Although India has been touted to emerge as the next economic superpower, a closer look at its teeming cities makes one realize the enormity of the transport infrastructure problems plaguing the country. But this is a global phenomenon and not restricted to any one country alone. Cities must take immediate steps to combat urban gridlock and utilize energy more efficiently.... Read More

These new technologies raise difficult questions about the broader impact of automation on jobs, skills, wages, and the nature of work itself. But the net impact of new technologies on employment can be strongly positive.... Read More

As the term smart city gains currency the world over, the cities of the future must plan ahead to develop their infrastructure, transportation, healthcare and other public services through the efficient use of technology. Those cities that support a culture of innovation are the ones that will witness unprecedented growth in the long-term.... Read More

What will it take to turn India into a sporting giant? It’s not just about the achievement but also the approach. India needs to keep it holistic and keep it going when it comes to sports training.... Read More

Skilling must be delivered with an eye not just on the present but on the future. Training programs must not just ramp up scale, but also refine their scope. Only then can India become a smart and sustainable economy.... Read More

Dynamic technological innovations in the global media and entertainment industry have radically transformed the way people consume content. From viewing movies on bioscopes, to viewing them on mobile phones, technology has indeed come a long way. But what takes precedence over everything is good storytelling, as that is what will sustain the industry in the long run.... Read More

Sophisticated cybercrime, criminal hackers, privacy fears and the ongoing global confusion about security have soured the Internet for many, and doing something about it won't be easy.... Read More

As we head towards a future in a hyperconnected world, and talk about developments in quantum computers, AI, blockchain, autonomous vehicles, and so on, we need to remind ourselves that scientific and technological progress alone will not solve the challenges faced by our planet.... Read More

Too many women are locked out of our economies and the time has come to accelerate progress in their economic empowerment. All studies suggest that if there is gender parity at the workplace, $28 trillion can be unlocked.... Read More

Today, seen as a region of undeniable strategic potential, South Asia is fraught with tense regional equations, disputed borders, and new forms of security threats. It must evolve strategies to navigate this transitional turbulence and secure its future.... Read More

Capital markets are the largest source of financing for the Indian economy mobilizing savings and capital formation. It’s the crucial part of our financial system concerned with raising capital by dealing in shares, bonds, and other long-term investments.... Read More

As a result of growing demand for natural resources, and today’s global powers seeking access to the resource-rich Caspian Basin, the New Great Game has become a Chinese-Russian-American power play.... Read More

For many tech insiders, the most exciting thing about bitcoin is the thing that allows it to function: blockchain technology. They see tremendous disruptive potential in this open, shared digital ledger platform.... Read More

Countries need to come together and ensure the free flow of data, because economies are based on it, not just in the digital realm but also in the manufacturing realm... Read More

The important thing about failures is the practice that leads to success, so it may be useful to create levels of failure.... Read More

Artificial Intelligence is the most exciting field in robotics. Today's AI machines can replicate some specific elements of intellectual ability. At first blush, AI appears to make many jobs redundant, but it also opens up new opportunities for companies — and the people they hire.... Read More

2017 was clearly the year of Bitcoin. Here’s what’s in store for cryptocurrencies and ICOs between now and 2020.... Read More

It is not the market that drives what people learn, but rather the other way around... Read More

Here's a snapshot of the industries that are driving the government initiative to boost manufacturing, investment, and innovation... Read More

Keep your seatbelt fastened, because it’s going to be a wild and volatile ride... Read More

There is a need to address skewed distribution: 94% of social impact investing goes to financial inclusion and clean energy, and 90% of philanthropy goes to education, health care, disaster relief, and rural development. Gender issues, disabilities, and climate change infrastructure get next to nothing.... Read More

Discourse no longer has a unidirectional flow. Social media has fundamentally levelled the playing field, thanks to the internet, says former Information & Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari... Read More

Measures to ensure the safety of women should be seen as an infrastructural input, as they will help increase the level of their participation in the economy.... Read More

To survive the 21st century, India needs to transform education. While there is consensus that contemporary pedagogies need an overhaul, it is not clear how or what is to be done.... Read More

If India does not manage to lower its disease burden, it might lose as much as US $4.58 trillion by 2030... Read More

Science and technology are the ingredients, but the determining factor is the skill to use them, says H.E. Mr. Daniel Carmon, Israel's ambassador to India... Read More

To reap its demographic dividend, India must ensure that its higher education institutions produce graduates who can keep pace with the fast-evolving workspace... Read More

Some of the issues the country must address are increasing the military budget, indigenization, strengthening the supply chain, and reorganizing the National Security Council... Read More

India needs to step up its energy diplomacy in Central Asia, and build on civilizational ties to increase trade... Read More

The practical application of design is quickly becoming mainstream, and many business leaders have made it an important part of their organizational build, including Vishal Sikka of Infosys, Atul Punj of Punj Lloyd, Ashni Biyani of the Future Group, Ganapathy S. of SAP Labs, and Nisa Godrej of the Godrej group.... Read More

With Aadhaar, India is poised to go from being data-poor to being extremely data-rich, and AI and fintech could help more Indians gain access to financial services, affordable housing, and a host of other benefits. But how prepared is India for the future of jobs, privacy, and data security?... Read More

At the One Globe Forum 2017, Dr. J. N. Misra, former Ambassador to Portugal and Laos, and Mr. Harendra Singh, Chief Coach of the Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team and Dronacharya Award Winner, delved into the reasons for India's consistently poor performance in international sports... Read More

Experts at the 2017 One Globe Forum emphasized the need for India to create a favorable policy environment, improve the ease of doing business, and invest in technical education and skill development... Read More

The 2017 edition of the One Globe Forum included several sessions that brought together top-level experts from diverse fields to discuss the future of smart cities. Yatish Rajawat, Chief Strategy Officer, LocalCircles, moderated a panel titled “Building Smarter Cities and Infrastructure”, and kicked off the discussion by asking how we can define the problem of urbanization.... Read More

"India can grow at 9 to 10% if we use technology to leapfrog to a higher rate of growth. We need to become the most disruptive nation. The most important thing is the push for digitization."... Read More

India needs to make a clear bet on innovation, education, skill development, research, and science, the key drivers of a knowledge society, said Dalbir Singh, Senior Advisor for the Forum of Federations, Canada, in his welcome address at the 2017 One Globe Forum.... Read More

India can realize its demographic dividend only if it equips young people with relevant skills and enables women's participation in the economy... Read More

Economic inequality, societal polarization and environmental dangers are the three trends that will create the most challenging problems for the world over the next 10 years, according to an annual report released at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, in January.... Read More

It’s no secret that we need more women in the workforce. It’s not just the morally right thing to do, but it makes perfect economic sense, too.... Read More

In my earlier blog on One Globe in early-2015, I tried to size up the opportunity that Digital India initiative presented. The government had just announced it with a vision to transform India into a knowledge economy. In the blog, I had predicted that “Modi’s vision...seems... Read More

Last year saw a sharp dip in startup funding in India. According to startup tracker Tracxn, in 2016 investments halved to $3.9 billion from $7.5 billion in 2015. Devaluations, shutdowns and layoffs plagued the sector, and profitability and business model sustainability became the new buzzwords in place of growth and market share.... Read More

Bureaucrats and industry experts laud the purpose and intent of the Indian government’s Smart Cities Mission. However, a number of ground realities need to be taken into account. A panel of experts at last year’s edition of One Globe Forum drew attention to the challenges in implementation.... Read More

The Trump administration’s ban on citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries, announced on January 27, is shelved for the time being. But close on the heels of the ban came more worrying news for migrant workers and international scholars around the world.... Read More

Derek Handley, a social entrepreneur, philanthropist and author, talks about the importance of vision and what it takes to make a difference.... Read More

The Bitcoin concept was introduced in 2008, for one major reason: to get away from a centralized system where financial institutions, state and regulators were not trusted.... Read More

At a recent panel discussion on social enterprises, we summed up the various inputs and insights with one key takeaway – ‘This is a space (social entrepreneurship) that needs to be approached more from the heart than the mind.”... Read More

The Make in India lion has not yet begun to roar. Unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2014, all the initiative has attracted so far are foreign direct investment (FDI) promises. Modi has been globetrotting; his end of December excursion was, according to the rival Congress Party, “breakfast in Kabul, tea in Lahore (an unscheduled stopover to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif) and dinner in Delhi.” That was cheap political sniping, but Modi’s trips to other capitals — Washington, Moscow, Paris — have been far more expensive. Big-budget defense deals were signed in all three places; the high-cost imports seem to negate the Make in India philosophy of promoting domestic manufacturing.... Read More

More often than not, in the Indian classroom, students listen to teachers’ hour-long lectures. But technology is changing all that. Schools are increasingly adopting digital solutions to engage with a tech-savvy generation, and trying to make the classroom environment more participatory.... Read More

At conferences and symposia these days, I often hear the word “unpredictable”. Of course, the future is not always predictable, but we live in an era of great transformation. One of the most important elements of this transformation is the information revolution.... Read More

Since childhood, I’ve observed how many Indians look up to foreigners, especially those from the West. This happens in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. It is reflected in the clothes we wear and in the use of language.... Read More

Recently, I participated in a panel discussion in Gurgaon on how to select a good school. The dialogue focused on distance, classrooms, building quality, sports infrastructure, teacher qualification, list of toppers and so on.... Read More

There is a lot of buzz around the ‘100 Smart Cities’ project in India. Governments signalling the importance of cities finding their own destiny is welcome, but, we need to be aware of the challenges ahead in implementing the smart cities programme.... Read More

India and other countries, including many Asian ones, are facing challenges of development. However, not all traditional economic approaches provide a credible solution to it as the current phase of development is unprecedented in technological, demographical and social terms.... Read More

My classroom was boring.... Read More

Numbers on Internet users are making the space extremely competitive. To survive, organisations need to innovate... Read More

The premise that there is no option other than to step up public investment in infrastructure is now virtually unanimously accepted. But how... Read More

With a budget outlay equalling the total cost for 2016 Summer Olympics and 2018 FIFA World Cup, is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India dream really as big and exciting as it is positioned to be, and should you care?... Read More

Significant problems in healthcare systems stem from the ineffective dissemination and utilisation of medical information. Focusing technology on the targeted audience can provide relevant answers to problems in healthcare delivery.... Read More

India's population is not only huge but also young. Skill Development will determine whether this demographic yields dividends or leads to disaster.... Read More

Skill development is the bridge between the ambition of 'Make in India' and the ground reality today. What steps is the Indian government taking towards transforming the Indian workforce, which is one of the largest, most cost - effective, and least skilled in the world?... Read More

The central role of skill development in the Indian government's 'Make in India' initiative.... Read More

Healthcare systems around the world are becoming unsustainable because of outdated infrastructures. For a country like India, which is already infrastructurally challenged, can technology provide a simple, practical and effective solution?... Read More

Recent studies have reflected that long, stressful commutes significantly lower life satisfaction levels. And yet, they seem to have become intransigent feature of urban life. Do Smart cities offer any solutions to this widespread problem?... Read More

Transforming India's below par manufacturing track record is a priority for the Indian Prime Minister. Here's why.... Read More

Are mobile phones a handicap or help to education? Either way, their presence can neither be ignored nor dismissed. Here's looking at some ways in which the mobile can serve as a primary educational resource for a country like ours.... Read More

Narendra Modi's 'Digital India' initiative, it's intention and design.... Read More

What is Narendra Modi's 'Make in India'? A brief look at one of the foremost economic agendas of the government.... Read More

An introductory look at smart cities - plans, problems and practices. A plan for hundred smart cities, each with a multi-million seed budget, is part of PM Modi’s ambitious vision for India.... Read More