We keep our ear to the ground for the interesting stats, insights and discussion points you need to feel in the know. 

1. It’s not all doom and gloom for Europe

Investment in Europe has stalled. Aftershocks of the war in Ukraine, weak economic growth, supply chain disruption, rising inflation and soaring energy costs, have all taken their toll. According to a recent EY survey, the overall number of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects announced in 2022 grew by just 1% compared with the previous year, while the number of jobs created by FDI dropped by 16%. But despite the gloomy picture, there are certainly reasons to be positive. The same survey found that despite strong competition from China and the US, 67% of investors have plans to establish or expand operations in Europe in 2023 – up from 53% in 2022. The same proportion also said they believe Europe’s attractiveness will increase over the next three years. Julie Teigland, EY EMEIA Area Managing Partner, shares a six-point plan to help Europe retain its competitive edge. 

How Europe Should Make the Case for Business Investment

2. The evolving world of MedTech 

Imagine your teenage daughter suffers from asthma and regularly needs an inhaler to help with symptoms. Neither you as her parent, nor her doctor, can be at school or soccer practice to see how often she is using the medication – or if it’s helping. Now, current technology allows the use of a smart inhaler that sends digital feedback to caregivers, allowing data to tell the story of how well treatment is going. Or, say if your elderly father needed a knee replacement. The success of these procedures is typically measured through visual and self-assessment of pain, which are often hard to accurately record. Current technology could change this, allowing your father to receive a smart joint implant with sensors that capture his every movement. This new digitally driven reality comes with a host of complexities for the Health Sciences & Wellness (HSW) industry. And in this article, we deep dive into the critical tax implications… 

How digital is changing the tax strategy for MedTech

3. The magic of AI

As you’ve no doubt already heard, generative artificial intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm. Unlike the metaverse, generative AI has come along with solid business use cases for improving content, engagement, design, and business processes. But the magic of this emerging technology? It is interoperable and easy to integrate. As a result, we’ve already seen AI being used to crowdsource branded marketing materials, deliver better product descriptions and improve automation of customer service functions. However, in the sea of business use cases, understanding what generative AI means for consumers themselves seems to have taken a back seat. The impact on how people live could be huge – and certainly isn’t limited to the novelty use cases we’ve seen so far, like asking ChatGPT what the meaning of life is. Kristina Rogers, EY Global Consumer Leader, tells us more.

Generative AI will change consumers lives as much as it transforms businesses

4. Customer is always queen

The behavior of a retailer, and their entire supply chain, is shaped by the choices of the people that buy the products they sell. If enough customers want asparagus in winter, a grocery retailer will recalibrate their supplier network to meet that need – even if it means importing them from the other side of the world. However, what if your customers don’t then want to pay the extra cost? Or, what if the very act of selling asparagus in winter causes customers to lose trust in that retailer’s sustainability efforts? Well, the retail sector is changing. Retailers are now working with broader groups of stakeholders, to give customers what they need – information to make sustainable choices, for example. In 2021, a Norwegian online grocer began putting itemized carbon footprints on its shopping receipts, resulting in a drastic drop in the number of customers buying red meat. When customers were shown the impact of their consumption, they changed their habits. Michael Renz, EY Global Retail Technology Leader, tells us how cloud-based technology can deliver absolute transparency to the consumer. 

Sustainability is up in the cloud for retailers

5. The rise and rise of private capital 

In volatile times, investors seek growth and resilience, qualities that private capital markets have demonstrated in abundance in recent years. Made up of family offices, private equity (PE), hedge funds, venture capital (VC) and private debt, private capital provides a compelling alternative to public markets. With the transfer of intergenerational wealth, a global trend towards delistings, and companies opting to stay private for longer, there are strong indications that private capital markets are set to rise further. In fact, over the last decade, private markets have enjoyed a remarkable period of sustained growth, more than doubling from US$9.7 trillion in assets under management (AUM) in 2012, and are estimated to have reached $22.6 trillion AUM by the end of 2022. But what is driving this growth? There are several factors at play; including investors’ search for higher yields, increasing numbers of high net worth individuals with more investable wealth, and the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history. But that’s not all. Ryan Burke, Global EY Private Leader shares more… 

Are you harnessing the growth and resilience of private capital?