Category: infrastructure
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The AI Investment Boom May Create the Next Great Global Divide
Artificial intelligence is usually discussed as a technology revolution. It may be more useful to see it as the beginning of a new economic geography. The factories of the industrial age were built around coal, steel, ports and railways. The digital economy grew around software, telecommunications and the internet. The…
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When Geography Returns to Globalisation
When Geography Returns to Globalisation For almost three decades, globalisation created the impression that geography was becoming less important. Goods could be designed in America, manufactured in Asia, assembled somewhere else and sold across the world. Containerisation, large ports, cheap shipping and digital supply-chain systems made distance appear manageable. The…
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Cities Are Building the Economy but Running on Empty
The Fastest Growing Part of India Is Also the Weakest Funded The future of India’s economy will not be decided only in Parliament or state capitals. It will be decided on the streets of its cities. Every new factory, startup, shopping centre, logistics hub, university and technology park depends on…
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The Invisible Foundation of Artificial Intelligence
Whenever people talk about artificial intelligence, the conversation usually revolves around powerful computers, advanced software, billions of dollars in investment, and competition between nations. Yet almost nobody talks about the land beneath these technologies. Every data centre, electricity corridor, transmission line, cooling system, and communication network occupies physical space. AI…
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The Urban Infrastructure Deficit: When Cities Grow Faster Than Their Foundations
India often celebrates the rise of its cities. From Mumbai to Bengaluru, from Delhi to Hyderabad, urban centres have become the engines of economic growth. They generate a large share of national income, attract investment, create jobs, and shape the aspirations of millions. Yet beneath the shining skylines and expanding…
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The Mirage of Mega Dreams: Saudi Arabia’s The Line and the Rise of Failure Infrastructure
The twenty first century has become an age of spectacle infrastructure where nations increasingly attempt to build monuments not only for economic growth but also for geopolitical branding, global visibility, and political legitimacy. In this race for futuristic symbolism, Saudi Arabia’s The Line emerged as perhaps the most dramatic urban…
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Capex-Led Momentum, Policy-Driven Direction
India’s capital goods sector is once again being shaped less by spontaneous private-sector exuberance and more by deliberate state orchestration, echoing a historical pattern visible since the early planning era when public investment laid the foundation for industrial capacity. However, unlike the past, today’s capex push is more strategic, targeted,…
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Dubai at a Crossroads: Safe Haven or Strategic Mirage?
The Safe-Haven Narrative Under StressDubai’s economic rise has long been anchored in its carefully cultivated image as a neutral, stable, and globally connected safe haven in a turbulent region. Historically, from the Gulf Wars of the 1990s to the post-2008 financial crisis recovery, Dubai positioned itself as a refuge for…
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Health Innovation in the 21st Century: Why a Multi-Stakeholder Model Is No Longer Optional
Health innovation has always advanced at the intersection of science, policy, and society. From the eradication of smallpox through coordinated vaccination drives to the rapid development of mRNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, progress has rarely been the product of a single profession or institution. Instead, it has emerged from…