But while the demand for innovation is large, its supply is limited. This, and much more besides, is needed to make progress against the big problems we face. The list of innovations we need is long: clean and cheap energy, better crops, interventions to help against the diseases that shorten and impair our lives. The same is true for progress against other problems: the ideas that sparked technological innovation made societies richer, and breakthroughs in the development of agricultural technology made it possible that while the world population increased rapidly hunger decreased at the same time. It was only once we understood the origins of infectious diseases that we realized the importance of now seemingly obvious ideas, such as supplying households with clean water. The germ theory of disease was just the first step based on this insight others followed with more ideas – a myriad of new technologies, but also public health interventions. Progress against big problems – the focus of our work at Our World in Data – is possible because of new ideas: humanity started to win the war against infectious diseases when scientists started to understand that it is microscopic pathogens that infect and kill us. As a consequence of this, we all – the entire world population – are missing out on the creativity and innovations that would enrich our world and help us move forward. Creative and talented people that can contribute to this important work are everywhere, but the opportunity to develop is limited to only a small number of well-off children. The world needs ideas and innovation to make progress against the many problems we face.
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