White House’s Tom Kalil on “Grand Challenges”

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Grand Challenges create a new vision of the future.

Tom Kalil of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy gave a presentation today about Grand Challenges, such as the ones proposed by futurist Thomas Frey HERE. Kalil called them “ambitious yet achievable goals that capture the public’s imagination and that require innovation and breakthroughs in science and technology to achieve,” like NASA’s Green Flight Challenge and the Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges in Global Health. I think Tom’s speech, delivered to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, does a terrific job showing why the grand challenge approach is a powerful way to tackle some pretty daunting problems. He also puts grand challenges in the context of President Obama’s Strategy for American Innovation. (By the way, it must be nice to be authorized to use the Presidential PowerPoint template.) From Tom’s speech

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Canada plays the visa card to lure foreign students to its universities

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Four years ago 60,000 international students came to Canada for school now that number stands at 90,000.

Canadian universities used to find it hard to draw attention away from the U.S. when trying to lure foreign students to its business schools.  Not anymore. Over the last two years, Canadian full-time MBAs have seen the biggest increase in applications of any region, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), a business school association.

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Collapse of the income tax system – does it mean the end of life as we know it?

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The income tax system is only one of many systems that will collapse in the coming years.

An enormous opportunity is presenting itself as a frightening problem—Complexity.  How leaders react will determine the future of their businesses, and indeed the future and prosperity of America for decades to come.

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Dementia cases expected to triple by 2050

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Treating and caring for people with dementia currently costs the world more than US$ 604 billion per year.

Nearly 35.6 million people live with dementia worldwide. By 2030 this number is expected to double (65.7 million) and more than triple by 2050 (115.4 million). Dementia affects people in all countries, with more than half (58%) living in low- and middle-income countries. By 2050, this is likely to rise to more than 70%.

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An Igloo for Book Lovers

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Now there’s something an iPad can’t do.

Miler Lagos’s installation at the MagnanMetz Gallery in New York City is entitled simply “Home”. After he finished it, the dome was completely enclosed and self-supporting. Just imagine if you had one of these, consisting entirely of the books that you have read over the course of your life…

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Is NASA tracking the Cosmic Shift?

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Cosmic changes are coming.

When it comes to terraforming, the Universe makes man’s puny efforts to be king of the hill look pretty pathetic. Not only are we completely at the mercy of a constantly changing planet, but we’re careening through space totally vulnerable to a sea of objects and cosmic influences beyond our wildest imagination.

Yet intuitively we have the peace that all is under control in some magnificent way.

The decades long assertion that our solar system would soon enter an electrically charged life altering photon belt around the Sirius star system has been regularly dismissed as pseudo science–NASA speak for “conspiracy theory”. Despite periodical scientific validation it has been continually pushed aside by mainstream science.

Until now…

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Why younger generations in America are driving much less

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Young people are also making more use of transit, bikes, and foot power to get around.

“Unfortunately for car companies, today’s teens and twenty-somethings don’t seem all that interested in buying a set of wheels. They’re not even particularly keen on driving, ” Jordan Weissmann noted at TheAtlantic.com a couple weeks back.

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Red-light camera debate continues while their legal status grows murkier

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Red-light cameras are used in about 555 communities around the country.

At the heart of the debate about red-light cameras is this question: Do they save lives by reducing accidents or are they primarily a way for cities to raise money in an era of lagging tax revenue?

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Discover the Hidden Patterns of Tomorrow with Futurist Thomas Frey
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By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.

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