FRANCIS PISANI

Marlon Parker, 34, is a South African who is making a mark as an entrepreneur. Holding a degree in Computer Science from Cape Peninsula University of Technology, he lives in an underprivileged neighborhood rife with youth drug use and gang culture.Parker wanted to help them, using the tools he had. He took a group and […]

Even though we love smartphones, we do have a big problem with them: entering text causes more pain than pleasure. Touchscreens are awesome, but navigating their virtual keyboards is an ordeal. In 2008, four graduates of Shanghai’s best universities, who worked for multinational companies like Microsoft and Intel, attempted to address this.Instead of complaining about […]

I met Marlon Parker, founder of Rlabs, in June during my visit to Cape Town. I asked how he defines innovation.

I met seeqnce founder Samer Karam this February in Beirut, and asked how he defines innovation.

Tech innovation will always need engineers – and savvy geeks – entrepreneurs, and investors excited by risks and the opportunities that come with them.Everyone has their own recipe for success, so there really is no one true way to do things.It’s like brewing, the co-mingling of important elements. The mix is even richer, potentially more […]

Before heading off to Asia and the US, I wanted to make some initial summaries of what I’ve learned during my travels. The first was an article on the idea of ecosystems, published in July. This one, the second, is about start-ups that are global from day one. I’ll follow this one up with a […]

I’m writing this in Ho Chi Minh City. I just got here, the next step on my trip around the world of innovation. From here, I’ll go to Singapore, Manilla, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, San Francisco and New York. The big trip.This is also also where I became a journalist, entirely by accident.It […]

Who hasn’t dreamed of TED conferences for the poor, for activists, for people who want to change the world but don’t have the means to travel to Long Beach in California, US, or the connections needed to participate in global TEDx conferences?. Something like this exists in Serbia: SHARE conferences. The first two took place in […]

Before you head off on vacation, let me take a moment to set out my preliminary – and only partial  – takeaways from my travels through the world of innovation, a journey that will conclude in October. After visiting 33 cities, interviewing more than 200 people and researching the subject in books and articles, I’d […]

I was recently asked to talk about how innovation has changed journalism, which turned into an experiment in tweeting my own presentation with no visual support besides my Twitter page. This took place at the end of June as part of the 4M Conference (Montpellier, Mediterranean, Media, Mutations) organized by Canal France International.It was sort […]