Before smart cities initiatives, the government needs to prepare for the Internet of Things (IoT) implementation. Change is the only constant if you look at history. For example, the first industrial revolution was fueled by steam power that created a big boom …Continue reading
Pakistan: A Renewable Energy State?
Access to clean, reliable and modern sources of energy is critical for achieving the targeted economic growth and development in a country. Without access to modern energy, it is not possible to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the seventeen-point global agenda adopted …Continue reading
Cleantech After the Hype: Why Startups Fail
We saw it happen to 3D printing and many other industries, and are seeing it happen to cleantech now—the hype has passed, and the time has come to actually build solutions that will enable “smart energy” and “greenovation” to be something more …Continue reading
The Tech Healthcare Revolution Pakistan Needs
The next healthcare innovation for Pakistan won’t be a miracle drug. According to World Bank, in 1960, the GDP per capita a.k.a. income per person of Pakistan was more than double the amount of China’s. Fast forward to 2015: Pakistan has improved …Continue reading
The Coming Age of Machine Intelligence
Marc Andreessen once said that software was eating the world. The point he was trying to make was that software increasingly represents the value in most economic processes. In this sense, where software was previously one small component of a complex process …Continue reading
Data Dystopia
Dystopias in the 20th century came mostly in two flavors: the imposing surveillance state, as depicted in Orwell’s 1984, and the stupefying pleasure dome, as in Huxley’s Brave New World. What if these were not separate nightmares? The real threat could be …Continue reading
Pliable Plants
Producing higher-yielding crops has been a goal for farmers ever since there have been farms. Plant breeders since Gregor Mendel have recognized the heritability of crop traits and how they relate to yield. Heritability is crucial, but it’s only one factor—there’s also …Continue reading
Like GMOs, Minus the Baggage
Almost 60 years ago I stood beneath a blazing Louisiana sun, up to my knees weeding in the tepid, mosquito-infested water of my father’s rice field. It was the 1950s, and I was nine years old. I eventually got off that farm, …Continue reading
How Scare Tactics on GMO Foods Hurt Everybody
In early May, Vermont governor Peter Shumlin signed a bill into law that requires a label for any foods produced with genetic engineering. This made Vermont the first U.S. state to require mandatory labeling for foods containing genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. …Continue reading
Pakistani Universities and Entrepreneurship
The trend of creating jobs rather than hunting jobs is growing in the country. Our universities produce thousands of engineers each year. Have you ever thought how many graduates end up creating jobs, rather than hunting for one? The answer appears to …Continue reading