Our societies have long recognized the role of NGOs—the third sector—in resolving a multitude of situations. Moreover,  in both developed and developing countries. But in recent years the boundaries between those three sectors seem to have faded, and the differentiating role of NGOs is at risk of disappearing. But what is the differentiating role of…

Conventionally, emigration of the skilled, especially from developing to developed countries, is considered to be a brain drain and seen as problematic. That is especially relevant for countries with high emigration numbers, such as India and China, who work on luring back their talents. Also Ireland, considered as a nation of emigrants, has recently launched…

For most of the 20th century the corporate lab dominated technological innovation. Then it lost its position to venture capital-funded startups. But now the idea of corporate labs being central to innovation is back. New technology giants such as Google and Facebook are creating new corporate labs, but this time the logic is different. In…

In the middle of the Lagos heat, I said to a colleague: “I feel very fortunate to have air conditioning, there are so many people here who just have to bear this heat, that I feel bad about it”. Half-joking, he answered, “On the other hand, everybody has a heater!” Not that Lagos is sunny,…