4 lessons learned from running an innovation competition to accelerate the transition towards a Circular Economy of plastics in ASEAN Morgane Rivoal, Lan Hoang Phan, Alex Oprunenco (UNDP) This blog is the third in a series unpacking what a transition to a Circular Economy would mean for Viet Nam (Part…

Authors: Luong Nguyen, Brent Wellsch, Alex Oprunenco, Shumin Liu, and Ida Uusikyla This is the second blog in the series documenting our learnings as part of our regional initiative around plastic pollution and transition to a circular economy. In the first blog we looked at the role of portfolio in…

By Enrico Gaveglia and Shumin Liu The Regional Innovation Centre of UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub and the UNDP Philippines together with data science company Dataverz have explored the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the UNDP sensemaking process. This is part of the Regional Innovation Centre's work to continuously…

By Alex Oprunenco, Brent Welsch, Ida Uusikyla, Luong Nguyen, Shumin Liu Our regional initiative was conceived as an experiment to apply a systemic and portfolio design methods to better understand and act upon the issue of plastic pollution and circular economy Asia and the Pacific. As with other complex challenges…

By Juliaty Sopacua, SDG Advisor, UNDP Indonesia and Patrick Duong, Local Governance Advisor, UNDP Regional Hub for Asia and the Pacific. The defining global health crisis of the modern age, the COVID-19 pandemic is changing lives of millions of Indonesians, many of whom live in small villages across the archipelago. …

Interview with Alexandru Oprunenco, Head a.i. of the Regional Innovation Center, Bangkok Regional Hub UNDP — Cross posted from GovInsider by Yun Xuan Poon “Covid-19 has been an important and timely test for governance systems around the world, emphasising need for acceleration of new governance models,” says Alexandru Oprunenco, Head a.i. of the Bangkok Regional Hub, United Nations Development Programmes’ Regional Innovation Center. …

By Doina Ghimici Magnifying many existing question marks and prompting new ones is just one of the many ways in which COVID-19 pandemic has changed our world in 2020. Both the pandemic and the question marks will accompany us in the New Year. If the pandemic may be gradually defeated…

by Courtney Savie Lawrence, Head of Exploration Fully wrapping our arms around a system is a luxury we no longer have. So rather than writing up maps, we should carry a compass. — manifesto 2020 has been a year of deep shocks and jolts. Many plans have been put on…

An Update from our systemic design journey to fight plastic waste in Asia — by Alex Oprunenco, Brent Wellsch, Shumin Liu When we last left you, we were in the midst of launching our initiative looking to address the complexities of plastic waste management in Asia and the Pacific. As outlined in our initial blog by Alex, the Regional Innovation Centre in Bangkok is…