Network Insights - Mar 15 2024

Weekly impact, news, and predictive insights from the world's largest social entrepreneur network.

Global – Another week of big tech news, including: the EU passes the landmark Artificial Intelligence Act (here) and U.S. lawmakers consider banning TikTok for 170 million U.S. users (here). (Other countries have partial bans and the Indian government blocked the platform outright in 2020.) Meanwhile, Spanish media channels reported on social entrepreneurs advancing tech for humanity, following our global tech summit this week in Bilbao. Among the ideas covered: AI-enabled innovations in health and climate and a polarization footprint measurement.

Europe | Southeast Asia – Last year, the EU passed a ban on imported goods that contribute to deforestation – hailed by many as the gold standard in climate legislation. This week, the New York Times covered likely disruptions to local livelihoods (even national economies) when the ban takes effect next year. For example, Malaysia and Indonesia together supply 85% of the world’s palm oil, one of many global supply chains that will be affected by the EU law. Cynthia Ong is getting ahead of the ban in Sabah, Malaysia, and will produce certified sustainable palm oil by 2025 that safeguards small holder farmer livelihoods.?

Italy – There has been coverage lately about why women are choosing not to have children in the country with the lowest birth rate: South Korea.?In Italy, another country with declining birth rates, Eleonora Voltolina kicked off a national campaign aimed at removing barriers experienced by young adults, especially women, to becoming parents if and when they want to. This campaign comes with a push for legislative and cultural updates, including: equal paternity and maternity leave; part-time work as a right, not a concession; and removing sexist language from laws and constitutional charters.

Global – Plus, a few more: In Spain, Gonzalo Fanjul’s research fueled a migrant-led movement of over 600,000 people requesting residence status for 425,000 undocumented workers and families (here); in the U.S., Eric Liu interviewed two Supreme Court justices about navigating differences (here), and Marc Freedman released a new study on what young people say they want and don’t want from adult allies (here); in South Africa, Neo Hutiri solves a health access problem (here); and Ami Dar concludes two weeks on TED’s homepage (here).?