Search Results for: innovation

Flexible working has a range of positive benefits for workers, a new report confirms

Flexible working has a range of positive benefits for workers, a new report confirms

by • Flexible working, News

flexible workingFlexibility in where, when and how people work, including remote work, leads to an increase in innovation, as well as improvements in communication, creativity, productivity and engagement, according to a new study from the Flex+Strategy Group (FSG). This is among the key findings from a national probability telephone survey of 595 full-time employed US adults conducted for FSG by ORC International. The report claims that sixty percent of people who have flexible working options feel they’re “more productive and engaged.” Only 4 percent said they are less so, with 34 percent feeling their level of productivity and engagement is consistent. The results suggest major corporations including IBM may have gotten it wrong when they cited remote work as a barrier to innovation and collaboration and asked employees to re-locate back to company offices. The research also found a significant lack of training required for successful flexibility.

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There are at least some reasons to be optimistic about the UK’s tech sector post Brexit

There are at least some reasons to be optimistic about the UK’s tech sector post Brexit

by • Comment, Property, Technology, Workplace design

Making detailed predictions about the economic consequences of Brexit has proved a mug’s game many time over the past couple of years. The most accurate summation of what is happening might be ‘mixed’. Most recently, a report from the CBI has highlighted the resilience of many sectors while bemoaning a lack of skills in the economy. Meanwhile former Commercial Secretary to the Treasury Lord O’Neill also recently conceded that the UK economy had been more robust than he had expected following the Brexit vote, which he attributed primarily to the thriving world economy. An argument almost immediately dismissed by the economist Ruth Lea writing for the LSE, who put forward a more nuanced and mixed explanation. The same picture of tempered resilience is also evident in specific sectors, and especially those that were seen as the most likely to feel the consequences of the Brexit vote, including London’s crucial tech sector.

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Full fibre broadband could deliver £120bn boost to UK economy

Full fibre broadband could deliver £120bn boost to UK economy

by • News, Technology

A new study conducted by economic consultancy Regeneris, and commissioned by Cityfibre, claims that the total economic impact of deploying full fibre ultrafast broadband networks across 100 UK city and towns, could reach £120bn over a 15 year period. The study examined ten areas of the UK economy likely to benefit from full fibre roll-outs. It also sought to quantify the impact of each of these areas in 100 distinct UK town and city economies over a 15-year period. According to the researchers, the UK’s business community – and most particularly its small and medium sized companies – could stand to benefit enormously. Access to full fibre could unlock £4.5bn in business productivity, innovation and access to new markets in these locations; a further £2.3bn in growth could be driven from catalysing new business start-ups; while the increased ability for companies to support flexible working could add £1.9bn.

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What the Chancellor’s Spring Statement means for the employment landscape

What the Chancellor’s Spring Statement means for the employment landscape

by • Comment, Workplace

It may only have lasted 26 minutes, but chancellor Philip Hammond’s inaugural Spring Statement included a number of very encouraging points. Critics were quick to criticise Philip Hammond’s first Spring Statement. But that is perhaps simply the nature of politics. If an impartial party carefully dissects the 26-minute speech, there are undoubtedly many positives to take away. Yes, growth projections still lag slightly behind those highlighted in March 2016. However, it must be accepted that pre-Brexit forecasts are a different story altogether. On 24 June 2016, very few people would have predicted the growth story that was told in the House of Commons today – one of continued economic development with further growth on the horizon. This story is therefore an extremely encouraging one, and a welcome narrative amidst the doom and gloom that so often dominates the media headlines and political debates.

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Smart cities could give people back 125 hours each year, claims new Intel study

by • Cities, News, Technology

An Intel-sponsored study by Juniper Research estimates that smart cities have the potential to “give back” around 125 hours to every resident every year. The study also ranks the top 20 smart cities worldwide across four key areas: mobility, health care, public safety and productivity, and reveals how these cities deliver positive outcomes for increased time savings and productivity, increases in health and overall quality of life, and a safer environment. The study found that Chicago, London, New York, San Francisco and Singapore (pictured), are the world’s leading cities integrating IoT technologies and connected services. These cities stand out because of their cohesive efforts to connect city municipalities, businesses and their citizens to address a growing need to improve “livability” – specifically around mobility (San Francisco and Singapore), public safety (Chicago, New York and Singapore), health care (London and Singapore), and productivity (Chicago, London and Singapore) – as they transition to a smarter, more connected environment.

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Future cityscape will feature driverless transport, smart buildings and co-working says JLL

Future cityscape will feature driverless transport, smart buildings and co-working says JLL

by • Cities, Facilities management, News, Property

Future cityscape will feature driverless transport, smart buildings and co-working says JLL

Wi-Fi trees, driverless transport, smart buildings and co-working will be commonplace in 2040 predicts a report (registration required) published by JLL that outlines the ideal cityscape by 2040. The report incorporates a transformation framework aimed at enabling real estate businesses to adapt and thrive in a future city. According to the report, “The Transformation Framework”, the ideal cityscape in 2040 will have adapted to the trends driving the real estate sector over the next 20 years and will include co-working and living space, smart and healthy buildings, Wi-Fi trees, reverse vending machines, driverless transport and multi-generational housing as standard. To create the future cityscape, JLL asked some of the UK’s leading real-estate owners, occupiers, developers and investors what they thought the ideal city would look like in 2040, while taking into account the seven trends that JLL predict will influence real estate and infrastructure globally over the next two decades. These trends included tech innovation, urbanisation, land & resource scarcity, the low carbon economy, demographic & workplace change, health & wellness and transparency & social value.

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New working styles are risking the health and wellbeing of people, claims report

New working styles are risking the health and wellbeing of people, claims report

by • AI, Flexible working, News, Technology, Wellbeing

A new report from the British Safety Council and consultancy Robertson Cooper, explores what it claims is the probable impact of new working practices and technology on people’s physical and mental wellbeing, and what employers, unions and legislators should do to address them. The report, Future risk: Impact of Work on Health, Safety and Wellbeing, argues that the safety, health and wellbeing of older workers will become more important and new risks will arise related to the adoption of artificial intelligence and automation.

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About time we simply accepted that coworking and flexible working are the new normal

About time we simply accepted that coworking and flexible working are the new normal

by • Comment, Coworking, Flexible working, Workplace design

Ask someone to list innovative companies which have become notable disruptors in their market and they invariably respond with two names – Uber and Airbnb. That is because both brands are positioned squarely and successfully at the retail consumer: for people who use a taxi or take an occasional short break in a foreign city, they have become the automatic default options. But there is another equally successful business targeting the corporate space, aimed particularly at small businesses and millennial tech start-ups: WeWork. Just like Uber and Airbnb, it is less than a decade old. In that time, WeWork’s ambition of being the world’s leading coworking company has been realised. Championing itself as a disruption revolutionary, it has succeeded more prosaically by ‘creating environments that increase productivity, innovation, and collaboration,’ according to its website. WeWork’s model involves renting office space cheaply via long-term lease contracts. Small units are then re-rented at higher rates to start up companies which are happy to pay a premium because they need very little space.

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Report outlines the impact of universities on regional economies and entrepreneurship

Report outlines the impact of universities on regional economies and entrepreneurship

by • News, Public Sector

Although universities contribute to one in every hundred new business births in the UK, but 35 percent of universities did not contribute to the production of a single graduate start-up last year, according to a new report from Localis. It claims that while there are pockets of excellence in the way universities support enterprise and entrepreneurship across the country, too many of them are doing too little. Published in partnership with University College London (UCL) and the University of Huddersfield (UoH), the report explores what more can be done to encourage university entrepreneurial activity and its role in local economies.

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Report calls for better understanding of the future risks of tech to workplace wellbeing

Report calls for better understanding of the future risks of tech to workplace wellbeing

by • AI, News, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace

Better understanding needed of the future risks of work to health, safety and wellbeingIn a workplace dominated by insecurity, gig work and intelligent machines we need to improve our understanding of their potential impact on health, safety and wellbeing claims a new report. Future risk: Impact of work on employee health, safety and wellbeing, commissioned by the British Safety Council from RobertsonCooper researchers argues that the public debate on the future of work has centred so far on the likely shape of the workplace and its implications for both employers and employees. There has been far less focus on what this might mean for workers’ health, safety and wellbeing, with discussions centring on the present, rather than preparing us for the challenges of the future. Yet, the impact of automation on the workplace will be more fundamental than is commonly understood, with 11 million jobs predicted to be lost in the next 20 years in the UK. As we are already seeing with some ‘gig’ working, it may undermine such basic human needs as social identity, economic security and a sense of belonging. The report reviews the existing literature on this subject and makes a number of recommendations.

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Cities must harness potential of new technology to keep themselves moving

Cities must harness potential of new technology to keep themselves moving

by • AI, Cities, News

The UK Government needs to develop a new transport strategy based on local partnerships to keep up with technological advances in areas such as self-driving cars, claims a new report. Rethinking Urban Mobility has been published by engineering company Arup, in collaboration with the London Transport Museum, law firm Gowling WLG and transport company Thales. The report coincides with the publication of a similar study from the World Economic Forum which claims that autonomous and shared vehicles, digitalisation and decentralisation of energy systems require new approaches to mobility.

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Built environment needs to address the talent gap to make the digital transition says WEF

Built environment needs to address the talent gap to make the digital transition says WEF

by • AI, Architecture, Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

Built environment needs to address the talent gap to make digital transition says WEFThe construction industry needs new talent and skills to help in the adoption of new technologies to meet the challenges of digital transformation. It must also become more diverse, including increasing the percentage of women in the industry. These are the recommendations of a new report from the World Economic Forum, developed in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Shaping the Future of Construction: An Action Plan to solve the Industry’s Talent Gap. The report argues that the Infrastructure and Urban Development (IU) industry has failed to innovate as quickly as other sectors, resulting in stagnating productivity and negative effects on the economy, society and the environment. An ongoing industry-wide shortage of qualified workers is among the key reasons for this issue. It has undermined project management and execution, adversely affecting cost, timelines and quality. It also has impeded the adoption of new digital technologies, such as building information modelling (BIM), automated equipment and cloud-based collaboration tools, which could improve productivity. The report provides twelve key actions which needs to be implemented to close the structural talent gap of the construction industry.

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