Twofourseven Strategy

We are less than 24 hours before polls open for the UK General Election tomorrow on Thursday, July 4th. All data is showing The Labour Party on course to become the next Government, potentially securing a strong and much needed. But, until 10pm tomorrow night, everything single vote is in play. It was 2010, when this administration of Conservatives came into power under David Cameron. At the same time, my international communications and advisory career took off. I started working, supporting, sharing knowledge and insight with clients in various international markets, including GCC nations such as the UAE, Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, as well as countries in Southeast Asia such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. It was fantastic work and a privilege to work overseas and support public and private sector organisations with knowledge that helped share their economy. But after every trip, when I returned, I noticed a difference in how they were spreading ahead in terms of appetite for knowledge that led them to increase growth. Looking at data from various sources including Office for National Statistics, The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and ASEAN Stats I noticed that compared to GCC and ASEAN countries our growth rate was poor, with an average over the past 14 years of 1.88%, while ASEAN countries delivered an average growth rate of 4.16% for and 3.01% for GCC nations. Yet, here we are in 2024, ranked 4th in the World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO World Innovation Index, something that is a fantastic achievement. But monitising this IP and innovation has been lacking compared to other nations. For example, according to The World Bank we are 12th in knowledge diffusion and 34th in knowledge absorption. These positions have been getting worse, especially compared the US, Japan, Germany, Singapore (1st in Knowledge absorption) and China. Also, the number of IPs that the UK registers, we are lacgging behind everyone. Make no mistake though, our science, technology and creative services, are leading sectors in the world. But fo growth, we need an ecosystem that allows our academic community and our businesses to invest in the potential that we create. Say it 'quietly,' we need to better understand risk and the potential that this delivers. We need to invest in our infrastructure and encourage UK businesses to invest in growth and a venturing ecosystem that helps creates jobs and wealth for everyone, because at the moment the UK's corporate venture capital ecosystem is lagging and that requires a shift in mindset if the UK and companies are to get growth. From my perspective and from what I have seen internationally and here in the UK we are in a unique position where we can benefit from what we create. We need to take an integrated and collaborative approach. #generalelection #ukgeneralelection #investment #innovation #industrialstrategy #trade https://on.ft.com/3RUdbDD

OpenAI this week annouced #Sora, an AI model that can create realistic and imaginative scenes from text instructions. When released to the public, the service will be able to create up to minute-long videos from basic text prompts. The initial tests look incredible, and as a result, questions are asked about safety, guidelines, and what data was used to create Sora. The #siliconvalley philosophy of 'move fast and break things' is being tested to the limit, especially when you consider that that they might have used owned intellectual property to develop Sora. In the interview, Open AI CTO, Mira Murati, wcouldn't give a clear answer. But, is this an issue? Well, yes, you can't escape from the fact, that if they are scrapping publicly available content then there is a high chance they are benefiting and directly or indirectly creating a product service that is helping to increase the valuation of Open AI. Moving fast in a sandbox and seeing what can be done is fine, but releasing it publicly without having some form of agreement in place with content owners is for me an issue. Leaving it to the lawyers to resolve is for me not an effective strategy. Many content owners have already taken Open AI to court, giving this company and it's lawyers a lot of headaches. They might be seen as distractions, but in the long term they are not, not for Open AI or it's backers, who are also exposed. For what is a great service, they are putting at risk the reputation of their innovative work. And reputation matters. #OpenAI #GenerativeAI #riskmanagement #copyright https://lnkd.in/ezUuni82

I am travelling again. This time to San Francisco, Monterey and Palo Alto. A week of work and networking. In 2011, I had the privilege of meeting Global Corporate Venturing (GCV) founder James Mawson. He pitched me a vision, highlighting the importance of corporate venturing in the investment and innovation process. James has created the world's leading Corporate Venturing communities, an entity that is more than just about events. The team today delivers best-practice counsel on corporate venturing, research and much more. From those early days when I was privileged to support with the early communications and social media presence today, the group compromises of investors from around the world - USA, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and beyond. One thing is certain: to see the future, you need to know where the money is and where companies, through their corporate venture arms, are investing. The Global Corporate Venturing Summit next week in Monterey is an annual gathering of leaders in this sector. Take this as a fact, for all the talk of venture capital companies and the finance they provide start-ups, not just in technology, but across sectors, energy, consumer, health, defence, start-ups that have backing from corporate ventures are the ones that most likely to survive. Why? Simple, it is not just about the capital that a start-up needs, it is also about the knowledge and sector experience. In my work, we focus on strategy and reputation. Key areas for any CVC and start-ups. Testing a hypothesis that will deliver growth requires trust and a strong reputation, not just from the builders but also from the backers. Let's celebrate what is being built and the insight we will gather from Monterey. Let's connect and discuss the opportunities. #innovation #corporateventurecapital #finance #growth #GCV https://lnkd.in/eNHh6gju

Last week, the European Union passed its EU Act, a piece of legislation designed to regulate artificial intelligence. The Act aims to establish safeguards for EU citizens while enabling growth for businesses, something that is a fine line. However, this acts infleunces any country and business that aims to use a generative AI tool and trade within the EU. This legislation is a starting point for a global conversation and will have similar influence to GDPR and it's impact globally. What are the implications for AI, innovation, growth, and the future? cc: Kevin Buehler, James Mawson, Kenneth Ler, Allan Schoenberg, Ramon Compaño, Tac Leung, Ben Brabyn, Nicolas Sauvage, Roger Bromley, Holger Harreis, Nick Masters, Simon Enright #AIregulation #EUAIACT #businessgrowth #citizensafeguards

So I am once again returning to the Department for Business and Trade! A pleasure and a privilege to work with such a great team on such an array of critical subjects! DMs open if you want to reconnect!

Clare Cole, director of market oversight at the Financial Conduct Authority, believes that the UK media needs to do more to improve the business environment in the country. At a City & Financial Conference in London this week, Cole highlighted the negative culture that exists around "our entrepreneurs and our listed issuers." While there are differences between how the media in the UK and the US report on companies and entrepreneurs, perception is set by many other influence points, which I discuss in my newsletter. Do you agree with Cole's view? #UKbusiness #media #perception #reputationmanagement #investment

New CIPR analysis of FTSE boards and executive leadership teams finds only three FTSE 100 companies have a dedicated communications expert on their Board of Directors. Find out more about our research and read reaction from CIPR CEO, Alastair McCapra: https://lnkd.in/eeN7PdTK