January 10, 2018
UK productivity growing at quickest rate for six years
Productivity in Britain is rising at its fastest rate in six years. Output per hour worked rose by 0.9 per cent between July and September of 2017, according to the latest quarterly report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This was the biggest increase since 2011, when productivity grew by 1 per cent. The UK has a persistent problem with its productivity. Excluding the UK, G7 GDP per hour worked is 18 per cent higher than in Britain, with productivity in the United States 30 per cent higher, France 31 per cent and Germany 36 per cent. High productivity is considered the key to economic prosperity because it allows companies to produce more goods or services with fewer workers or hours worked. This in turn lets companies pay higher wages without having to raise prices. Many theories have been developed to explain the UK’s chronic low productivity, which are summarised by the Financial Times here (subscription or registration needed).
December 14, 2017
How designers copy nature to create new and extraordinary forms
by Charles Marks • Comment, Workplace design
Humans have a long track record of turning to Nature for inspiration. When Leonardo da Vinci turned his mind to the challenge of acquiring the power of flight for mankind, his sketches show he believed the solution lay in mimicking the form and function of bat wings. We’ve learned a lot about aerodynamics since the fifteenth Century but nature continues to provide a blueprint for the way we design materials and structures. Researchers at the University of Alabama have recently won a grant from the US National Science Foundation to explore how the scales on the wings of butterflies (pictured) help the creatures to fly in the hope that it will help engineers design better and more efficient aircraft.
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