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Recycled Bottles, Reclaimed Lives: A Shelter Innovation from South Sudan
by By IOM South Sudan 3/06/2025 Medium
“People used to throw these bottles along the roads,” he says. “Now, they’re part of our homes — they’re cooler, stronger, and resistant to termites.” In South Sudan, where communities face the twin crises of displacement and environmental strain, a powerful question is emerging: What if plastic waste, once seen only as trash, could help build a safer, more sustainable future? This year’s World Environment Day calls on us to #BeatPlasticPollution. In Bentiu, a town in South Sudan scarred by years of conflict and flooding, displaced communities are answering that call by turning trash into shelter.
Principles to Inform Drug Pricing, Access and Innovation Policy
Policymakers have made generational progress in advancing policies to lower prescription drug prices, especially through the passage into law of price negotiations, inflation rebates, and a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap for patients on Medicare. Yet critical work remains to provide relief for both people with Medicare and without, through lower prices for more patients and more medicines, and on a quicker timeline.
Advancing racial justice in our policies, institutions and culture.
We work with communities to build the collective power necessary to counter structural racism. Connected and aligned individuals, organizations, and movements standing together to inspire positive change can build a just, multiracial, democratic society.
Global Innovation Hubs Index 2024
2024 has witnessed generative artificial intelligence (AI) breaking new frontiers in science, driving a new wave of industrial innovation and increasing the level of human-machine interaction in daily lives. Although the global economy is recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic, it faces risk from geopolitical conflicts and natural disasters. In this climate, scientific and technological innovations are much needed to address global problems and drive health improvements.
A Brighter Idea: The Story of Five Regulations that Spurred Innovation
When federal agencies implement rules for efficiency, worker safety, or public health and welfare, companies need to reformulate their products and services to comply.
Racial Equity in the Arts Innovation Lab
Throughout Race Forward’s history, we have explored the significance of the role of arts and culture in movement building and advancing racial equity. With support from the New York City Cultural Agenda Fund in The New York Community Trust, we are pleased to launch our new Racial Equity in the Arts Innovation Lab, which will train 60 New York City arts and cultural organizations to deepen their racial equity work.
Catch Up on the Latest News
Journey through the history of art, music, and culture with critically acclaimed documentaries and in-depth storytelling.
Did a Norwegian law inadvertently cut innovation in universities?
by Making Sen$e Editor 6/6/16 PBS NEWS
Editor’s Note: For 31 years now, Paul Solman’s reports on the NewsHour have aimed to make sense of economic news and research for a general audience. Since 2007, our Making Sen$e page has vowed to do the same, turning to leading academics and thinkers in the fields of business and economics to help explain what’s interesting and relevant about their work. That includes reports and interviews with economists affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research.
PBS TEACHERS INNOVATION AWARDS PRESENTED TO 50 EDUCATORS FOR INSPIRING STUDENTS AND TRANSFORMING CLASSROOM LEARNING
ARLINGTON, Va., May 5, 2010- Today, PBS and its member stations celebrated 50 of the nation's most innovative preK-12 educators who are discovering new ways to engage their students and inspire them to achieve. The PBS Teachers Innovation Awards program honors teachers who are transforming classroom learning and providing children with the tools they need to reach their full potential and succeed in the 21st century. All winners will receive instructional technology resources from PBS and its partners and participate in a peer-to-peer network to share best practices using public digital media. The top 10 winners will receive a SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard System, a Logitech camera and are invited to the PBS annual membership meeting.
IOM Innovation Facility: Fostering Transformative Solutions
The IOM Innovation Facility is a dynamic platform that supports novel and transformative initiatives on migration. By offering seed funding, building innovation capacities, and nurturing an innovation ecosystem, it enables the creation and expansion of impactful and innovative projects. The Facility's approach centers on fostering partnerships and collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, ensuring that innovative ideas can be effectively piloted and scaled to drive system-wide solutions.
Who becomes an inventor? This Arkansas innovation hub is trying to spark a new generation
by Jeffrey Brown 30/5/18 PBS NEWS
At MIT, Chris Jones led efforts to double minority enrollment in graduate programs. Now back home in Arkansas, he's on a mission to reduce barriers for low-income people, women and people of color toward becoming innovators, makers, thinkers and entrepreneurs. Jeffrey Brown reports.
Innovation Law Lab v. Wolf
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 11 individual asylum seekers and organizational plaintiffs Innovation Law Lab, the Central American Resource Center of Northern California, Centro Legal de la Raza, the University of San Francisco School of Law Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic, Al Otro Lado, and the Tahirih Justice Center.
Defunding Public Media Would Stifle Digital Innovation
by Jessica Clark 21/3/11 MEDIASHIFT
Given the toxic tone of the debate over the last few weeks, neither public media leaders nor station staff are eager to go on the record with their concerns. But behind the scenes, they fret that the most vulnerable dollars are those funding cross-platform, mobile and participatory public media experiments.
Coalition for Workforce Innovation v. Su
Business groups challenged the 2024 regulation in a Texas district court. On behalf of Public Citizen and the National Employment Law Project (NELP), we filed an amicus brief in support of DOL. The brief explains that misclassification of workers is a significant problem, that the 2021 regulation risked exacerbating that problem, and that the 2024 regulation was a reasonable step to eliminate that increased risk.
Symptoms of major policy disorder
Extortionate prices charged to desperate patients
Texas Professor Wins Nobel Prize for Battery Innovation
by Michael Coleman 9/10/19 PUBLICCITIZEN
Public Citizen’s Texas office extends its deeply appreciative congratulations to John B. Goodenough, a University of Texas professor awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work developing lithium-ion batteries.
Türkiye: Resilience Innovation Facility
Gaziantep is one of the biggest refugee-hosting provinces in Türkiye. Of Türkiye’s over 3.6 million Syrians under temporary protection, Gaziantep is home to over 440,000 Syrians. In this context, this initiative was launched to open a Resilience Innovation Facility, or Fabrication Lab, housed by Gaziantep University. This space is designed to empower youths in Gaziantep – whether Syrian refugees or Turkish host community members living in the area – by providing education, community, workforce, and business programming that teaches innovation, design-thinking, problem-solving, and change-making.
The NCLR Innovation Lab: Inspiring Entrepreneurship in Latino Youth
Underwater Dreams tells the story of a group of low-income Latino high school students and how they won a prestigious robotics competition. The goal of the NCLR Innovation Lab is for Latino students to identify a genuine need in their community and to develop a tech-based solution to address that gap or that challenge.
Innovation we could live without
Opponents of a national health care system for all U.S. citizens argue that such a system would cripple the privatized system’s ability to “innovate,” thus stifling the creation of new drugs.
What Does Public Innovation Mean?
by Richard C. Harwood 19/5/14 HUFFPOST
Recently, I was on the public radio program "Innovation Trail" in Rochester, N.Y. to talk about "public innovation." The station posted the following statement on its website about my appearance: "Two recent interviews by the Innovation Trail served as reminders of how often the 'innovation conversation' is framed in terms of technology and economics... " But as we discussed on-air, there's another way to define it.
Food Deserts, Community Colleges And Innovative Slackers
by Andrew Flowers 6/5/15 FiveThirtyEight
What they found: Giving low-income individuals better access to healthy food — fixing the “food desert” problem — would do little to narrow the nutritional gap between rich and poor.
The Invisible Shield: A Look at 4 Crucial Public Health Innovations
Charles-Edward Amory Winslow, a pioneer in shaping global public health, defined public health as “the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private communities and individuals.
Cast Your Ballot for the Worst Prison Innovation of 2011: With Solutions Like These, Who Needs Problems?
by David Shapiro 19/12/11 ACLU
As 2011 comes to end, we’re taking a look back at the year in criminal justice. Over the next few days, we’ll run a series of blog posts on the developments, good and bad, that have shaped our justice system – from overincarceration and sentencing policy to the treatment of prisoners and capital punishment. Read the series here.
Innovation and Invention
by Laura Santhanam 11/6 PBS NEWS
There are lots of different ways to make a vaccine, but the ultimate goal of any shot is to introduce the body to the biological equivalent of a “most wanted” poster so that if the real enemy ever shows up,…
Innovation: Leveraging novel and transformative solutions for migrants and societies
IOM's Innovation portfolio is managed and coordinated by the Innovation and Knowledge Management (IKM) Unit within the Department of Policy and Research at IOM Headquarters in Geneva. The IKM Unit is the institutional focal point on knowledge management and innovation in relation to migration policy and programming. The Unit leverages innovative approaches and practices to enable systemic transformation, address pressing migration challenges, and strengthen partnerships with governments, the UN system, the private sector, academia, and innovation networks.
New IOM Data Innovation Directory Provides Insight on Migration and Mobility in Times of Crisis
“As countries grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, harnessing big data to effectively monitor and address social and economic implications has become more important in discussions around the world,” said Frank Laczko, Director of IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre. “Timely and comprehensive data are invaluable to designing policy responses in health, economy, employment, and mobility.”
Climate Mobility Innovation Lab
The Climate Mobility Innovation Lab (CMIL) is a key driver of
innovation, capacity strengthening, and collaboration. With a strong emphasis on scalable innovative scientific solutions and community engagement, the CMIL empowers resilient communities to adapt to climate change impacts and address challenges of migration and displacement.
Report: Regulations Spur Reluctant Industries to Innovate
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Many regulations that were originally scorned by politicians and industry as signaling the death of product lines, companies and jobs – including rules requiring more efficient light bulbs and banning chemicals that damage the ozone layer – in fact stimulated healthy innovations that have protected American lives and saved billions of dollars without harming industry, according to a report issued today by Public Citizen.
Climate Mobility Innovation Labs (CMILs)
IOM implements a vast portfolio of activities to address the environmental and climate factors that compel people to leave their places of residence, build the resilience of individuals and communities, provide effective and timely humanitarian and recovery assistance, and support migration management responses to climate change and environmental impacts. As a leading operational actor, IOM supports States and other players to operationalize responses to migration and displacement in the context of environmental degradation, climate change and disasters across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus (HDPN).
SPLC explores social justice innovation
A workers rights organization pairs with a tech startup to get unemployment benefits for gig drivers in Philadelphia.
IOM Development Fund Global Innovation Map
Welcome to the IOM Development Fund interactive Global Innovation Map. With over 1000 projects across 125 countries, the Fund provides seed funding for catalytic initiatives that strengthen migration management, in alignment with IOM's mission to support sustainable migration practices and towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. This map showcases a selection of these projects, characterized by their innovative nature. Discover how these diverse projects, funded between 2020 to 2022, are leveraging technology, promoting inclusivity, contributing to the well-being of migrants and communities, resulting in transformative solutions to address emerging challenges in migration and human mobility.
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act & Open App Market Act
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) and Open App Market Act (OAMA) together would loosen Big Tech’s grip on our digital lives, expand consumer choices, and ensure online innovation can thrive. Lawmakers should not miss one of the few remaining opportunities to pass popular, effective, needed legislation.
Technology & Innovation
by The Nature Conservancy 4/6/24
As technology changes our world faster than ever, our scientists are partnering with innovators in the private sector to develop and scale technology that ensures people and nature thrive.
Innovation
Innovation – the practice of turning cutting edge basic research into inventions with real world application – is the driver of knowledge economies. If innovation stagnates, that spells bad news for the wider economy, a fact which is increasingly salient as the world faces a recession.
Innovation is a contact sport but the rules of the game can change
by Agnieszka Iwasiewicz-Wabnig 15/1/25 nature reviews
It is often assumed that technological innovation will solve societal problems, including the climate crisis. Innovators’ mindsets and motivations in choosing how, and with whom, they work are just as important as the technical merit of their ideas. Aga Iwasiewicz-Wabnig argues that it is time to critically revisit the way innovation happens.
Inventions that made the United States a powerhouse of innovation
This article features text from Nature’s archive. By its historical nature, the archive includes some images, articles and language that by twenty-first-century standards are offensive and harmful.
The Nature of Innovation
The climate emergency requires a dramatic transformation of society to reduce emissions from energy, transportation, manufacturing, construction and land use, ultimately bringing them to net-zero by 2050. But industrial emission reductions alone, while critically important, will not be enough to limit global temperature increases to well under 2°C above pre-industrial levels—the goal laid out in the Paris Agreement and that is required to avoid catastrophic global changes.
Index reveals innovation strongholds in 2024
In keeping with recent annual trends, 2024 saw the global innovation landscape “face multiple challenges and changes,” with knock-on effects for world cities renowned for being centres of innovation, says Ling Chen of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
Dynamics of technology emergence in innovation networks
by Martin Ho 16/1/24 scientific reports
To create the next innovative product, participants in science need to understand which existing technologies can be combined, what new science must be discovered, and what new technologies must be invented.
Cultivating Innovation
The Nature Conservancy is investing in a range of innovative technologies and tools that can help accelerate the pace at which the agriculture sector can adopt regenerative agriculture practices, thus building a more resilient system that benefits people, climate and nature.
Innovation dynamics within the entrepreneurial ecosystem: a content analysis-based literature review
by Rishi Kant Kumar 6/3/24 nature
Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) delineate concepts from varied streams of literature originating from multiple stakeholders and are diagnosed by different levels of analysis. Taking up a sample of 392 articles, this study examines how innovation fosters the emergence of self-operative and self-corrective entrepreneurial ecosystems in the wake of automatic market disruptions. It also finds that measures lending vitality and sustainability to economic systems across the world through a mediating role played by governments, along with synergies exhibited by academia and “visionpreneurs” at large, give rise to aspiring entrepreneurs.
Harnessing technological innovation and renewable energy and their impact on environmental pollution in G-20 countries
by Siwei Han 17/1/25 scientific reports
Climate change and environmental degradation are critical global challenges, and the G-20 nations play a pivotal role in addressing these issues due to their substantial contributions to global GDP and carbon emissions. Transitioning toward renewable energy sources is imperative for mitigating CO2 emissions and achieving sustainable development.
Defining social innovation for post-secondary educational institutions: a concept analysis
by K. M. Benzies 3/6/24 nature
Education, research, and contribution to society through innovation are the three missions of post-secondary educational institutions. There is a gap in understanding the concept of social innovation for post-second educational institutions.
=====ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE Advertiser retains sole responsibility for the content of this article Celebrating a decade of innovation===== by nature portfolio
Established in 2011 in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Skoltech is a unique experiment in both Russia and the world. For example, in the area of education, we are boldly breaking with traditional teaching methods and are seeking to cultivate digital natives by teaching generation Z in their language and style. It hasn’t always been easy to instill a new mindset towards education, but we believe it is where the future lies. By blazing a new trail, we hope to create a path that other universities in Russia and elsewhere will be able to follow.
Exploring the nexus between national innovation performance and happiness
by Irina Alina Popescu 26/7/24 nature
The study of happiness in economics has started to gain considerable momentum. Social policy factors are currently being recognized as determinants of national competitiveness, while innovation is an important factor to ensure economic growth and societal well-being.
Global Innovation Hubs Index 2021
First, the number of evaluated cities has increased from 30 to 50, while the selection criteria and methods remain unchanged, shining a light on more ‘second-tier’ cities. Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and a few other Chinese cities are now collectively evaluated as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Technology innovation and environmental outcomes of road transportation policy instruments
by Cristina Peñasco 14/5/25 nature communications
Road transportation policies can drive innovation in more environmentally sustainable vehicle and fuel technologies but may have unintended consequences. To assess their impacts on technology innovation, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and land use, we systematically review and analyze evidence on the outcomes of 14 road transportation policy instruments, including fuel economy and low-carbon fuel standards, biofuel and zero-emission vehicle mandates, and fuel and vehicle taxes.
The trickle down from environmental innovation to productive complexity
by Francesco de Cunzo 22/12/22 scientific reports
We study the empirical relationship between green technologies and industrial production at very fine-grained levels by employing Economic Complexity techniques. Firstly, we use patent data on green technology domains as a proxy for competitive green innovation and data on exported products as a proxy for competitive industrial production.
Directed climate innovation
by Lingxiao Yan 1/12/22 nature climate change
Technological innovation is seen as a critical mechanism that could mediate the economic effects of increasing climate risk. But, in principle, innovative activity could shift in ways that either increase or decrease the climatic resilience of economic production. A comprehensive map is missing of the interactions between climate change, production and innovation.
Examining the relationship between technological innovation, environmental social governance and corporate sustainability: the moderating role of green operational innovation
by Oluwole Nurudeen Omonijo 30/1/25 Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
While environmental social governance (ESG) and technological innovation are important foundations for corporate sustainability, how ESG activities and technological innovation impact corporate sustainability remains limited in the current literature.
Global Innovation Hubs Index 2020
Global innovation hubs are defined as cities or metropolitan areas that can lead the flow of global innovation elements and influence the efficiency of resource allocation, drawing on their unique advantages in science and technology innovation. In technological and industrial competitions, they emerge as global cities that integrate research innovation, an innovation economy and a supportive ecosystem for innovation.
Corporate environmental publicity and green innovation: are words consistent with actions?
by Huisu Lai 11/4/25 Humanities & Social sciences Communications
orporate environmental publicity is a vital tool for enhancing a company’s image and strengthening information exchange, significantly impacting corporate green development. Using a dataset of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2020, we investigated the influence of corporate environmental publicity on green innovation.
Global Innovation Hubs Index 2023
Global innovation and development in 2023 was clouded by uncertainties. The digital economy is one of the few economic sectors that is booming in an ever-changing world.
Does innovation always come from science?
by Alexandra Witze 28/10/15 nature
Essay triggers lively arguments over how basic science should be funded.
Papers and patents are becoming less disruptive over time
Theories of scientific and technological change view discovery and invention as endogenous processes1,2, wherein previous accumulated knowledge enables future progress by allowing researchers to, in Newton’s words, ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’3,4,5,6,7.
Palaeo-bioinspiration draws on the fossil record to advance innovation
by Annabelle Aish 2/6/25 communications biology
Bioinspiration is an approach to innovation based on the observation of biological systems, of which only 0.1% remain since life began 3.7 billion years ago. Expanding the scope of bioinspiration to the fossil record greatly increases the diversity of potential biological “muses” and provides a means to understand the form, function and origins of current living systems.
Environmental influences on human innovation and behavioural diversity in southern Africa 92–80 thousand years ago
by Alex Mackay 28/2/22 nature ecology & evolution
Africa’s Middle Stone Age preserves sporadic evidence for novel behaviours among early modern humans, prompting a range of questions about the influence of social and environmental factors on patterns of human behavioural evolution.
Analyzing the configuration of the National Innovation System for Innovation Capability: evidence from Global Innovation Index reports
by Yangjie Huang 27/9/24 Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
National innovation capability (NIC) is an important manifestation of economic development quality and international competitiveness. Previous studies focus mainly on the static impact of factors in the national innovation system on NIC in a given year.
A conceptual review of the higher education system based on open innovation (OI) perspectives
by Amalia-Elena Mochnacs 27/9/24 Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
The open innovation paradigm has evolved from its incipient form, namely Schumpeter’s new production function from 1912, to the current context of a global network of societies, including virtual communities that produce innovative ideas and industry applications through knowledge transfer.
Unfolding the innovation system for the development of countries: coevolution of Science, Technology and Production
by Emanuele Pugliese 11/11/19 scientific reports
We show that the space in which scientific, technological and economic activities interplay with each other can be mathematically shaped using techniques from statistical physics of networks.
How South Korea made itself a global innovation leader
by Leigh Dayton 28/5/20 nature index
South Korea’s position as one of the world’s most innovative nations is a remarkable achievement considering that, for the first half of the twentieth century, it was an agrarian-based Japanese colony, then a battle ground.
Twelve principles for open innovation 2.0
by Martin Curley 17/5/16 nature
Evolve governance structures, practices and metrics to accelerate innovation in an era of digital connectivity, writes Martin Curley.
The Soybean Innovation Lab Is Set to Close in April After Trump Cuts
by Susan Cosier 19/3/25 Inside Climate News
At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, an island in a sea of farmland where corn and soybeans grow, sits the Soybean Innovation Lab. The institution, part of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future initiative, helps advance soybean production in sub-Saharan Africa, assisting farmers there and developing markets for soybean farmers in the United States.
Technology & Innovation
by Brett Chase Inside Climate News
The city is racing to put up 277 sensors. Once installed, Chicago will have the most high-quality air monitors in the country, a model that rivals only London, which has more than 400.
Technology & Innovation
Want an EV With 600 Miles of Range? It’s Coming
Fungi's role in environmental cleanup and construction innovation
Minnesota regulators advance energy efficiency and electrification in Xcel Energy’s gas innovation plan
On February 6, 2025, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission supported zero-carbon technologies by ordering additional energy efficiency and electrification measures in Xcel Energy’s Natural Gas Innovation Act (NGIA) portfolio (Docket #23-518). "I think mycelium will be the unsung hero of climate change."
Energy Efficiency, Innovation,and Job Creation in California
by DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL AND RESOURCE ECONOMICS 10/08
Global climate change poses significant risks to the California economy.
Recognizing and responding to these threats, Governor Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order #S-3-05 (Schwarzenegger 2005) which called for a 30 percent reduction below business-as-usual of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
How Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs could kill American innovation
[https://grist.org/economics/how-trumps-liberation-day-tariffs-could-kill-american-innovation/ by Tik Root 2/4/25 Grist]
On Wednesday, President Donald J. Trump announced a sweeping new round of tariffs on goods coming into the United States. Standing in the Rose Garden, he declared the moment “liberation day,” though it was hardly the first time the government has tried to protect domestic manufacturers from foreign competition. The practice dates to America’s founding.
Food Studies: Old-world innovation
by Kathryn Tomajan 29/11/11 Grist
Le Biancane geothermal park.Photo: Yvone De ZeeuwFood Studies features the voices of volunteer student bloggers from a variety of different food- and agriculture-related programs at universities around the world. You can explore the full series here.
Innovation in mobility payments is keeping people moving while protecting the planet
by Hannah Keyes 19/9/22 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
A summer of extreme heat incidents, skyrocketing inflation rates and devastating energy and fuel costs have put significant strain on people’s finances.
A discussion of clean energy innovation, with me, and beer [VIDEO]
On June 28, Grist and energyNOW sponsored a forum on clean energy technology and innovation. It was moderated by energyNOW correspondent Lee Patrick Sullivan and included McKinstry CEO Dean Allen, Ross Macfarlane of Climate Solutions, Bill Rebozo of GridPoint, and me.
Innovation underground: Geothermal project breathes new life into former fracking sites
In the rolling landscapes of North Yorkshire, England, a remarkable transformation is underway. Once earmarked for fracking, several deep wells in Kirby Misperton are being repurposed to harness clean geothermal energy.
What’s threatening utilities: Innovation at the edge of the grid (with dik-diks!)
by David Roberts 29/5/13 Grist
In my last two posts, I have argued that electrical utilities in the U.S. are not well-suited to contemporary circumstances. In the first, I explained that the “regulatory compact” governing utilities was designed for an era of rapid electrification; it discourages innovation and encourages perpetual expansion.
Federal Loan Rules Stymie Innovation by Shutting Out Small Businesses
by Stacy Morford 2/3/09 Inside Climate News
In the United States right now, small, innovative companies are ready to launch clean energy projects that could revolutionize the American auto industry.
Innovation from the nation’s most progressive electricity providers
by David Roberts 19/9/07 Grist
First up today, a session on utilities: "Big Energy, Big Vision — Utilities Making the Climate Commitment."
Block party: Are activists thwarting GMO innovation?
by Nathanael Johnson 19/12/13 Grist
When I point out to a genetic-engineering enthusiast that the technology hasn’t lived up to its hype, I often hear the same rejoinder: “We’d have all sorts of amazing transgenics out there if it weren’t for the bans and oppressive regulations.”
Does cap-and-trade produce technological innovation?
by David Roberts 19/3/12 Grist
Cap-and-trade is dead, but some folks never tire of kicking the corpse. Corpse kickers received a boost last week from a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which purported to show that cap-and-trade programs “do not provide sufficient incentives for energy technology innovation.”
5 ways to build innovation cultures at work, according to Hewlett Packard Enterprise's CTO
by Andrea Willige 10/8/24 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Nearly 80% of companies rank innovation among their top three priorities. And those who promote a culture of innovation, embracing risks, fostering collaboration, and granting autonomy to their teams – are 60% more likely to be innovation leaders. This is according to research by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
8 ways to ensure innovation benefits all of us
by Adrian Ely 25/9/15 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
These two words at the end of the goal’s text are fundamental to the challenge of sustainable development. Beyond goal 9, science, technology and innovation can contribute to goals on food, health, water, energy, infrastructure, cities, sustainable consumption and production, and even – through the role of Information and Communication Technologies in enabling citizen participation, transparency and accountability – improved governance. Rather than being siloed into goal 9, innovation needs to be embedded across the goals.
Kodak invented the digital camera - then killed it. Why innovation often fails
by David Gann 23/6/16 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
We know that innovation drives prosperity and wellbeing. It is the key ingredient for sustainable business success, which is why government policymakers and smart business leaders obsess over its cultivation.
Disrupting business models is not enough. We need tech innovation too
by Ville Satopaa 15/3/18 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
We hear the word “innovation” all the time. It has become such a buzzword that we forget what it means. For some people, innovation means building the next Facebook. For others, it’s a new way to cook an omelette. For the purposes of this article, let’s break innovation down into two general categories:
Companies need innovation more than ever. Here's how to measure it
by Dan Toma 12/7/21 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
In a recent survey of more than 200 organizations, 90% of executives said they expected the pandemic to fundamentally change the way they do business over the coming five years.
How AI-powered innovation can democratize breakthrough science
by Jasmin Hume 25/6/25 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
It’s been four years since Google’s DeepMind effectively solved the biggest problem known to biology with AlphaFold, a prediction model for protein folding. For those of us surfing the edge of artificial intelligence (AI) and proteins, these years since have felt like the floodgates burst open. I now can't open my email without a rush of new approaches, discoveries and companies built on AlphaFold's open-source code.
Groundbreaking empirical research shows where innovation really comes from
by Matthew Yglesias 5/12/17 Vox
Breaking down barriers for underrepresented kids could quadruple America’s pool of inventors.
Innovation is an over-rated distraction
by Daniel Mahler 15/1/17 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Yearning to innovate like far smaller companies is a rational response to what is happening in the marketplace. Across many consumer categories— be it beauty or beverages or food —the great growth stories increasingly seem to belong to small, nimble players. Size, once an unquestioned strength, now feels like a liability. Access to prestigious retail channels, for example, has traditionally been a prime source of competitive advantage for the biggest players in consumer.
How to innovate and avoid problem-solving traps: Philips' innovation chief Shez Partovi
by Linda Lacina 26/7/22 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Shez Partovi understands this well. Today he’s the Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer for Royal Philips, a health technology company. But for 10 years, he was a practicing physician. Those early years taught him the importance of investing more in a problem than in a solution. This approach helps sidestep new bells and whistles that may seem exciting, but don't lead to progress or tackle a lasting problem. “It’s critical to focus more on the problem than the tool you’ll build to solve it.”
End the Innovation Obsession
by David Sax 7/12/18 The New York Times
TORONTO — A year ago I stepped into the Samcheong Park Library in Seoul, South Korea, and saw the future. The simple building in a forested park had a nice selection of books, a cafe at its center and a small patio.
3D Scans Help Preserve History, But Who Should Own Them?
Historic sites around the world face mounting threats: war, climate change, natural disaster. There's a rush to use 3D scans for preservation. But experts have questions about how the scans are used.
These are the world's most innovative economies
by Joe Myers 11/9/20 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
The World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) latest Global Innovation Index ranks 131 economies on their innovation performance.
SK Innovation sees strong refining margins; battery unit keeps break-even target
by Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee 31/7/24 Reuters
The owner of South Korea's biggest refiner, SK Energy, posted an operating loss of 46 billion won ($33.6 million) for April-June versus a 107 billion won loss a year earlier. The result compared with an LSEG SmartEstimate of 295 billion won profit.
How to regulate AI without stifling innovation
by David Timis 26/6/23 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Artificial intelligence (AI) has captured the public imagination. In the past few months, the release of OpenAI’s GPT-4 has shown the rapid advancement and progress made on large language models (LLMs), sparking increased interest in the development of AI and what it can do. It has also increased fears about the powerful nature of the technology at play.
Innovation in sustainability: How technology advances corporate sustainability
by Daniel Schmid 24/9/24 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
In today’s corporate world, advanced technology is key to driving sustainability. Companies are increasingly using tech solutions to integrate sustainability into their operations. Members of the Chief Sustainability Leaders community, which includes over 150 executives from top global companies across 27 industries and 38 countries, are exploring how technology is reshaping corporate sustainability.
10 ways to accelerate grassroots innovation and build a more inclusive future
by Kenneth Kwok 23/4/21 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
If there is one thing clear from the past year, it is that consensus building and collective action is required to convert the ideas and innovations of knowledge-rich but economically poor individuals and communities, into viable means of raising income, addressing social needs and conserving the environment.
How Asia’s innovation economy is driving growth and a global market shift
by Claudia Ukonu 23/6/25 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
With an estimated population of 4.8 billion people, Asia accounts for nearly 60% of the global population. It is no surprise that many Asian countries count as world leaders in innovation, with several ranking in the top 40 of the Global Innovation Index (GII).
The Risk of Innovation: Will Anyone Embrace It?
by G. Pascal Zachary 20/1/08 The New York Times
THE Prius has become one of the hottest cars in America an amazing development, because this hybrid-electric car requires some rather large changes in how people behave.
Europe must prioritize research and innovation to be competitive
by Maria Leptin 17/1/25 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
The European economy requires urgent action to tackle the increasing gap with the US and China in terms of economic growth. For the first time since the Cold War, Europe “must genuinely fear for our self-preservation”, according to former European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi.
This is the major impact globalization has had on productivity
by Aqib Aslam 11/4/18 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Our research in Chapter 4 of the April 2018 World Economic Outlook takes a closer look at how technology travels between countries. We find that the spread of knowledge and technology across borders has intensified because of globalization. In emerging markets, the transfer of technology has helped to boost innovation and productivity even in the recent period of weak global productivity growth.
Hail the maintainers
Innovation is a dominant ideology of our era, embraced in America by Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and the Washington DC political elite. As the pursuit of innovation has inspired technologists and capitalists, it has also provoked critics who suspect that the peddlers of innovation radically overvalue innovation. What happens after innovation, they argue, is more important. Maintenance and repair, the building of infrastructures, the mundane labour that goes into sustaining functioning and efficient infrastructures, simply has more impact on people’s daily lives than the vast majority of technological innovations.
We have to accelerate clean energy innovation to curb the climate crisis. Here’s how.
A detailed road map for building a US energy innovation ecosystem.
Axios Event: Safety and innovation need to be balanced in AI governance
by Emily Hamilton 27/2/25 Axios
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration's move to streamline the federal government is causing uncertainty over its impact on regulating generative AI, policymakers and tech industry leaders said at an Axios event.
Frugal tech: The start-ups working on cheap innovation
For Mansukh Prajapati, childhood in the western Indian city of Morbi began before sunrise, with a six-mile walk to collect clay for their family business.
New study shows exactly how patent trolls destroy innovation
How technology and innovation are transforming financial services
by Alex Lintner 17/7/23 Reuters
Innovation is defined as a new idea, or ideas, method or device which can generate value. The application of fresh ideas results in the development of new solutions or the improvement of existing goods and services. For businesses, finding this value can mean the difference between success and failure, paving the way to growth.
6 Steps to Bringing Innovation to the Classroom
by Amy Schmitz Weiss 16/1/14 MEDIASHIFT
New years and new semesters give educators the opportunity to review past courses and identify ways to change and improve them. In 2014, improvement can pave the way for innovation.
Innovation Hub
The 1964 Supreme Court Case Jacobellis v. Ohio presented a highly subjective question to the justices: what is obscenity or pornography? How do you define it? Where do you draw the line? In response, Justice Potter Stewart gave us the iconic line, "I know it when I see it." His ambiguous answer works fine for humans who can make judgement calls on the fly, but the algorithms that rule our lives need rules that are much more concrete.
'Innovation Districts' May Be Cornerstones Of New Urban Economy
by All Things Considered 11/7/13 npr
Robert Siegel talks with Brookings Institution vice president Bruce Katz, founding director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, about his new book, The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy.
Why Now Is the Time for Media Innovation in Africa
by Jennifer Dorroh 15/5/12 MEDIASHIFT
The newly launched contest, modeled on the Knight News Challenge, will award $1 million (in increments of $12,500 to $100,000) to projects that create new ways to tell stories, distribute the news, and make money. It will also give technical advice, startup support and mentoring to the contest winners.
Can failure actually improve innovation?
by Laura Santhanam 11/9/15 PBS NEWS
At least eight out of every 10 new consumer products that enter the market will fail, according to one estimate. That can be frustrating. But for some inventors, the challenge posed by failure can be a driving force.
The Rise of the Rural Creative Class
by Richard Florida 1/5/18 Bloomberg
One of the most persistent myths in America today is that urban areas are innovative and rural areas are not. While it is overwhelmingly clear that innovation and creativity tend to cluster in a small number of cities and metropolitan areas, it’s a big mistake to think that they somehow skip over rural America.
3 Clues To How Geography Fuels Innovation
by Jessica Stoller-Conrad 5/9/12 npr
The image of the lone genius toiling in isolation, finally emerging with a brilliant new concept is compelling, even romantic. Too bad it's not true.
Sharing innovation and invention stories
Nataliya Smith is the study coordinator for the Biorepository Project at the Neuroscience Institute at Penn State College of Medicine, where she catalogs and recycles tissue samples leftover from operations for future research.
How financial inclusion unlocks innovation
by Simon Bell 2/5/16 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
I recently attended an SME Conference in Jordan around SME Finance and Employment – extremely important issues in a troubled region. All participants agree that much more needs to be done to address the lack of jobs in the region and to increase financial access at all levels, to individuals, households and small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).
A massive new study holds some startling insights for the age of remote work
But productivity is only one measure of labor — and a limited one, at that. The quantity of work people complete on a day-to-day basis is a very different thing from the quality of that work. Output per hour tells us nothing, for instance, about innovation — whether teams are coming up with new ideas that have the potential to turn into game-changing products and services down the road. Productivity is important for running a business in the short term. Innovation determines a company's ability to survive, and thrive, in a changing economy over time.
Should we bank on innovation to hold back global heating? History says it’s a risky bet
Many climate activists, driven in part by the youth movements of Gen Z, are joining major scientific bodies in calling for economic and social transformation, while other onlookers are hoping for “moonshot” technology to step in as climate “savior.”
Integrated reporting is one way BASF connects sustainability to strategy for stakeholders — including its own employees
by Julia Hood 3/5/23 BUSINESS INSIDER AFRICA
"In simple terms," said Martin Whittaker, CEO of JUST Capital, "an integrated report captures in a single place the full range of factors — strategic, operational, societal, environmental, legal, regulatory, and more — that management believes could affect the competitive and financial success of a company, now and into the future."
