Agenda

The stories shaping the Global, Regional and Industry agendas

Global Agenda

Insurance and Asset Management

How cities can become more resilient to climate change

In an age of megacities and extreme storms, a leader from the insurance industry writes about how we can adapt.

Jayne Plunkett 25 Jun 2019

Precision Medicine

We are witnessing a revolution in genomics - and it's only just begun

15 years ago the $3 billion Human Genome Project was completed. Today, it costs as little as $600 - and you can pay for it at the supermarket. The genomics revolution is here, and its potential benefits are enormous. Have you had your genome sequenced?

Xu Xun 24 Jun 2019

Innovation

3 ways to improve the patent system and protect inventors

The world needs innovation, wherever it comes from. A cheaper, more streamlined system for filing patents will level the playing field.

David Kappos 24 Jun 2019

Oil and Gas

This alarming stat shows what the future could be like if the climate crisis continues

According to research, new heat records could be set in two-thirds of the world’s least developed countries each year by 2100.

Daisy Dunne · Carbon Brief 24 Jun 2019

Aviation, Travel and Tourism

How curiosity and globalization are driving a new approach to travel

The collision of two trends - globalization and the experience economy - has sparked a new approach to travel with cultural curiosity at its heart.

Kris Naudts 24 Jun 2019

Values

3 ways being empathetic can make you more productive at work

A study has shown that empathy has a variety of benefits. Having both mental and physical benefits, this can be applied to the workplace and how it affects production.

Elizabeth Yuko · Big Think 24 Jun 2019

Globalization 4.0

Meet the Co-Chairs of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2019

A green tech start-up entrepreneur, the leaders of international companies and a UAE education minister join forces this July to co-chair the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC).

Digital Media Team 24 Jun 2019

Mental Health

Here's why leaders need to care about mental health

How can today's leaders demonstrate the strength and wisdom needed to combat the challenges we face to our mental health? Here, four of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders suggest three crucial elements of sound leadership needed to improve our mental wellbeing

Sharmishta Sivaramakrishnan and Peter Varnum 24 Jun 2019

Global Governance

What the Women's World Cup can teach us about capitalism

It seems as though the world is facing an increasingly polarised choice between closed-market nationalism and anti-prosperity socialism - which is why it's time to make the case for capitalism. Luckily, this year's Women's World Cup is on hand to help us do just that.

Stanley Bergman 24 Jun 2019

Regional Agenda

Education and Skills

These Nigerian schools are teaching more in a term than they used to in a year. Here's how

In the Nigerian state of Edo, 20,000 children have returned to school since bold educational reforms began one year ago, according to the government.

Adesuwa Ifedi 24 Jun 2019

Financial and Monetary Systems

How fintech is setting Southeast Asia's SMEs free

In Southeast Asia, only 33% of businesses have access to proper financing. But now a new approach to credit scoring, developed and led by fintech star-tups, could change that - and unleas...

Benedict Carandang 13 Jun 2019

China

What brands get wrong about China - and how to put it right

Companies need to think beyond marketing gimmicks and celebrity endorsements to succeed in an increasingly sophisticated marketplace.

Ruby Chui and Lyra Jiang 12 Jun 2019

Africa

A new kind of company is revolutionising Africa's gig economy

Governments and development organizations have long sought to formalise Africa's informal economy - with limited results. Could a new breed of start-up, known as bridging companies, succe...

Aubrey Hruby 28 May 2019

Africa

Biodiesel from cotton waste – how Kenyan farmers are fighting drought

Erratic rainfall in Kenya makes the country susceptible to long droughts and food insecurity, but an innovative new biodiesel could help combat this.

Sanjoy Sanyal · World Resources Institute 08 May 2019

Climate Change

This is the million-year history of the Australian continent

The Australian continent has a remarkable history — a story of isolation, desiccation and resilience on an ark at the edge of the world.

Alan Cooper, Darren Curnoe, Michael Bird, Chris Turney, Lynette Russell, and Sean Ulm · The Conversation 29 Apr 2019

Global Health

Better sanitation for India is in the pipeline

In some poverty-stricken states of India, millions are still forced to go to the toilet in the open. National toilet-building campaigns such as the Swachh Bharat Mission can change all this.

Sharmishta Sivaramakrishnan 23 Apr 2019

United States

In the United States, there aren't enough hours in the week to make rent

These data maps show how American house prices have soared while wages stayed largely the same.

John Letzing and Andrew Berkley 12 Apr 2019

Middle East and North Africa

These are the biggest risks facing the Middle East and North Africa

Business leaders consider energy price shocks, unemployment and terrorist attacks as some of the gravest threats facing the region.

Ariel Kastner 05 Apr 2019

Industry Agenda

Future of Economic Progress

What the rise of powerful companies means for the open market

While rising corporate market power has had a fairly limited negative economic impact so far, if left unchecked, it could take a bigger toll on growth and people’s income.

IMF Blog · IMF Blog 13 Jun 2019

Social Media

Facebook is free, but should it count toward GDP anyway?

A new study by MIT researchers puts a dollar value on all those free digital goods we use, and builds the case that online activity can and should become part of GDP some day.

Peter Dizikes · MIT News 31 May 2019

Workforce and Employment

Working when sick is rising and harms you and your employer. This is why

New research shows more people are turning up to work when they’re ill – and the cost to business can be huge.

Douglas Broom 02 May 2019

Decarbonizing Energy

Hydrogen power is here to stay. How do we convince the public that it’s safe?

It's a clean and viable replacement for fossil fuels in transport, energy storage and power-to-gas applications. But public doubts around hydrogen safety are contributing to the delay in ...

Bart Kolodziejczyk and Wee-Liat Ong 25 Apr 2019

Climate Change

How electrification can supercharge the energy transition

Electrification is critical for decarbonization – and low-carbon electricity is the best candidate energy carrier to help us meet the terms of the Paris Agreement.

Davide Puglielli 25 Apr 2019

Cybersecurity

Why global collaboration is needed to protect against a new generation of cyber threats

Cybercriminals are hijacking our web traffic and diverting it to malicious websites. To overcome this new threat, and others like it, will require collaboration on a global scale.

Amy Jordan 25 Apr 2019

Inclusive Growth Framework

What companies gain by including persons with disabilities

By sharing success stories and showing how to build a more inclusive talent pipeline, we can quickly get more persons with disabilities into the workforce.

Chad Jerdee 23 Apr 2019

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

Professor Robot – why AI could soon be teaching in university classrooms

It’s said that automation will threaten more than 800 million jobs worldwide by 2030, including in higher education.

The Conversation 23 Apr 2019

Financial and Monetary Systems

5 charts on the vulnerabilities in the global economy - and why we should worry about them

If financial conditions remain easy for too long, vulnerabilities will continue to build, and the odds of a sharp drop in economic growth at some later point will be higher.

Tobias Adrian and Fabio M. Natalucci · IMF Direct 23 Apr 2019