Wim Naudé 's research deals with the role of entrepreneurship, technological innovation and trade and industrialisation in relation to risks to global development, in particular in fragile and developing contexts.

Currently he is focusing on the Mega-Problem of the 21st Century: How do we achieve prosperity for all on a fragile planet when innovation, science and entrepreneurship are stagnating? How do we mitigate risks to global development when the resilience of civilisation is in decline? Do Green Growth and Degrowth approaches, perhaps in combination with Artificial Intelligence, offer a way forward, or are these all dead-ends? Should we prepare for civilisational collapse?


He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in January 2013.