Economic growth has been slowing for the past 50 years, but relief might come from an unexpected place -- a new form of manufacturing that is neither what you thought it was nor where you thought it was. Industrial systems thinker Olivier Scalabre details how a fourth manufacturing revolution will produce a macroeconomic shift and boost employme...

All our manufacturing currently takes place on Earth and, as a result, all its harmful byproducts and wasteful processes end up wreaking Earthbound havoc. In this forward-thinking talk, James Orsulak argues that the fix is to move manufacturing operations off-planet, using automated labor to mine resources and perform all those ecosystem-destabi...

We've heard a lot of rhetoric lately suggesting that countries like the US are losing valuable manufacturing jobs to lower-cost markets like China, Mexico and Vietnam -- and that protectionism is the best way forward. But those jobs haven't disappeared for the reasons you may think, says border and logistics specialist Augie Picado. He gives us ...

BCG's Olivier Scalabre analyzes the evolution of large industrial companies' manufacturing footprint and operations.

The fourth industrial revolution is upon us: machines infused with intelligence. This transformation will change how manufacturing works today, making it faster and cheaper because a machine will know when it makes a mistake and correct itself. Markus Lorenz estimates that the next generation of industrialization could save the food industry alo...

Do you know where everything you buy comes from? Olivia Tyler illuminates the daunting challenges companies face when enforcing sustainability across their supply chains.

Downloadable, printable clothing may be coming to a closet near you. What started as designer Danit Peleg's fashion school project turned into a collection of 3D-printed designs that have the strength and flexibility for everyday wear. "Fashion is a very physical thing," she says. "I wonder what our world will look like when our clothes will be ...

Australians call them "runners." The British know them as "trainers." Americans refer to them as "sneakers." Whatever you call them, these casual shoes are worn by billions of people around the world. Today, roughly 23 billion shoes are produced each year. So, how can we balance our love of sneakers with the need for sustainability? Angel Chang ...

TED Fellow and renewable energy expert Norah Magero envisions an Africa that pioneers its own technological future, shifting the narrative from dependence and consumption to self-reliance and innovation. She shares how she developed VacciBox — a solar-powered refrigeration system made in Kenya to keep vaccines cold in off-grid areas — and highli...

Buying cheap clothing online can be satisfying, but it comes with not-so-hidden environmental costs. When designer Diarra Bousso was growing up in Senegal, her family bought and created new outfits for longevity rather than on impulse — an intention she carries forth in her fashion tech brand. Outlining three sustainable principles, including cr...

Designer and architect Neri Oxman is leading the search for ways in which digital fabrication technologies can interact with the biological world. Working at the intersection of computational design, additive manufacturing, materials engineering and synthetic biology, her lab is pioneering a new age of symbiosis between microorganisms, our bodie...

From the field to your closet, your clothes go on a long journey before they enter your life. Designer Amy Powney explores the fashion industry's brutal impact on the environment and human health, modeling what ethical, planet-friendly clothing can look like — and inviting us all to think beyond the label.

The world relies on manufacturing, and manufacturing relies on heat — a massive contributor to global carbon emissions, responsible for a quarter of the world's fossil fuel use. Energy entrepreneur John O'Donnell has figured out a better, cleaner way to generate the heat we need to make the stuff we want. Learn how his team turned simple bricks ...

Can India become a global hub for innovation? Nirmalya Kumar thinks it already has. He details four types of "invisible innovation" coming out of India and explains why companies that used to just outsource manufacturing jobs are starting to move top management positions overseas, too.

Augie Picado is the country manager for UPS Mexico.

The transistors that power the phone in your pocket are unimaginably small: you can fit more than 3,000 of them across the width of a human hair. But to keep up with innovations in fields like facial recognition and augmented reality, we need to pack even more computing power into our computer chips -- and we're running out of space. In this for...

Kevin Surace suggests we rethink basic construction materials -- such as the familiar wallboard -- to reduce the huge carbon footprint generated by the manufacturing and construction of our buildings. He introduces EcoRock, a clean, recyclable and energy-efficient drywall created by his team at Serious Materials.

Just like his beloved grandfather, Avi Reichental is a maker of things. The difference is, now he can use 3D printers to make almost anything, out of almost any material. Reichental tours us through the possibilities of 3D printing, for everything from printed candy to highly custom sneakers.

2012 may be the year of 3D printing, when this three-decade-old technology finally becomes accessible and even commonplace. Lisa Harouni gives a useful introduction to this fascinating way of making things -- including intricate objects once impossible to create.

Designer Bastian Schaefer shows off a speculative design for the future of jet planes, with a skeleton inspired by strong, flexible, natural forms and by the needs of the world's, ahem, growing population. Imagine an airplane that's full of light and space -- and built up from generative parts in a 3D printer.

The first pairs of jeans were designed for durability; denim was constructed as a sturdy weave worn by sailors and miners. But over the course of the 20th century, as the demand for jeans has gone up, their durability has gone down. Today, most pairs last no longer than a year. And each new pair you buy has a much higher cost than you might thin...

Investigative journalist Katherine Eban set out to report on a seemingly straightforward question: Are generic drugs really identical to their brand-name counterparts? The answer sparked a decade of interviews, meetings with whistleblowers, on-the-ground reporting across four continents and digging into confidential FDA documents. In this alarmi...

Cement is vital to modernizing all kinds of infrastructure in the developing world -- but manufacturing it comes at an enormous environmental cost in the form of carbon emissions. Mahendra Singhi, the CEO of one of India's largest cement producers, discusses his team's effort to transform the industry by targeting the two largest sources of CO2 ...

Ink that conducts electricity; a window that turns from clear to opaque at the flip of a switch; a jelly that makes music. All this stuff exists, and Catarina Mota says: It's time to play with it. Mota leads us on a tour of surprising and cool new materials, and suggests that the way we'll figure out what they're good for is to experiment, tinke...

Joel Jackson wants to reimagine transportation around the needs of the African consumer. He's designed an SUV that's rugged enough for long stretches of uneven terrain and affordable enough to be within reach of those who need it most. Learn more about the challenges of mobility and manufacturing in Africa -- and what a localized motor industry ...

The coronavirus brought much of the world to a standstill, dropping carbon emissions by five percent. Al Gore says keeping those rates down is now up to us. In this illuminating interview, he discusses how the steadily declining cost of wind and solar energy will transform manufacturing, transportation and agriculture, offer a cheaper alternativ...

Climate change is here, it's real, and it didn't happen overnight. Over the past 150 years, human activities like manufacturing, transportation, commercial agriculture and energy production have created a blanket of carbon pollution that's changed the Earth's ecosystems. But even though the climate crisis is deep-rooted and complex, we can't jus...

The world has plenty of clean energy. The problem is storing that energy and getting it where we need it, when we need it, says battery recycling pioneer Emma Nehrenheim. While batteries are fundamental to powering a sustainable future, their production is surprisingly harsh on the environment. She lays out the science behind a breakthrough in r...

In her reporting and writing, Leslie T. Chang explores the lives of workers in China, focusing on the experience of women.

A breadth of talks that explore and highlight the future of emerging markets across the globe.