The World Investment Report calls for bold, coordinated action to redirect investment towards sustainable and inclusive development – with a sharp focus on bridging divides in digital economy, infrastructure and sustainable finance.

Universities play a pivotal role in America’s technology economy, serving as a crucial source of research, inventions, patents, start-up technology companies, and regional economic and employment growth. The Bayh-Dole Act has played an instrumental role in spurring academic technology transfer activities that serve as vital drivers of American innovation.

"Future Jobs" presents evidence that new technologies have thus far boosted employment. Increases in productivity and scale have outweighed the labor-displacing effects of automation technologies. However, the benefits have been uneven, favoring skilled workers while some less-skilled workers, in more routine and manual jobs, have been pushed into the informal sector. Digital platforms have generated new opportunities for the hitherto marginalized but also created insecurity for incumbent workers.

This Brief examines regulatory indicators that promote firm entry, ease of contracting with the government, fairness, transparency, and best value for money in public procurement systems across 50 economies. Drawing on indicators from the novel Public Procurement category under the Market Competition topic of the World Bank's Business Ready (B-READY) project, the analysis develops Composite Procurement Category scores categorized by economy income level. This approach offers a new perspective on considering procurement regulations and services from a competition standpoint.

"Firm Foundations of Growth: Productivity and Technology in East Asia and Pacific" argues that enhancing competition, bolstering digital infrastructure, and developing relevant skills can reignite productivity growth across the region, particularly for frontier firms. This book will be of interest to researchers, businesses, and policy makers dedicated to understanding and addressing the productivity challenges in the EAP region.

Hunter’s eponymous Hunter Foundation commissioned an independent study by Oxford Economics that draws on the lessons and successes of Singapore – one of the world’s most prosperous nations – to hopefully inform a debate on Scotland’s future. 

The findings delve into the strategies used to transform its economic outlook over the past 60 years from a country with a GDP per capita less than a quarter of the UK’s, to the eighth highest GDP per capita globally, surpassing the UK along the way.

This policy paper aims to support the development and advancement of Ukraine’s vocational education and training (VET) system by exploring the role of key innovative technologies. The paper presents examples of practices across OECD countries on how technology can help engage learners and employers, train learners in simulated work environments with personalised support, assess VET outcomes in innovative ways and align VET with labour market needs, and efficiently manage information exchange and administrative tasks.

As the privatisation of the public sector has grown rapidly in Sweden in the last decade, private companies have become an imperative part of education. Private companies sell and deliver consultancy, hardware, software, services, etc. to schools and municipalities. This study examines a growing rate of activities from companies and businesses working within public sectors. It also examines consequences of cooperation between private and public actors. Findings show that multiple actors meet in different forms and with different functions, in multiple ways and with diverse agendas.

This paper evaluates Tunisia’s “Startup Act,” a policy initiative to foster innovative firms through a “start-up” label and a bundle of incentives, including reduced social security contributions, corporate tax exemptions, easier access to foreign exchange, and simplified customs procedures. Detailed data on the program’s selection process allow identifying marginal entrants and rejects, and hence limit selection on unobservables. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, the program is shown to increase survival and promote job creation.

This final report in the work of The Lilac Review highlights areas where Disabled entrepreneurs urgently need support, where all parts of society can do more to create an equal world, and how we can create opportunities for Disabled founders that build growth into our economy as a whole.