Renowned Peruvian economist and anti-poverty campaigner Hernando de Soto believes the radical new form of networked recordkeeping could finally give the world’s disenfranchised a record of what they own. More
Business Global Tech Healthcare
Power to the Period People
Why have we seen almost no innovation in the feminine hygiene space? Mostly because we even feel the need call it “feminine hygiene” at all, softening our speech with terms like “that time of the month” and “women’s troubles” to cover up the embarrassment. The taboo of menstruation means innovators feel uncomfortable tackling its management, leaving today’s women and girls stuck with basically the same products available to them 75 years ago. One company is working to change that: Thinx. More
What Will Tomorrow’s Election Look Like in the Youngest Country in the World?
Uganda, where more than three-quarters of the population is under age 30, will elect its next president Thursday. The country’s elections are democratic, but many expect the race to be rigged in favor of incumbent president Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for 30 years. Despite strong anti-Museveni sentiment among youths who can't find work as well as new biometric technology that will verify voter identity, some feel nothing can be done to stop the corruption. More
Global Tech Healthcare Techonomy Events Video
Two Great CEOs from Companies that Span Industries
Bernard Tyson of Kaiser Permanente and John Chen of Blackberry are two of the most amazing CEOs in the world. Tyson leads and is expanding one of the most important and innovative companies in the U.S. healthcare system. Chen, for his part, has had an eminent and highly successful career, especially in transforming, growing and selling Sybase. Now he is bluntly and unemotionally tackling one of the most challenging tasks in business--rescuscitating Blackberry. They spoke together at Techonomy 2015 in Half Moon Bay. More
CES Afterthoughts from Roger Kay
Entire armies of reporters did an amazing job of capturing the insanity of the CES show in all its glory. Instead, here are a few highlights that struck me, my moments of epiphany. There were three, maybe four. Everyone at the show tries to stand out one way or another, but it’s pretty difficult. There were 170,000 people all seeking attention. I was struck especially by TVs from Samsung and a compelling talk by Ericsson's Hans Vestberg. More
Global Tech Internet of Things
Post-CES, Four Questions about the Internet of Things
Connected refrigerators, bras that monitor your heart rate, and, of course, autonomous vehicles were the kinds of things CES attendees focused on this year. It now seems inevitable that more or less everything will eventually be connected, and that raises new security, business, and technical questions for manufacturers, network providers, marketers, and consumers– the IoT ecosystem. What a few days scrambling around Las Vegas got me thinking. More
Global Tech Internet of Things
The Internet of CES Things
CES was a gigantic, if predictable, letdown when it comes to "consumer electronics." Everything seemed incremental. People ask each other "What's the most interesting thing you've seen?" My answer was an announcement not a device--Amazon's deal with Ford to put its Echo "Alexa" technology inside of cars. It was the Internet of Things that loomed large in the background--not to make connected toasters but to transform society with connected efficiency. More
Global Tech Internet of Things Opinion
Thoughts on the Plane to CES
Every January just after New Year's, as if to force upon recently idle strivers the urgency of redoubling their labors, converge hundreds of thousands of tech-focused leaders, strategists, inventors, financiers, retailers, and journalists. CES is American tech's biggest trade show, fiesta, business meeting, glad-handing exercise, walking course, and source of both elation and frustration. Says Slava Rubin, CEO of Indiegogo, who we ran into at our hotel's check-in: "CES is one giant networking event." More
When Moore Is Not Enough – Why Our Growing Networks Require More Software
The demand for communications bandwidth is expanding faster each year. We’re entering a stage where just Moore’s Law and faster and cheaper computing power will simply not be enough. The networks themselves need to become programmable platforms. The infrastructure needs to be as real-time, flexible and dynamic as our smartphones have become. Today software can scale up or down networks to meet user demands. More
The Facebook Pushback in India: Anti-Corporate, Anti-American, Anti-Poor
There's huge controversy in India over Facebook's "Free Basics" Internet plan, part of the global Internet.org initiative the company has been spearheading. Facebook's aim, it says, is to get more people onto the Internet, since being online is essential for participation in any modern economy. In India, however, the project is encountering fierce resistance from elites who say it violates "net neutrality." But do all the critics--mostly upper-class and affluent Indian pundits, professors and anti-corporate activists--have a better way to get many millions of less-privileged Indians onto the Internet? More
Bio & Life Sciences Global Tech Internet of Things
Techonomy’s Top Articles for 2015
At Techonomy we put on conferences and publish articles and videos. Our most popular articles this year tackled the conceptual problem with the Apple Watch, the Human side of the Internet of Things, how consumer genomics empowers consumers, tech and artificial intelligence progress in Ethiopia, and the need for the biotech industry to step up its game in communicating to the general public. It's a good flavor of the range of issues and topics that fascinate and motivate us. Keep with us in 2016 for much much more! More
Global Tech Security & Privacy
Welcome to the Splinternet
Donald Trump has referred to "closing" the Internet in areas where the U.S. has enemies, while China's president, Xi Jinping, reasserted last week that each state has a sovereign right to control what its citizens can and can't do in cyberspace. Russia believes a state should control "its" Internet. A European Union regulation determines how non-EU companies can market to or monitor EU individuals. That four such distinct political cultures could all reach the same conclusion suggests that the days of a universal Internet are numbered. More
Big Tech: Better Together or Better Apart? Wall Street Doesn’t Care.
Wall Street fashions come and go. Does a company do better as an ever-accumulating conglomerate or a thinning-down disaggregator of business units? Eager investment bankers, hungry for fees, apply different rationales in different times. Hewlett-Packard and Compaq were better together. Now HPE and HPQ, are better apart. Or so they say. And the transaction occurred, generating vast fees for lawyers, bankers, and consultants. The benefit to shareholders, employees, and customers? Unclear. More
Global Tech Security & Privacy Techonomy Events
How to Battle Breathtakingly Sophisticated Cybercriminals
The Internet is the new frontier for crime. The hacking ecosystem is breathtaking in its breadth and sophistication. And nation-states are stockpiling cyber weapons capable of disrupting power grids and banking systems, among other targets. There's lots more to worry about. But one of the most promising ways to improve proactive security, and one which merits much greater use, is information sharing of security incidents. More
Reflections on Clinton Global Initiative: Changing How We See the World
The Clinton Global Initiative has become a sort of Davos-on-US-soil, distinguishing itself with a focus on action and innovation for both international and American development. There's a heavy emphasis on peace processes and democracy, as well as on infrastructures of healthcare, education, energy and aid for those in need. The event is a wildly elaborate production, yet it conveys a sense of intimacy and care thanks to former President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea. Technology was everywhere, including a movie shot with virtual reality techniques. More
Analytics & Data Business Cities Global Tech Transportation
A Less Congested Future: Technology for Moving People, Businesses, and Cities
Accelerating urbanization is leading to clogged transportation networks, but the clever use of data can smooth our city systems. Powerful tech tools—from the Internet of Moving Things to the computational and sensing capabilities of smartphones—can help reduce congestion. Modeling and data-driven systems will define the future of urban transport. More
Cities Global Tech Jobs Startup Culture
The Global Rise of an Entrepreneurial Generation
A connected world and periods of economic upheaval have redefined the aspirations of an entire generatiom. The Millennials are now seeking new ways of working and living interesting lives. The traditional global nerve centers are being augmented by a long lineup of cities working to attract fresh waves of modern talent. Individuals in far corners of the earth are creating products that impact billions of people. Jobbatical is a company started in Estonia which enables this trend to expand further. More
Bio & Life Sciences Global Tech Startup Culture
Lebanon’s Unlikely Hydroponic Farmer Wants to Change Local Agriculture
Ali Makhzoum thinks his hydroponic farming system can increase farmers’ yields, decrease the labor needed to harvest and reduce the water requirements by up to 90 percent. His Life Labs systems, developed in Beirut, are automated, self-contained, and, Makhzoum hopes, “smart”--with the ability to govern themselves. More
Analytics & Data Global Tech Society
Artificial Intelligence Catches Fire in Ethiopia
Ethiopian artificial intelligence R&D is on fire. The driver for this unexpected sector is the government’s massive multi-billion dollar, industrial plan and fervent development of higher education. At the hub is an AI group, iCog Labs, co-founded in 2012 by a young Ethiopian roboticist, Getnet Aseffa Gezaw, and an American AI pioneer, Ben Goertzel. With twenty five Ethiopian software engineers, iCog pursues full-on ‘Strong Intelligence.’ More
Staunch Syria Enclave Holds Off ISIL—And Finds Support Online
In northern Syria, along the Turkish border, has emerged a de facto autonomous region known as Rojava. The enclave is engaged in a brave and for the time being successful fight for self-governance and independence against considerable odds. Many of its best soldiers fight in all-female battalions. Meanwhile, supporters of the region’s socialist-feminist ideology are working to help them with a new Indiegogo campaign. Rojava's population is roughly the same as San Francisco, and comprised of a Kurdish majority along with Arabs, Chechens, Armenians, and other ethnic groups. After declaring autonomy from Syria in November 2013, Rojava established a political system built on principles of direct democracy and gender equality, and has drawn comparisons to revolutionary Catalonia in the Spanish Civil War. More
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