World Policy Journal: Fall 2011 | World Policy Institute

This autumn’s issue of the World Policy Journal is dedicated to the subject of Innovation and is full of very interesting articles from writers in various fields.

(The WPJ is the quarterly organ of the World Policy Institute which is a New York-based non-partizan think tank that “develops and champions innovative policies that require a progressive and global point of view.”)

Three articles are, I think, of particular note:

“The Big Question” is a series of short essays by prominent innovators and scientists working in fields such as biomedical research, artificial intelligence, cyber-sociology and sustainable technologies and economic development.

“Innovation Starvation” is an essay by science fiction author Neal Stephenson in which he describes (and bemoans) the barriers our global society now faces when trying to do large-scale innovation.

As a potential (sort of) solution to Stephenson’s dilemma, Stephen Ezell’s “A Bretton Woods for Innovation” suggests bringing state-driven innovation under a global governance framework.

There’s lots of food for thought there and in the rest of the issue, and I enjoyed reading it :-)