,000 staff and students, it will deliver an estimated investment regeneration impact of circa £1.4bn.

Whilst the building is amazing, it is what goes on inside the building that is more amazing. Call into the foyer and grab a coffee or lunch and watch. What do you see? You see people – talking to each other, laughing, a piano being played by a passer-by, the sharing of ideas, a cocreation of the future.

As we grapple with the post-pandemic context, how we choose to live, work and interact will change and already has changed. While the pandemic has shown the advent of a new age of technology adoption and enablement, it must not be at the expense of human enablement.

Of course, the rise of automation is a threat to some industries but it actually presents an opportunity for new value creation – but only where the technology is the servant of the human and not the other way around. There is a tremendous opportunity for new thinking, for new partnering efforts to be created at the level of the individual, in places conducive to that social encounter between people and catalysed by a curiosity and hunger for things to be better.

The STEM illusion is just that. The future doesn’t belong to the STEM graduate – it belongs to the graduate who is adaptable. The graduate who is adaptable can see the need for tech fluency (but not technology dominance) combined with the necessity for human skills like empathy, communication, critique, judgement – all the things machines can’t do.

So, the key skill we need our young people to have is adaptability – the skill to consciously be able to pivot between the relative emphases of technology fluency and emotional intelligence to create value. Value in the context of the specific circumstances prevailing in an organisation, in their life, in society more widely.

To be able to do so with an entrepreneurial mindset and kindness are added differentiators and ones which we will see on the rise in the age of the human.

If you would like to find out more about how Ulster University Business School can support you and your business, contact the UUBS Business Engagement Team at engage@ulster.ac.uk