Tectonic
With recent health, environmental, and economic crises, the capacity of humankind to innovate its way to a better future is, at times, in doubt. How are science and technology confronting our most foundational global challenges? How can we increase public trust in science? And what are the ethical and political challenges to charting a path of human progress in the 21st century? In this podcast, host Brendan Karch interviews thinkers, writers, scientists, policymakers, and researchers who are tackling these seismic questions. Tectonic is a production of Swissnex in Boston and New York, whose aim is to bring the leading ideas from our hub of academic inquiry to Switzerland and the world, in order to inspire new thinking across disciplinary and national boundaries.
Tectonic
Latest Episodes
Defining the Planetary with Jonathan Blake
What do we mean when we talk about the planetary? Why not just use familiar terms like global or international? For the first episode of our new season on planetary diplomacy, we sat down with Jonathan Blake, Associate Director of P...
Trailer: What is Planetary Diplomacy?
What would it mean to create a new form of diplomacy, one that represents the interests of the more-than-human world? Welcome to Season 3 of Tectonic, where we’ll be exploring an idea we call planetary diplomacy. This se...
The Most Innovative Square Mile on Earth
Massachusetts and Switzerland both often rank near the top of state and country innovation rankings. Key to this success are innovation zones, and none is more influential than Kendall Square – a small strip of former swampland in Cambridge, ju...
The Foundations of Sustainable Construction
Switzerland famously lacks natural resources, especially wood. To build its modern economy, the mountainous country came to rely heavily on concrete – and today has become a world leader in the concrete industry. But the building material has c...
Democratizing Innovation in Cities
The problems of the globe are also the problems of our major cities, especially post-industrial ones: environmental damage, economic inequality, public health crises. Can we solve these problems one city at a time, through renewal and innovatio...