In the China model, a nation leverages its large population and low costs to build a base of blue-collar manufacturing. It then steadily works its way up the value chain by producing better and more technology-intensive goods. In the India model, a country combines a large English-speaking population with low costs to become a hub for outsourcing of low-end, white-collar jobs in fields such as business-process outsourcing and software testing. If successful, these relatively low-skilled jobs can be slowly upgraded to more advanced white-collar industries. Both models are based on a country's cost advantages in the performance of repetitive, non-social and largely uncreative work -- whether manual labor in factories or cognitive labor in call centers.

A new study finds that freshmen from 19 colleges in eight countries report symptoms consistent with a diagnosable psychological disorder. "While effective care is important, the number of students who need treatment for these disorders far exceeds the resources of most counseling centers, resulting in a substantial unmet need for mental health treatment among college students," said lead author Randy P. Auerbach, Ph.D., of Columbia University. "Considering that students are a key population for determining the economic success of a country, colleges must take a greater urgency in addressing this issue." For the study, Auerbach and his research team analyzed data from the World Health Organization's World Mental Health International College Student Initiative.

Keller Rinaudo began his career as the cocreator of Romo, a tiny toy robot. But for the past five years his work has been, well, bloodier. His company, Zipline, uses autonomous planes to deliver medical supplies--vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and blood--to hard-to-reach places. It signed its first client, the government of Rwanda, in 2016, and says it now fulfills about a fifth of the blood needs of the country's rural population. Anne Wojcicki, cofounder and CEO of 23andMe, says she was drawn to Rinaudo's "passion, dedication, and laser focus on what he wanted to accomplish."

From self-driving vehicles to smart cities, data is the driver behind AI. According to a McKinsey Global Institute study, nations that promote open data sources and data sharing are the ones most likely to see AI advances. A Brookings Institute report notes that "in this regard, the United States has an advantage over China. Global ratings on data openness show that US ranks eighth overall in the world, compared to 93rd for China". But right now, innovation in the United States is limited without a national strategy that answers questions about protocol and ownership.

NEW DELHI – Japanese companies are looking to tap India's medical market with funding and technological solutions to make health care more accessible in the world's second-most populous country. Japan-based venture capital firms like Spiral Ventures and India Japan Partnership Fund LLP are either funding local health tech startups or exploring new investment opportunities in the health care sector, and electronics giant Panasonic Corp. is offering solutions to improve rural health care. India has a huge health care gap between rich and poor and mismatches between doctors and patients. The situation is made worse by low government spending on health care at 1.3 percent of gross domestic product, the lowest among the BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Spiral Ventures has invested in four health tech startups that offer digital solutions for the local market and is scouting for more such startups in which to invest, according to a top company official.

That's how quickly brain damage happen when the cells get no oxygen in a stroke or in some brain injuries. Both can have tragic consequences -- paralysis, memory loss, speech difficulties and even death. But doctors can't start treatment without an initial diagnosis, and that requires reading a CT scan as soon as the test's completed. Unfortunately, that's not what usually happens, said Prashant Warier, co-founder of Qure.ai, a member of our Inception startup accelerator program. "Radiologists typically have a backlog of cases," he said.

In my keynote speech, I emphasised the fact that Africa will miss the point if the continent listened more to sceptics and failed to prepare for the emerging new world order – the fourth industrial revolution – that in my view was ushered unto the world at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos at the beginning of this year.

Along with the advent of blockchain, artificial intelligence is an innovation that could change the world. As cryptocurrencies have grown more popular in use and application, so too are the number of projects focused on fusing these two technologies together. This blockchain project has become known worldwide for creating the robot called Sophia, the first robot ever to have citizenship. Thanks to this, it's one of the most recognized and prominent projects when it comes to blockchain and AI. Singularity is a decentralized AI marketplace created for the development and funding of AI projects.

The high seas are probably the most lawless place left on Earth. They're a portal back in time to the way the world looked for most of our history: fierce and open competition for resources and contested territories. Pirating continues to be a way to make a living. It's not a complete free-for-all--most countries require registration of fishing vessels and enforce environmental protocols. Cooperative agreements between countries oversee fisheries in international waters.

Their technical forebears are, obviously, helicopters. But helicopters are "too noisy, inefficient, polluting and expensive for mass-scale use," says the white paper for UberAir, the company's aeromobile arm. "VTOL aircraft will make use of electric propulsion so they have zero operational emissions and will likely be quiet enough to operate in cities without disturbing the neighbors." Your weekly look at how innovation and technology are transforming the way we live, work and play. Tap here to get it delivered to your inbox.