18 must-read stories for the weekend

1. How can Europe embrace a digital future? Professor Klaus Schwab on the new frontiers of innovation.

2. How the crisis changed macroeconomics. It overturned our assumptions, says the IMF’s Olivier Blanchard.

3. What will life be like in 2064? Self-driving cars are just the beginning, says Martin Sorrell.

4. Why small data matters, too. Little details can help to crack big social problems, from crime to truancy.

5. Fighting Ebola from the grassroots. Why we need local solutions to the scourge, as well as a global response.

6. Quantitative Easing could backfire in Europe. It’s not the right tool for the task at hand, warns Daniel Gros.

7. A sea change in ocean conservation. Only 2% of our oceans are protected – but this is beginning to change.

8. Why equality makes cold, hard economic sense. Chief Economist Jennifer Blanke writes for CNN’s Future Finance series. (CNN)

9. A new non-profit news platform rises from a Forum project. Collectively is targeting millenials with green stories. It started through the Engaging Tomorrow’s Consumer project. (Guardian, Wired). But it will need to prove its independence (Mashable).

10. The diversity of Islam. Nick Kristof cites the Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. (New York Times)

11. What Yahoo and Nokia’s offshore cutbacks tell us about India. Cites Forum research. (Bloomberg)

12. Empresarios ven en inseguridad freno a inversiones (Employers see insecurity discouraging investment) Citing the Global Competitiveness Report. (El Economista)

13. España vuelve a seducir a las multinacionales (Spain returns to entice multinationals) The Global Competitiveness Report is cited. (Cinco Días)

14. Improved logistics chain key to unlocking trade growth. “The World Economic Forum notes that the future of Global Value Chain in manufacturing is dependent on effective logistics service.” (AllAfrica)

15. The new Cold War on business. “Western multinationals will increasingly pay the price for geopolitics beyond their control,” argues Ian Bremmer.

16. How did planned obsolescence get started? As we struggle for sustainability, a lesson from lightbulbs and cartels.

17. Mining companies are replacing humans with robots. But did globalization start below ground? Economic historians argue that the world economy has been globalized for longer than we think, thanks to South America’s silver mines.

18. The socialist origins of big data. Before Silicon Valley there was cybernetics: the early history of government, management consulting, and computers. (How do stories like this get researched? The author explains how to write without Google or Wikipedia.)

Image: A visitor stand in front of QR-codes information panels during a ceremony to open an information showroom dedicated to the Zaryadye park project in central Moscow April 29, 2014. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov