PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

It would be an understatement to say that the last three years have been challenging for businesses in the UK. Brexit, the Covid pandemic and the war in the Ukraine are just three occurrences which have had, and will continue to have, significant long-term implications for those running companies across the country.  These ‘one-off’ events are compounded by other longer-term trends which Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) must build into their company strategies going forward, including climate change, the continuous search for talent and the impact of new technology on the way they do business. Understanding how business leaders are reacting to the changing global economic situation is the focus of the latest 2022 CEO Outlook from global accountants KPMG which examines the perspectives of 1,325 global CEOs to provide a detailed insight into how they view the business and economic landscape changing over the next three years. In terms of the economy, the survey suggests that 85% of gl...

During the recent Covid pandemic, various sectors were forced to change their business model dramatically due to the lockdown imposed on customers and other stakeholders which meant they were unable to trade normally. One of those hit hardest was the higher education sector with universities having to close campuses and move quickly to online learning in order to continue to ensure students were able to complete their courses.  Some have argued that online learning should have been implemented earlier with some predicting the decline of the current model of university learning as new providers could develop more flexible programmes at a lower cost to students.  To date, that hasn’t happened although the introduction of online learning may now have opened a Pandora’s Box which may prove impossible to close. From my own recent experiences, the pandemic suggests that universities have been largely ineffective at coping with the pace of digital change. Often, senior staff lack any...

  So what are the skills that employers need in the next decade? That was the question posed by the UK Government’s Department for Education and the Skills and Productivity Board to Warwick University’s Institute for Employment Research and the think-tank RAND Europe. Their recent research report is an important read not only for businesses in the UK that are facing a talent shortage but also for those policymakers who seem unable or unwilling to consider new ways of delivering the digital skills that are needed across all industries in order for them to remain competitive. As with other studies examining the future needs of the labour force, the vital importance of digital skills is again highlighted as being key to the competitive advantage of organisations in a range of sectors. These skills include knowledge of artificial Intelligence, automation of processes, 3D printing, cloud-based computing,  information technology and communications systems, and the Internet of Thing...

So what is the economic impact of universities?  That was the question posed by London School of Economics policy fellow Anna Valero and her colleague John van Reenen of MIT in a recent academic paper. In reviewing previous evidence, Dr Valero suggest that there are various ways in through which universities can affect economic growth. The most obvious is that higher education produces the skilled workers required by businesses and that this can have a boost to local economies given that students who graduate are more likely to seek work in the area where the university is located. Another important role is that of developing and diffusing innovation with universities being crucibles for research and development (R&D) and there is increasing evidence of this being commercialised either through links with local firms or via academics spinning out to create their own businesses.  This role is particularly important in Wales where universities are responsible for 40% of the t...

This week, we saw yet another report demonstrating that the ‘great resignation’ theme which this column has been discussing over the last six months continues to dominate the future of the workplace. The “Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2022” from professional services firm PWC questioned over 52,000 adults who are in work or active in the labour market on a range of issues affecting their future. It found that, as with many other studies, employees are increasingly looking for new opportunities elsewhere.  According to the study - which was undertaken in 44 countries across the world -  one in five workers are likely to switch to a new employer in the near future with those aged between 18 and 41 being more likely to take that step to change their careers.  Of those who are looking for new positions, 44% are less likely to find their job fulfilling, 43% don’t believe their team cares about them, and 41% don’t feel that their manager listens to them.  More re...

Writing recently in the Times, Lord Wharton - the chairman of the Office for Students which regulates higher education in England - suggested that there was a need to protect students from “poor courses which offer few real benefits”.  Whilst not naming university creative degrees as the target of this campaign, it is clear that it is these courses that, excuse the pun, are firmly in the spotlight when it comes to this dangerous new policy of having politicians choose which degrees students should take. However, you have to wonder about whether those criticising these courses have ever considered the fact that the creative industries is one of the UK’s fastest growing sectors, generating over £116 billion for the economy and employing 2.1 million people.  They must also have little knowledge regarding the success of Apple, currently the most valuable company in the world at £260 billion, which is a result of the way it has combined technology with art with British designer Sir...

As we emerge out of the pandemic, it is clear that the use of digital has become even more important in the home and the workplace.  During the last eighteen months and as the country went into lockdown time and time again, the use of digital tools became critical in being able to work away from the office, to maintain relationship with friends and family and in containing and managing the pandemic itself through track and trace. Yet despite this, not everyone has the digital skills to operate in this environment. As the latest Essential Digital Skills report from Lloyds Bank shows, whilst 42 million adults are able to communicate, transact, problem solve, stay safe online and handle information, 21% of the UK population (roughly 11 million people) lack the essential digital skills for everyday life.  In other words, 10 million people are not able to access the Internet themselves and lack the most basic digital tasks, 6.5 million cannot connect to Wi-Fi by themselves and 4.9 ...

Published this month, “The “ Building The Future We Need ” report from techUK - the UK’s leading technology membership organisation - sets out some of the digital challenges that Wales faces and how these can be addressed by the public and private sectors to benefit the economy over the next few years. According to the report, the information technology sector in Wales employs around 24,000 people and is predicted to add around £1.5 billion to the economy over the next five years. But despite this impact, there are considerable challenges for the nation in terms of maximising the potential of the digital economy.  In terms of digital infrastructure, residential superfast broadband coverage in Wales had reached 93% by 2019 with 4G data services at 58% for geographical coverage by all operators.  In addition, Superfast Cymru had provided almost 733,000 premises across Wales with access to fast fibre broadband and, as a result of this work, superfast broadband coverage has more t...

It’s not often you come across reports that you think everyone in the business community in Wales should read cover to cover.  However, “ Wales 4.0 - Delivering Economic Transformation for a Better Future of Work ” by Cardiff University academic Professor Phil Brown is definitely one of those rare jewels that fall into that category. I was fortunate enough to be interviewed by Phil and we discussed, as the report does, how the rapid advances in digital innovation - defined as including any novel products and services, or more productive ways of doing existing things, along with yet imagined things based on digital technologies - were likely to impact the economy and future of work in Wales. It is a superb report not only because of the level of detailed analysis but because of its boldness in rejecting the normal status quo approach of just doing what others do. Instead, it challenges Wales to ‘dare to be different’ and to come up with new approaches that will lead to greater prosp...

Are digital skills optional for businesses to succeed? That is the question posed by a recent report commissioned by the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). As various studies have shown, digital skills are becoming increasingly important for businesses to develop competitive advantage, retain and attract talent and to develop innovative ways of working. Yet, we are still not completely sure of the demand for digital skills which can vary from basic word processing skills to knowledge of highly specific software.  By analysing millions of online job adverts in the UK, this study attempts to address this issue and give pointers as to the future policy support needed to enhance digital skills demand and provision across the UK. The first finding from the study is that employers are increasingly requesting baseline digital skills - such as Microsoft Office – as essential for entry into jobs with over three quarters of employment opportunities withi...