Encouraging female inventors

A new study co-authored shows that nationwide in the US, just 17pc of new inventors — individuals receiving a patent for the first time — are women. Within US universities, however, that figure rises to 26pc, suggesting that higher education plays a vital role in broadening women’s participation in the innovation economy. And that matters. Investing in women inventors could unlock additional talent, expand the pool of ideas, and maximise commercial potential. One thing universities can do to help more women become inventors is to highlight accomplished women leading research labs, which sends a powerful signal to PhDs and other junior faculty members — ‘you belong here too’. It’s been shown that leading female faculty members who are top inventors are especially likely to provide support for new inventors in their labs.

(Adapted from “How Universities Can Help More Women Become Inventors,” by Seb Murray, published on May 07, 2025, by MIT Management Sloan School)

‘Small t’ transformation

There are reasons generative AI has had relatively slow adoption among businesses: It can be inaccurate, there are concerns about security and intellectual property, and organisations need time to prepare data and train employees. MIT Sloan senior lecturer George Westerman and lecturer Melissa Webster found “small t” transformations — organisations use generative AI in transformative ways, but not as a driver of the wholesale redesign of major business functions. You don’t have to wait for big payoff opportunities to start using generative AI. “For the leaders we wrote about, they decided to take action to resolve uncertainty and build capability rather than waiting for risks to go away,” Mr Westerman said. “Each step in the small-t transformation process addresses a risk or builds capability for greater future progress.”

(Adapted from “Generate Value From GenAI With ‘Small t’ Transformations,” by Melissa Webster and George Westerman, published on January 22, 2025, by MIT Sloan Management Review)

Making China ‘cool’

The leaders of the Communist Party might be surprised to find they are indebted to a bouncy 20-year-old livestreamer from Ohio called Darren Watkins junior. He goes by the screen name “IShowSpeed” and has in one visit done more for China’s image abroad than any amount of turgid party propaganda. On a two-week trip in March and April, he showed his 38m followers the country’s rich history (with a backflip on the Great Wall), friendly people (he joked with China’s finest Donald Trump impersonator), and advanced technology (he danced with a humanoid robot, had a KFC meal delivered by drone, and tried a flying taxi). As he drove into a lake in Shenzhen, safe within an amphibious James-Bond-style electric SUV, Mr Watkins was agog. “Oh my God, this car is not sinking…China got it, these Chinese cars got it!” Or, as he says frequently throughout his visit, “China’s different, bro.” China may have gotten ‘cool’ through a parade of foreign vloggers.

(Adapted from “How China Became Cool,” by The Economist, published on May 20, 2025)

No US in the next pandemic

Heartfelt applause greeted the adoption on May 20 of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Pandemic Agreement, a treaty that commits governments to be more responsible and less selfish when future pandemics emerge. There was doubtless an edge of relief to the clapping. After three years of fierce argument, an overwhelming majority of health ministers and officials from over 130 countries have approved the WHO Pandemic Agreement. The politics of inequality nearly derailed the process, and America, which is leaving the WHO, boycotted the treaty. However, governments scrambled to save global health policy from Donald Trump and eventually compromised. Much could still go wrong, and a lot still needs to be done if the agreement is to save lives

(Adapted from “How To Fight The Next Pandemic, Without America,” by The Economist, published on May 20, 2025)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, June 10th, 2025