Consumer advocacy groups come together for change at Consumers International Summit 2019
The Consumers International Summit 2019 brought together over 460 leaders from consumer organisations, businesses, governments, civil society and academia, from nearly 90 different countries between 29 April to 2 May in Portugal to address some of the key questions that affect consumers in the new digital world.
Consumers International is the membership organisation for consumer groups around the world, bringing together over 200 member organisations in more than 100 countries to empower and champion the rights of consumers everywhere.
At the Summit there were a number of ideas for action and challenges raised, some key issues were:
- Radical changes in lifestyles are needed right away to meet challenges of the climate crisis. How can digital help get us there? How can sustainability be the easy, beneficial choice for consumers?
- In new data-driven services – we need to enable the consumer movement to work with developers to define, develop and design the data services that consumers really value and want.
- Only half of the world is online, we need investment in infrastructure, and affordable, relevant devices and services to bring choice and access to the rest of the world.
- A sense of urgency for change. Our new research into the Internet of Things and consumers views of AI show consumers comprising on their peace of mind to own this type of technology. Consumers need to feel safe and confident in the products they have in their homes. To do this we would like to see speed in developing basic standards.
Consumers at the heart of digital innovation
Digital technology is changing the world. From food and energy to financial services, there is no industry that is not transforming because of the digital revolution. As a result, consumer organisations are addressing technology and digital issues, raising questions about the balance of power in the digital world and holding tech companies to account for bad practice.
The once in four-year Consumers International Summit featured leaders of consumer rights groups from around the world such as Marta Tellado, President & CEO, Consumer Reports, Rosemary Siyachitema, Executive Director, Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, Gilly Wong, Chief Executive, Hong Kong Consumer Council, Nada Nehme, Vice President, Consumers Lebanon, and Crisólogo Cáceres Valle, President, Peruvian Association of Consumers and Users (ASPEC).
The audience also heard from speakers including; Eve Andersson, Director, Google AI; Reinald Krüger, Public Policy Development Director, Vodafone and Dieter Carstensen, Head of Digital Child Safety, Lego Group.
And leaders such as Dana Kissinger-Matray, Secretary, International Standardization Organization (ISO), Niall Murphy, CEO and Co-Founder, EVRYTHNG, Isabelle Durant, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTAD and Carl Vause, CEO, Soft Robotics Inc.
Our view
"The Summit was a unique and powerful opportunity to hear from consumer advocacy experts and leaders across the world. We explored solutions for consumers across essential systems from food to finance, from mobile telecoms to energy. We were inspired by the scale of what could be achieved if consumers are involved in imagining, designing and shaping our digital economy and society. What becomes clear is that putting consumers at the heart of digital innovation will not only build trust – it will help us meet our collective Sustainable Development Goals. We look forward to working with our partners to create impact for consumers, at speed."