The Post Employment World | Diplomatic Courier | January 2017 Edition by MG Publishing

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A Global Affairs Media Network VO L UME 11 I ISSUE 1 I J AN UARY 2017

THE POST EMPLOYMENT WORLD THE TECHNOLOGICAL, SOCIAL, AND ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS COVER THEME

LIFE

WORK

WORK, LOVE, AND LIFE WHEN ROBOTS RULE THE EARTH

THE GRAVEYARD OF EMPLOYMENT AND THE FUTURE OF JOBS

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p38

By Joshua Huminski

By Bailey Piazza

DIPLOMATIC COURIER MAGAZINE PRESENTS

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Contents VO L UME 1 1 I ISSUE 1 I J AN UARY 2017

12 I LEAD FEATURE Employment Remains Elusive for Resettled Refugees While nations around the world debate how many refugees to take in, and from which country and/or crisis, many fail to integrate employment plans into the mix. The result is a generation of refugees struggling to assimilate through one of the most universal of human desires—that of meaningful work. By Molly McCluskey

Features 34 I A Break That Delivers for Employers and Workers

By Alan Kotok

38 I The Graveyard of Employment and the Future of Jobs

By Bailey Piazza

42 I Creating Tomorrow’s Talent: Transporting Human Potential

By Saul Garlick

46 I Emerging Technologies Will Achieve Employment Equity for People with Disabilities

By By Lauren Maffeo

50 I A World of Change: A World of Opportunities

By Lino Guzzella

54 I Game Technology Inspires Creativity in Zurich

By Marianne Lucien

Which competencies should we equip our students with to be able to take advantage of future robots with cognitive algorithms? I am convinced that we need to encourage critical and creative thinking among our students. We need to teach them how to think and how to act in an entrepreneurial way, and how to foster intercultural communication skills.

58 I Why Detroit Is Built to Succeed

By Marc A. Ross

62 I Global Talent Development Can Be Enhanced Through International STEM Teacher Exchange and Collaboration

By Anders Hedberg

68 I Bridging the Global Skills Divide to Develop a Workforce for the Future

By Allan Goodman and Sharon Witherell

72 I The Need for Liberal Arts in the Post-Employment World

By Constance St.Germain

76 I The Future of Employment: Going Back to Basics

By Félix Quintero

professor lino guzzella | president, eth Zurich

The Carmel Institute salutes SUSAN E. CARMEL LEHRMAN joining the distinguished ranks of Americans who have received Russia’s highest award for foreign citizens—the Order of Friendship.

November 2016, Moscow, Russia

The Order of Friendship is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by a presidential decree in 1994. The Order is awarded to Russian and foreign nationals for special merit in strengthening peace, friendship, cooperation and understanding between nations, for fruitful work on the convergence and mutual enrichment of cultures of nations and peoples; for the active conservation, development and promotion of the cultural and historical heritage of Russia; for great contribution to the implementation of joint ventures with the Russian Federation, major economic projects and attracting investments into the economy of the Russian Federation; for broad charitable activities.

U.S. HONOREES David Blatt

Орден Дружбы

basketball coach Lydia T. Black historian and anthropologist Van Cliburn renowned pianist Patricia Cloherty entrepreneur and businesswoman Raymond E. Johnson, founder Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis John Middleton-Tidwell historian Richard Pierce historian Barbara Sweetland Smith historian James W. Symington former U.S. Congressman James H. Billington The Librarian of Congress Emeritus

The Carmel Institute of Russian Culture & History 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW • Washington, DC 20016 202-885-6381 • www.american.edu/carmel • carmelinstitute@american.edu

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Contents VO L UME 1 1 I ISSUE 1 I J AN UARY 2017

Gallery

Diplomatic Life

16 I Unintended Consequences: The Economic Impact of the Sugar Tax on Small Stores and Bakeries in Mexico

80 I Culture as Conversation: A Classic Turns Fifty

24 I The Color Line: African-American Artists and Segregation

By Michele Langevine Leiby

Focus 08 I Welcome: Who Cares About My Job in 2050?

Special Report

Silicon Valley’s Cousin: Mobile Technology Development in Turkey

From Foreign Trade to Clean Energy: Turkey’s Business, Innovation, and Growth Strategies By Anne Harris

By Ana C. Rold

30 I Book Review: The Age of Em: Work, Love, and Life When Robots Rule the Earth

82 I Turkey: Trade Expansion Presents Tremendous Opportunities for Growth

By Anne Harris

Story by Lisa Gable and Winona Roylance Photography by Michelle Guillermin

Review by Joshua Huminski

88 I Moment: World Leaders Respond To President Elect Trump

By Bailey Piazza

Masthead Publishing house Medauras Global publisher & ceo Ana C. Rold Editorial Advisors Andrew M. Beato Fumbi Chima Sir Ian Forbes Lisa Gable Mary D. Kane Greg Lebedev Anita McBride Creative Director Christian Gilliham director of social media Alexcia Chambers MARKETING CONSULTANT Allyson Portee

senior photographers Michelle Guillermin Sebastian Rich

Contributing Editors Kathryn H. Floyd Michael Kofman Paul Nash

CONTRIBUTORS Saul Garlick Allan Goodman Lino Guzzella Anne Harris Anders Hedberg Joshua Huminski Alan Kotok Michele Langevine Leiby Marianne Lucien Lauren Maffeo Molly McCluskey Bailey Piazza Félix Quintero Marc A. Ross Constance St.Germain Sharon Witherell

un correspondent Akshan de Alwis DC CONTRIBUTORS Madeline Bielski David Clemens Charles Crawford Justin Goldman Anne Harris Joshua Huminski Sarah Jones Arun S. Nair Bailey Piazza Richard Rousseau Winona Roylance Mary Utermohlen

PUBLISHING. Diplomatic Courier magazine is produced by Medauras Global LLC, an independent private publishing firm. The magazine is printed six times a year and publishes a blog and online commentary weekly at www.diplomaticourier.com. PRINT. Print issues of Diplomatic Courier average 100 pages in length. Individual and back issues cost $10.00 per issue (plus S&H). Student rates are available to both part-time and full-time students with proof of school enrollment. New print issues of Diplomatic Courier are published and mailed in January, March, May, July, September, and November. Subscriptions commence with the next issue. PRINT RATES. One year, six issues: $45.00. Two years, 12 issues: $75.00. For bulk, international, and institutional rates email info@ diplomaticourier.org with your request. DIGITAL RATES. One year, six issues: $14.99. Two years, 12 issues: $24.95. Single Digital Edition or Single App download (iStore, Google Play, Amazon): $4.99. EDITORIAL. The articles in Diplomatic Courier both in print and online represent the views of their authors and do not reflect those of the editors and the publishers. While the editors assume responsibility for the selection, the authors are responsible for the facts and interpretations of their articles. PERMISSIONS. Authors retain all copyrights to their articles. None of the articles can be reproduced without their permission and that of the publishers. For permissions please email info@medauras.com with your written request. ISSN. The Library of Congress has assigned: ISSN 2161-7260 (Print); ISSN 2161-7287 (Online). ISBN: 978-1-942772-01-9 (Print); 978-1-942772-02 (Online). LEGAL. Copyright ©2006-2017 Diplomatic Courier and Medauras Global. All rights reserved.

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No part of this publication can be reproduced without written consent of the publishers. All trademarks that appear in this publication are the property of the respective owners. Any and all companies featured in this publication are contacted by Medauras Global and the Diplomatic Courier to provide advertising and/or services. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information in this publication, however, Medauras Global and the Diplomatic Courier magazine make no warranties, express or implied in regards to the information, and disclaim all liability for any loss, damages, errors, or omissions. CONTACT. Mailing Address: Diplomatic Courier, 1660 L Street, NW, Suite 501, Washington, DC 20036, U.S. Fax: 202-659-5234. E-mail: info@diplomaticourier.org and editors@diplomaticourier.org. ADVERTISING. For inquiries contact us at: info@medauras.com to request the latest Media Kit. WRITE FOR US. Diplomatic Courier’s team spans the globe. Journalists, correspondents, and students and scholars are only some of the titles that our contributors, editors, and photographers hold. If you would like to become part of the team or contribute your work to Diplomatic Courier’s multiple channels on an ad-hoc basis email us with your work and resume at editors@diplomaticourier.org. ART/PHOTOGRAPHY/ILLUSTRATIONS. In order of appearance in the publication: Cover, Bigstockphotos; 8, by Joyce Boghosian; 12-15, by Sebastian Rich; 16-23, by Michelle Guillermin; 24-29, courtesy of the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac; 30, image by Oxford University Press; 36, Tesla Plant by Steve Jurvetson on Flickr; 50, ETH Zurich; 54-55, by eveni.to; 56, by Maurizio Nitti, ETH Zurich and Disney Research; 57, by eveni.to; 60, images courtesy of Marc A. Ross; 68-71, courtesy of the Institute for International Education; 80-81, courtesy of the Carmel Institute of Russian Culture and History. All other images by Bigstockphotos.

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Welcome VO L UME 11 I ISSUE 1 I J AN UARY 2017

Ana C. Rold Publisher & CEO

Who Cares About My Job in 2050? I went to college to prepare myself for the workforce. Little did I know that by the time I graduated, I would be vying for positions that I could not have even imagined when I started. There is a popular statistic that estimates 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately work in jobs that do not yet exist. My job today—where I collaborate daily with my team around the world to manage a media company—is proof of that reality. Increasing technological advancements means the employment landscape is changing faster than ever before. Although fields such as cyber security are projected to create millions of jobs by 2020, it is likely that those jobs will become automated soon after. When technology takes our jobs, what will people like you and me do to earn a living? As articulated in the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, the ability to anticipate and prepare for future skills requirements and job content is critical for businesses, governments, and individuals to fully seize the opportunities presented by these trends—and to mitigate undesirable outcomes. The best way to understand the current and impact of future disruptions on employment levels, skill sets, and recruitment patterns in different industries and countries is to ask today’s largest employers to imagine how jobs in their industry will change by the year 2050. That’s what we’re doing at the Global Talent Summit. When we talk about future changes, we mean that drivers of change will impact job creation, job displacement, labor productivity, and widening skills gaps. These drivers are centered on fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing, biotechnology, and more. Along with this technological revolution comes a set of broader socio-economic, geopolitical, and demographic developments that also affect real transformation. Diplomatic Courier believes social dialogue is crucial in order to meet future challenges. Together we can share insight on skillsets for the future, implications for gender parity, change management, and future workforce planning. The best advice I received in my post graduation job-search was to expect the unexpected…in other words, to plan the best you can for an uncertain future. We continue that mantra at the Global Talent Summit, and we invite you to join us. ●

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ROBIN HANSON

THE AGE OF EM Work, Love, and Life when Robots Rule the Earth

Robots which emulate the human brain – ‘Ems’ – could one day rule the world. What will life for humans be like in a robot-ruled Earth? Robin Hanson draws on decades of expertise in economics, physics, and computer science to paint a detailed picture of this next great era in human (and machine) evolution. ROBIN HANSON Robin Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University, and a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University. Professor Hanson has master’s degrees in physics and philosophy from the University of Chicago, nine years experience in artificial intelligence research at Lockheed and N.A.S.A., a doctorate in social science from California Institute of Technology, 2800 citations, and sixty academic publications, in economics, physics, computer science, philosophy, and more. He blogs at OvercomingBias.com, and has pioneered the field of prediction markets since 1988.

May 2016 | Hardback 978-0-19-875462-6 | £20.00 | $34.95 Available through all good bookshops and online, or order direct via www.oup.com

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l e a d f e at u r e REFUGEES

Employment Remains Elusive for Resettled Refugees J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7 12

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While nations around the world debate how many refugees to take in, and from which country and/ or crisis, many fail to integrate employment plans into the mix. By Molly McCluskey

ATAARI REFUGEE CAMP. Here, in one of the world’s largest refugee camps, a thriving marketplace named Champs Elysees rivals those found in Istanbul or Athens, or even the Paris thoroughfare after which it’s named. Where once was only dirt, residents have opened market stands, or barber shops, or bakeries. When the city of Amsterdam donated 500 bicycles to the camp, entrepreneurs opened bicycle repair shops. It’s a testimony not only to the resiliency of the refugees stranded here year after year, but to their refusal to sit idle. It’s a quality that stands in stark contrast to the reality of many refugees once they leave the camps; whether settled into nearby urban centers or across the world in a new country, many struggle to find employment, and are forced to depend on charity, government stipends, or other, less reputable means of subsistence. ➣

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➣ The dream of resettlement—and subsequent employment—propels many refugees. But while nations around the world debate how many refugees to take in, and from which country and/or crisis, many fail to integrate employment plans into the mix. The result is a generation of refugees struggling to assimilate through one of the most universal of human desires—that of meaningful work. In Jordan alone, 85 percent of the Syrian refugees are living outside of camps such as Zataari, in the country’s urban centers. “Most of the refugees living in urban areas are in debt. Ninety three percent are living below the poverty line,” Aoife McDonald, an external relations director with UNHCR Jordan, told Diplomatic Courier. “They use their savings attempting to reach safety, then go into debt waiting for their asylum to be processed.” According to a report issued by the UNHCR, Syrian refugees are borrowing funds from friends and family, shopkeepers, and landlords for basic needs—rent, food, utilities— and those seemingly small amounts loom larger as they can’t be repaid. Many opt not to receive medical care because of the costs, and are reducing the number of meals they eat per day. When assistance does come, it’s barely enough to keep the roof over their heads, let alone help them get ahead of what they owe. Even those lucky enough to make their way to an economically prosperous country often find the cycle of poverty continues. Germany has absorbed more than 1.1 million migrants since the beginning of 2015, from the Middle East, Africa, and other economically-challenged or war-torn nations. But by January 2016, only 13 percent of them had found employment. “What we know from the administrative data is that the majority of these people, irrespective of their educational background in their home country, are working in hotels, restaurants, these kind of sectors, and other kind of service occupations, like cleaning and security,” Dr. Ehsan Vallizadeh, a research associate at the German

Federal Employment Agency’s Institute for Employment Research (IAB) told Diplomatic Courier. “One key issue is that they might not have an educational background, or if they do have an educational background, they might not have their certificates, because they left them behind or they were destroyed.” The German government offers language classes and vocational training courses for refugees, however, the courses are managed by different branches of the government. Integrating them under one department would allow for faster integration of the labour market, and assimilation in general. “The language barriers are also much higher for this group because they have only recently come to Germany, so irrespective of their educational background, they have to first learn the German language, which is not an easy language, so they face different types of limitations,” Vallizadeh said. In nearby Switzerland, applicants seeking asylum are prohibited from working for at least three, and up to six months, after filing their application. After the first six months, “the applicant can be authorized to take up a temporary gainful employment if the economic and labour market situation allows it and if the wage and working conditions and the priority accorded to nationals are respected,” according to the State Secretariat for Migration. According to Stefan Frey, the spokesperson at the non-profit organization Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe in Bern, these barriers can be too difficult for many refugees to navigate. “About 50 percent of asylum seekers receive only a provisional admission to Switzerland,” Frey says. “They can work but the obstacles are considerable because they need permission, and the employer also needs to demand a permission to engage them, and they have to pay an extra tax for employing somebody with provisional admission.” This tax, which accounts for 10 percent of the income of the worker, must be paid to the Secretariat of Migration. “Officially it’s the employer J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7 14

who makes the transfer of money, but it’s dedicated from the salary. And this amount is up to 15,000 Swiss francs that must be paid by the employee,” Frey says. “This makes the procedure very complicated and this is a real obstacle for employers to engage somebody with a provisional visa.” “Politically we don’t want Switzerland to make it a practice for refugees to come to Switzerland. This is one of the reasons that until now these conditions are very severe against especially provisional admission,” Frey says. While there are some discussions in Switzerland about changing the political landscape to open the labour market for more provisional visa holders, traditionally, there have been policies to limit migration to the Alpine nation. “The Swiss economy has more and more difficulties to receive a sufficient number of workers as a result of these policies.” While applications for asylum are approved, or rejected at the national level, it’s the role of the individual cantons—the 26 member states of the Swiss confederation—to see to assimilation. While the federal

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Many people, especially with provisional visas, never find a work place.

government provides funding for many programs, it provides no requirements on the offerings. Consequently, laws and programs can vary greatly per canton. “It depends a little bit on the political atmosphere. In some cantons, the extreme right party is very strong, and you’ll not find a very strong will to improve the life of refugees,” Frey says. “Each canton can more or less do what it wants.” And herein lies one of the greatest conundrums of the world’s massive refugee crisis: because obtaining permission to remain, in any of its forms, is often such a difficult task the world over, people are hesitant to

forfeit it in the search for employment in another country. To do so begins the often years-long process from the beginning, again with no certainty of finding meaningful work at the end of it. “Many people, especially with provisional visas, never find a work place, and therefore they have to be integrated into the social system, which produces enormous cost,” Frey says. In Switzerland, supporting one adult entirely by social services can cost between 25,000-35,000 Swiss francs per year. Providing language courses, vocational training, and other assimilation support services carries a significantly lesser cost, both on an annual basis, and over the

lifetime of an average refugee. Like in Germany, language barriers create a challenge in Switzerland, even more so with its three national languages. And like Germany, there is a delay while refugees await news of their status. Essentially wasted time now, Frey suggests that time is better spent if refugees are allowed to engage in language courses immediately, before their status is approved or even denied. “The real problem in Switzerland is not the arrival of refugees,” Frey says. “The real issue is the integration of these people.” Here, at Zataari, it’s nearly impossible to believe that the people who escaped a civil war, made their way into a new country, and helped build a city where once was only dirt, wouldn’t be able to find meaningful work through sheer willpower and dedication. That their wits, and education, and work ethic wouldn’t be enough to help them start a new life in a new country. But few people could be plucked out of one life and dropped into another—another culture, another language, another climate, another social circle—without guidance. Few would think ahead, as the bombs were dropping and shots were being fired, to bring more than the clothes on their back, to bring copies of their educational records and multiple forms of identification. Few walked in the dead of night across the border while listening to German or French or English lessons on their earbuds. Few expected to have to integrate into a labour market that wouldn’t want them, except, if they were lucky, as housecleaners, or security guards, or hoteliers. “When you ask them how long they expected to be gone, they’ll tell you weeks,” McDonald says. “Many of them have been here for years.” ●

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Molly McCluskey is an independent multimedia journalist for Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, Diplomatic Courier, US News and others. She is a Board Member of the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Follow her @MollyEMcCluskey.

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UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: The Economic Impact of the Sugar Tax on Small Stores and Bakeries in Mexico Essay by Lisa Gable and Winona Roylance Photography by Michelle Guillermin

ou enter a small opening tucked in the corner of a busy street in Mexico City. To your left, you see small shelves lined with cans of beans, snacks, and produce. To your right, you can see a plethora of single-use personal care items crammed above a shelf of pet food. Your nose starts to tingle and you feel your eyes drawn to the counter where you see a basket of freshly baked goods. From behind the counter, a pair of weary-yet-pleasant eyes tracks your journey through the tiny space. You pay for your goods with a hundred pesos and thank the owner. As you exit the door, the glint of refreshing beverages waves you goodbye.

These are the products commonly found in the small mom-and-pop type stores—often referred to as la tienditas—that make up the heart of the Mexican economy. With over 50% of food and consumer good purchases taking place in these non-traditional venues—which can take the form of a small store, a pop up table in a busy market, or even a simple presence in a doorway—both consumers and store owners are dependent upon the vitality of these businesses. However, the environment in which these stores thrive is fragile. Since the countrywide implementation of a beverage and food tax in 2014, thousands of these tiny shops have been forced to close down. In the first

half of 2016 alone, 30 thousand stores closed due to financial insecurity, and a staggering 93% of the tienditas saw a fall in profits. Yet, even in the face of rising taxes and stagnating business, these storeowners soldier on. Lorena’s family first opened up their small mom-and-pop, La Nortenita, over 65 years ago. After the passing of both her parents and her sister’s sudden illness, Lorena was forced to quit her job as a university professor and take over the store. For the past 25 years, she has worked 10 hours a day seven days a week, created a reputation for herself as a trustworthy business partner with her suppliers, and amassed a loyal customer base. “I sell coffee, homemade bread, ➣

In the first half of 2016 alone, 30 thousand stores closed due to financial insecurity, and a staggering 93% of the tienditas saw a fall in profits. Yet, even in the face of rising taxes and stagnating business, these storeowners soldier on.

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Over 55% of Mexican food and consumer goods purchases take place within a traditional market—mom and pop stores which may be resident simply as a presence in a doorway, a converted garage or a small shop. Store owners use cash on hand to purchase inventory from representatives of large consumer goods companies who daily walk through the neighborhoods, distributing small amounts of individual product, e.g., snacks, beverages, pet food, personal care

products. Store owners have experienced a significant decrease of their cash on hand—and thus an inability to purchase inventory—due to the 2014 implementation of fiscal reform which included a sugar tax and the introduction of a complex reporting system. Alianza Nacional de Pequenos Comerciantes (ANPEC) estimates that between 30,000 and 50,000 of these micro businesses, many who make less than $5000 per year, as well as thousands of

small bakeries were forced to close— an unexpected consequence of fiscal policy funded and promoted by key influencers in the United States. In Fall of 2016, Diplomatic Courier’s Advisory Board Member Ambassador Lisa Gable and Senior Photographer Michelle Guillermin embarked on an anthropological tour in Mexico, visiting and interviewing many of the owners of tienditas that have been impacted by the sugar tax.

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➣ and give attention to clients,” Lorena beamed. “I want to be here [so] they can come talk about their problems.” Lorena’s story is not uncommon. With over 800,000 mom-and-pop type shops located throughout Mexico, hundreds of thousands of storekeepers and their families dedicate their lives to these stores. Much like Lorena, these families

often embody a sense of close family ties, a strong sense of community, hardship and sacrifice. Many of these owners work from early morning until past midnight seven days a week, employing only their spouse, children, and other family members due to low wages. Jesus, who runs a store out of the basement of his house, is one such example. After having seen a decrease

of 20% in business since his store’s conception, he now plans to move to another state and try his hand again at running a store. Similarly, Rudolpho, a former electrician from Los Angeles who owns the picturesque Aborrotes Mary, has seen a decrease of over 40% in revenue since 2014. This decline in revenue is nearly universal among tiendita owners. In the first half of 2015 alone, small stores across the

The most alarming aspect of all, however, is the effect the sugar tax has on other goods. Because consumers continue to purchase sugary beverages despite the price increase, they must make up for it by reducing their purchase of other products.

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nation saw an average of 15-25% decreases in sales. This trend is nothing new. Family run tienditas have suffered greatly in the face of these larger 24/7 competitors. The emergence of large competitors, the general stagnation of the Mexican economy, and difficulties with the tax system have all been cited as some of the largest obstacles a tiendita must face in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world. One of the first obstacles every storeowner faces is reporting taxes. In the past two years, Mexico has implemented a taxation system in which storeowners are required to keep electronic accounting records to be submitted to the government monthly. Many owners are hesitant to open bank accounts and hire accountants, as both require extra money that most owners do not have. And while it is possible for storeowners to balance their own taxes, most do not possess the training or capabilities required to use the new tax system. Although most storeowners reported paying taxes, statistics show that a large portion of owners do not. Many storeowners cited the complex reporting system as a reason why owners may not pay taxes, while others felt that the government was misusing their tax money and therefore felt no reason to pay. Most, however, simply felt that the tax burden was too much for a modest tiendita to handle. Interestingly, 38.8% of storekeepers perceive this recent decrease in revenue as being a direct affect of the 2014 sugar tax. In an effort to contain Mexicoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growing obesity problem, the Mexican government launched the National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Overweight, Obese, and Diabetes (ENCPSOD) in 2013, eventually leading to a nationwide tax in 2014 on the production and services of sugary beverages and foods. With a tax of 1 peso per liter, this reform was created in order to prevent â&#x17E;Ł

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➣ consumers from buying high-caloric beverages; however, many have begun to question the effectiveness of the tax. First and foremost, the tax on food and beverages simply does not seem to have met its public health objectives. Though sugary beverage purchases did fall during the initial onset of the sugar tax, the revenue accrued by these purchases has once again reached pre-tax levels, growing an average of 13.7% per year. Even if the sugar tax had been successful and the consumption of sugary beverages had permanently decreased, studies show that consumers would have only experienced a decrease in 10 calories per day, or 0.33% of their daily caloric intake. Instead of quelling the Mexican obesity epidemic, the implementation of the sugar tax has proven to be regressive, recessive, and inflationary. With sugary drinks playing such a major role in lower-income households—as defined by CONEVAL’s basic consumption basket—any increase in taxes on these products results in an increase in prices of the consumption basket by 5-6%. And with a 1% increase in the price of the consumption basket resulting in 500,000 people in poverty, a 5-6% increase would be simply disastrous. ➣

Ultimately, the food and beverages tax has proven that taxing goods is not an effective tool for changing habits.

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➣ The most alarming aspect of all, however, is the effect the sugar tax has on other goods. Because consumers continue to purchase sugary beverages despite the price increase, they must make up for it by reducing their purchase of other products. Since the onset of the tax, yogurt, toothpaste, soap, and washing powder—all essential household items—have decreased, while purchases of sugary beverages have returned to pre-tax levels. Similarly, 43% of households have cut back on their budget used for entertainment outside the home. If households are still willing to purchase sugary beverages at the price of their entertainment and even certain necessities, perhaps a different approach is necessary to address the obesity epidemic in Mexico. Ultimately, the food and beverages tax has proven that taxing goods is not an effective tool for changing habits. With so many negative factors impacting Mexico’s traditional market—a stagnant economy, supermarket competitors, and a complex tax filing system—the addition of the sugar tax has proven to be detrimental, recessive, and wholly ineffective. However, there is still hope. Though these momand-pop shops have been thrust into a harsh reality, many have faith in a brighter future where family, community, and tradition lead the Mexican market to unprecedented heights. ●

ABOUT THE AUTHORs Ambassador Lisa Gable is President Emeritus of Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation and an Advisory Board Member of Diplomatic Courier. Winona Roylance is Senior Correspondent at Diplomatic Courier. Michelle Guillermin is Senior Photographer at Diplomatic Courier and a Member of the National Press Club.

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The Color Line: African-American Artists and Segregation Essay by Michele Langevine Leiby

aris – I’m black. But in France, I'm white. No, I'm not delusional or oblivious to my skin color – I’m just American. And that, for all intents and purposes, makes me an honorary white person in France. France, with its love/hate relationship with all things American, has long served as an escape hatch for U.S. blacks who tired of discrimination in their home country: The refugees stretch from Josephine Baker to James Baldwin. Here their color was of little consequence, and their names still summon in the French imagination scenes of smoky jazz clubs and literary cafes of Saint

Germain and Montparnasse. The cozy history between African Americans and the French is reread by every Frenchman who fancies himself an intellectual who reveres tolerance and artistic expression. But now, finally, France may be coming to a reckoning with the reality behind the black exile experience. Many artists, writers and other luminaries left the United States behind because of raw racism. There was nothing romantic about it for them. A timely and surprising new art exhibition in Paris, “The Color Line: African-American Artists and Segregation,” helps fill this historical

gap. It explores for the first time in France—and perhaps all of Europe— the great divide between white and black that has governed the American experience from slavery to today. The exhibition is staged by the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, a museum known for its emphasis on non-Western cultures and now celebrating its 10th anniversary. Europe and France in particular are “significantly behind in understanding this important period of the American history and recognizing this cultural movement,” as the museum pointed out in promotional literature for the new exhibit. It should serve to

“The Color Line” exhibition is well worth a visit if only to see how outsiders see us—and to ponder questions of whether, when and how France might come to terms with its own discrimination toward the Other, including people of color and refugees.

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provide the French a solid grounding in the antecedents for the modern U.S. black experience. “The Color Line” exhibition is well worth a visit if only to see how outsiders see us—and to ponder questions of whether, when and how France might come to terms with its own discrimination toward the Other, including people of color and refugees. The Syrians, Iraqis and other Middle Eastern refugees who are now being eyed with suspicion in many Western nations may not be considered “black” here, per se, but still face special forms of racism just the same. “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of color line,” W.E.B. Du Bois famously wrote, and this exhibition—densely packed with both artwork and historical items— illuminates many sources and examples of the problem. The exhibit walls brim with content well beyond paintings to include hundreds of posters, photos, sheet music, sculptures, film clips, books and magazines. ➣

Title: I have special reservations... Artist: Elizabeth Catlett, 12. 1946 Copyright: © Catlett Mora Family Trust/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY / ©Adagp, Paris, 2016 Observations: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Art by Women Collection, Gift of Linda Lee Alter, Art

Title: Mob Victim (Meditation) Artist: Loïs Mailou Jones, 1944

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➣ The content covers lynchings to Jim Crow, minstrelsy to Michael Jackson (with a series of album covers charting his transformation from normalfeatured black child to grotesquely disfigured, bleached older performer). “Most [French] people with education have no real idea of what racial discrimination was in America in the 20th century,” museum president Stéphane Martin said over lunch in the Branly’s rooftop restaurant with its stunning view of the Eiffel Tower. “Most people believe everything stopped after the Civil War and that everything was fine. … The French were not so aware until maybe the Sixties of what was happening in the Southern states of the United States.” But the French “were racist in their own way,” Martin is quick to note. Not toward black Americans or the African-born in general, but toward Arabs and North Africans, such as those of Algerian or Moroccan heritage, who have been in France for generations. “And there we have a very strong racial issue for a long time, which is terrible and extremely strong,” he said. In France the concept of race does not exist in many government documents. One’s race is not specified in the census. It’s effectively illegal for the government to ask one’s race. This might lead you to believe that racism in France does not exist. In my experience as someone who spent several years in the country it’s true that there is not a lot of in-your-face blatant racism, but, even in the capital,

Title: Martin Luther King, jr Artist: Reginald A. Gammon, jr Copyright: ©Adagp, Paris, 2016

“Most [French] people with education have no real idea of what racial discrimination was in America in the 20th century,” museum president Stéphane Martin said over lunch in the Branly’s rooftop restaurant with its stunning view of the Eiffel Tower.

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it exists if you scratch the impossibly well-dressed surface. Somehow American-ness transcends blackness— you can find acceptance in some of the most notoriously snobbish Parisian circles—but accents from poor and Muslim countries in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere do not fit into the picture. As Martin noted, most French people would see the race problem manifested as “unpleasant economic discrimination” toward immigrants. But it goes deeper. Racism exists in French attitudes toward not just Muslims but Jews and the Roma. It exists in attempts to ban burkinis worn by women who practice Islam. The Paris suburbs are full of frustrated Muslims who feel they are unwelcome and ostracized by society at large. Consider the thousands of Algerians and other immigrants from France’s former colonial outposts, who are consigned to housing projects and who live in separate worlds. And now the wider world is well aware of the foothold radical Islam has found in France, as demonstrated by murders of members of the Charlie Hebdo magazine staff, the horrific shootings at Bataclan concert hall, and the Bastille Day massacre in Nice. The killers ran the gamut but several had north African origin (and French citizenship). It seems perhaps a stretch to link such episodes with an exhibit on discrimination against American blacks. But the ravages of discrimination are universally felt, and lead to anger and backlashes that are sometimes not yet foreseen. In the Donald Trump era, what could policies to deport immigrants and register Muslims lead to? The art in “The Color Line” both screams and whispers. Copies of “The Crisis” magazine, “A Record of the Darker Races” edited by Du Bois, celebrate the pride and accomplishments of black people; whereas sheet music for “Coon Coon Coon,” identified as “The Most Successful Song Hit of 1901,” traffics in the worst stereotypical caricatures ➣

Title: Night Walk Artist: Norman Lewis (1909-1979), Night Walk #2, 1956 Copyright: © Estate of Norman W. Lewis; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

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➣ of its time. (A video clip celebrates another hit song: rapper 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” from 2003.) Jacob Lawrence’s paintings of 1930s black life dispel the Other in their depictions of the quotidian experiences of all people: playing pool, dining at a barbeque joint, hailing an ice peddler, attending a funeral. By contrast, Faith Ringgold’s disturbing “The Flag is Bleeding” from 1967 shows a black man and white couple peering from behind a stars and stripes dripping blood. There sits Rosa Parks placidly in the police booking photo for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Here is an FBI wantedfor-murder poster for 1960s radical Angela Davis (born in Birmingham, Alabama; “race: Negro.”). The quantity of materials in exhibitions such as these “can be overwhelming,” Martin concedes, but they also can be appreciated “like chorus music where you can follow two different lines. In this exhibition you can follow either a purely artistic line; it can be just an African American art exhibition, which you can see n Atlanta, for example, at the High Museum. Or it can be a purely historical exhibition…informative.” The isolation and despair that victims of discrimination everywhere

Title: Self Portrait Artist: Malvin Gray Johnson, Self Portrait, 1934 Copyright: © Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

The quantity of materials in exhibitions such as these “can be overwhelming,” Martin concedes, but they also can be appreciated “like chorus music where you can follow two different lines.”

Title: Moon over Harlem Artist: William H.Johnson 1943-1944 Copyright: © Washington D.C., Smithsonian American Art Museum

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feel can be summed up in the story of a 33-year-old black French man I read about last year. He was repeatedly shoved and prevented from boarding a Metro train by soccer fans in central Paris. The behavior of the presumably English Chelsea fans was shocking. But what wasn’t shocking at all was the attitude of resigned acceptance of the victim. The man, identified in media reports as Souleymane S, says he simply went home and didn’t say a word to anyone. Not his wife, not his kids. No one. He was puzzled to later find out that the incident was covered in the news. “I live with racism,” he told a Paris newspaper. “I was not really surprised by what happened to me, even if it was a first in the Metro. “What can I tell my kids? That papa was shoved in the Metro because he was black?” the man continued. Later, encouraged by the public outcry, he decided to file a complaint with the police. The incident could have occurred in the U.S. South 100 years ago, or 50 years ago, or 20 years ago. Or, for that matter, on any given day in any given American city today. If “The Color Line” tells us anything, it’s about a stubbornness of racism—anywhere— that has yet to be erased. ●

ABOUT THE AUTHORs Michele Langevine Leiby is a Washingtonbased writer and attorney whose articles on global, cultural and political topics have appeared in such publications as The Washington Post, the Guardian and the Financial Times. She also wrote a weekly column from Pakistan for a year and a half as a correspondent for the Washington Post/Bloomberg News Service. Title: Pool Players Artist: Jacob Lawrence, 1938 Copyright: © Collection of AXA US/ © Adagp, Paris, 2016

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arlier in 2016, PayPal, Tesla, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk surprised audiences at the Recode’s Code Conference by arguing that humanity could well be a simulation. "There's a billion to one chance we're living in base reality," he said. “If a civilization stops advancing then that may be due to some calamitous event that erases civilization…Either we're going to create simulations that are indistinguishable from reality, or civilization will cease to exist,” according to Musk. Musk’s argument quickly sent the social media sphere atwitter (pun fully intended). Pundits and experts took to Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and others to discuss the possibility that humanity is indeed in a simulation. Quickly joined by the average person, dialogues and discussions broke out questioning reality, our perception of it, and the philosophical arguments of our ability to know what is real and what is a simulation. At the same time as Musk made his comments and the ensuing global dialogue, hundreds of millions of people worldwide plugged into virtual networks – games, simulations, and virtual working environments. All this took place without anyone batting an eye or questioning the very nature of what they were doing at the time. Indeed, many simply swapped one electronic environment for another. For many, Musk’s idea was too outlandish, too far-fetched, too “out there” to be real. How could we be living in a simulation? How could we tell if we were or were not? Would it really matter if we were? Simulation and its implications are well trodden grounds. So too is the nature of what is real and how we can or cannot tell what is real or fake. From classic philosophy such as Descartes to popular culture such as the Matrix, such explorations of the real are, well, very much real.

THE AGE OF EM: Work, Love, and Life When Robots Rule the Earth

Author Robin Hanson Oxford University Press, 2016

Book review by Joshua Huminski

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But what does the future hold for humanity if these trends continue? Where will we be in 100, 200, or 400 years? Will humanity exist only in simulations? Will we conduct all of our daily activities virtually, our corporeal selves locked safely behind doors and high walls? For that matter, what will humanity look like? Will humanity be at all recognizable to us today? It is into this uncharted space that Robin Hanson’s book, The Age of Em, enters. Hanson disposes with near future speculation – what the world looks like in 10 or 15 years – and instead pushes the limit to well into the future, to a time when humanity has achieved the ability to upload human minds into the electronic realm. Through advances in scanning, computational power, storage, and modeling, brain emulations or “ems” become the dominant entity of the future. Humans, the squishy bits of human-in-the-loop technologies are cast into the remote plains and not considered in Hanson’s work. Hanson, a scholar at Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute and professor at George Mason University applies social science, economics, behavioral theory, and other disciplines to this very far future scenario. Hanson is critical of other futurists (in general) believing that contemporary futurism is blinded by the familiar – it extrapolates current trends just enough to become unfamiliar, but close enough to today to be believable (or perhaps not too discomforting). In this detailed, thought provoking, and deeply explored work he discusses the implications of ems, how they live (clustered super cooled skyscrapers), love (either “open source” lovers or having sex drive simply removed by editing), work (ems live to work), play (choosing to forget work and only remember the fun activities, or creating copies to do work), and organize (clans and sub-clans, with the original copy at

the head). Em society is stratified along the fast and the slow, with significant implications for each. Some abandon the “real” world entirely, opting for only a virtual existence, while others occupy robot bodies for specialized tasks. Ems create and delete copies of themselves at will, splitting off from the original for one-time tasks, tasks that the original would otherwise choose not to do or remember, or to continue the line of ems. Here it would be interesting to see Hanson explore the nature of consciousness and existence in this context. Would an individual be so willing to destroy a copy of him or herself? What about the possibility that, as Hanson acknowledges, in creating the original em the brain is destroyed? Would the em really be the person it is copied from? Granted there are those that would willingly allow themselves to be uploaded – either by choice (early adopters) or circumstance (handicapped or terminally ill individuals) – but the destruction of the self to create a virtual self seems to be a notable, if unaddressed hurdle. The depth and breadth of his analysis is undeniable. In reading the work one is simply stunned at the sheer volume of thought into em existence Hanson provides – short of perhaps interior decorating (and even then he notes the possibilities are limitless), one is hard pressed to find an area Hanson left uncovered. Readers of Age of Em will find it weighty and be left wishing that Hanson crafted an overarching narrative that puts his richly envisioned world into context. A story of the ems, if you will. They will see the elements of em society and life, but want to feel it, touch it, and visualize what the em world looks like. Humanity (read internet-connected humanity) by and large uploads their consciousness to a virtual environment for a good portion of every day. Upon

Readers of Age of Em will find it weighty and be left wishing that Hanson crafted an overarching narrative that puts his richly envisioned world into context. A story of the ems, if you will. waking we consume information – news, weather, and other data – from social media and online sources. Our schedules are maintained via our personal assistants Siri/Apple, Cortana/Microsoft, Alexa/Amazon, and our phones or other devices map our journey to and from work via GPS and advanced algorithms, routing us around traffic and along the best route (so we hope). At work (including the home office) logging into Skype or virtual meetings is as common as making the morning coffee. International colleagues may as well be in your living room or office as you discuss the latest financial forecasts. Ending the day, you return home turn on your device or system of choice and enter a virtual world where you can work as a team, be a vigilante, experience things both possible and impossible, and craft fantasy worlds without limitation. Online, in virtual worlds, people meet and fall in love; form bonds of friendship and

cooperation; take collective action both distributed and focused, all without leaving the comfort of their home. How different is this from the em world then? Bandwidth access leads to a stratification of the internet (to say nothing of net neutrality). Many jobs now use telepresence and virtual environments for the operation of advanced machinery and tools, including surgical robots. Individual hobbyists can craft models on 3D printers from plans downloaded from the Internet. Clans and teams form both within and outside virtual games and environments to organize action (for good, such as World of Warcraft), or for bad (arguably according to some), such as Anonymous. The em world forecast and thought out by Hanson may be a lot closer to reality than he or we may realize. ●

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A Break That Delivers for Employers and Workers American workers still face stiff headwinds from international competition and advances in technology. By Alan Kotok

he U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report for October 2016 showed average hourly earnings in private non-farm payrolls rising 10 cents to $25.92, an increase of 2.8 percent compared to October 2015. While it's good news to see paychecks rising again – a boon for both the U.S. and world economies – American workers still face stiff headwinds from international competition and advances in technology. Employers, workers, and policy makers need new tools for facing these challenges. One measure to consider is actually a tried-and-true practice that should be revived and expanded, the sabbatical. Some employers, mainly larger businesses and institutions, still offer professionals a mid-career break to recharge their intellectual batteries or learn new skills. In the U.S. military, for example, assignments at National Defense University or the service war colleges serve that function. The breaks help prepare mid-career

One measure to consider is actually a triedand-true practice that should be revived and expanded, the sabbatical. Some employers, mainly larger businesses and institutions, still offer professionals a mid-career break to recharge their intellectual batteries or learn new skills.

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professionals for more complex and higher-level challenges, such as leading complex operating units or to prepare for C-level management. But even for non-management workers, the time away learning new skills or just using different parts of their brains, can help employees increase their contributions to their employers. These greater contributions should qualify higher-performing individuals for more responsible jobs and bigger paychecks. While sabbaticals may be relatively rare today, the practice could be fashioned to help workers and their employers become more productive and better prepared for the 21st century economy. From a public policy standpoint, however, creating a program of this kind requires a light touch, to fit the wide variety of industries and jobs out there. And to be at all practical, the program – called Universal Sabbatical for Advancement, or USA – would need to be customized for each company and individual worker. ➣

U N I V E R S A L S A B B AT I C A L F O R A D VA N C E M E N T

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➣ Modeled After the G.I. Bill The USA program would be patterned after the G.I. Bill, first introduced as a well-earned benefit for veterans after World War II, and updated most recently in 2008 for veterans returning from post-9/11 conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 2008 version of the G.I. Bill provides a one-time opportunity for up to 36 months of education benefits, payable for 15 years following service members’ release from active duty. Veterans can earn full tuition and fees for in-state students at public colleges and universities, as well as stipends for housing, books, and supplies. Benefits for veterans going to private or foreign schools are capped at a national maximum rate. Some private institutions or outof-state schools, however, offer supplemental benefits to bridge the gap between in-state tuition rates and those charged to the student. (I reported on the 2008 G.I. Bill for Science magazine, during its Congressional debate and start-up.) The USA program would, like the GI Bill, offer a one-time benefit to participants, but with much tighter requirements and more limits. Workers from age 30 to 55 would be eligible for USA grants for 12 months to cover training classes, get an advanced degree, or enroll in online courses full time. Course work, books, and fees would be paid up to the level of in-state tuition or its equivalent at their state universities. To defray living costs while away from work, workers would also get unemployment benefits for that 12-month period. Employers would get tax breaks for extra costs incurred while the employee was away, such as hiring temporary help. For the program to work, however, employers and employees would need to carefully plan this experience, to best fit the employee's career goals and the employer's business needs. Both parties should spell out in detail the skills the employee develops while in the program. The more detailed that enumeration of skills the better – employer and employee know what to expect out of the experience, and

can use that detailed list of skills to evaluate educational options. What if the employee wants to take part in the USA program, but the employer isn't interested? The employee would have to ask some hard questions about the value of staying with that employer, balancing current income needs against future advancement. Participants could still exercise their one-year benefits after quitting their jobs, but it would require taking a risk of finding a new job that could use the skills learned in class.

For public colleges and universities, the USA program could be a well-needed boost. Like the GI Bill, it would provide institutions with a new pool of highlymotivated students, many from backgrounds not always found on today's campuses.

Institutions Must Deliver For public colleges and universities, the USA program could be a wellneeded boost. Like the GI Bill, it would provide institutions with a new pool of highly-motivated students, many from backgrounds not always found on today's campuses. The institutions, however, would need to deliver on building the skills sought by employees, since participants get only one shot at these benefits. In many cases, community colleges with industrial training departments may be better options. Given the recent disclosures of ineffective teaching and high-pressure sales tactics, for-profit colleges would need extra scrutiny before taking part. The USA program could solve a continuing problem voiced by American companies working in advanced technologies. As reported on my Science & Enterprise site in February 2015, the CEOs of Stanley Black and Decker and Siemens-USA told a Brookings Institution conference they had to establish training and apprenticeship classes at local community colleges to staff many of their well-paid highly technical jobs. These employers could use the USA program to train current staff or promising recruits for these jobs. Like the G.I. Bill, the USA program would offer workers and their employers opportunities, but not guarantees, of advancement and higher productivity. But given the challenges of advanced technology and global competition, those may be risks worth taking for both parties. ●

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alan Kotok is editor and publisher of Science & Enterprise, a web site reporting daily on the intersection of science and business. He previously served as managing editor of Science Careers, an online portal of Science magazine.

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The Graveyard Employment a Future of Jobs with each groundbreaking innovation labor becomes more obsolete while society benefits. By Bailey Piazza

ooking upon the graveyard of fluorescently lit cubicles abandoned by a generation of the tele-abled, the “new machine age” has revolutionized the way we work and demands a reevaluation of the Future of Jobs. With each groundbreaking innovation unleashed unto the world, labor becomes more and more obsolete while society benefits. Given the current trajectory, the journey to 2050 encroaches upon the job market with each new advancement in technology, economics, education, and war. A crowd of voices have attempted to define what the future of jobs looks like. On one side of the debate, Digital Optimists champion robots replacing humans in the workplace, resulting in human flourishing, as people will have more free time to do what they enjoy with more technology to benefit the entire world and bring individuals ➣ J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7 38

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➣ together. New York Times columnist Ross Douthat predicts “a society where leisure becomes universally accessible, where parttime jobs replace the regimented workweek, and where living standards keep rising even though more people have left the work force altogether.” Digital Pessimists, however, maintain that replacing human labor with robots will mean labor is no longer enough to achieve social mobility, the social gap will increase between those who have technological jobs and those who do not. Ethical thought will be at risk as more people focus on the next technological advancement and less on the impact it will have on humanity. David Thompson, senior editor at The Atlantic, sees “… an era of technological unemployment, in which computer scientists and software engineers essentially invent us out of work, and the total number of jobs declines steadily and permanently.” When predicting the future of the cybernetic world, the plot runs both ways: grand or grim. The Technological Dimension With over 47% of today’s jobs susceptible to computerization, we are confronted with the reality of a world where the majority of people are unemployed because of technology. This allows output of products to increase, prices to drop, volume/quality of products to exponentially increase in a state of abundance. In the case of the world’s most common jobs (i.e. retail, cashiers, clerks, and drivers), computerization of these jobs means scores of unemployed people who do not need to work anymore to survive. Without a 40-hour workweek to fulfill, humans have more time and resources to dedicate to innovation, and inventing better medical technology means we live longer, healthier lives. However, without an earned salary, there is no means to purchase the abundance of goods, even if prices are low. Humans loose a sense of purpose without work. In the case of Youngstown, Ohio, where once-ubiquitous manufacturing jobs shifted overseas, the sudden regional

economic depression resulted in a cultural collapse, breeding depression, suicide, spousal abuse, higher crime rates/incarcerations, and mental health cases. Limitless information technology can expedite the deterioration of our health as well, rewiring our brains to retrieve information quickly but not retain or deeply digest ideas, a condition similar to dementia patients. The Economic Dimension Offering labor in a 2050 machine market will be exceedingly difficult as computerization rivals human intelligence and efficiency. In 2008, approximately half of the 7.55 million jobs that disappeared in Europe were mid-wage positions. A society without work (and thus an earned income) will continue to drive down the median income, as it has been for the past 16 years by approximately three percent. This causes the socioeconomic gap to increase and inequality and polarization in the world’s societies to skyrocket. To reduce tremendous gaps between classes in the present day, Germany, Sweden, and Canada have provided universal/guaranteed national incomes (GNI), which other countries may replicate in the future. A GNI is an unconditional, regularly given lump sum of income to subsidize the existing capital flow of the individual. GNI can be provided either by the government or other public institutions to everyone, regardless of their bracket or means requirements. It replaces the welfare system with a simple, transparent, effective program, allowing people the freedom to buy what they need and want with the money they now have. A GNI could also reduce government paternalism in the lives of poorer people, who would now have to learn financial skills not available through in-kind aid. It is argued that under the guaranteed income system, the future economy can survive and technology will maintain its flourishing. People will continue to enjoy plentiful resources to buy and enjoy the J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7 40

constant creation of new technology, thus closing class gaps altogether. However, some democratic countries are heavily resistant to socialism making the likelihood of universal income laws being passed by government improbable. A guaranteed income could mean the collapse of social mobility with no means of promotion, locking people in a social class. A GNI is also an expensive undertaking, costing just the U.S., for example, $4.4 trillion. The Education Dimension Sixty-five percent of children entering primary school this year will ultimately end up working in completely new jobs that have yet to be created. To prepare young students for this still-invisible job market, educational systems will encounter substantial overhaul, computerizing classrooms and restructuring curricula. The past decade has seen a big push on STEM disciplines, since a constellation of actors—

In 2050, we can expect machinery like networks of Hyperloops around the world propelling travelers at 700 mph between cities via magnets. Clothing and prosthetics that give the human body new abilities will fly off department store shelves.

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from educators to employers—assert STEM will solve the unemployment problems many countries are facing. As a result, since 2007, there has been a 48% increase of university students majoring in STEM subjects. Echoing the evocations of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, while pushing children of the future to pursue STEM careers, society is in danger of starving the next generation intellectually by robbing them of the exposure to liberal arts. One UK study observes that kids who use their home Internet, play video games, or are otherwise fixated on a screen for more than four hours/day do not have the same sense of mental wellbeing, emotional/social intelligence, and ability to retain

information long-term as those who use that technology for less than an hour/day. With so much focus on the scientific and technological innovation of learning in the classroom, humanities are pushed to the background. As more dangerous technology is created, teaching ethics encourages students to question how technology could benefit/inhibit society. Backgrounds in political science, sociology, semantics, communications, human rights, and theology combined with software and computer engineering provide the technical and ethical backgrounds employers of the future will desire for the sake of the business and preservation of values irreplaceable by science.

Forward to 2050! In 2050, we can expect machinery like networks of Hyperloops around the world propelling travelers at 700 mph between cities via magnets. Clothing and prosthetics that give the human body new abilities will fly off department store shelves. Space expeditions will send people to Mars and beyond. Artificial intelligence, like Google’s Deepmind project, will mimic human consciousness, opening the doors to entirely new branches of technology. The economics of the PostEmployment World will challenge the way society makes, spends, and spreads capital. A new economic order will be established with China topping the charts and India rivaling among the top five global economies. With technological and economical advancement, our society must educate upcoming generations to adapt to a reshaping of culture, often heavily based on the religion of labor. Books will be fossilized as digitization claims their place. Children will experience a digital divide that limits intellectual capacity and the ability to understand why such technology was needed at all. Finally, as countries improve their military methods and equipment, the threat of such technology in possible war scenarios is a theoretical yet valid fear, especially as autonomous weapons are in the process of being banned before their prototypes have been finalized. The midcentury poses many woes and wonders for the world. Now is the time to prepare for and carefully co-create our world of 2050. ●

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Creating Tomorrow’s Talent Transporting Human Potential

In today’s economy, individuals are neither doomed to their starting ladder, nor able to stay on it if they desire to. By Saul Garlick

he global workforce is playing a game of chutes and ladders. Each of us starts on our own ground floor. Some start life towards the top, though most do not. In today’s economy, individuals are neither doomed to their starting ladder, nor able to stay on it if they desire to. Rather, every one of us is required to hop to other ladders– to collaborate, to iterate, to explore– to make progress.

As a result, our workforce continues to suffer. The 2016 US election reflected a widespread dissatisfaction with business as usual among working and middle class Americans that can be summed up in a word: frustration. Frustrated were the millions who felt that their economic gains were being taken from them in the form of higher prices on health care. Frustrated were the millions who feel encumbered by debt and have limited access to educational opportunities and J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7 42

career advancement. The same sentiment is felt throughout the world. There are hundreds of millions of people out of work who want a job while there are millions of jobs that go unfilled due to an unskilled workforce. The jobs-skills mismatch is threatening the fabric of democracy across the globe. The global skills gap, where the people looking for work lack the required skills for the available jobs and those looking to hire are unable to find ready talent, is the largest it has been in human history. We need a new vehicle to transport human potential from today’s ladder to tomorrow’s infinite possibilities. We need to innovate within the workplace, leveraging the power of technology to enable a solution, gather and analyze data, and work with the public sector and nongovernmental organizations to develop employee capacity. The urgency is for soft skills leadership, communication and collaboration to become common capabilities throughout the workforce. Here’s how the doomsday story reads if we fail to meet the moment: As the global population grows to a staggering 10 billion people by 2050, an overburdened education system will falter and the absolute number of individuals that lack the necessary skills to be competitive will rapidly rise. Meanwhile the connected and educated will continue to capture value, selling and reselling to the ➣

T O M O R R O W â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S TA L E N T

The global skills gap, where the people looking for work lack the required skills for the available jobs and those looking to hire are unable to find ready talent, is the largest it has been in human history.

D I P L O M AT I C O U R I E R .c o m T O M O R R O W ’ S TA L E N T

➣ wealthy but desperately seeking new markets where populations are expanding, not shrinking or stagnant. Major firms will want to make money by operating in Africa, South Asia or Latin America but wages in those places will have stagnated because the value an employee with few skills can provide will never justify substantial raises. Just the same, the population gets larger, less educated by percentage, and ultimately, the world ends up with a frustrated youth population that deems its future hopeless. Unemployment grows from 95 million to 500 million in short order as more people are left out of the exclusive club of critical thinkers and soft-skill doers. Come to think of it, hasn’t this story been the seed of every revolution or global disruption caused by terrorists and insurgents? The alternative is more compelling and can be solved through creativity and the application of simple technology solutions in the appropriate learning context to meet low skilled workers where they are, and upskill them. Take the example of a distributor of healthcare products in the developing world. With smartphones, employees can get continuous training on the job, starting in positions that require basic skills or even experiencing immersive learning programs at the beginning of their job to get daily guidance and learning by doing. This type of learning will not only add new skills to the employee’s repertoire, it will empower them to further engage in their work and build loyalty and commitment around the firm while reducing turnover that costs firms millions in retraining and recruitment efforts. This will be particularly critical for the millions of jobs that require soft skills, ethics and collaboration. Most of the talk around education innovation assumes that employees need to show up prepared to conquer the tasks at hand – after all you are paying them to bring value to the firm. The thinking goes that if we can create colleges, universities or vocational training programs that are better, leaner and freer then we can prepare the massive and growing population

for tomorrows workforce. Spotted across the developing world are institutes, universities, conferences, programs and trainings that are designed to prepare otherwise unprepared individuals for jobs that pay a decent wage. This logic is actually getting in the way of profit and some sectors are getting wise to this reality. There are high skilled positions that do not benefit from 4 years of a college education. Not surprisingly, disruption is coming from the tech sector. Rather than complete 4 years of college, some tech schools teach coding for 6 months at an affordable rate and build job acquisition into the program itself. Those who don’t get jobs don’t pay for the education. This feels materially similar to the vocational training model applied to high skills work (coding) but also integrates seamlessly with the jobs of the future. Consider the prestigious rotational programs offered at many of the world’s largest firms from IBM to Johnson and Johnson and even governments like the US Department of State. In each of these places of work, high potential individuals are given the opportunity to work within different departments of the same company, hopping from ladder to ladder for two years, and developing a set of cross-departmental skills that

make them more valuable as strategic thinkers and more networked across the firm. When I founded Unleesh, I knew there was a massive problem that needed to be solved that began with the dignity of a job. Unleesh is a technology platform in the form of a web and mobile app, on a mission to solve the global skills gap. The problem is borderless and reaches every industry. Unleesh recognizes its role and responsibility as a convener of partnerships that bring together brilliant 21st century learning content, data analytics and investment in partnerships with corporations, governments, non-profits, academia, and others to make sure that every person who wants a job gets a job that they will, ultimately, earn. By using Unleesh as a technology platform, companies, governments and NGOs can supplant the traditional expectations around job readiness and build that capacity internally and to their specific requirements. The collection of data from employee learning uncovers myriad opportunities for speeding up the learning process, upskilling workers to leapfrog into roles that they are not yet qualified for. The ability to engage populations regardless of geography opens the door for empowering women and engaging populations that have been left behind by traditional education systems. The only resource on earth that is unlimited is human potential. No government or company can afford to be left behind. ●

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

When I founded Unleesh, I knew there was a massive problem that needed to be solved that began with the dignity of a job.

J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7 44

Saul Garlick is an internationally respected entrepreneur and leader who had the idea for the workforce development technology platform, Unleesh, while sitting in a rural village in Africa during a program with another company he founded, ThinkImpact, where he currently serves as Chairman. He also serves as President of More Than Me, which is building a public charter school network in Liberia. Saul is a Truman Scholar, an Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30 entrepreneur, a top 9 Young Foreign Policy Leader under 33 by the Diplomatic Courier, and a speaker for the U.S. Department of State.

KPMG supports the Global Goals for Sustainable Development KPMG works to lift people out of poverty, build resilience, and help ensure sustainable economic growth. kpmg.com/IDAS

© 2016 KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. Member firms of the KPMG network of independent firms are affiliated with KPMG International. KPMG International provides no client services. No member firm has any authority to obligate or bind KPMG International or any other member firm vis-à-vis third parties, nor does KPMG International have any such authority to obligate or bind any member firm. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. The KPMG name and logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of KPMG International. NDPPS 612252

D I P L O M AT I C O U R I E R .c o m ALL-INCLUSIVE WORKFORCE

Emerging Technologies Will Achieve Emplo new Tech will not only help people with disabilities enter the workforce, it will make disability obsolete. By Lauren Maffeo

ou would be forgiven for worrying that a robot might steal your job. Entrepreneur Daniel Nadler predicts that between 33 and 50 percent of financiers will lose their jobs to automation software by 2026. And U.S. President Barack Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s February 2016 economic report to Congress showed an 0.83 median probability that the lowestpaid workers will see their jobs be automated. But what if emerging technologies are actually the key to increase employment for those who have often been excluded from the workforce? A new report published by Gartner makes the case that techniques like voice recognition and machine vision will not only help people with disabilities enter the workforce they will make disability obsolete. â&#x17E;Ł

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ALL-INCLUSIVE WORKFORCE

yment Equity for People with Disabilities

D I P L O M AT I C O U R I E R .c o m ALL-INCLUSIVE WORKFORCE

➣ In Maverick Research: From Disability to Superability, Society and the Workplace Are Changing (content available to Gartner clients), authors Melanie Lougee, Andrew Johnson, and Pete Basiliere write that people with disabilities are benefiting from diverse technologies that are being adapted to their unique needs. This is occurring alongside cultural shifts that prioritize diversity and flexible work. Their projected end result is that emerging technologies will allow 350 million people with disabilities to enter the global workforce over the next decade. “The International Labour Organization estimates that there are 785 million people of working age (15 to 59 years old) with disabilities,” the report reads. “160 million currently participate in the workforce. 350 million could participate given advances in technology.” If this forecast proves to be correct, emerging technologies will help the global workforce employ a total of 520 million people with disabilities. This number would match the general population’s workforce participation rate. Lougee is quick to clarify that she believes the issue of technology as a threat to jobs is a separate issue from equally employing people with disabilities. The report also admits that growth will be slow at first, and employment of people with disabilities will vary depending on which countries and sectors people work in. But Lougee also believes that the rise of remote work - coupled with growth in certain sectors and increased emphasis on diversity initiatives - offers new ways to grow the talents of people with disabilities. “If certain job markets grow or decline, the impact to both [people with disabilities] and people without disabilities would be the same,” Lougee explains. “So if technology prompts a decline in low-skilled jobs or growth in other areas, everyone would be impacted the same. “The jobs [for people with disabilities] may not come primarily from low-skilled jobs if those opportunities shrink, but there could

The jobs [for people with disabilities] may not come primarily from low-skilled jobs if those opportunities shrink, but there could be a lot more growth from jobs that can now be done remotely.

be a lot more growth from jobs that can now be done remotely. Customer service reps, freelancers, or claims processors are all high growth job markets which could all be supported by now available accessibility technologies.” The concept of disability defines the intersection between human limitations and societal barriers. Disabilities range from genetic disorders that begin in utero (like Down syndrome) to physical injuries later in life (like losing a limb in a car crash). It therefore follows that the technologies and processes used to assist people with disabilities at work will be equally diverse. This is not an abstract idea with no proof of concept. Some tools and workforce initiatives are helping people with disabilities prosper at work today. “HR software vendors are already moving beyond the bare minimum of meeting compliance standards by including features such as voice controlled self-service transactions or virtual reality adapters,” Lougee says. “There is also a proliferation of highly innovative apps being built out for iOS and Android devices that can perform a variety of functions such as translating impaired speech to easily recognizable speech (Talkitt) or translating visual to audio (Aipoly).” Examples of balancing apprentice training for in-demand roles with holistic HR practices also exist today. J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7 48

The Gartner report cites Autism at Work - a program launched by enterprise software giant SAP - as one example. In 2013, SAP partnered with Danish company Specialisterne to help design and find candidates for the Autism at Work program. Specialisterne provides software testing, quality control, and data conversion for businesses. The company also teaches these same skills to people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Together, SAP and Specialisterne designed a holistic program to recruit, onboard, provide peer networks, and offer support to people with ASD. Three years later, SAP has hired more than 100 people with ASD to work in roles across HR, finance, IT, and marketing. One of them filed for a patent within one year of employment. The report’s most bold claim is its assertion that emerging technologies will erase the concept of disability. The cost of such technologies has already dropped drastically; mechanical hands can now be 3D-printed from home for a mere $25. And Gartner’s 2016 Hype Cycle for Human-Machine Interface predicts that many of the most crucial technologies - including gesture control devices and emotion recognition - will reach mainstream status within 10 years. Mainstream technologies become more affordable and widely integrated into other popular tech tools. Both factors are crucial for people with disabilities. All of this will lead technology to do the opposite of what many fear: create new employment opportunities and mitigate disabilities via mass adoption. Rather than worrying what machines will take, we should create new tools and nurture company cultures to harness untapped opportunities. ●

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lauren Maffeo covers trends in the project management, finance, and accounting software industries for GetApp, a Gartner company. She focuses her research on strategies and tools to help small and midsize businesses create unique value. Lauren previously covered technology trends for The Guardian and The Next Web.

Where nations connect Effective diplomacy requires influence and in DCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s international circles no place says influence like the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. Whether an economic summit, trade negotiation or a private diplomatic affair, our international trade experts and expansive network of leaders enable embassies and governments to amplify their message and strengthen their impact, locally and globally. Expand your reach. Grow your influence with us.

D I P L O M AT I C O U R I E R .c o m A W O R L D O F O P P O RT U N I T I E S

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A W O R L D O F O P P O RT U N I T I E S

A World of Change: A World of Opportunities The ongoing “digital revolution” forces us, both as a society, as well as individuals, to welcome permanent change if we want to secure our welfare and prosperity. Editorial by Dr. Lino Guzzella

“I

f we want everything to stay as it is, everything must change.” This famous statement from Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel “il Gattopardo” – a story that unfolds in mid-nineteenthcentury Sicily – still bears some truth today. The ongoing “digital revolution” forces us, both as a society, as well as individuals, to welcome permanent change if we want to secure our welfare and prosperity. Technology impacts our daily life and the world of labor more than ever before autonomous systems take over some aspects of our lives, artificial intelligence provides us with cognitive assistants, and co-operative robots interact with industry workers. ➣

D I P L O M AT I C O U R I E R .c o m A W O R L D O F O P P O RT U N I T I E S

➣ Everything and everyone is connected in such a way that data gathering on a massive scale is ubiquitous. Not everyone reacts with optimism to these developments. The scope, and particularly the speed, at which change occurs fosters feelings of fear and insecurity among a growing number of people. Several studies and books about the impact of advancing technology on society, predict a substantial loss of jobs in the decades to come. Will automation eliminate more than half of the existing jobs over the next 20 years as some scholars suggest? How many white collar jobs are also at stake if advanced algorithms and artificial intelligence encroach upon economic sectors and professions? Will we eventually end up in a post-employment society? We may argue with the economist Joseph Schumpeter that economic progress is inevitably linked to creative destruction. Fortunately, all industrial revolutions have, thus far, created more new jobs than destroyed old ones and all major technological shifts have brought us economic wealth. However, the question remains: Is what emerges on the horizon just a continuation of the past? Or, is tomorrow’s digitized world a sui generis phenomenon that defies comparison with former industrial revolutions? No one really knows the socioeconomic magnitude of the digital revolution or how it will impact society in 20 - 30 years, but we all surely agree that our traditional perception of privacy, social interaction, and labor need to be revised in order to fit into the digitally-connected society we are morphing into. It is important to note, at this stage, that we are not helpless creatures at the mercy of a change orchestrated by a Deus Ex Machina. We are both subjects and agents of this change. This is where the higher education system comes into play. I am deeply convinced that, if we do it right, education is and will remain the key to how we handle the future. We must review our curricula, question our teaching methods in the light of

The content of education is one thing. The question“How we can ensure cognition and understanding?” is no less challenging to answer in the digital age.

easily accessible and vast information sources, and grow demand for creativity and ingenuity. Data, in its digital form, becomes an abundant commodity available everywhere, all of the time, and at a near-zero transaction cost. Thus, the digital revolution is not just something that affects others, but it defies a university’s core mission and forces us to rethink the most noble of our tasks – how to educate people and prepare them in the best way that we can for their professional careers. What skill sets are needed to remain indispensable as human beings in the age of automation? Which competencies should we equip our students with to be able to take advantage of future robots with cognitive algorithms? I am convinced that we need to encourage critical and creative thinking among our students. We need to teach them how to think and how to act in an entrepreneurial way and how to foster intercultural communication skills. It is well understood that there should be no compromise in the mastery of mathematics and natural sciences in a technical education; however, we must, as educators, emphasize the promotion of human qualities and foster the growth of these qualities in our young people. At ETH Zurich we launched a Critical Thinking Initiative to reform and develop our curricula J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7 52

in this direction. I am convinced that the combination of a rock-solid methodical competence along with critical and creative thinking is the best possible preparation for our graduates to benefit from the changes to come. The content of education is one thing. The question“How we can ensure cognition and understanding?” is no less challenging to answer in the digital age. The rise of online platforms in recent years has sparked a lot of enthusiasm in some parts of the world and, of course, we have been joyfully experimenting with gamification, MOOC’s, flipped classrooms, and other forms of shared content distribution and knowledge transfer. As a long-time and passionate educator it is my firm belief that beyond all of the technological means and communication tools available there really is no substitute for the learning experience achieved when human beings engage each other. An ideal model would not replace humans, but rather, enhance their ingenuity with technology. I agree with Erik Brynjolsfsson and Andrew McAffee* that “technology creates possibilities and potential, but ultimately, the future we get will depend on the choices we make.” We need to engage in a dialog with various stakeholders and beyond national boundaries. I am therefore very pleased that ETH Zurich co-hosts the Global Talent Summit with the Diplomatic Courier on January 14, 2017. This summit brings together inspirational leaders from industry policy and academia to address one of the most pressing issues of society: how we can prepare future generations for a world full of opportunities to better the human condition. ● *E. Brynjolfsson, A. McAfee in “The Second Machine Age“, p 256, 2016. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Professor Dr. Lino Guzzella is President of ETH Zurich. Professor Guzzella is a fellow of IFAC, a fellow of IEEE, and a member of the Swiss academy of engineering sciences (SATW).

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D I P L O M AT I C O U R I E R .c o m A U G M E N T E D C R E AT I V I T Y

Game Technology Inspires Creativity in Zurich ETH Zurich researchers in game technology collaborate with Disney Research Zurich to bring a bit of sparkle into the lives of children and adults. Reminding us of the intrinsic need for play, they provide novel digital technologies to enhance traditional experiences in a new realm called, “augmented creativity.” By Marianne Lucien

hen artist Edvard Munch, experimenting with different media, produced four versions of The Scream, he inspired innumerable creative adaptations, making the composition among the most well-known in the world. Imagine an app that enables the “inner child” in all of us to create real-time adaptations of portraits – changing the size of the subject’s eyes, altering the hairstyle, reshaping the nose or mouth, and, with just the tap of a finger, transforming the texture and color of a painting. Bob Sumner, who heads up ETH Zurich’s Game Technology Center, finds that “some of the most satisfying endeavors in life happen when you think about putting children first.” This is exactly what Sumner and his research team did when they developed their latest prototype: an app that uses digital technology ➣

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A U G M E N T E D C R E AT I V I T Y

D I P L O M AT I C O U R I E R .c o m A U G M E N T E D C R E AT I V I T Y

➣ to make the experience of visiting an art museum more playful and interesting – perhaps even magical. Fun Is the Future We have all seen it: technology so intuitive that even toddlers can figure out how to swipe a mobile phone screen in search of their favorite game app. In Zurich, and other cities around the world, teenagers favor communicating with their friends via Snapchat rather than actually speaking face-to-face. Commuter trains are filled with silent adults – heads down, eyes fixed on small displays. When physical interaction with the environment is such an important part of the human experience, we have to ask, “As passive consumers of digital content, are we losing touch with reality?” Researchers at ETH Zurich – the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich – in collaboration with Disney Research, envision a magical world in which augmented reality enhances creative play in a novel concept they refer to as augmented creativity. “We are living in an interesting time,” says Sumner. “Like the development of the smartphone, I believe augmented creativity is the next era.” Sumner conceptualizes augmented reality as a vehicle for providing a magical overlay to enhance creative play. For Sumner, the potential for gaming extends far beyond entertainment: “Fun is the future,” he says. Gaming for Insight For more than a decade, Swiss game developers have been sweeping up awards at international gaming conferences and garnering the attention of Swiss Federal Councilors, who called for an initiative to support game development in Switzerland. As a result, the Game Technology Center opened its doors in 2015. “Gaming really has the potential to help us study human behavior and apply this knowledge to some of the world’s most difficult problems,” says Fabio Zünd, Managing Director. Take the massive multiplayer game Gnome Trader, for example, where players buy and sell food from

When a smartphone or tablet’s camera is pointed at a small instrument card, it begins to play a song. Users can put a whole band together by adding other cards – a calypso drum, for example – to experiment with or enhance a musical style.

gnomes who magically appear in mailboxes all over Zurich in a virtual trading economy driven by supply and demand. “It’s more than just a game,” says Zünd. “Data gathered from player’s choices within the virtual economy provide us with insight into the economics of real-world financial trading.” The team also works with Minecraft, a game that can be played on multiple platforms, where young J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7 56

players not only build their own virtual communities, but they also administer the game’s servers. As server admins they learn how to exercise decisionmaking skills that foster positive behaviors in a virtual environment, while at the same time affording researchers insight into how society shapes real-world communities. The Brain on Play Gamification involves more than just virtual environments and a motivation to win. Studies on reinforcement and learning identify how our neurons work together to make decisions – revealing that physiological sensation, kinesthetic adaptation, and risk calculation light up the brain at play as the neurotransmitter dopamine signals pathways that reward behavior. Stéphane Magnenat confirms, “Humans have an intrinsic curiosity for learning.” Magnenat, a Senior Researcher who works with Sumner and Zünd, explores algorithms to build games that optimize learning in a magical state of flow or focused concentration – much like the magic we experience when listening to inspiring music or engrossed in playing a video game. According to Magnenat, the “flow point” – the equilibrium between the level of challenge and personal skill –

A U G M E N T E D C R E AT I V I T Y

is the point where the most efficient learning takes place. Brain Runners, a specially developed brain–computer interface (BCI) game, recently demonstrated the concept of optimized flow at the world’s first Cybathlon, held in Zurich. The BCI game, developed by researchers at the ETH Zurich Sensory Motor Systems Lab in collaboration with René Bauer and Ulrich Goetz, Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), enabled competitors with spinal cord injuries to control the movement of an avatar in a real-time video game. Using only concentrated thoughts, electrodes connected to signal amplifiers measured players’ brain signals and transmitted this information to their avatars, propelling them along the racetrack alongside other competitors. The Magic of Algorithms While controlling an avatar with your thoughts may seem magical, wait until you learn about the technologies that make 2D coloring book characters come to life. Zünd revealed that the research team has developed two unique technologies in collaboration with Disney Research Zurich to enable their augmented-reality coloring book. The first was a texture transfer

process that generates a real-time transfer from a flat 2D surface to a 3D model by creating a lookup map which copies in existing pixels from a drawing. It allows coloring enthusiasts to see a full 3D view of their characters and alter the view with new colors and textures in real time. The team developed the new algorithm specifically for artists to generate and map a figure automatically. Second, since traditional tracking algorithms for augmented reality only work with flat image markers, the team created a deformable surface-tracking algorithm that accommodates the curvature of a page bound within a book. Great potential exists for this algorithm to impact future applications in the visual computing field. Demonstrating the coloring book, filled with octopuses, sumo wrestlers, and elephants, Zünd selected a two-dimensional outline of a character that the team named Hannah, and with a felt-tip marker, he added texture and color to her dress. When Zünd held the tablet over the coloring book page, Hannah magically came alive in full 3D form. She looked down at the new color on her dress – and with an animated expression that can only be described as pure delight, she began to dance and spin around. Music to My Ears Exploring more than just visual experiences and decision-making processes, researchers at the Game Technology Center have also delved into auditory senses, creating an app that brings both coloring book and adapted portrait caricatures together to create music. “The important thing is that you don’t have to be a musician or know anything about musical theory, you can combine instruments or music styles arbitrarily and, in a playful way, explore a song,” says Zünd. When a smartphone or tablet’s camera is pointed at a small instrument card, it begins to play a song. Users can put a whole band together by adding other cards – a calypso drum, for example – to experiment with or enhance a musical style. Markers on the cards,

on the coloring book, and on the portraits, represent an instrument or even a voice, so when Hannah joined the band, we heard a woman’s voice chime in. Just like at a live concert, the volume increases or decreases depending on how far away your device is from the band. The interactive nature of augmented creativity allows children to exploit the intuitive interaction capabilities of this prototype and explore the world of music. Augmented Creativity In 2050? For thousands of years, humans have been developing tools to express themselves creatively. The Lascaux cave paintings, estimated to be more than 17,000 years old, are some of the earliest forms of creative human expression and also among the earliest images to be shared digitally when the world began accessing the Internet. “More recently, since the advent of computers we have created digital tools that seem like magic compared to what was possible only 15 years ago,” says Sumner. So, what will augmented creativity mean in 2050? Will life and learning be all fun and games? More importantly, will technology still seem magical? Let’s hope so. ●

D I P L O M AT I C O U R I E R .c o m DETROITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FUTURE

Why Detroit is Built to Succeed: Looking at Detroitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Past to See Its Future

Detroit a city formed at the intersection of cultures and geography, and the city has long been at the forefront of innovation and responsible capitalism. By Marc A. Ross

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DETROIT’S FUTURE

here is no doubt as the world becomes more productive, we are all entering post-employment societies. This can be terrifying as it appears more and more people will no longer be needed to create goods. Even with this knowledge, I remain optimistic, and I look at my hometown for inspiration. By looking at Detroit's past, I can see its future and proudly suggest the city of Detroit is built to succeed in this new environment. I believe this for two essential reasons: it is a city formed at the intersection of cultures and geography, and the city has long been at the forefront of innovation and responsible capitalism. Detroit Is at the Intersection of Cultures and Geography Few cities anywhere in the world share Detroit’s 315-year history. This city which has been shaped equally by geography as the gateway to the Great Lakes as well by the cultures of the people who called the region home, be it Native Americans, French, British, or Americans. Settled in 1701 by the French, the city was named Le Détroit du Lac Érié, meaning the strait of Lake Erie. On the shores of this strait between now Michigan and Ontario and the Great Lakes of Erie and Huron, the French founded a settlement called Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit. Working this crossroads of land and water, the region developed a lucrative fur trade between the French colonists and Native Americans. ➣

D I P L O M AT I C O U R I E R .c o m DETROIT’S FUTURE

were the citizens of Detroit, a geometric street plan would be built for the modest city based on the layout of the grand boulevards of Paris. So important was this intersection of cultures and geography, even today Detroit’s city flag reflects its French, British, and American heritage. As Detroit looks to future, it can draw on its historical formation at the crossroads of cultures and geography for guidance. For cities to succeed going forward, they must develop committed efforts to think globally and maximize the use of their culturally diverse communities to gain the full benefits of global markets. Detroit’s long history of building on numerous cultures as well as taking advantage of its geography make it well positioned to succeed in a new post-employment world.

➣ During the French and Indian War in North America, British troops gained control of the settlement in 1760 and shortened the name of the city to Detroit. At the war’s conclusion, in defeat, the France ceded its territory in North America east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. Following the American Revolutionary War, Great Britain ceded Detroit to the United States coupled with the Jay Treaty of 1796 established the northern border with Canada. During the War of 1812, Detroit switched between British and American control as each side looked for military advantage to gain control of the Great Lakes. At the war’s conclusion, Detroit was duly incorporated as an American city in 1815 where it remains today. With peace and firm American control, the city expanded. The citizens of Detroit were determined to build a significant and substantial city at this unique intersection of water and land. Even the massive fire in 1805 that engulfed many of the wooden structures of the city couldn’t hold Detroit down. So determined

With Detroit’s success as an innovate engineering and manufacturing city, companies were able to take advantage of their economic windfalls and be responsible capitalists.

The Detroit flag incorporates each country that once controlled the city. The lower left quarter represents France with five gold fleurs-de-lis. The upper right quarter represents Great Britain with three gold lions. The lower right and upper left quarters use 13 red and white stripes and stars respectively to represent the original thirteen colonies of the United States.

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Detroit has long been at the forefront of innovation and responsible capitalism Detroit has been at the cutting edge of engineering and manufacturing innovation for over 100 years. In 1903, Henry Ford famously founded the Ford Motor Company and made exceptional use of the assembly line, unlike anything the world had seen before. In addition to other automotive pioneers such William Durant, the Dodge Brothers, Henry Joy, and Walter Chrysler, Detroit was established as the clear global automotive capital. The growth of the auto industry was felt far beyond Detroit. Businesses around the nation created garages to service vehicles and gas stations to fuel up cars, as well as the building numerous factories to make auto parts, glass windows, and rubber tires. Furthermore, this multi-state, multiplant ecosystem was a precursor to the complex global supply chains that we all benefit from today. Without the innovations created in Detroit over a century ago, raw commodity products sourced anywhere in the world could not be easily designed into userfriendly jackets, automobiles, smartphones, or jumbo-jets. It is not a stretch to say without Detroit our

DETROIT’S FUTURE

modern wouldn’t exist and wouldn’t be as efficient. With Detroit’s success as an innovate engineering and manufacturing city, companies were able to take advantage of their economic windfalls and be responsible capitalists. In 1914, Ford announced that it would pay its factory workers a minimum wage of $5 per eight-hour day. The news shocked many in the auto industry as $5 per day was nearly double what the average auto worker made. In 1926 the company went a step further, as the company adopted a five-day, 40-hour work week for workers in its automotive factories. Henry Ford said of the decision: “It is high time to rid ourselves of the notion that leisure for workmen is either ‘lost time’ or a class privilege.” Both moves were brilliant management as productivity immediately boosted. These two steps of fair wages and more time off have become ubiquitous globally and now impact every sector of the economy. As the fourth-largest city in the American Midwest and the largest city on the United States–Canada border, Detroit is positioned well for the

future. As a standalone economy, Detroit's economy is larger than Chile and would easily be one of the world's fifth largest economies. Today there are over 100 technology startups who call Detroit home. As Recode reports, in 2014, for the first time, there was more venture capital activity in Detroit than Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan. According to national education data analyzed by Anderson Economic Group, 10,000 STEM degrees are awarded annually around the Detroit region, which is more than Silicon Valley and nearly 15 percent of Metro Detroit jobs are already in technology. The city of Detroit is built to succeed in the new post-employment environment because of the city’s history of maximizing cultures and geography as well as building upon its innovation and responsible capitalism leadership. It is not a stretch to say without Detroit our modern wouldn’t exist and wouldn’t be as efficient. So the next time someone tells you Detroit isn’t working, say Detroit is succeeding and impacting their life positively daily.

Also, look back to the Detroit flag and note the two Latin mottos. One which reads Speramus Meliora and the other Resurget Cineribus, meaning "We hope for better things" and "It will rise from the ashes.” With these mottos powering the city, I believe Detroit is well positioned to resume its claim as one of the world’s greatest cities. No one should underestimate the energy and the drive which has been unleashed just three years after declaring bankruptcy. Not only is remarkable, but Detroit should be inspiring to other cities who can see a path on how to adjust to new global competitive challenges and opportunities. ●

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Marc A. Ross was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and is a University of Michigan football season ticket holder. Marc is currently the founder of Caracal Global, a full-service communications and public affairs firm, as well as Brigadoon, a yearly gathering of entrepreneurs and thought-leaders. You can follow Marc on Twitter @marcaross.

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Global Talent Development Can Be Enhanced Through International STEM Teacher Exchange and Collaboration Talent development is a lifelong continuum of formal, informal, and experiential learning and honing of skills. By Anders Hedberg

nowledge about the economy is very important to all of us. In fact, understanding what influences world economy is considered to be so important that, since 1969 it has its own designated Nobel Prize alongside with medicine, chemistry, physics, literature and peace. Only a few highly specialized scholars may fully understand the complex relationships that affect world economic forces. However, a simple relationship is common knowledge to all: When people apply their talent, knowledge and skills to invent, manufacture and trade goods and services, they directly and indirectly affect economic trends. So, it follows that global talent development is closely related to the global economy. Talent development is a lifelong continuum of formal, informal and experiential learning and honing of skills. It includes the application and practice of competencies with productive feedback from teachers, trainers and team members, and it never ends. Our modern society relies on the responsibility of formal education institutions to give students a firm foundation for this process so it can continue in the workplace, â&#x17E;Ł J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7 62

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â&#x17E;Ł where one of the one of the most highly valued competencies is innovation. Among the many scholastic fields, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), have been closely tied to indicators of innovation, and are therefore critical for economic development in all countries and for trade in the global marketplace. There is strong evidence that K-12 inquiry-based , experiential learning leads to increased student achievement (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), supporting the notion that student interest, engagement and comprehension increases when content and pedagogy is relevant for dealing with real life, day-to-day scenarios and practical problem solving. This paper explores the central role of STEM learning, as a means of K-12 talent development, and opportunities that exist to accelerate international collaboration in the area of competency development of teachers. While the acromyn STEM stands for four key subjects in education, the use of this term implies considerably more than merely an organizational principle for coordination of curriculum and instruction in these subject areas. So, What is STEM? Since its introduction in the first years of the new century, STEM has become one of the most powerful drivers of change in US K-12 education. Under President Obama's administration, multi-million dollar grant programs have been launched in support of STEM education in the US, and in large part as a consequence of that, vast numbers of new non- and for profit enterprises are now dedicated to promote, assist and improve this area of education. Most of these business entities direct their services to students and teachers. Some specialize in assisting corporations in their charitable education outreach, and some offer assistance to parents and other STEM education stakeholders. In order to support their particular business objectives, this multitude of organizations has introduced a wide range of definitions

Having acknowledged the importance of close communication and collaboration between the education and workplace sectors, it follows that this is equally important at the international level as at the national and regional levels.

of the term STEM, contributing more to confusion than clarification of the actual meaning. While these recent developments have occured in the education sector, it is intersesting to note that, over the past 50 years, changes in the workplace sector of the economy have taken place driven by science, technology, engineering and math. This evolution of workplace behavior has largely been determined by forces of global competitive innovation, technical development, communication and economy. Interestingly, this powerful and sweeping change was never labeled by a specific collective term. However, now viewed in the light of the educational imperative, it can contribute an important new definition of the term STEM. STEM is the generic organizational and individual, multidisciplinary behavior which leads to innovation and increased productivity, regardless of the final product or service. This definition is deliberately so broad and general that it describes the process used to transform early ideas into marketable products by all enterprises, from very small to extremely large, simple manufacturing and highly technical, widget producers and conceptual advisory service J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7 64

providers alike, privately operated, governmental and local as well as global business. Effective â&#x20AC;?STEM behaviorâ&#x20AC;?entails information transfer, use of tools, templates and technology, accumulation of experience as well as procedures for planning and coordination, evaluation and projection, trade, investment, management and administration. Defined this way, STEM is both omnipresent and invisible, specific and general, tangible and elusive. Yet, every workplace can describe it in their own terms. Most importantly, every employer can describe it in terms of what their employees must know and be able to do. This leads to an inescapable conclusion, namely that the education and workplace sectors - the former preparing the talent that the latter needs and employs - stand to gain significant mutual benefits from a close collaboration and frequent communication. Yet, such collaboration is still a relatively rare occurance, both in the US and abroad. Who Drives STEM in Education? Having acknowledged the importance of close communication and collaboration between the education and workplace sectors, it follows that this is equally important at the international level as at the national and regional levels. This brings us back to the question of how to strengthen the outcomes of international exchange between educational leaders. First, with a keen eye to the recent years' PISA reports and learnings from Singapore, Hong Kong and Finland, among other leadership nations, the value of the teaching profession cannot be overestimated. Hence, it makes good sense from every perspective to invest in the leadership capacity of the classroom teacher. This is the professional who is best positioned to translate the STEMbased workplace reality to the circumstances suited for student learning in the classroom environment. He/she is also the person outside the home, responsible for laying down a foundation, on which students will build their readiness for global citizenry.

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The idea of placing the teacher in focus of education improvement is anything but novel. It is in fact so commonplace that it rarely leads to an engaging debate among stakeholders. OECD reporting has convincingly concluded that quality teaching is closely correlated with the status of the profession, as perceived by both the teachers themselves and other education stakeholders. This, in turn is related to the degree of influence that the individual teacher has on his/her day to day work in the classroom, even if this is closely regulated by the national education plan, framworks and education standards. The teaching profession, with all its influential factors is no less complex than any other, and equally dependent on talent. Consider the three Rs of talent management. First Recruitment. Suffice it to say that any job, widely regarded as important and hence fairly compensated and well supported, will attract discerning candidates able to compete based on competence. Second, the Reward for a job well done must be proportional to the value to all stakeholders. Rewards are not only measured in monetary units. In fact, the millennial generation is often said to confer greater importance to other expressions, including opportuny for personal development, flexible working conditions and respect of the individual's need for family and life qualities. Finally, Retention of competent professionals depends on how they are valued as individual contributors, and the degree to which professional support and workplace circumstances reflect this value. Having concluded that teachers are the primary drivers of effective STEM education, it is logical to focus our attention and efforts on their development as professional STEM specialists as a step towards increased job satisfaction. Why Is STEM Education Important Everywhere? Each of the four STEM disciplines are globally recognized both in theory and practice, bridging over

whose ambitions may not include international careers, can also be greatly helped by having strong STEM skills. Offering cross-cultural role model. The STEM teacher can be an exmplary role model in both scenarios. Skilled K-12 STEM teachers who themselves represent foreign cultures in the context of the classroom, can collaborate closely with ”native” colleagues in modelling effective STEM problem solving across disciplinary lines. For a young, active learner nothing is more inspiring than engaging role models who bring relevance to the classroom experience.

geographical borders as well as language and cultural barriers. This perspective is not obvious from the vantage point of the K-12 classroom, but it is important that teachers of STEM are able to effectively convey this to their students. There are several important reasons for this: Developing global citizens. In today’s world of people movement, both voluntary and forced, children are increasingly exposed to foreign languages and cultures early in life. They need to be able to learn together and collaborate with each other both in and out of school, and STEM offers unique opportunities both for building individual confidence and respect for others’ skills and abilities. In preparing children for adult life in tomorrow’s world we must absolutely introduce them early to the complexities of global citizenry. Increasing International competitiveness. Later in life, STEM knowledge, skills and behavior are powerful competencies that can help an individual gain competitive advantage in job applications, already from graduation. The importance of STEM knowledge transfer may be obvious for professionals seeking international opportunities. However, for young persons living in countries with uncertain futures, and

How Do We Reach Across the Globe? Globalization is predominantly a function of international trade, which in turn is driven by business and industry. Hence, the network of international corporate connectivity offers a natural scaffold for international education initiatives. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs often have an education component, typically focused on the communities where they operate, but not infrequently also foster national and international leadership development. Multinational corporations have a stake in the global STEM talent pipeline since they employ people in several countries and rely of their staff’s ability to collaborate across borders. These companies are organized as international networks, designed to make effective use of supply lines for R&D and manufacturing and to distribute products and services to all customers, all while operating on shared company values. Such international networks can be effective conduits of workplaceconnected K-12 STEM learning. Further, the network of engineering academies is an important link between education/academia and the corporate sector that can help advance public and private interests in innovation, engineering and manufacturing. Frequently, members of these academies are appointed from among the corporate roster ➣

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➣ of leaders. It is therefore no surprise that engineering academies are thoroughly familiar with the operational principles of large corporations. For this reason, these academies are highly valuable partners to national education leaders and multinational corporations who offer CSR programs with focus on education and talent development. How Can We Help STEM Teachers Drive Global Talent Development? First, to summarize a few key issues: ● Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, which underpin innovation, are of vital importance for our future citizenry and economic growth everywhere. ● Teachers are at the most important drivers of STEM education. ● STEM is firmly anchored in business and industry, and increased collaboration with education will result in mutual benefits. ● Strengthened collaboration over international STEM education will befit all nations. Building on this, I propose that that leaders in national STEM education (regardless of country), corporate social responsibility programs and international academy networks collaborate to advance international STEM teacher connection and exchange. To break new ground in this area, we must clearly define the objectives and the challenges to overcome. First, objectives: ● Increase teachers’ insights into knowledge, skills and alternative effective classroom practices that be implemented in their own schools. ● Expose teachers to international and global issues that need to be considered in order to better prepare students for global citizenry. ● Explore how business/industry practices and organizational behaviors can be described and included in STEM education in the classroom. ● Develop a sustainable professional international network of STEM teachers.

Second, important challenges— and ways to address them: Measurement of effectiveness. What constitutes success? Obviously, student achievement outcomes must be at the center of program evaluation. However, in the near term, program effectiveness may have to be measured in terms of how the participants’ classroom practice is influenced. Over time, outcomes in terms of teacher and student attitudinal change to the understanding of STEM, innovation, international collaboration and global issues must be considered. A definition of Proof of Concept must be established, including but not limited to these parameters. Language barriers. Initially, countries that share either of three languages, English, Spanish or French, can form partnerships which engage key leaders and teachers in public and private sectors. Over time, overarching global network communication and exchange can be established with a preferred language. Leadership and administration. The interests of National Engineering Academies, which include talent development and access to employable talent, are well-aligned with the objectives of programs aimed at international STEM teacher exchange. These organizations are well-positioned to lead international efforts and coordinate private-public STEM partnerships, particularly as this promotes multinational corporate interests with emphasis on innovation. Funding. During a pilot phase, private sector funding will be important. Hence, flexibility in program design J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7 66

will be necessary in order to build on currently operational corporate programs. Proof of Concept (see above) in hand, additional funding will be sought through independent, government and private foundations. A sustainable Program for International STEM Teacher Exchange should be initially designed as a demonstration project with a limited number of pilot partnerships between countries operating well-established IBSE* programs. Examples are Mexico, Chile, France, Canada, UK, Germany, Sweden and USA. Within this cluster it is clearly feasible to identify three language-based partnerships for a small scale pilot demonstration project. There are examples of corporate education support and engineering academies in all these countries. Leadership in STEM education takes on many forms and requires many competencies. Besides the ability to work effectively within the framework of national policies, budgetary and organizational constraints, it requires dogged determination, results orientation and a visionary dedication to improvement. When addressing the challenges of preparing students for a less well-defined future reality which is directly influenced by global events, it will also require breaking new ground and engaging partners traditionally not called upon. It is my belief that the time has come to redefine the role of precollege educators as preparers of employable talent and to push the boundaries for private-public partnership goals towards global impact. ● *IBSE (Inquiry-Based Science Education) is a term frequently used within an international network of education leaders affiliated with the Inter-Academies Panel, to designate effective teacher classroom practices and curriculum materials, designed to foster experiential learning.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anders Hedberg, Ph.D., is an experienced pharmaceutical industry executive, who now applies his science and corporate social responsibility expertise to international STEM education. By linking business and education together for better talent preparation, he helps strengthen the global workforce pipeline.

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Bridging the Global Skills Divide to Develop a Workforce for the Future With globalization and technology changing the way the world works and how we work, how can educators and employers prepare todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s students and professionals to succeed in the 21st-century workforce? By Allan Goodman & Sharon Witherell

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lready some forecast that 40 percent of the workforce in the United States—nearly 60 million workers—will be freelance by 2020. Moreover, the upcoming Generation Z tends to be more entrepreneurial and selfdirected. At the same time, today’s employers in the United States and around the globe are under strong pressure to find employees who have both the technical knowledge that is in such high demand and “soft skills” such as critical thinking, problem solving, time management and good communication. Non-traditional employment calls for a new infrastructure, strategy, and attitude for workers, companies, and communities alike, according to Jeremy Neuner, co-author of “The Rise of the Naked Economy.” It may seem like there is a tug of war between companies and workers, he notes, but in fact they share common goals: using technology and mobility to maximize productivity, innovation, and well-being. The success of the global economy will depend on how well these common goals are met. At IIE, we believe international education has a powerful role to play in bridging the global skills divide to develop the future workforce. ➣

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➣ Today, “international education” goes far beyond the traditional concept of academic exchange. In a society that is increasingly interconnected, international education has expanded to encompass any program of study, scholarship or training that involves moving people and ideas from one nation or culture to another in order to gain the profound beneﬁts of intellectual and cultural engagement. Most importantly, in today’s world, international education enables people to go beyond building connections to solving problems together. International experience has become one of the most important components of a 21st century education. At IIE, we believe that individuals who have international experience are best prepared to contribute to the workforce of the future. They bring cross-cultural awareness, which is critical to diverse teams; language skills needed to work with colleagues and customers in a multilingual world; and the ability to bring global thinking skills to bear on complex issues. Governments are turning to international education to expand research and development and cultivate a national workforce able to compete in the global economy.

Worldwide, IIE has had the privilege to work with corporations and foundations to design programs that will develop the next generation of leaders, and to work with governments to meet the diverse training needs of their populations, ensuring that a pipeline of individuals are prepared for in-demand careers.

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Socially responsible companies are developing international education strategies to leverage their assets for social impact and cultivate the talent to support innovation and growth and advance their business goals. Universities are building partnerships and creating international programs to expand their world-wide reach and effectiveness. And international opportunities are inspiring students to grow intellectually and professionally and preparing them to flourish in our global society. At IIE’s Summit on Generation Study Abroad last October, educators from universities around the world joined together with government and corporate leaders to address how to make it possible for more students to access these opportunities, and how to change the paradigm so study abroad is viewed as a necessity rather than a luxury. With only ten percent of U.S. undergraduate students studying abroad, far too many are graduating from college without gaining the international experience they will need. Worldwide, IIE has had the privilege to work with corporations and foundations to design programs that will develop the next generation of leaders, and to work with governments to meet the diverse training needs of their populations,

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ensuring that a pipeline of individuals are prepared for in-demand careers. Initiatives such as WeTech (Women Enhancing Technology) build and support a robust pipeline of women and girls in STEM globally, providing access and skills needed to use technology while becoming innovators and creators who will have the capacity to address industry and society’s most critical challenges. Designing and leading programs with committed companies like Qualcomm, Goldman Sachs, and Verizon, we have seen the impact of activities that engage women from under-served groups and those who may not otherwise have access to leadership training and professional development opportunities, resulting in significant social and economic returns and expanded workforce participation. From Qualcomm’s Global Scholars program of scholarships and mentoring in China, India, and Korea, to the Government of Brazil’s Scientific Mobility Program, and USAID’s Scholarships and Training for Egyptian Professionals (STEP) in Egypt, the common goal of many of the hundreds of diverse programs we implement is to build a skilled and entrepreneurial workforce, developing the world’s talent to meet the complex needs of the global market.

There are no limits to the types of opportunities that can be created. We worked with ExxonMobil to develop and manage scholarship and training programs in engineering and geoscience to develop human capacity in countries where they do business around the world. And we helped Alcoa create its Advancing Each Generation: Global Internships for Unemployed Youth to provide workforce development opportunities to nearly 750 unemployed youth in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States with the aim of building private-public partnerships to increase their employability through access to work-related experience, leadership skills, and resources on post-secondary career and training education. IIE team members around the world shape the international exchange experience of some 30,000+ students, scholars, and professional entrusted

to us annually, connecting them to beneficial academic and professional opportunities that will enable them to bridge the workforce development gap in many emerging economies, including their host and home countries. As governments and employers in both developed and emerging economies look to the future, we urge them to consider providing the kind of international education experiences that will enable a new generation of professionals to meet their workforce needs. ● ABOUT THE AUTHORs Allan E. Goodman is president and CEO of the Institute of International Education (IIE)—the leading not-for-profit organization in the field of international educational exchange and development training. Goodman has a PhD in government from Harvard, an MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a BS from Northwestern University. Sharon Witherell is Director of Public Affairs at IIE.

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The Need for Liberal Arts in the Post-Employment World A liberal arts education provides skill sets that are fundamentally tied to our human nature such as empathy, relationship building, adaptability, conscientiousness, perseverance, and creativity. By Constance St.Germain

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t the intersection of politics, technology and economics is education and the need to prepare students to succeed not only in a global society, but also in a “post-employment world,” in which technology replaces work humans have traditionally performed. However, as technology continues to increase and influence our daily lives, little has yet been done to address its longranging implications and potentially negative impact on the workforce. As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, the Internet of Things continues to expand and reliance on robotic technology increases, more jobs will become automated under the guise of operational efficiency. What happens when these jobs disappear? Such an economic breakdown could lead to a variety of issues such as the decentralization of “work” as the defining feature of an

adult’s life, as well as social, psychological and financial implications to individuals. It could also force a cultural shift in how we define “work” as a society. On the negative side, the resulting job loss in a post-employment world has potential physical and mental ramifications, negative financial impact related to governmental support services and individual consumerism, and alters the very fabric of society. On the positive side, it can provide people with more free time to pursue their passions, take care of their families and give back their communities. So what does this mean for workers? What skills should they cultivate, if they want to be relevant and ready for a postemployment world? Education prepares students for the future. As technology advances at a breakneck speed, employers who formerly placed great emphasis on technical skills have begun to embrace the value of a liberal arts education. Liberal arts study has always focused on developing an individual’s intellectual ability through a knowledge of a broad range of subjects. This empowers students to deal with complexity, promotes critical thinking and social responsibility, and develops problem solving and communication skills across a wide variety of settings. It provides students with a strong foundation, allowing them to be agile and adapt to changing circumstances in an ever-changing world. A liberal arts education ensures that we not only have knowledge of the past, but provides skill sets that are fundamentally tied to our human nature such as empathy, relationship building, adaptability, conscientiousness, perseverance, and creativity. These skills form the foundation of our social fabric and are nearly impossible to replicate with technology. Evidence of the growing importance of soft skills can be seen in recent study by the Pew Research Center, which showed the strongest future employment growth projected for jobs requiring above average social skills. ➣

Education prepares students for the future. As technology advances at a breakneck speed, employers who formerly placed great emphasis on technical skills have begun to embrace the value of a liberal arts education.

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Soft skills that will keep workers prepared for the “Post-Employment Economy” 1. Communication. In a survey from Pew Research Center 90 percent of respondents felt communications skills were necessary to success. Americans ranked it first among the skills that are important for children to get ahead in the world. Whatever the future holds, every worker in every industry will find that effective communications skills are integral to their success.

➣ Additionally, the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ most recent First-Destination Survey noted an uptick in employment and salaries among humanities graduates between 2014 and 2015. Of even more importance, in 2015, graduates of area studies (e.g. cultural or gender studies), who entered the workforce full-time did so at a starting salary 26 percent higher than the previous year, marking the biggest increase of any category considered. Not only is employment growth more rapid in jobs requiring a high level of social skills, but STEM fields are taking note of the value-add a liberal arts education brings to the table. There is a talent war afoot in the technology field and employees with non-technical backgrounds are highly sought after: as one recent article quipped: “The next hot job in Silicon Valley is speechwriting.” The recognition that technological skills alone aren’t enough to prepare our workforce has led to a growing movement to add the arts into STEM education—also known as STEAM. History itself suggests that technological progress and the movement toward the post-workforce economy, can spur progress and opportunity for those well trained in the humanities. It is important to remember that the Renaissance was an age of great progress in both the arts and sciences. In our current age, technological advancement should be viewed as an opportunity to provide society with greater bandwidth to engage in inquiry and art. In the post-employment world, there

should be more time spent engaging with people, culture and ideas. A post-employment society will require social interaction and community building. Technology alone cannot cure serious challenges facing humanity (e.g. poverty, homelessness, mental illness, drug addiction, criminal rehabilitation) and it cannot replace true emotional connection; however, it can enhance and help provide solutions to some of our greater societal challenges. The majority of students at University of Phoenix are working adults seeking to enhance their careers and provide a better life for their families. The institution takes a holistic approach to teaching and learning in that its curriculum is not only career-relevant, but also provides the soft skills employers are seeking in today’s workforce. The world is changing, and University of Phoenix is ready to meet this change head on to ensure its students are developing the skills to change with it. Whether pursuing a degree in the arts and sciences, social sciences, healthcare, business, or technology, the institution is committed to empowering its students with the kind of knowledge needed to help them navigate a post-employment society. ●

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Constance St. Germain, Ed.D., J.D. is Executive Dean, Colleges of Humanities and Sciences and Social Sciences at the University of Phoenix.

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2. Critical Thinking. Critical thinking is a critically important skill. It’s helpful for reflecting on all the angles of an issue or argument, working through big decision making processes and navigating the challenges of the workplace.Postsecondary science instructors in an ACT survey indicated weakness in this skill was most likely to lead to poor student outcomes. 3. Collaboration. Every company is a team, and that means every job requires teamwork. However, industries and the workforce change, the pivotal role of collaboration is almost sure to remain constant. As the world becomes more interconnected, we can expect collaboration to continue to become more important to effectively accomplishing tasks. 4. Problem Solving/Creativity. The question has never been about whether or not a worker will be able to avoid problems, but always about whether when issues in the workplaces inevitably do arise, are they able to solve them. When the unexpected happens, workers need to be able to think in unexpected ways to come up with creative solutions. The best professionals are able to respond to panic with patience and out of the box thinking. 5. Emotional Intelligence. Strong emotional intelligence, or EQ, is at least as important in the workplace as one’s IQ. Interpersonal skills—how you express and control your emotions, read and navigate the emotions of others and whether you maintain self-control and perseverance—are put to work almost every day of any job. 6. Professionalism. One of the most underrated keys to being a professional is acting like a professional. Managing time, being respectful of others and demonstrating responsibility and responsiveness are skills that all create a strong foundation that make a worker standout in any environment.

2017 Institute of the Center for Education Diplomacy Education Diplomacy and the 2030 Global Development Agenda: Building Bridges for Children’s Education At this 3-day learning event, participants will: • • • • •

20-22 April 2017 Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill Hotel Washington, DC USA

Learn about the UN Global Development Agenda 2030. Examine the UN goal for education and learn how it will positively impact children’s education around the world. Explore education diplomacy as a vehicle for promoting and advancing quality education for all children and explore concrete examples of education diplomacy in action Learn how to build bridges between governments, civil society organizations, institutions of higher education, and the private sector to support and advance the education agenda for children. Explore core skills of education diplomacy, such as engaging in effective relationships, negotiating and mediating, building partnerships, and finding innovative solutions to education challenges.

Visit www.educationdiplomacy.org/institute Applications for Roundtable Presentations are currently being accepted. Deadline is 16 January 2017.

2017 Institute of the Center for Education Diplomacy

For questions, email institute@acei.org or call 1-202-372-9986 or 1-800-423-3563. Participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation. Non-U.S. passport holders should refer to the U.S. State Department website or your local U.S. consulate to find out if you require a visa to travel to the United States.

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The Future of Employment: Going Back to Basics basic skills will still be useful despite an automated employment landscape By FÃ©lix Quintero

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“Post-Employment World”. The sheer uncertainty the phrase transmits can reasonably send shivers down the spine of the most self-confident employees. Perhaps even down employers’ spines as well. The good news is that we have all been put on notice so that we can brace ourselves and prepare others from what will surely come. Or, rather, from what is currently taking place. But how do we go about such a challenge? By acquiring or strengthening—and facilitating others to acquire or strengthen—basic skills that will still be useful despite an increasingly automated employment landscape. We must begin by understanding what a “Post-Employment World” means. It is undisputed that technology is continuously transforming the way we live. As it happens, the employment landscape is not an exception. The World Economic Forum’s “Future of Jobs Report” accurately describes this on-going process by stating as follows: “[a]s entire industries adjust, most occupations are undergoing a fundamental transformation. While some jobs are threatened by redundancy and others grow rapidly, existing jobs are also going through a change in the skill sets required to do them”. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This does not translate into inevitable unemployment for everyone. ➣

Different industries will react differently to the evolving employment landscape. This applies to cities, countries and regions as well.

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➣ Different industries will react differently to the evolving employment landscape. This applies to cities, countries and regions as well. The ever-creative and multi-disciplinary minds of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab developed a user-friendly software that allows people to learn which professions and skills are most likely to be least useful in the future in major U.S. cities. The visual maps the software displays are revealing. When analyzing, say, automakers in Detroit, the results are heartbreaking. Assemblers are and will continue to be put to the test, to say the least. By contrast, CEO positions in financial organizations in New York City seem, unsurprisingly, quite resilient. Anthony Goldbloom’s August 2016 TED talk pinpoints the issue when he alerted, “we have no chance of competing against machines on frequent, high-volume tasks. […] Where machines have made little progress is in tackling novel situations.” It is clear that everyone will not be affected in the same way. Likewise, it would be pretentious to assume there is a one-size-fits all solution. Notwithstanding, it seems reasonable (and prudent) that both employers and employees invest time and resources in learning how best to create, identify and tackle “novel situations”. So it all goes back to education and training. But we cannot expect everyone to pursue a four-year degree or an advanced degree to stay ahead of the curve. At the same time, we could benefit from identifying a starting point. Why not focus precisely on what sets us apart from machines

and each other? Acquiring or strengthening skills associated with basic human brain functions could be the best way forward. Consider the following: Writing: Fareed Zakaria, an accomplished scholar and journalist, advises in his book “In Defense of a Liberal Education” that “[w]hatever you do in life, the ability to write clearly, cleanly, and reasonably quickly will prove to be an invaluable skill”. Zakaria stresses the connection between writing clearly and thinking clearly. Alas, it is not enough to be able to write, it is about writing in such a way that you can explain yourself and persuade others while doing so. Oratory: several surveys and articles explain how people are terrified of speaking before a crowd and yet we hardly take advantage of this reality. We are also often told that leadership and communication skills go hand in hand. Being an eloquent and persuasive speaker can set apart an employee not only from his peers, but also from seemingly all-powerful machines. Languages: although Google Translate has made all of our lives remarkably easier, there is hardly a better way to engage with someone (be it in person, through Skype or any other means) than speaking in her own native language. Naturally we all feel more comfortable communicating in the language we dominate the most. It therefore should come as no surprise that the ability to make others feel this way could prove invaluable in fields

Why not focus precisely on what sets us apart from machines and each other? Acquiring or strengthening skills associated with basic human brain functions could be the best way forward.

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like diplomacy, business, and education. Creativity: identifying and creating Goldbloom’s “novel situations” requires a genius that only dwells in the trained human brain. It is that elusive spark (regardless of whether artistic, scientific or both) that leads to innovation, which, in turn, may take the shape of new technologies. Creativity is always the driving force behind someone that identifies hidden “insights” for the marketing industry, creates disruptive apps, sets bold fashion trends, designs a revolutionary business plan, comes up with an audacious legal strategy or creates a fantastic dish. The aforementioned skills, of course, are by no means an exclusive list and cannot by themselves ensure success and stability for an understandably anxious work force. There will be always be other useful skills, tools and areas of expertise than can equip people in the race against each other and against machines. For instance, being tech and social media-savvy, knowing about personal branding and having a good understanding of the intellectual property realm can also be extremely helpful in our time. Acquiring or strengthening skills associated with basic human brain functions may not allow us to outperform IBM’s Watson, or even some colleagues. It can, however, help us distinguish us from them, which could potentially translate into staying relevant in an ever-chancing employment landscape. ●

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D I P L O M AT I C LIFE

Culture as Conversation: A Classic Turns Fifty Special Report by Anne Harris

“Great books, like great wine, only get better with time.”

hese words were spoken by Dr. Anton Fedyashin, Director of the Carmel Institute of Russian Culture and History, as he introduced Dr. James H. Billington. The grand conference room at the American University College of Law was a wash of warm purple and green, colored by dozens of pastel lights lining the walls. Candles danced atop tables, lighting up the faces of hundreds of guests who had turned out to honor Dr.

Billington. On this night, we had gathered to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Billington’s masterpiece, a book called The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture. Librarian of Congress Emeritus Dr. James H. Billington graduated from Oxford University with a PhD in modern Russian History. His passion for Russian history and culture was instilled at a very young age: as a young boy of thirteen, Billington devoured the book War and Peace time and time again. Presently,

scholars of Russian history and curious minds alike can attest that Billington’s own writing has contributed immensely to the understanding of Russian culture. The Icon and the Axe appeared during the Cold War when Russia’s religious and cultural history fell into neglect in Western historiography under the impact of the “social turn” in academia that emphasized economics and sociology. Billington created a book that not only examined these decisive facets of history, but applied them to the country’s long-term development.

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D I P L O M AT I C LIFE

In the time since the creation of The Icon and the Axe, the book has fast become one of the most influential studies of Russian history. On the night of his book’s fiftieth anniversary, it was clear the impact Dr. Billington made in his years as a scholar. The symposium panel for the evening included old friends and colleagues alike, yet it was often difficult to discern one from the other. More than once did the evening find panelists wiping away tears, moved by the lifelong dedication Dr. Billington had made both to his work, and his friends. Dr. William Brumfield, Professor of Slavic Studies at Tulane University and avid photographer, named Dr. Billington as his inspiration in preserving Russia’s architectural heritage through photograph. “I read The Icon and the Axe with a sense of wonder,” Brumfield recalled, “but also felt stimulated to pursue my own vision. In that pursuit he was enormously supportive.” Dr. Vladislav Zubok, Professor of International

On the night of his book’s fiftieth anniversary, it was clear the impact Dr. Billington made in his years as a scholar.

History at London School of Economics, emphasized the importance of applying culture to the study of history, and graciously thanked Dr. Billington for being “one of the first to pose fundamental and sensitive questions about Russian cultural history.” Susan E. Carmel Lehrman, Founder and Advisory Committee Chair of the Carmel Institute of Russian Culture and History praised Billington’s vision and leadership as “unparalleled… particularly as it pertains to

greater cultural understanding.” Following the symposium, Dr. Billington himself opened the floor up for questions regarding his work. Several students of Dr. Fedyashin posed questions for Dr. Billington, inquiring about his inspiration and sources. By the end of the night, Dr. Billington had emphasized one point in answering every question: culture and history go hand-in-hand. Without understanding of one, there will not be sufficient understanding of the other. His words resonated with the audience, and Dr. Billington was given a standing ovation as he left the stage for the evening. A truly remarkable human, Dr. Billington left the audience inspired by his words. In seeking the truth, understanding must be actively sought to avoid misinformation. A timeless piece of literature penned by an extraordinary man, The Icon and the Axe reminds us that constructive dialogue must be derived from thorough examination of culture and history. ●

1. Dr. and Mrs. James H. Billington, Susan Carmel Lehrman 2. Dr. Anton Fedyashin, Dr. James H. Billington 3. The Billington Rose 4. Founder and Advisory Chair Susan Carmel Lehrman

D I P L O M AT I C O U R I E R .c o m

SPECIAL REPORT

The Future of U.S. &Turkey Relations Special Report by Anne Harris

Turkey: Trade Expansion Presents Tremendous Opportunities for Growth

Silicon Valley’s Cousin: Mobile Technology Development in Turkey

From Foreign Trade to Clean Energy: Turkey’s Business, Innovation, and Growth Strategies

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SPECIAL REPORT

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SPECIAL REPORT

Turkey: Trade Expansion Presents Tremendous Opportunities for Growth

s 2016 comes to an end, countries such as South Africa and Russia have turned to Turkey to strike valuable trading partnerships. Turkey is rapidly developing new technology, such as clean energy, transportation, defense, and consumer electronics, making the country a viable source of innovation for new markets. This past August, Turkey saw $11 billion in exports and $16.55 billion in imports, a trade deficit that has been steadily decreasing throughout the years, due in part to sustainable development of new technology and decreased energy costs. Turkey has been receiving praise for its new developments, most notably in the nuclear and sustainable energy program, as well as for its innovative mobile technology and defense program. These endeavors have worked in stimulating economic growth and piquing global curiosity, opening up Turkey for an increasing number of trade opportunities.

Post-Brexit Expansion Turkey is also in the process of developing a trade partnership with newly “Brexited” United Kingdom. Because the UK is no longer part of the EU, it will become much simpler for the country to negotiate direct trade with other nations. During his recent visit to Ankara, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called for a “jumbo trade deal” with Turkey. He emphasized Turkish technological prowess as a reason for trade expansion, and expressed enthusiasm towards furthering relations. As post-Brexit backlash settles, the countries have committed to renegotiating existing trade agreements. As the UK is already one of the biggest recipients of Turkish exports, such as home appliances and automobile parts, this is an exciting

Developing Trade in Russia In recent months, Turkey has taken important steps in expanding trade with other nations. This month, as part of the World Energy Congress in Istanbul, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the strategic Turkstream agreement. Turkstream sees the development of a pipeline that allows Russian natural gas to be transported into Turkey and parts of Europe. In return, Russia agreed to assist Turkey with its developing nuclear power program and will provide Turkey with natural gas at a discounted price. This agreement is seen as highly beneficial to Turkey’s economic growth as it provides technology and resources to help expand the latter’s clean energy initiatives.

opportunity to spread the influence of emerging Turkish technology. MÜSIAD in South Africa Turkey has also recently taken exciting steps towards increasing trade with South Africa. Following the launch of the South African branch of Turkey’s Independent Industrialist’s and Businessmen’s Association (MÜSIAD), the ruling African National Congress (ANC) expressed enthusiasm towards developing a strategic relationship between the countries. MÜSIAD, a Turkish NGO that expands trade agreements into other countries, specializes in facilitating trade between small and medium-sized, up-and-coming business organizations. Currently, the investment value of companies operating in South Africa adds up to over $500 million. With the expansion of MÜSIAD into South Africa, this number is only expected to rise. Because South Africa accounts for a huge percent of the continent’s exports, Turkey will benefit immensely by creating an entrepreneurial hub in the area. Future Expansion Turkey remains an attractive market for new and emerging technology, and expansion of international trade will be the key to Turkey’s economic success. The country has already established itself as one of the top emerging markets for science and tech-based goods. As foreign relations continue to expand, we can expect to see a flourishing economy in Turkey, as well as new incentives for further developing scientific and technological initiatives. Many countries are now looking to Turkey as a beneficial new trade partner, and a valuable source of innovation. ●

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SPECIAL REPORT

Silicon Valley’s Cousin: Mobile Technology Development in Turkey

urkey is being hailed as the new Silicon Valley, due to a massive surge of mobile tech development in the area. An astoundingly young and welleducated population has cultivated an environment ripe with startups and entrepreneurial think tanks. Turkey’s young population finds itself adopting only the latest and greatest devices, allowing for endless opportunity to develop new applications for emerging platforms. In fact, some of the fastest growing companies in Turkey are based in mobile technology. A Unique Environment for Tech Development Turkey’s incredibly young population helps create an environment of innovation for new and emerging tech. Half the population of Turkey is under thirty, and a whopping eighty-four percent of Turkish citizens own a mobile device. The use of mobile applications, such as Hepsiburada, for shopping, banking, and conducting business continues to skyrocket, as desktop use becomes a thing of the past. The incentive for prioritizing mobile application development is a result of the desire to streamline user compatibility in an emerging mobile market.

Teknopark Istanbul also assists in the advancement of clean energy and aeronautics. Another prominent incubation center, Endeavor, is working to expand jobs in the tech field and help develop entrepreneurial solutions. It is within these thought incubators that some of Turkey’s most successful startups are born.

Turkey’s incredibly young population helps create an environment of innovation for new and emerging tech. Half the population of Turkey is under thirty, and a whopping eighty-four percent of Turkish citizens own a mobile device.

E-commerce Companies conducting business on mobile devices have seen massive growth over the past year. One of Turkey’s fastest growing companies, 4play, specializes in mobile solutions for businesses hoping to develop a presence on mobile platforms. As the fifth fastest-growing Turkish company in 2015, 4play has capitalized on the prominence of mobile expansion. Companies are turning toward mobile application as a means of adapting business to suit a tech-savvy population. Application-based businesses such as BiTaksi, a cabcalling service, and Yemeksepeti, a food delivery service, have seen massive growth since their formation. Additionally, online retail apps are well received, and companies conducting business over mobile devices are flourishing. It has become almost necessary for businesses to develop a mobile presence, as Turkey’s uniquely high mobile use sees extraordinary growth in these markets. Expansion Opportunities Turkey has already cemented its status as a prominent global leader in developing mobile tech. With the legacy of Constantinople, Turkey’s location provides endless opportunities for the expansion of emerging Turkish businesses. Many investors have already taken great interest in Turkey’s thriving global tech market, as early financiers sensed a goldmine of formidable startups and emerging technologies, waiting to be unearthed by the rest of the world. For Turkey, this would mean the solidification of trade expansion and economic upturn, as the influence of their mobile tech spreads to all corners of the globe. ●

Think Tanks and Incubators Another contributing factor to the prominence of mobile tech is the numerous think tanks spread throughout the country. Because Turkey is located at the crossroads of Africa, Asia, and Europe, its location is prime for incubating technology in the global market. Turkey is home to Teknopark Istanbul, one of the largest technological think-tanks in the world. In addition to spurring development of advanced electronics and mobile tech,

D I P L O M AT I C O U R I E R .c o m

SPECIAL REPORT

From Foreign Trade to Clean Energy: Turkey’s Business, Innovation, and Growth Strategies

he Turkish economy has been praised in recent months for its resilience in the aftermath of July’s coup attempt. While it was understood there would be some fiscal impacts following the attempt, few could have predicted the Turkish economy’s speedy recovery time. In the week following the event, the value of the dollar against the Turkish lira rose to 3.07 from 2.90, before lowering to previous levels over the course of a few days. During this time, Turkish citizens exchanged more than $11.5 billion in foreign currency. To keep the economy strong, Turkey has implemented new policies, expanded trade, and placed new emphasis on technological development. Credit Policy In the weeks following the attempted coup, Turkey implemented new guidelines for citizens making purchases on credit. The coup attempt temporarily removed job security from many Turkish citizens, causing the population to become more hesitant towards making larger purchases. New regulations make it easier for citizens to help stimulate economic growth, even in a time of crisis. However, while Turkey continues to reap the shortterm benefits, banks may be faced with citizens unable to compensate for loans and accumulated debts. Many have labeled this policy change as a risky decision, but a necessary choice to help stabilize economic growth and ensure stable income for citizens. Annual economic growth in Turkey has averaged above five percent since 2008, and remains constant following the coup attempt. Trade Another factor keeping the Turkish economy strong is the country’s trade

with other nations. Currently, Turkey exports primarily to the US, EU, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Iran. As the 27th largest export country in the world, Turkey has seen an impressive rise in the number of goods, both raw and manufactured, moving out of the country. Man-made goods such as cars and vehicle parts, as well as raw materials account for most of Turkey’s exports. In 2014, Turkey exported over $165 billion worth of goods, and the rate of export has only continued to increase as new foreign trade agreements develop. Turkey has already taken several steps in bolstering trade with foreign governments. During his recent visit to Turkey, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson met with President Erdogan to stress the importance of further evolving trade relations between the two countries. He also showed his support for Turkey’s admission into the European Union (EU), as such affairs would further open trade

Part of what makes Turkey appealing to foreign investment and international trade is the country’s rapid technological boom. New economic reforms have found government investment prioritizing the development of science and tech programs.

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relations and provide the EU easy access to the technologies quickly proliferating in the area. Additionally, Turkey has been expanding their Independent Industrialist’s and Businessmen’s Association (MUSIAD) into other countries with emerging markets such as South Africa. These expansions help facilitate trade between countries, and launch strategic relationships that are crucial to Turkey’s trade enterprises. Technological Development Part of what makes Turkey appealing to foreign investment and international trade is the country’s rapid technological boom. New economic reforms have found government investment prioritizing the development of science and tech programs. These reforms also focus on funding university based research programs. The average age in Turkey is only 29.6 years, yielding a young and progressive population determined to develop technologies at a faster pace than the world around them. The city of Istanbul boasts an impressive number of successful startup companies, as well as some of the largest entrepreneurial incubation centers in the world. Technological growth is largely based in the development of mobile technology, as an impressive 84% of the Turkish population own a mobile device. Turkey has also been making its mark on the defense and aerospace market; Turkish Aerospace Industries has been named one of the top companies in the world for defense technology. In addition, Japan and Turkey recently began collaboration on satellite and space technology. Turkey is swiftly becoming one of the fastestdeveloping countries in the field of science and technology.

SPECIAL REPORT

Clean Energy Recently, Turkey has been working to develop clean energy technologies. Pushes are being made towards developing efficiency projects such as solar, hydroelectric, wind, and other renewable energy and conservation sources. Additionally, Ankara has recently partnered with Beijing in creating a more prominent nuclear energy program. These projects have proved to be of interest to potential investors, as foreign investment accounts for billions of dollars going into clean energy development. This year, the World Energy Congress is meeting in Istanbul, where it is

expected that 80 countries will be in attendance. As the first global energy conference held following the Climate Change Conference in Paris, the World Energy Congress serves to identify new and emerging discoveries in the field of clean tech, and the effects of these technologies on economic growth patterns. The congress is coming at a crucial period of time, as Turkey’s clean energy movement is at an all-time high. Turkey has allotted a lot of resources into ensuring the rapid growth of its technological and scientific industries, and it is easy to see why. With the expansion of their tech market, Turkey has seen a surge

of foreign investors and trade partnerships bringing economic stability to the country. Turkey’s retention of steady economic growth serves as a reminder that the country has a strong economy with many opportunities for future progression. ●

EDITORS NOTE The Diplomatic Courier is a media partner for the Annual Conference on U.S.-Turkey Relations, organized by the American-Turkish Council (ATC) and the Turkish-US Business Council (TAIK). This special report was produced in tandem with the 39th annual conference in Washington, DC.

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SOUND OFF: I WORLD LEADERS RESPOND TO PRESIDENT ELECT TRUMP

n the early hours of Wednesday morning, news of Donald Trump’s election sent waves of shock around the globe. While people wept outside the White House and cheered inside Trump Tower, the international community joined America in its mixed responses to the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election results. Many world leaders extended their hearty congratulations to the President Elect. Others used their position of power to express their ardent disappointment.

By Bailey Piazza

Russia Among the flurry of first responders to the election results was Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a telegram to Trump, Putin offers congratulations and enthusiasm for future collaboration as he “hopes for work together to lift Russian-U.S. relations out of the current crisis, resolve issues on the international agenda, look for effective responses to global security challenges.” In a live video broadcast from Moscow, the Kremlin reiterated its desire to work with America’s new president in sustaining global stability and security. Russian news outlet Interfax reported that even the Russian Parliament erupted in applause after Donald Trump’s victory was announced. Shortly before votes were cast, Russian business newspaper J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7 88

Kommersant published that result of a poll that asks Russian citizens which U.S. presidential candidate they preferred. Eighty four percent of voters selected Trump over Clinton with only 16 percent of the vote. Coverage of the American electoral events appeared on many of Russia’s major news stations, including popular national new station Rossiya 24 which featured a countdown to the closing of polls in the U.S., a feature that had never before appeared on television for even Russia’s own elections. China President Xi Jingping joined he throng of firsts to offer congratulations to Donald Trump. Shortly after the results were announced, China’s leader is reported to have said, “I place great importance on the China-U.S. relationship, and look forward to working with you to uphold the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.” China’s people were some of the most well-receiving of the new president-elect. “China is feeling a little bit delighted,” says Shen Dingli, deputy dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. To the Chinese public, the 2016 U.S. presidential elections are an excellent display

al-Qaeda ideologue, posted on Twitter, “Trump lays bare the real American mentality and their racism towards Muslims and Arabs and everything. He exposes what his predecessors hid only for his victory to expose even more America and its lackeys” (translated). Thirty-nine minutes later, Maqsidi tweets, “It may be that Trump’s state is the start of America’s breakup and its time of disintegration. The hot-headed man hurts the people closest to them thinking that this will benefit him according to what he said” (translated).

of democracy’s messiness and instability, making the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) appear to be a stronger, undivided power. The Global Times, a tabloid heavily linked to the CCP, denounced the U.S. president-elect, saying he “was known for being a blowhard and an egomaniac. But if such a person can be president, there is something wrong with the existing political order.” Middle East Marking himself sa the first leader of the Arab World to respond, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi issued a statement saying, “The Arab Republic of Egypt is looking to see Donald Trump’s presidency pump new life into the course of Egyptian-American relations, and more cooperation and coordination that will benefit both the Egyptian and American peoples, and promote peace and stability and development in the Middle East region, especially in the face of the huge challenges that it faces.” This statement echoes the hopeful friendliness of Trump’s meeting with Sisi in September where the President Elect promised that the U.S. “will be a loyal friend, not simply an ally.” Non-state actors have chimed in on the post-election discussion as well. Abu Muhammad al-Maqsidi, a senior

Europe News of Donald Trump’s election was met with a wave of anxiety from European leaders. Displaying such tension, German Chancellor Angela Merkel set conditions for U.S.-German cooperation, issuing the following statement: “Germany and America are connected by values of democracy, freedom and respect for the law and the dignity of man, independent of origin, skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political views. I offer the next President of the United States close cooperation on the basis of these values.” In France, the cover pages of newspapers across the country illuminate the running emotions. Daily newspaper Libération makes clear its position with the headline “American Psycho.” L’ouragan calls the destructive election “Hurricane Trump.” La Criox, a Catholic newspaper, blazons “L’innconnue,” meaning “uncertainty.” French President François Hollande mimicked the media’s response. Hollande commented on the results, saying “The people of America have spoken. I have congratulated Mr. Trump, as it is usual in this situation. I thought of Clinton, with whom I worked during the Obama administration. This result leads to uncertainty.” Although Hollande assured that U.S.-France alliance would remain intact, the French president urged “vigilance because of statements made by Donald Trump”. In Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May was quick in her response to

the election results, congratulating Trump in a statement released on Facebook and Twitter: “I would like to congratulate Donald Trump on being elected the next President of the United States, following a hardfought campaign. Britain and the United States have an enduring and special relationship based on the values of freedom, democracy and enterprise. We are, and will remain, strong and close partners on trade, security and defense.” Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn did not share the same congratulatory remarks. In a statement, Corbyn insisted that, “This is a rejection of a failed economic consensus and a governing elite that has been seen not to have listened.

While sentiments towards Donald Trump’s victory have reported mixed reviews around the world, there is one common theme that weaves throughout the dialogue: uncertainty. And the public anger that has propelled Donald Trump to office has been reflected in political upheavals across the world.” Corbyn continued by urging the world to stand together in solidarity and combat global challenges. The Next Four Years While sentiments towards Donald Trump’s victory have reported mixed reviews, there is one common theme that weaves throughout the dialogue: uncertainty. Trump has made his strong opinions (and campaign gaffes) exceptionally clear. However, as a new political plot unfolds Trump’s signature unpredictability could usher in a new world order or burn any bridges left standing. Whilst Trump’s victorious team and freshly picked Cabinet members transition into their White House offices, world leaders stand ready and waiting to transition into a new relationship with the next President of the United States. ●

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