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Design Readings

IxDA’s 2014 Interaction Awards Shortlist announced

The Interaction Design Association (IxDA) has just announced the shortlist of entries for the 2014 Interaction Awards. Out of the 350 projects submitted from around the world, 91 projects from 18 countries have been elevated for consideration […]

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China Economics Trend Watching

Watch Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat 3.0” talk at MIT OpenCourseWare

Back in 2000, Tom Friedman recounts, the world began to shrink and flatten, under the influence of digital interconnectivity. Elaborating on his World is Flat thesis, Friedman describes how this new global order puts creative, entrepreneurial individuals in the driver’s seat, and poses distinct new challenges and opportunities. The digital platform that connects Bangalore, Boston and Beijing enables users from any of these places to “plug, play, compete, connect and collaborate,” and is changing everything, says Friedman […]

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Information Technology Trend Watching

Information Technology in Brazil: public management collaboration app nominated for international award

A Brazillian startup took to the social networking approach to collect testimonies from residents about the precariousness of public facilities such as sidewalks and streets, in order to connect people to public management. The buzz generated around the site (which has already caught the attention of the city of Recife, hometown of the creators) led Colab to the final of the second edition of My City App, app award for best city in the world (those of us trying to unlock big cities) […]

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China Trend Watching

Living in China: Major cities suffering months of hazy days

Shanghai and Beijing are among a number of major Chinese cities which experienced “hazy” days for up to half of last year […]

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China Trend Watching

Living in China: Shanghai air quality takes unhealthy turn

Shanghai’s air quality deteriorated significantly in the first half of 2011, said a report released by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection […]

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Design Innovation

Watch Ursus Wehrli’s “tidying up art” talk on TED

Ursus Wehrli shares his vision for a cleaner, more organized, tidier form of art — by deconstructing the paintings of modern masters into their component pieces, sorted by color and size […]

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China Economics Trend Watching

China, Technology, Innovation & the Environment: ambitious clean energy plans for next five years

China announced recently its goals of building 235 million kilowatts of power generation capacity from clean energy forms in the next five years, in an effort to trim the country’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels […]

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China Design Economics Trend Watching

Shanghai World Expo: BRAZIL PAVILION

The Brazil Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo shows off the cultural diversity and dynamism of Brazilian cities with the theme “Pulsing Cities: Feel the Life of Brazilian Cities” […]

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Design Economics Innovation

Watch Rebecca Henderson’s “Getting Unstuck: How to Promote More Sustainable Practices in Our Organizations” talk at MIT Sloan School of Management

All that’s required to achieve sustainability, says Rebecca Henderson, is to clean up your current operations and/or rethink the business. “That’s easy,” she says — with a smile. Henderson has spent much of her career trying to help firms embrace and survive such transformations. She and her colleagues have analyzed why businesses get stuck in their ways, and how they can break free to act boldly around the challenge and opportunity of sustainability […]

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China Economics Trend Watching

China, Technology & the Environment: Emissions goal “will cost China $30b”

Researchers have been busy calculating what China’s carbon emissions target announced last year will mean for the average family […]