With the UK economy depressed, the Coalition government has been talking up the possibilities of private entrepreneurialism, particularly in the high-growth digital and financial services industries. But the reality is that these companies employ very few people in relation to the revenues they generate– a notable example being Facebook, which is widely projected to have a valuation of US $100 billion yet employs less than 4000 people. Meanwhile the disrupted workers of the 2010s – bricks and mortar retailers, journalists, accountants and tube train drivers – are in danger of going the way of lamplighters, coalminers and milkmen.

Could Britain’s brave new industrial future lead to inequality and social division on an unprecedented scale? Will aspirations to deliver ‘progress’ and ‘globally competitive’ companies lead to joblessness and increasingly casualised labour markets? And should we be scared or excited that economic and technological innovation is tearing down the calcified institutions and certainties of British life?

Gus Desbarats is a designer who co-founded The Alloy, a digital agency who create interfaces for the likes of BT, Intel and Virgin Atlantic. As the chairman of British Design Innovation, as well as an acting ‘champion’ for innovation on the UK government’s Technology Strategy Board, he is an expert on what it takes to nurture innovation. In his work for these organisations he promotes British ideas and designs, and advocates for the development of a homegrown digital sector.

Albert Bravo-Biosca is a senior economist at Nesta, the ‘innovation foundation’ that funds projects across the creative industries, science and technology, and nurtures startup companies. After receiving his PhD in economics from Harvard, he joined the charity in 2007, where his research work focuses on how to drive innovation and productivity growth, and on the performance of venture capital.

John Rapley is a research associate at the International Growth Centre of the London School of Economics, exploring how innovation and economic prosperity affect one another. He is also a correspondent for Foreign Affairs, and was previously the head of the West Indian think tank CaPRI; regular futurehumanistas might recognise him as the presenter of our excellent New Medievalism salon last year.

Plus more guests to be announced. So join us at Destructive Innovation at 7 – 9.30pm on Wednesday May 9 at The Book Club. At the salon, you’ll be able to pose your own questions to the panel, post random thoughts on our big-screen Twitter feed, hear fascinating and interactive presentations, and of course quaff cocktails. Once again, advance tickets are available here.

Together, we will explore a troubling concept that could shape all of our lives: whether today’s most innovative companies are actually destroying more value than they create, and twisting the economic logic of our age.