Addressing global risks with breakthroughs
World Economic Forum should go further in its 2024 report on “breakthrough endeavors”
The World Economic Forum (WEF) starts on Monday, January 15. While we’re skipping Davos this year, we were eager to read WEF’s Global Risks Report 2024 (19th edition!), released a few days ago, that considers the major risks our world is expected to face in the coming years. We had heard earlier that this year’s report would point to moonshots as counterweights to the existential risks that often dominate forward-looking “Davos Man” reports. And we weren’t disappointed.
In this report, Section 3.2 on Breakthrough endeavors stands out against a largely dismal outlook overall for the world. We feel that this “Breakthrough endeavors” section is criminally too short because breakthroughs, as the report authors recognize, offer “game-changing solutions” and “positive tipping point[s]” for changing our risk state. The authors also highlight the role of philanthropists as “a key source of funding for ambitious projects” (we discussed this same point in our December 15 issue).
Moonshots achieve breakthrough innovation, what some call as next-generation solutions. Take the time to read this WEF report section; it’s only two pages long (pgs. 87-89). The section closes by underscoring the long view government leaders need when addressing global risks:
“Policy-makers need to adopt a dual vision, harnessing the power of innovation to address present challenges, while keeping an eye on the future. Investing in breakthrough endeavors is often a long-term bet, involving some degree of risk-taking and failure, but coupled with wins that boost our ability to mitigate or adapt in the face of global risks.”
On this topic of breakthroughs, we are reassured to see news coverage of various breakthroughs underway based on multiple moonshot chases around the world. For example, a recent EuroNews article touted the scientific discovery of the first new antibiotics in over 60 years using AI. This breakthrough, which was also covered by AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), emerged from work by MIT researchers who used AI tools in deep learning to identify a new class of antibiotic candidates. Incidentally, the MIT effort is funded by the “Audacious Project”, which strikes us an effort to spark more moonshot builders, as described:
“Housed at TED, The Audacious Project is a funding initiative that encourages the world’s greatest changemakers to dream bigger. We shape their ideas into viable multi-year plans and launch them to the world alongside visionary philanthropists.”
While MIT researchers were part of the team, it is important to note that this breakthrough isn’t just an “MIT thing” or the work of one exceptional lab. As with all moonshot-class breakthroughs, the collaborators come from a mix of universities, research centers, and global collaborators – including Harvard, the Broad Institute, Integrated Biosciences, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research.
As a final point, alongside these breakthroughs in basic research, other teams and companies are actively delivering tools for applied and transformational researchers to build products. Some recent headlines reveal SandboxAQ acquiring Good Chemistry to make better quantum tools, scientists applying CRISPR tools to the complexity of domesticating new crops, and how genome sequencing may help find unique DNA signatures of common cancers. In short, these groups are the next part of the innovation pipeline, shepherding breakthroughs to the market and broader public.
Perhaps WEF needs to add a report addendum to expand section 3.2 on “Breakthrough endeavors” and reveal those fighting for a brighter future? ;)
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