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It's been a year when Jersey, in common with much of the world, has been focussed on the 'here and now' - dealing with today's problems, which at times have seemed severe.
But in the midst of those difficult problems, it is easy to only focus on short-term survival.
This week, a group of islanders called the Economic Council has published a document called 'New Perspectives' setting out five themes which they believe should help form a long-term vision for our economy.
Starting today, Express will be publishing more detail on each one of their themes...
"Annual growth in our Island’s income (in terms of tax revenues), which in turn pays for our public services including education, health, and social services, has largely been driven by a net migration policy1 and an increasing workforce resulting in growth in personal income tax3 . The increase in workforce has been at the expense of productivity.
Future sustainable growth in tax revenues cannot be achieved through ‘more of the same’ given population growth constraints in an Island measuring only 45 square miles. A recent third-party study estimates that 30% of jobs in the Channel Islands (27,000 jobs) are potentially at risk from automation between now and 2035, compounding the issue.
A focus on enabling innovation through embracing and building an entrepreneurial culture, will help the diversification needed to address these challenges and secure our Island’s future prosperity. Leadership and talent, over buildings and institutions, will drive economic growth. Jersey has some excellent leadership and talent on-Island, which it must continue to attract and develop. In developing, retaining and attracting talent the Island can reference many examples of highly innovative businesses that have been created in Jersey, and scaled globally.
Pictured: In developing, retaining and attracting talent the Island can reference many examples of highly innovative businesses that have been created in Jersey, and scaled globally.
Now more than ever, Jersey should seize the opportunity to position itself as an ideal location to scale global business. This will not be easy. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of new ways of working and accelerated our evolution from a traditional (industrial-era) styled enterprise culture to an information-age network primarily based on information technology where intangibles — e.g. knowledge, cultural norms and ecosystem relationships — are increasingly valuable. Key influencers with entrepreneurial capabilities in the business community play an essential function in getting things done.
We have seen tangible evidence that our entrepreneurial community has worked with Government throughout the pandemic to enable us to feel safe and move forward. That same community can be empowered to embrace and develop a community that builds sustainable opportunities for all, with enterprise and innovation at its core.
While it is widely recognised that there are significant economic growth opportunities in the digital age, the environment in which we operate will influence success. Critically, connections between entrepreneurs and the community are a key reason why certain jurisdictions are able to produce high value businesses, drawing in local talent and expertise. This is even more important with the rapid innovation around communication technologies allowing new forms of business interaction to take place, including the ability to leverage critical skills globally.
New technologies can drive economic growth, remove trading barriers and borders, deliver real-time and predictive data to better inform critical decision making, promote inclusiveness, improve the environment, heighten engagement between a government and its citizens, and extend the length and quality of human life; when and where new technologies are embraced as part of the business and cultural fabric of a place.
Pictured: New technologies can drive economic growth.
According to a 2016 World Economic Forum study, digital transformation will have far-reaching impact across industries — not only in terms of economic and job growth, but in environmental benefits as well — that “could deliver around US$100 trillion in value to business and society over the next decade.” Jersey should seek to realise the benefits of that transition through embracing the information-age and new technologies, and leveraging and building entrepreneurial talent in the Island; this will be enabled by utilising and continuing to invest in the supporting infrastructure that has proven to be amazingly resilient throughout the pandemic.
Just as in the corporate world, governments that adopt AI (artificial intelligence), big data, cloud computing, and IoT (internet of things) across all levels will prosper; countries that do not will struggle to keep up.
Turning to our historical success: Jersey is an established global financial centre that uniquely blends intellectual and financial capital. Many Jersey-based investment advisers and their investment funds have raised significant amounts of financial capital, predominantly from international investors, to invest into high-growth, high-tech and sustainable business opportunities across a broad range of industries spanning the globe.
Further, many of the individuals locating to the Island in recent years have built their wealth through driving innovation in the technology sector as well as in more traditional businesses including the creative arts, waste management, infrastructure financing and development, extraction industries, sports, tourism and retail. Many of the entrepreneurs locating to Jersey have a continued hunger and ambition to succeed. Such entrepreneurs are attracted to the Island because it provides a fantastic quality of life coupled with an infrastructure that supports international business. These entrepreneurs each have inspiring stories to share, which should be heard in order to ignite our future generations to embrace an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset.
These change agents should be empowered by policymakers: even the most well-designed policy needs an implementation strategy. Many of these individuals have expressed a keenness to help.
Time is short, Jersey should explore how to build an effective way to leverage the intellectual capital in the Island, which would drive innovation and enterprise that can thrive in our Island, in turn contributing to a vibrant future for generations entering our workforce.
Pictured: Our community and the Government have provided us with the opportunity to move forward and build a brighter future for all.
Jersey should develop a clear strategy to strengthen its position in building entrepreneurial capability, supporting innovation in high-growth/high-value businesses, which in turn will create sustainable opportunities for all. This strategy should embrace the entrepreneurs and accomplished enterprises and businesspeople already on Island as well as those that can be attracted here in the future, and fuse this together with the development of our local talent to build a culture of innovation, which in turn will help to drive sustainable business growth in the new economy.
Establish an active community of entrepreneurs who share a long-term commitment to co-create and support long term growth opportunities in Jersey. This community will focus on:
To implement such a strategy Government must:
One of our unique attributes is the ‘Quality of Place’. Never has that become more apparent than in recent times as we look at the impact of the pandemic on the world around us. Founders and key employees of high growth companies are geographically mobile, they choose to locate where quality of life is high, supported by a general sense of political and macroeconomic stability. Our community and the Government have provided us with the opportunity to move forward and build a brighter future for all.
Let us seize the moment."
