Innovation and Digital Transformation Briefs

Artificial intelligence (AI) could help to address significant societal challenges, including those identified in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For organizations that seek to use such technology for social good, an understanding of the existing use cases and potential for social impact should be considered within the context of a heightened regulatory framework that might stifle successes.

US Real Gross Domestic Product grew by 6.4 percent (annualized) during the first quarter of 2021, slightly below the consensus forecast and above The Conference Board’s forecast of 5.0 percent.

There are certain basic concepts, such as intangible assets, that as a manager you should know well. Why? Because intangibles are meaningful and material to your business at many different levels, and yet you cannot rely on accounting to help manage them because intangibles are not on your company’s balance sheet unless they have been acquired.

Policymakers returned home from last month’s spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF with a clear message. The current short-term outlook provides no guarantee for sustained economic growth in the medium-term. Not surprisingly the word “productivity” therefore appears many times in this edition of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook. Productivity growth will be one of the most effective ways to prevent the recent upswing in global growth from slowing down prematurely.

Our current health and economic crises only accelerate the vital need for more innovation and faster digital transformation. Senior innovation leaders on the Advisory Board of The Conference Board Innovation & Digital Transformation Institute explore this means in terms of challenges and opportunities across multiple levels.

Trust is an important, but often neglected, intangible asset of the corporation. Trust is a value enhancer for corporate value, and conversely, a lack of trust can destroy market value in an instant.

We need a new conceptual model that incorporates the idea that intangible assets directly connect to business strategy. That way, they can financially impact both revenue growth and shareholder value. After all, a company develops its brand to improve its bottom line because consumers prefer to purchase from companies they know and favor. The same holds true for investors who buy the stock of companies they know and trust.

It is time to rethink brand write downs and for all managers to see their real value. Building intangible capital models for evaluating the accretive value and potential of brands is a logical way to understand whether the investment requested for marketing is worthwhile.

For innovation leaders, mandates for metrics from CEOs and CFOs are nothing new, but how do you measure the competencies that help companies become better innovators, such as creating an innovation culture, or being better prepared to work on diverse teams?