THE POWER OF PEOPLE, PLACES & FIRMS
Reading Time: 4 minutesRegions and cities are being reshaped by falling birth rates, ageing populations and the continued movement of young people to large metropolitan hubs. Japan knows this story well: for more than two decades, over 100,000 people a year have moved to the Tokyo metropolitan area from elsewhere in Japan. The question is no longer how to strengthen Tokyo, but how to strengthen everywhere else?
Reading Time: 4 minutesPolicymakers are placing renewed emphasis on regulatory simplification, seeking to cut red tape and help firms grow. For SMEs, this is crucial: growth is shaped not by one law, but by permits and reporting requirements piling across levels of government. How can governments simplify this patchwork without losing its safeguards?
Reading Time: 3 minutesAI is spreading through the UK economy, but not quickly enough. Recent UK evidence shows that around one in three firms with fewer than 50 employees adopted AI, compared with almost two in three larger businesses, while regional adoption ranged from 32% in the North East to 67% in London. What can government do to close these adoption gaps?
Reading Time: 3 minutesGoing green is good for business and the planet. But as policymakers focus on geopolitical risks, energy security and the rise of AI, the low-carbon transition risks being sidelined, especially for smaller businesses. How can governments keep up the momentum?
Reading Time: 5 minutesAt just 16 years old, while working in a bakery in Paraguay, Vanessa realised she had found her calling. While others continued their studies, she chose a different path, staying close to the work that inspired her most: serving customers with care, leading a team and delivering quality products while supporting local producers. While young entrepreneurs remain largely underrepresented across Europe, how was Vanessa able to turn her vision into a reality?
Reading Time: 3 minutesWhen people talk about “the cloud”, it sounds weightless, something almost magical floating in the sky. Except that it isn’t. It lives on the ground, in data centres filled with servers that store, process and move staggering amounts of information every second. These data centres consume energy, occupy land, use metals and minerals from global supply chains – and they need vast amounts of water for cooling.
Reading Time: 11 minutesWith hundreds of sustainability and impact labels in circulation, how can consumers, policymakers and investors identify organisations that really do put people over profit? In this episode, Shayne MacLachlan is joined by Ruben Rebelo from the European Commission and Sofija Rakcejeva from the OECD to explore how labels can do more than just make social economy more visible and easier to support but also help people do better.
Reading Time: 4 minutesSince the global financial crisis, business investment has struggled to recover, with real investment still 23% below its pre-2008 trend. The world isn’t short of good ideas or businesses, nor of finance. Yet the actual investment needed to fuel growth, jobs and the twin transitions continues to fall short. Can smarter policies on SME financing reignite investment and lead our economies to their best selves?