ParisTech Review

Crises are times when statistics are used to portray the seriousness of the situation. They are also moments of heated debate where the state's role in regulating and steering the economy is questioned. Each major crisis is witness to the emergence of new ways of quantifying the social order, implying new models of action, variables, and systems of observation.

High-speed, computer-driven trading is increasingly controlling the investment markets. Most analysts agree that it is adding liquidity and reducing trading costs for everyone. Some critics argue, however, that leaving people out of the loop, except for a few mathematicians who tinker with algorithms after the fact, has created new and still dimly understood systemic risks that pose ever greater dangers to market stability.

The pre-crisis trends on energy security of supply were worrying as consumption of oil, gas and electricity was growing and worldwide energy resources were limited. The investments in aging energy infrastructures needed to meet this demand were insufficient in volume and slow. This led to tense situations in the supply and demand balance with power cuts and even blackouts hitting some European countries. In addition, the majority of the new or planned electricity generation plants were fossil fuel fired, notably gas fueled, increasing gas supply dependency on Russia and generating CO2 emissions. The economic and financial crisis of the past 18 months modified the supply and demand balance in Europe. Demand has dropped bringing short-term relief, but investments in energy infrastructures have also decreased, which is worrying for the longer term.

Many have tried to predict the future, but only a few ever succeed. One is Paul the Octopus, who correctly called all seven of the German team's matches in the World Cup as well as Spain's victory over the Netherlands in the final. Three others include the provocative French thinkers interviewed for this article, each of whom called the American economic crisis years ahead of the fact. What's next now for the United States? The three all hope that the country can reform its financial and political system and cooperate more with Europe and the rest of the world but they fear that special interests will get in the way. One prediction: the international floating currency system will soon end, maybe as early as autumn.

Feeding more than nine billion people by year 2050 in a sustainable way is not an impossible task provided certain conditions are met. These include limiting agricultural price instability, increasing agricultural production, reducing losses and wastage from field to plate and securing international agricultural trade.

Africa may be on the brink of revolution - a green revolution. The political will to make essential structural reforms could well be in place to foster the arrival of high-tech farming techniques, say some agricultural observers. Certainly, there is a great need: in the poorest part of the continent, the sub-Sahara, 265 million people, or 32 percent of the region's population, go hungry each day. The revolution may have already begun, optimists say, pointing to the so-called Malawi Miracle, a case study in how subsidized fertilizer and hybridized seeds transformed a chronic recipient of food aid into a country that now exports food to its neighbors. However, critics aren't so sure that the miracle is sustainable in tiny Malawi, let alone throughout vast Africa. They point to political instability (Zimbabwe is the case study on that front), limited water supplies and a weak infrastructure as major impediments.

Countries endowed with great research institutions know it all too well. In order to stay in the race for innovation in the 21st century, they need to be involved and successful in four fronts, summarized by the acronym "NBIC": nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive sciences. Nanotechnology came back into the spotlight early 2010 following a particularly heated public debate in France, which emphasized the ethical and environmental concerns over an assessment of the potential of this new scientific frontier. Speaking of which, what is the real promise of nanotechnology? What can we say about the astronomical profits that certain big American consulting firms promised industrialists who were ready to embark on the adventure? In short, is nanomania meant to last?

Within the decade, many solar power experts believe that the cost of solar power per watt will reach parity with the cost of ordinary power generation. Already, in the past five years, the cost has dropped sharply, from more than five euros per watt to less than two. For humanity, this is undoubtedly good news. But beyond the raw technology, experts say that many complications lie ahead.

About one out of six people in the world goes hungry on any given day. That awful fact would be somewhat understandable, though no less painful, if the cause of the hunger was simply not enough food to go around. But the world actually produces more than enough to feed all six billion of us, and has all along. The problem, say specialists who study the issue, stems largely from a combination of factors, many of which have to do with the faults of government and social policies. Natural catastrophes take their share of the blame, but the chronic villains, one leading expert says, are a lack of international solidarity when it comes to transferring agricultural technology coupled with corruption, war and a dearth of democratic institutions. With the world's population expected to reach nine billion by 2050, a 50 percent increase, the ranks of the hungry are certain to grow unless the international community does a much better job making sure that food is available for everyone's table.

The Internet may be one of the single greatest changes in communications since the telephone, maybe the telegraph. In only 20 years, the fabric of life has changed in almost every corner of the world, thanks to the Internet. Now, some scholars and medical researchers believe that it may be changing humanity itself.

Standards are usually seen as constraints rather than dynamic tools to disseminate innovation and best practices and facilitate market access. There is a lot of confusion between regulation and standards. With the globalization of trade and of many other issues, the need for and the production of international standards has significantly increased. They should form an integral part of the overall management and strategies of companies and organizations. If you ignore it, you could well be out of the game...

Construction is an age-old activity but the interest that architecture evokes -like the interest that other arts generate- is cyclic. Why? Today some reasons appear to be quite obvious: the growth of cities means increased construction, technological advances open up new possibilities, and the need for sustainable development calls for a drastic change in habits. All the ingredients are in place for an architectural creation. And this should be enough. But some countries, cities, and organizations still feel the need to express wealth, power, progress, or ambition through buildings. This desire does not ignore, at least in general, the functional aspect of construction. But it is no longer able to completely justify itself through this feature alone. Architecture becomes "a means of communication" and architects become "stars" like the great communicators. This article, a contemplation of forty years of private practice, does not judge this evolution. But it can help in understanding and eventually guiding it.

Mathematics, and by extension mathematicians, have been blamed for precipitating the financial crisis. Poor understanding of the nature of risk, allowed financiers to take refuge in elegant formulae they did not fully understand. In the short run, the profits were too compelling and instant for anyone to question the sustainability of a model mathematicians always said was imperfect for risk assessment. So who's to blame?

Through GSM mobile telephone technology and its ability to local people geographically, we can now attempt to measure collective emotions in urban environments. This opens the door to a host of new social and commercial applications for this generation and the next.

The global financial crisis is having -and will continue to have- a huge impact on private equity. For starters, bank debt to finance investments has all but evaporated and new regulation is coming into force. As such, the industry simply can't continue with business as usual. It must return to basics, with a focus on three key areas: closer partnerships with portfolio companies, stronger operational excellence, and increased transparency and reporting.

How should business leaders manage the conflicting logic of the industrial and the financial worlds when running an industrial company? Bertrand Collomb, who headed the cement giant Lafarge for 18 years, explains the dilemma this poses from his personal experience.

The crisis erupted with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. An unprecedented mobilization of heads of state did not prevent the worldwide credit crunch. Today, Europe is taking exceptional measures to prevent some countries of the Union from default and debt restructuring : is it simply a classical cyclical crisis or a structural one signaling the failure of a model? For ParisTech Review, economists, philosophers, and anthropologists have analyzed the crisis, its temporary or profound nature, its origins, and the way out.

The more time goes by, the more staggering population statistics become: in 2050, people over the age of 65 will represent a quarter of the population in the most developed countries, against 16% today. The rise to power of the older generation disrupts companies, institutions, and policies. After publishing an interview of Francis Mer, former Minister of Economy and Finance of France, ParisTech Review continues its analysis of the upheavals caused by an aging population.

Belief in everlasting growth, acceptance of financial models with little basis in reality, faith in global irenism -a pacific, consensus approach to world conflict- that ignores the reality of nation-states and public goods : these are all ideas that have been radically undermined by the current crisis. It is time to rediscover, and perhaps regain, our identity.