My East Asia book tour
The last two weeks have been thrilling! With my book being translated into Chinese, I got on the road to speak about the "The Next Billion Users" with academics, development and tech practitioners, activists, and the lay public in Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong and Taipei. The news of the typhoons in China and Taiwan and the ongoing protests in Hong Kong did make me wonder how this would play out, adding a streak of adventure to this whole journey. But not only did everything run smoothly, but people across board were so extraordinarily kind, hospitable and generous with their time and attention that I am determined this is just my beginning with this region. The book talks started at the launch of the Innovation lab in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. The workshop aptly called "Interrogating Innovation" brought together speakers from across disciplines and countries and shed light on the obsession with innovation, the implicit normative...