Blogs and Opinions
-
Here’s how tech can help governments fight corruption
Monday 9th of December 2019
Technology is changing and challenging governments around the world. With data analytics and artificial intelligence, new technologies present governments with tremendous opportunities to improve public services, get better value-for-money, and curb corruption.
-
5 libraries doing innovative things to help their communities
Monday 9th of December 2019
There are public libraries at the heart of towns and cities across the globe – worldwide, hundreds of millions of books are loaned every year.
-
Physics Nobel prize winner: This planet is all we’ve got
Monday 9th of December 2019
Fix the climate crisis and save the Earth, one of this year’s Nobel laureates for physics urged on Saturday, saying the idea of humans escaping our planet to live in other solar systems was farfetched and unrealistic.
-
Can smart cities help their residents without hurting their privacy?
Monday 9th of December 2019
We live in a world where information has been transformed into one of the world’s most precious commodities. Data is a significant driver of our economies and the backbone of the world’s most powerful technology companies.
-
When you make an in-game purchase, do you ‘own’ it? If not, who does?
Monday 9th of December 2019
Nearly half of video games include in-game purchase options, fuelling a spending spree on virtual goods and a debate on what property rights are held over the digital assets.
-
Why the e-scooter craze in Paris might not be the answer to urban mobility
Monday 9th of December 2019
Mobility is a crucial challenge for global cities in the 21st century. The growing impact and immense risks of climate change are becoming clearer every day, and cities are on the front line. Globally, transportation generates 14% of all greenhouse gases, much of it for personal transportation.
-
ealth research is still too white and too male – how can we bridge the gap?
Monday 9th of December 2019
The field of global health has evolved from colonial and military medicine, tropical medicine and international health. While it is evolving for the better, research shows that global health is still struggling to shake off its colonial past.
-
What do refugees really need from those who want to help? A refugee explains
Monday 9th of December 2019
When I fled my home and sought shelter in Kakuma refugee camp, I was at one of the lowest points in my life. But not the lowest.
-
The 8 pieces of digital DNA we need to thrive in the AI age
Monday 9th of December 2019
If you had a symptom of cancer, what kind of doctor would you look for?
-
The new Davos manifesto, let the whales save us and other top stories of the week
Friday 6th of December 2019
The new Davos Manifesto. A vision for a better kind of capitalism.⇒ Explore: Sustainable Development
-
Have economists solved this puzzle from the Great Recession?
Friday 6th of December 2019
The Great Recession has left macroeconomists with many puzzles. One such puzzle is the alleged breakdown of the relationship between inflation and the output gap – also known as the Phillips curve.
-
Climate change is forcing 20 million people a year from their homes, Oxfam says
Friday 6th of December 2019
The news that our climate is warming will no longer come as a surprise. What might shock you, though, is that every two seconds the crisis forces someone around the world to leave their home, according to a new study.
-
What you need to know about 5G
Friday 6th of December 2019
5G, the fifth generation of mobile communications that enables global connectivity, is predicted to contribute $13.2 trillion to the global economy by 2035.
-
A billion people live in data poverty – but what does it mean?
Friday 6th of December 2019
The ability to exercise many of our most basic rights and privileges – voting, driving, owning property, and traveling – requires standardized information to determine who is eligible for what. But, in the age of digital data, there is hope for the billion people worldwide who lack such information.
-
I’m taking the train to Davos – here’s why
Thursday 5th of December 2019
The upcoming Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, will be special for me, not because it’s the 50th Annual Meeting, nor because it will be my 10th consecutive year in Davos, but because for the first time, I will be taking the train from the Netherlands for the entire journey. Why? Because it’s time to ditch the plane and embrace the train, not just for a daily commute but as a place to work.
-
These social entrepreneurs are lighting up Africa
Thursday 5th of December 2019
For more than 800 million people around the world, sunset means a world without light.
-
9 climate tipping points pushing Earth to the point of no return
Thursday 5th of December 2019
We may be about to pass – or may already have passed – tipping points in the Earth’s climate, according to a group of leading scientists.
-
These are the countries where it’s easiest to do digital business
Thursday 5th of December 2019
This first appeared in the Harvard Business Review.
-
How we can put civility back into civic engagement
Thursday 5th of December 2019
A rising tide of incivility threatens to drown America’s public discourse, a wave building from the dysfunction in the nation’s capital and washing over even the smallest towns. Voters are more divided than ever along political lines, and social media only amplifies the noise. The Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania wants to bring people back together so that they can effect real change. The center’s latest publication aims to contribute to that goal. (It is available for free download and is titled, “We the People: A Philanthropic Guide to Strengthening Democracy.”)
-
This silk seed coating could help crops grow in salty soil
Thursday 5th of December 2019
Providing seeds with a protective coating that also supplies essential nutrients to the germinating plant could make it possible to grow crops in otherwise unproductive soils, according to new research at MIT.
-
The best students in the world, ranked by country
Thursday 5th of December 2019
The results are in for the OECD’s latest global test of 15-year-olds in math, science, and reading. The test, known as PISA (for Programme for International Student Assessment), is administered every three years and used—by some—to measure which countries are best preparing their students for the future.
-
4 ways data is improving healthcare
Thursday 5th of December 2019
Hospitals produce 50 petabytes of data per year. This mass of information comprises clinical notes, lab tests, medical images, sensor readings, genomics, and operational and financial data. At the moment, 97% goes unused – but this is changing, with great potential to transform the quality of medical care.
-
This female comic superhero is fighting India’s sex traffickers
Thursday 5th of December 2019
A female superhero will use her powers to fight sex crimes in India and the stigma that trafficking survivors face, in the third instalment of a comic series.
-
More than 80% of adolescents worldwide aren’t getting enough exercise
Thursday 5th of December 2019
More than 80% of school-going adolescents worldwide are not getting enough regular exercise, the World Health Organization (WHO) found in the first survey of its kind.
-
Why agility is key to success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution – a book extract
Thursday 5th of December 2019
Successfully Navigating the Fourth Industrial Revolution Requires Agility