COGITO

Mining standards: Turning opportunity into local-development reality

Reading Time: 3 minutesIt is the “paradox of proximity”: communities nearest a mine feel its impacts first, yet often lack the skills, finance or infrastructure to secure jobs and contracts. How can these opportunities be turned into outcomes?

La economía social y solidaria en Cataluña: claves del éxito

Reading Time: 4 minutesLa economía social y solidaria catalana no nació solo de la ley: desde 2016, catorce “Ateneus Cooperatius” y redes comunitarias han creado más de 1100 cooperativas. ¿Bastará ahora la política para sostener lo que crearon?

When the copper party ends… can mining regions make the gains last?

Reading Time: 3 minutesCopper booms do not last for ever. Prices rise, investment pours in and mining regions expand. Then the cycle turns. The obvious question for places that depend on mining is: what remains when it does?

How cities borrow ideas and make them work locally

Reading Time: 4 minutesCities often look to one another for solutions to challenges ranging from housing shortages and climate risks to infrastructure pressures and social inequalities. How can cities bridge the gap between inspiration and implementation?

The social and solidarity economy in Catalonia: Secrets to success

Reading Time: 4 minutesCatalonia’s social and solidarity economy wasn’t built by legislation alone: fourteen Cooperative Hubs and community networks came first, creating over 1,100 cooperatives since 2016. As legal recognition arrives, can policy alone sustain what communities already built?

Beyond buffaloes: Building a social enterprise in Laos

Reading Time: 4 minutesIn rural Laos, Laos Buffalo Dairy rents pregnant buffaloes from farmers, supporting rural families while producing milk commercially, sustaining livelihoods without disrupting traditional local farming practices. But can shared value be a lasting business model?

Putting people at the heart of Ukraine’s recovery

Reading Time: 5 minutesIn Ivano-Frankivsk, Promprylad Foundation retrains displaced people, veterans and women for in-demand local jobs, supporting 30,000+ people and 600+ new jobs since 2022. Can community-led models like this reshape how we think about post-war economic recovery?

Can MENA’s digital finance boom close the gender gap?

Reading Time: 4 minutesAsk whether digital finance is helping women entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) overcome old barriers and the honest answer is: both, at the same time. But is access enough to drive real growth?

Loger une société qui vieillit : les Outre-mer français en première ligne

16 April 2026 Thomas Kergonou Jimenez and Romain Bayona-Ruiz

Reading Time: 4 minutesD’ici 2030, la Guadeloupe et la Martinique compteront entre 70 et 80 personnes âgées pour 100 en âge de travailler, contre environ 60 en France hexagonale, révélant un vieillissement démographique particulièrement rapide dans ces territoires.
Quels enseignements tirer du logement dans les outre‑mer français pour gérer efficacement cette transition ?

COGITO Talks… Fuel, fear and flights: How the tourism sector learned to withstand global shocks

08 April 2026 Shayne MacLachlan - (OECD) and Sergio Guerreiro - (Turismo de Portugal)

Reading Time: 9 minutesOver the 10 years, global tourism has been reshaped by successive crises, from the collapse of travel during COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the current conflict in the Gulf and the rise of petrol prices. In this episode, Shayne MacLachlan from the OECD, speaks with Sérgio Guerreiro, Chair of the OECD Tourism Committee, about how governments have responded to uncertainty and what resilience means in practice. Together, they explore how tourism policy is evolving to balance growth with sustainability, community impact and long-term stability in an increasingly unpredictable world.

Putting industrial policy in its place

07 April 2026 Dorothée Allain-Dupré - (OECD), Rudiger Ahrend - (OECD) and Andrew Paterson - (OECD)

Reading Time: 4 minutesAfter years in economic exile, industrial policies are back in a big way. Industrial policy interventions increased 20-fold in the past decade, as governments seek to rebuild competitiveness, support emerging technologies and shore up supply chains. This is true in OECD countries, but also in developing countries which use it more intensively. Many of these are adopting a place-based approach: between 2019-22, regional industrial policy support rose by over 50% as a share of GDP in 11 OECD countries. But why?

How a small boost can lead to big dreams: microfinance success stories

03 April 2026 Marie Vial and Nicola Benaglio

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?

“How many hours, how many pages?” The hidden cost of cybersecurity for SMEs

27 March 2026 Liina Kamm - (Cybernetica)

Reading Time: 4 minutesFor large companies serving millions of customers, cyber threats are an unfortunate reality. They operate complex digital infrastructures, handle vast amounts of sensitive data, and usually have dedicated cybersecurity teams and resources to manage these risks. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), however, face a very different reality. Many handle sensitive customer information but cannot afford a dedicated cybersecurity specialist. As cyber threats grow more frequent and sophisticated, how can SMEs protect their data without the resources of large companies?

When unemployment rises, people reach for entrepreneurship: how can governments help them?

24 March 2026 Polly Dhaliwal - (Enterprise Nation)

Reading Time: 4 minutesAs the UK labour market adjusts to a new economic reality, recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows unemployment rising to around 5.2%, its highest level since 2021. This shift reflects broader global patterns, where hiring is slowing and many traditional roles are being reshaped by automation and artificial intelligence. While numbers alone do not always capture the real picture, history tells us that periods of disruption have often acted as catalysts for reinvention. That is also true of what we are experiencing now.

The weight of the cloud: the cost of AI for water

22 March 2026 Ander Eizaguirre - (OECD) and Enol Nieto Jiménez

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.

More than movies: Can film drive regional development?

20 March 2026 Maya Camacho - (OECD) and Thomas Buchwalder - (Cactus Films)

Reading Time: 4 minutesWhen fans travel to Northern Ireland to experience landscapes made famous by Game of Thrones, they are doing more than chasing a fantasy, they are fuelling a regional economy. Although the television series concluded in 2019, it still draws around 350 000 visitors each year, representing around one in six visitors from outside Northern Ireland. How can more regions reel in the benefits of movie stardom?

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Industrial strategy has a geography puzzle: Where should countries invest?