Spoiler alert: Our annual list of innovators under the age of 35 isn’t really about what a small group of smart young people have been doing (though that’s certainly part of it.) It’s really about where the world of technology is headed.
As you read the issues this year’s winners set out to solve, you’ll also see the near future of AI, biotechnology, materials, computing, and the fight against climate change.
To connect the dots, we asked five experts, all judges or former winners, to write short essays about where they see the most promise and the biggest potential obstacles in their respective fields. We hope the list inspires you and gives you an idea of what to expect in the coming years.
Read the full list here.
The subject of Urbanism
The modern city is a surveillance device. You can track your movements using your license plate, mobile phone and face. But go to any city or suburb in the United States and there is a different type of monitoring, powered by networks of privately owned doorbell cameras, wildlife cameras and even garden variety security cameras.
The latest print issue of the MIT Technology Review examines why, regardless of local governments, we’ve built our neighborhoods into panoptics: everyone looks at everything, all the time. Here’s a selection of some of the new stories in the edition, which will make you wonder if smart cities are really that smart after all:
– How groups of online neighborhood watchers are taking the law into their own hands.
– Why Toronto wants you to forget everything you know about smart cities.
– Bicycle theft is a big problem. Specialized parking capsules could be the answer.
– Public transport wants to kill cash, but it won’t be as disturbing as you think.