Global Economic Futures Productivity in 2030 2025

Strategy considerations for businesses and governments TABLE 2 Promote synergies between technology and human capital developmentFor businesses: Align strategies on education, workforce development and innovation to ensure technology and human capital evolve in tandem. For governments: Strengthen integration of innovation, knowledge and learning ecosystems and policies through partnerships with educators, technologists and industry leaders. Strengthen anticipatory and data-driven decision-makingFor businesses: Use foresight tools, big data analytics and real-time feedback loops to inform operational and strategic decision-making. Invest in leadership development and create agile governance structures to break silos and encourage innovation and dynamic decision-making. For governments: Institutionalize foresight practices and anticipatory policy design. Develop decentralized decision-making mechanisms and national data frameworks that balance privacy with the need for robust, actionable insights into economic trends. Invest in developing public sector talent to strengthen innovation and change management. Future-proof education and training systemsFor businesses: Establish dynamic partnerships with educational institutions to co-develop industry- relevant curricula and invest in robust in-house reskilling and upskilling programmes. Invest in talent development and ensure equitable access to training opportunities. For governments: Strengthen the education and training ecosystem to meet evolving labour market needs, increase skills transferability, ensure equitable access to learning and encourage lifelong learning, technological literacy, adaptability and creativity. Anticipate talent needs and develop workforce transition policiesFor businesses: Establish talent mobility frameworks to enable transition across occupations and to tap into global talent pools as business needs evolve. Invest in augmentation and involve workers in digitalization and automation processes. For governments: Develop workforce transition policies and strengthen safety nets for workers at risk of displacement. Engage businesses to co-create sector-specific training pipelines and incentivize investment in human capital development and retention. Strengthen workforce inclusion and develop talent mobility policies to attract top global talent, e.g. through fast-track visas. Accelerate adoption and diffusion of emerging technologiesFor businesses: Collaborate with governments, technology leaders and industry peers on initiatives to scale and disseminate productivity-enhancing technologies throughout the value chain. Invest in developing technological leadership and align technology and operational strategies to maximize return on investments. For governments: Reduce barriers to technology access for smaller firms and underserved regions through subsidies, infrastructure investments, regulatory sandboxes and public-private innovation hubs. Incentivize innovation and entrepreneurship culture and ensure broad-based participation across the economy (e.g. small and medium business, rural and urban areas). Invest in the trustworthiness of emerging technologiesFor businesses: Implement ethical frameworks and guardrails to ensure transparency in technology design, development and deployment and to build accountability and stakeholder trust. Engage stakeholders through open communication. For governments: Develop ethical frameworks and transparent regulations for AI and automation to address societal concerns and build public trust in new technologies. Engage society and industry stakeholders to develop policies that address biases and balance innovation with accountability. Strengthen critical infrastructureFor businesses: Integrate digital infrastructure upgrades into core strategy and invest in supply chain infrastructure to build resilience, improve efficiency and maximize market access. For governments: Invest in infrastructure development to close digital gaps, increase resilience and boost efficiency in critical areas such as transportation and energy. Bridge regional and sectoral gaps to mitigate productivity divergenceFor businesses: Develop localized strategies to secure supply chains, market access and efficiency in peripheral areas of operation. Partner with governments, educational institutions and other stakeholders to facilitate adoption of emerging technologies and the development of human capital across underserved regions, sectors and value chain components. For governments: Invest in regional innovation hubs, reduce informality and implement targeted policies to support lagging regions and industries, including targeted investments, tax incentives and workforce relocation and development programmes. Strengthen resilience to geopolitical disruptionFor businesses: Strengthen technology supply chains through diversification and safeguard access to human capital by investing in flexible workforce strategies, such as cross-border talent mobility and expanded remote working. For governments: Pursue bilateral and multilateral agreements to safeguard knowledge exchange, movement of people and supply-chain continuity, while diversifying to reduce reliance on any single region or market. Global Economic Futures: Productivity in 2030 24