Brexit

Strengthening Sub-National Trade and Investment post #BREXIT

The global landscape for Trade and Investment is undergoing significant changes, not least within the context of Britain’s departure from the European Union.

The LGA (Local Government Association) has launched a project to understand the role of sub-national organisations in developing place-based responses to the risks and opportunities of international trade and investment in this new environment.

We are delighted to have been chosen to help the LGA on this important project and look forward to speaking to many of you who are undertaking ground-breaking work in this area.

The barriers for trading outside the EU

The United Nations International Trade Centre asked us to help understand the non-tariff trade barriers that UK firms face when they trade outside the EU free-trade block.

Working with market research specialists MMarket Solutions we conducted interviews with 1800 UK companies to find out the issues they face. The research and interviews were conducted prior to #BREXIT and will prove to be a useful evidence base for future research.

We are pleased to announce that the report is now available for download and highlights issues that the UK needs to think about as it leaves the EU

The importance of Robots post #Brexit

We were recently asked to write a guest blog for the Centre for Business Innovation (disclaimer: we run their Corporate Venturing Consortium) focussing on what impact recent trends in #AI and #Robotics might have for agriculture and traditionally low-skilled industries in the UK post leaving the EU.

Researching for the post just reminded me of how far robotics has come in recent years. It is amazing to think that roles, such as fruit picking, which were a distant dream a couple of years ago are now almost mainstream.

The key conclusion we drew from our research was that any direct or indirect restriction on low-skilled immigration was more likely to lead to an increase in the use of technology than an increase in wages for local workers. Moreover, this will lead to lower consumer spending in the local area, potentially impacting on the sustainability of supporting service organisations.

The blog can be found here