“The next 10 years could be the best 10 years we’ve ever seen or the worst decade, and that depends less on the technology and more on the choices we make.” That observation, from Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, feels particularly prescient as we take stock of the 2010s...Read More

Abhijit remembers walking into a meeting at the EU headquarters and immediately noticing that this was very different from the ones he was used to. No suits, no ties, no high heels; lined faces, scruffy winter jackets, and also an eagerness he associated with college freshmen in their first week. These were people, he was...Read More

The idea of applying ESG criteria to the investment process is increasingly gaining momentum among HNW investors, according to Cerulli Associates. In its latest report, the Boston-based research firm reveals that the demand for investments that consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria is gaining traction with HNW investors. Related articles In particular, it reports...Read More

Humanitarian plan aims to assist 109 million vulnerable people in 2020 A record 168 million people worldwide will need help and protection in 2020, or roughly 1 in every 45 people on the planet, the UN’s top humanitarian official said on Wednesday. Mark Lowcock was speaking in Geneva, where the UN and its humanitarian partners...Read More

It is a truism in investing that if you want to generate higher returns, you need to take more risk. But that truism is a myth, according to Ed Easterling, a contributor to the book, “Just One Thing: Twelve of the World’s Best Investors Reveal the One Strategy You Can’t Overlook.” Easterling is one of...Read More

A less error-prone DNA editing method could correct many more harmful mutations than was previously possible. A new method, called “prime editing,” could, in principle, correct around 89 percent of the mutations that cause inherited human disease. ILLUSTRATION: CASEY CHIN Andrew Anzalone was restless. It was late fall of 2017. The year was winding down,...Read More

A move towards a more sustainable bio-based economy has been given a new boost by researchers who have been able to simplify a process to transform waste materials into high value chemicals. A collaboration between the UK and Brazil has shown that waste sugar cane and wheat straw from agricultural processes can be made directly...Read More

OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s $1.1 trillion wealth fund, the world’s largest, said climate change dominated discussions about whether it should sell stakes in companies because they are considered too risky. FILE PHOTO: Emissions from a power plant chimney rise over Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia January 13, 2017. REUTERS/B. Rentsendorj/File Photo The fund, which invests revenues from Norway’s oil...Read More

The number of financial advisors investing a portion of assets according to environmental, social and governance criteria has increased substantially. Two years ago, 41% of top advisors polled by Ignites Research used ESG products or ESG ratings (or both). This year, that figure soared to 69% of advisors. There are two ways FAs can approach...Read More

The millennial appetite for social entrepreneurship isn’t simply youthful idealism, writes Russell Prior Young people today are growing up in an increasingly interconnected and borderless world. This lets them explore the world outside their own and connect to the problems that surround them. In recent months, we’ve seen the proliferation of networking groups, societies and advisory...Read More