How Collective Intelligence Can Change the World

How do collective problems find collective solutions? Is tapping into “a bigger mind” – in groups, or with the help of machines, the answer?

A new field of collective intelligence has emerged in recent years, supported by a wave of new digital technologies that make it possible for organizations and societies to think at large scale.

But why do smart technologies not always automatically lead to smart results?

Chief Executive of Nesta Geoff Mulgan shows how this intelligence has to be carefully organized and orchestrated in order to fully harness and direct its powers.

In fact, he argues, figuring out the most effective ways to design and foster collective intelligence could be seen as our biggest current challenge, since there is little prospect of solving our other grand challenges of climate, health, prosperity, or war, without progress in how we think and act together.