Tech Impact: The speakers in session 11 at TEDGlobal 2013Technology is such an integral part of everyday life, it can be hard to remember how far we’ve come — and how fast. This session at TEDGlobal 2013 introduces a cadre of technological innovators who are helping to change the world yet further–and thinking about the implications of technology on society at large. Here are […]
Want to see real innovation? Check out Africa: Toby Shapshak at TEDGlobal 2013The publisher and editor of the South African edition of Stuff magazine, Toby Shapshak is here to challenge our perceptions of his home continent. First, he asks us, who bought a pay-as-you-go SIM card on arriving in Edinburgh? Hands wave. “You’re using African technology,” he says proudly. “‘Pay-as-you-go’ was an idea pioneered in Africa by Vodacom […]
Government — investor, risk taker, innovator: Mariana Mazzucato at TEDGlobal 2013Governments’ role in spurring innovation is a controversial one. In rough terms, political debates about public spending usually go something like this: One side argues governments should only spend on the most basic public goods and do whatever they can to keep out of the way of the private sector that grows the economy and […]
Tackling sickness at its source: An interview with TED Book author Rishi ManchandaWe all think we understand the formula for keeping healthy — eat right, exercise, don’t smoke, skip dessert. But that picture is vastly incomplete, perhaps fatally so. In the eye-opening new TED book, The Upstream Doctors: Medical Innovators Track Sickness to Its Source, physician Rishi Manchanda says that while our individual health is highly dependent on […]
Investigating the root causes of the global health crisis: Paul Farmer on the TED Book “The Upstream Doctors”By Paul Farmer At the end of almost a decade spent in teaching hospitals and clinics, most (we hope all) physicians have honed their clinical acumen by focusing on the care of the patient who is right in front of them. Perhaps this is as it should be: as patients, we don’t want our doctors […]
The future of the U.S. economy: TED fans join in the Robert Gordon/Erik Brynjolfsson debateLast week, TED speakers Robert Gordon and Erik Brynjolfsson joined us for a live, one-hour debate on the future of the US economy. It was a furious hour of typing, with both speakers contributing just over 1,500 words in response to a wide variety of user questions. A few highlights: Ryan Zeigler asks: Mr. Brynjolfsson, […]
The future of work and innovation: Robert Gordon and Erik Brynjolfsson debate at TED2013Economists Robert Gordon and Erik Brynjolffson see very different things when they look at the stagnation of the U.S. economy in recent years. It’s almost as if they’re looking at an optical illusion image – one seeing a candlestick while the other sees two faces just inches apart. In today’s talks, they both outlined their […]
Dream!: The speakers in Session 5 at TED2013Before you can create a new world, you have to imagine new possibilities. The speakers in this session are the visionaries who propose that which couldn’t be seen before, and suggest new paths that not only haven’t been traveled yet — but haven’t been thought of. Here are the speakers in this session. Click their […]
9 talks about innovation in IndiaArunachalam Muruganantham may not seem like the most obvious person to have started a revolution in sanitary napkins — after all, he is male. But in this funny and uplifting talk, given at the TED Talent Search in Bangalore, Muruganantham describes how he is enabling women in India to make their own pads — all […]
