Erica was born in 2016. The day she was born she was already 23 years old. That is because Erica is an android. The most advanced humanoid or android to date developed through a collaboration between Osaka and Kyoto universities, and the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR). Prof. Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University’s Intelligent Robotics Laboratory […]
Policymaking by androids? Read More »
Bees and the genetic technology that underpins research on bees is an illuminating window on our future and the complexity, politics, and uncertainty of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, has defined the 4IR as “the confluence of technological breakthroughs, covering wide-ranging fields such as
What bees have to do with the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Quite a lot, it turns out. Read More »
One of the things I enjoy doing during the summer in Finland is to work in the garden, in the late afternoon, and listen to a LSE public lecture podcast. Last week I listened to two really interesting ones. In the first podcast, Tracking the Rise in Global Economic Inequality: new evidence from the world inequality report
Eighteen years have passed since the big demonstrations that took place in the streets of Belgrade and which ultimately led to the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević on 5th October 2000. Today Serbia is on a new journey which is not without challenges. Ten years ago, the government applied for membership to the EU and in
The first results of today’s parliamentary election are being broadcasted by media and newspapers’ TV channels. As of today the Movimento 5 Stelle is the first party in Italy . It is followed by the centre-right coalition with Lega Nord and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. The centre left party which was leading the government has
Has Italy turned right? Read More »
Last week I attended the Development Days Conference 2018 in Helsinki. This is a yearly event organised by the Finnish Society for Development Research. This year’s topic was: The Politics of Sustainability: Re-thinking resources, values and justice. It is a nice and informal event which brings together researchers, activists, and practitioners from all over Finland
Looking at evidence-informed policymaking through the \’dissonance\’ lens Read More »
Is policymaking becoming too complex? What does this mean for evidence-informed policy making?
#Brexit, the populist surge and the crisis of complexity Read More »
After more than a decade in Asia working to build governments’ use of evidence, I recently moved back to Finland. Here I’ve found commitment to evidence and innovation like nowhere else. Kokeileva Suomi or Experimental Finland is a great example of the nation’s ‘readiness to innovate’. Set up by Prime Minister Juha Sipilä in 2015, it tests policies
Making research evidence count: insights from Finland’s Policy Analysis Unit Read More »