Julia Yereshko

Project

The ongoing unprovoked russian invasion of Ukraine brings not only the horrors of war and a humanitarian crisis, but also an uncertain future for Ukraine and the global society. At least now, it appears that harsh times are coming for everyone. Or are they? Economic history has taught us that every crisis (or war) becomes the prerequisite for future active ­developments (both technological and economic ones). Hence, in order to contribute to said future developments, we are trying to ­understand:
1.) What conditioned a commencement of the golden age of capitalism? That dramatic economic development is basically a legacy of depression and war. Similarly, the current situation is characterized by crisis, which is affected and deepened by war.
2.) How are innovation cycles affected by war? We can elaborate that those cycles ­actually are of a dual nature: The vast majority of ­devices that are pervasive in our day-to-day activity as well as common commodities are actually rooted in previous wars: That includes the Internet, vaccines, instant coffee, and even vegan sausages. In other words, humanity tends to be creative in adopting “wartime” innovations to “peaceful” times. Already today we can observe some initial innovative efforts toward a brighter future.