EVENT: COVID-19 and the World’s Grand Challenges
8 May 2020 — What impact will COVID-19 have on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? How will the pandemic affect our ability to access vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations, particularly where health systems are already constrained and have limited resources? Will the global health and economic implications of the pandemic render it impossible to achieve the SDGs by 2030? Does this crisis present an opportunity to address inequality and work toward sustainability in new ways?
In this Munk School / Innovation Policy Lab online event, join experts Anita McGahan, Joseph Wong and Karlee Silver for a deep dive into how COVID-19 will affect our efforts to address the world’s grand challenges.
Moderated by Anna Maria Tremonti, Host of CBC’s More with Anna Maria Tremonti podcast and former host of The Current
April 29, 2020
Shauna Brail comments on Uber’s new safety features
In response to hundreds of sexual assault allegations and the murder of a woman who entered the car of a man posing as a driver, Uber has recently rolled out new safety features to better protect drivers and passengers. Shauna Brail comments on the new features in an article for Cnet.com.
Read Brail’s commentary on Cnet.com.
October 7, 2019
Darius Ornston to speak about book at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Socio-Economics
If we believe that the small, open economies of Nordic Europe are paragons of good governance, why are they so prone to economic crisis? In Good Governance Gone Bad, Darius Ornston provides evidence that adapting flexibly to rapid, technological change and shifting patterns of economic competition may be a great virtue, but it does not prevent countries from making strikingly poor policy choices and suffering devastating results. Ornston demonstrates how small and large states alike can learn from the Nordic experience, providing a valuable corrective to uncritical praise for the “Nordic model.”
Find out more about Ornston’s book here.
June 27, 2019
Jon Lindsay on The Fourth Leg: Is the Enemy in the System?
Munk School professor Dr. Jon Lindsay speaks to Philip Reiner on nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) systems.
Listen to the podcast here.
June 24, 2019
Cyber Operations and Nuclear War
In this essay, Jon Lindsay argues that “As NC3 increasingly uses digital technologies to enhance efficiency and reliability, the cybersecurity of NC3 becomes a pressing concern. Adversaries have incentives to penetrate NC3 for intelligence in peacetime and for counterforce in wartime. Given the broad diffusion of cyber capabilities, furthermore, most nuclear weapon states also have some ability to do so, although the operational difficulties of gaining remote access to and covert control over NC3 cannot be overstated. Offensive cyber operations targeting NC3 introduce a number of underappreciated risks of organizational breakdown, decision making confusion, and rational miscalculation in a nuclear crisis.”
Read more here.
June 24, 2019
America’s Antitrust Movement
In its latest effort to confront the economic and political challenges presented by big technology companies, the US government is launching a suite of antitrust investigations and hearings focused on Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.
Read more here.
June 24, 2019
David Wolfe among panel of experts appointed by Council of Canadian Academies
The Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) has appointed a distinguished group to the Expert Panel on Connected and Automated Vehicles and Shared Mobility. David Wolfe, co-director of the Innovation Policy Lab, is among the panellists.
Read more about the CCA Expert Panel.
June 18, 2019
Shiri Breznitz among experts on Ontario intellectual property panel
Ontario’s government is launching an expert panel and online consultation on intellectual property to help protect made-in-Ontario ideas and create jobs and economic growth. Shiri Breznitz, associate professor at the Innovation Policy Lab, is among the panel experts.
May 17, 2019
Shauna Brail discusses Uber and Lyft’s investments public infrastructure
Shauna Brail, whose research focuses on ridesharing programs, was featured in Motherboard discussing Uber and Lyft’s investments in public infrastructure.
Read Brail’s comments in Lyft and Uber want to fund better roads…for Lyft and Uber on Motherboards’ website.
April 25, 2019
Dan Breznitz co-director of CIFAR Innovation, Equity, & The Future program
Innovation can promote economic growth and social and cultural well-being. : However, innovation is often conceived and implemented in a way that leads to unequal distribution of its benefits. The CIFAR Innovation, Equity, & The Future program takes a multidisciplinary and cross-national look at how, why, and when the benefits of innovation aren’t always broadly shared.
Read more about this program and Dan Breznitz’s role there as co-director.
April 8, 2019