Agenda

The stories shaping the Global, Regional and Industry agendas

Global Agenda

How the CIO went from geek to peak

Chief Information Officers of large organizations aren’t just thinking about the next IT upgrade or how to cut operational costs: they are changing business models and shifting cultures.

Hriday Ravindranath 26 Jun 2019

Fourth Industrial Revolution

This is how a smart factory actually works

Inside a seafood processing facility in Norway, machines, not humans, evaluate the quality of salmon, weigh and grade the fish, and distribute it to the production units. Soon, machines will also calculate the quantity of ice required for transportation of the fish to its destination.

Nitesh Bansal 25 Jun 2019

China

China is picking up the fight against rare diseases

Beijing has made rare diseases a public health priority as it overhauls its healthcare system

Pius Hornstein 25 Jun 2019

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

This is what the world's CEOs really think of AI

"There is a clear need for those in the C-suite to review the AI practices within their organizations, ask a series of key questions, and take steps to tackle risks."

Anand Rao, Flavio Palaci, and Wilson Chow 25 Jun 2019

China

This is how China can be a friend to ocean conservation

Beijing is at the helm when it comes to shaping what a marine industrial revolution will mean for the health of the seas.

Douglas McCauley 25 Jun 2019

China

A Chinese professor explains what air pollution does to your health

Part economist, part scientist, Professor Guojun He is an expert in air pollution and his work has been used to develop the air quality life index. Here, he discusses his research into China’s air pollution and explains why it’s one of the greatest environmental risks we face.

Kate Whiting 25 Jun 2019

Future of Health and Healthcare

How to create a world where healthcare is a right, not a luxury

In a world where half the population lacks essential healthcare, key questions immediately arise: how do we achieve Universal Health Coverage and how do we pay for it?

Jamie Bay Nishi and Catherine Ohura 25 Jun 2019

Future of Health and Healthcare

30 years of tissue engineering, what has been achieved?

Daniel Heath spoke to Professor Andrea O’Connor about the development of tissue engineering

Daniel Heath 25 Jun 2019

Information Technology

3 ways to rebuild trust in how we regulate technology

Trust in governance is at an all-time low - and this is a problem. Here are three recommendations for policymakers to help build a more trustworthy - and trusted - governance framework for technology

Conrad von Kameke and Elizabeth O’Day 25 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