In this 15 minute 46 second TEDxCapeTown talk, Dr. Adrian Saville introduces the concept of “win-win economics,” a framework based on expanding connectedness across borders, sectors, and communities. He opens by contrasting the popular narrative of a borderless digital world with the reality that global systems remain fragmented and highly disconnected. Drawing on examples from authors like Nicholas Negroponte and Thomas Friedman, he shows how visions of a “flat” world overlook deep structural barriers that limit global interaction.

Saville then presents research by Pankaj Ghemawat demonstrating the large gap between perception and reality regarding global connectedness. While many people assume that 30–40 percent of global activity crosses borders, actual figures are far lower: only about 15 percent of world output is exported, around 10 percent of capital flows internationally, a small share of phone or data traffic crosses borders, and just 3 percent of people live outside their country of birth, unchanged from 1910. He uses these figures to highlight a lost opportunity for growth and collaboration.

Introducing the TCPIP framework—trade, capital, information, and people—Saville explains how these four flows define the ways countries and communities connect economically. After analysing data from 140 countries over 20 years, he found a striking pattern: every five percent improvement in these flows corresponds with roughly a 25 percent rise in income per person, five percent higher employment, and reduced inequality. Most of this impact, he notes, is driven by the movement of information and people.

He illustrates the transformative power of accessible information with examples like Sugata Mitra’s granny cloud, Boundless textbooks, Michael Hart’s 40,000-volume digital library, and massive open online courses that reach learners everywhere, including remote areas of the Congo. Saville reframes South Africa’s education crisis as a mobility crisis, arguing that increased access to people, knowledge, and technology would radically improve outcomes.

In this 6 minute 16 second ACUMEN interview, Dr. Adrian Saville addresses a central economic question: whether South Africa needs foreign direct investment and what conditions are required to attract it. He begins by explaining that emerging economies typically face structural deficits that limit their ability to fund growth internally. The first is the gap between domestic savings and the level of investment required to achieve meaningful expansion. Because South Africa’s income levels are not high enough to generate the necessary savings, foreign capital becomes essential.

Saville notes that FDI fills additional gaps, such as transferring skills, improving productivity, expanding export capabilities, and increasing government revenue. Many forms of experience-based learning and innovation, he argues, originate from the skills spillover that accompanies international firms.

When asked whether South Africa currently receives enough FDI, Saville is clear: if the nation wants to grow at 5 to 6 percent, it cannot rely solely on domestic resources. Without sufficient foreign capital, growth remains capped at roughly 3 percent. This limitation leads him to the critical issue of policy stability. Investors, he explains, are less wary of specific policies than of unpredictable shifts, inconsistency, or opaque decision-making. Stable, transparent rules of the game provide the confidence needed for capital to commit long-term.