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Why business can be good at solving social problems
Why do we turn to nonprofits, NGOs and governments to solve society’s biggest problems? Michael Porter admits he’s biased, as a business school professor, but he wants you to hear his case for letting business try to solve massive problems like climate change and access to water. Why? Because when business solves a problem, it […]
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Let’s go all-in on selling sustainability
The big blue buildings of Ikea have sprouted solar panels and wind turbines; inside, shelves are stocked with LED lighting and recycled cotton. Why? Because as Steve Howard puts it: “Sustainability has gone from a nice-to-do to a must-do.” Howard, the chief sustainability officer at the furniture megastore, talks about his quest to sell eco-friendly […]
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The New Others
The State policy regarding the refugees was the topic of an open debate between Alumni of the Bulgarian School of Politics, representatives of the state administration and stakeholders. The discussion was attended by the Chairman of the State Agency for Refugees Mr. Nikolay Chirpanliev and the lawyer Mr. Shteryo Nojarov . Mr. Chirpanliev presented to […]
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Architecture at home in its community
When TED Fellow Xavier Vilalta was commissioned to create a multistory shopping mall in Addis Ababa, he panicked. Other centers represented everything he hated about contemporary architecture: wasteful, glass towers requiring tons of energy whose design had absolutely nothing to do with Africa. In this charming talk, Vilalta shows how he champions an alternative approach: […]
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A Training “Governing Skills” for women political leaders ended
Twenty women who have been trained for 5 days received their certificates today 14th February. The special training for women politicians was organised by the Bulgarian School of Politics “Dimitry Panitza”. The traineeship is part of the project “More Women in Politics in 2014” conducted by the “Balkan Assist”. At the ceremony representatives of eleven […]
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Why our universe might exist on a knife-edge
The biggest surprise of discovering the Higgs boson? That there were no surprises. Gian Giudice talks us through a problem in theoretical physics: what if the Higgs field exists in an ultra-dense state that could mean the collapse of all atomic matter? With wit and charm, Giudice outlines a grim fate — and why we […]
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Life in the “digital now”
One year ago, Abha Dawesar was living in blacked-out Manhattan post-Sandy, scrounging for power to connect. As a novelist, she was struck by this metaphor: Have our lives now become fixated on the drive to digitally connect, while we miss out on what’s real?
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Long-term Strategies for Bulgaria –the Judicial Reform
Accent during the last day of the third course of the National Program was the panel “Long-term Strategies for Bulgaria”. The topic was judicial reform. Special guests were Judge Kalin Kalpakchiev, who is a member of the Supreme Judicial Council, Sava Petrov from the Prosecutor’s Association and Hristo Ivanov, program director at the Bulgarian Institute […]
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Lindsay Saltsgiver: ‘We should work better together, if we want to protect our children’
Special guest-speaker in our program today was Lindsay Saltsgiver, director of “Cedar” foundation for Bulgaria. Lindsay is an American, who has been living in Bulgaria for 10 years now. She took part in the rubric “30 minutes in the company of…” Lindsay talked about her motivation to work with children. She said that she is […]
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Frederick Mulder: “You have the chance to change Bulgaria”
Focus during the third day of the program was charity and spreading the culture of philanthropy. Special guest was Dr. Frederick Mulder, founder of “The Funding Network” – the first open, public giving circle in the UK, active in seven countries. He is an art dealer and a philanthropist. Mr. Mulder generally supports social and […]