November 5, 2019

World Economic Forum announces major circular economy initiative

The World Economic Forum is creating a new partnership which it claims will harness the potential of technology innovation and smart policy to fast-track the circular economy. WEF claims that SCALE 360 will collaborate with government, business, civil society and entrepreneurs around the world to find bright new ideas that will help us cut the waste in the world’s economies. It defines a circular economy as a regenerative approach to production and consumption, in which products and materials are redesigned, recovered and reused to reduce environmental impacts. Research shows that this transition could generate $4.5 trillion in additional economic output by 2030. (more…)

October 30, 2019

The workplace of the future and its tech must work for the good of society

by Neil Franklin • AI, News, Technology, Wellbeing

October 21, 2019

RICS launched new Social Impact Awards

by Neil Franklin • Architecture, Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has today launched a new awards programme. Entries are being sought for the RICS Social Impact Awards, which set out to ‘recognise the positive and transformational contribution that the built environment has on people’s lives across the UK’. According to RICS, the awards will ‘assess the human, social and environmental impact, and the innovation and collaboration, that has gone into development and infrastructure projects in the Commercial, Education, Healthcare, Heritage, Infrastructure, Land & Rural, Leisure, Residential and Student Accommodation sectors’. (more…)

October 18, 2019

Making flippy floppy with the meaning of work

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Great news! No, not the Brexit deal but the reports that the US has replaced the floppy disks it uses to store the information about its nuclear arsenal with something a bit less Nineties. If nothing else, a useful reminder that even the people responsible for a potential Armageddon might not be quite on board for the Fourth Industrial Revolution just yet, and are still coming to terms with the Third. (more…)

October 11, 2019

How the Dutch pioneered agile working, wellbeing and smart buildings

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design

Many of the challenges we face in selecting the right office design models became apparent during the 1960s as the world adjusted to the first signs of the technological revolution. At the same time, people across Europe were pressing for changes in the way organisations and the economy worked. (more…)

October 10, 2019

People work better with robots when they see them as teammates

by Sangseok You • Comment, Technology

We might not be able to control our emotions towards robots metallic but fear not. We perform all the better as a team for it. No longer the realm of the privileged US military, robotic technology is edging into households and workplaces at a keen pace. At work, robots prop up teams across a diverse range of industries, often taking on the more dangerous or otherwise challenging tasks. (more…)

October 3, 2019

People spend under half their time doing their actual job

by Neil Franklin • News, Working culture

People are only spending around 40 percent of each day doing the things they are paid to do. This means that UK businesses are missing the opportunity to tap into underused potential, due to unproductive activities and misapplied technologies, according to the new 2020 State of Work report (registration) by Workfront. (more…)

September 30, 2019

The role of AI in creating a more human workplace

by Josh Squires • AI, Facilities management, Features, Technology

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to infiltrate modern society, the benefits and pitfalls the technology receive almost peerless attention. The emergence of AI is of particular importance to how organisations might recruit, with clear signs that they are becoming more interested in the benefits it brings to their businesses.

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September 27, 2019

Triangulum smart cities project reaches completion

by Neil Franklin • Cities, Environment, News, Technology

The €30 million award-winning Triangulum project is drawing to a close as the participating cities in the pioneering project begin to share the first results from the five-year long future smart cities programme. Triangulum is one of 14 European Smart Cities and Communities Lighthouse Projects funded by the European Union’s Research and Innovation Framework Programme Horizon 2020. (more…)

September 20, 2019

Exploring the link between digital IQ and workplace culture

by Anthony Brown • Premium Content, Technology, Workplace design

One of the most talked about solutions to the UK’s seemingly intractable productivity deficit is the application of new technology. And as we begin to address the first challenges and opportunities presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it grows more apparent each day that this is not merely a macro-economic issue, but something that affects us at an organisation and personal level too.

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September 19, 2019

Employee privacy issue explored at CoreNet Global Summit

by Freddie Steele • News, Property, Technology, Working culture

Employee acceptance of new technology was a recurring theme of the CoreNet Global Summit in Amsterdam last week. The business value of monitoring software was largely accepted during the three days of the Summit; however, the individual’s perspective – that the benefits that might be traded for loss of employee privacy – was widely acknowledged as a pressing issue. (more…)

September 18, 2019

Automation will boost productivity, but risks leaving people behind

by Neil Franklin • AI, News, Workplace

Unless the Government steps up efforts to manage the transition to automation, many people and entire regions of the UK face being left behind and British businesses could find themselves becoming less competitive, says the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee in a report published today.
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