--- description: Staying atop the global drone market, losing Liberia to Ebola, reimagining prison labor, a UN for mayors, & helping nonprofits spend money. title: These Are the Five Best Ideas of the Day image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Innovation](/tag/innovation/) ## Innovation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Five Best Ideas of the Day: August 13 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 13, 2014 4:07 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 13, 2014 4:07 PM CUT **1\.** [**True rehabilitation: We can reform prisons and reduce recidivism if we treat prison labor less like modern-day slavery and more like on-the-job training.**](http://prospect.org/article/great-american-chain-gang "undefined") By Beth Schwartzapfel in American Prospect **2\.** [**Drones are a powerful military and civilian tool. Reforms are desperately needed if the U.S. wants to stay at the top of the drone food chain.**](http://www.wired.com/2014/08/we-need-to-reform-our-drone-policies-but-this-isnt-about-privacy/ "undefined") By Missy Cummings in Wired **3\.** [**Liberia’s fragile democracy may fall victim to the Ebola virus outbreak.**](http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/8/ebola-virus-liberiasierraleonepolitics.html "undefined") By Ashoka Mukpo in Al-Jazeera America **4\.** [**Mayors need the partnership and protection of a UN for big cities to test new solutions and spread innovation.**](http://www.citylab.com/politics/2014/08/why-mayors-need-a-un-like-organization-of-their-own/375817/ "undefined") By Richard Florida in Citylab **5\.** [**The biggest barrier to nonprofit innovation isn’t the lack of money. It’s knowing the right way to scale up and spend big infusions of cash.**](http://iveybusinessreview.ca/blogs/mjeyaloganathanhba2013/2014/07/19/barriers-financial-innovation-non-profit-adoption/ "undefined") By Mathu Jeyaloganathan Ivey Business Review  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3107643/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-13/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3107643/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-13/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: August 13","datePublished":"2014-08-13T16:07:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:43:06.365Z","description":"Staying atop the global drone market, losing Liberia to Ebola, reimagining prison labor, a UN for mayors, & helping nonprofits spend money.","url":"https://time.com/3107643/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-13/","keywords":["Innovation","Prisons","Drones","cities","ebola","training"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3107643/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-13/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: August 13"}}]}] ```