Innovation and technological change
Technologies now converge faster than institutions can evaluate them. Artificial intelligence meets biotechnology, computing meets the power grid, satellites meet insurance. The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI) studies why this convergence creates new capability and new exposure at the same time, and how countries can assess, test and adopt technology on evidence rather than promise. This section covers converging technologies, a frontier technology guide, responsible technology, science for development and technology assessment.
- Institution
- The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
- Service level
- R0: information and enquiries
Innovation pipeline
GCRI · Stage gates
By readiness level
Readiness criteria
pilot vs gate
Pilot issues
- I-1Data licence for pilot siteTo check1 d
- I-2Observer protocol signedDone6 d
GCRI · Innovation pipelineInnovation pipeline, in outline: domain structure with placeholder names and illustrative values, not a record.
The short answer.
Innovation and technological change, at GCRI, is the study of why converging technologies create new capability and new exposure at the same time, and how countries can assess, test and adopt technology on evidence rather than promise. The section covers converging technologies, a frontier technology guide, responsible technology, technology assessment and science for development.
Draft to published version.
Fig.How a finding is reviewed before it is published. Design, not a record.
Systemic exposure in West Africa.
Where people and networks concentrate, the exposure through which shocks travel between systems, shown for West Africa as an example geography for this subject.
The same technology can strengthen a system and expose it.
Capability and productivity
Better forecasting, earlier detection, resilient design, new industries and public services that reach more people.
Dependence and new failure
Concentration on a few providers, software supply chains, energy and water demand, misuse and failures that spread through shared platforms.
The capacity to decide
Ministries, regulators and operators need evidence on readiness and limits before they adopt, procure or govern a technology.
From claims about technology to evidence about it.
- 01
Explain
Plain descriptions of what a technology does, its maturity and its dependencies, in the frontier technology guide.
- 02
Assess
Readiness, validation and capability claims examined against stated evidence, described under technology assessment.
- 03
Test
Controlled experiments and testbeds through Nexus Labs, where results are recorded with their method and limits. Testing is not accreditation.
- 04
Apply
Technology linked to productive capacity, health and public services, under science for economic and social development.
Terms used on this page.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Technology convergence | The combination of advances from several technology fields into new capabilities, such as AI with biotechnology or sensors with networks, whose risks are often greater than those of any part. |
| Technology readiness level | A scale from basic principles to proven operation that describes how mature a technology is. |
| Responsible innovation | Anticipating and governing the effects of new technology together with society. |
| Frontier technology | A new technology with the potential for wide economic and social change, such as artificial intelligence, synthetic biology or quantum computing, as UNCTAD's Technology and Innovation Reports use the term. |
Governance and finance perspectives sit with the other pillars.
Principles for safe and rights-respecting use are on responsible technology. How institutions govern digital systems and AI is examined by The Global Risks Forum (GRF) under digital and AI governance, and what technology change means for financial institutions is examined by The Global Risks Alliance (GRA) under financial technology and transformation.
GCRI does not endorse products or vendors, and no assessment is a certification or an approval for use.
Pages in Innovation and technological change.
Questions and answers.
Does GCRI build technology?
Can a company have its product assessed?
Which technologies are covered?
How does this relate to the Nexus Reports programme?
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