Economic Development

Creating growth and prosperity at pace

Globally, more than 600 million people aged 15 to 24 are not in education, employment, or training, and 75 million young people are trained but have no job. In the next decade, more than 1 billion young people will enter the labor market, 90 percent in developing countries.

At the same time, half of all current work activities are already automatable. New opportunities will emerge, but in different companies, sectors, and geographies. Global economies need to deliver jobs at a five-times faster pace, while ensuring sustainability and an equitable distribution.

We help organizations plan for this transition and unprecedented pace of change, launching tailored programs to accelerate innovation and drive job creation, growth, and resilience, increasing the economic and social prosperity of citizens and creating employment opportunities for the next generation of job seekers.

What we do

Sector and cluster development

Identifying which sectors, clusters, and enablers to focus on for inclusive economic growth at national, regional, and city level.

Decision support through advanced analytics

Developing analytical and organizational capabilities to ensure governments make evidence-based, informed policy decisions.

Future of work

Fostering adoption of emerging digital and AI technologies, establishing human capital development systems, and reforming social protection programs.

Investments

Helping governments design incentives, processes, and organizational strategies to increase private investments in their country.

Trade and partnerships

Developing international trade partnerships, facilitating trade negotiations, and identifying frameworks to support export development and improve the trade balance.

Entrepreneurship

Designing strategies, identifying initiatives, and supporting programs to foster start-up creation and increase the number of subject matter experts.

Innovation

Fostering research and development, and creating an ecosystem that converts ideas and patents into innovative commercial applications.

Government delivery

Designing or improving delivery systems and units to accelerate implementation and create a performance-oriented culture, enabling governments to deliver their strategies.

Examples of our work

Adapting to the future of work

Supported a multi-stakeholder coalition in designing an end-to-end reskilling program to reach millions of unemployed Europeans, mobilizing a coalition of employers, training providers, public institutions and local communities.

Advanced analytics in a Central Asian country

Developed an advanced analytics tool using geospatial information to better allocate infrastructure spent and government services, resulting in a 30 percent improvement in access to government services.

Revitalizing the Rust Belt

Helped bring nearly 1,000 new firms into the area within three years, and increased the young adult population by eight percent through ten signature initiatives including building a life sciences cluster, founding a startup accelerator, and investing in workforce development.

Increasing productivity for the Ministry of Industry and Technology

Helped a G20 economy establish and operationalize a model factory that helps manufacturing subject matter experts improve their performance through lean transformation programs, combining theoretical and experiential trainings with on-site coaching. The first wave of the program identified operational transformation opportunities that would increase subject productivity by 40 to 120 percent within six months. At its current capacity, the model factory can serve 50 to 60 companies and create $100 million impact per annum which implies over $1 billion impact over the next five years.

Reversing a stagnant economy

Helped an economic development organization in a midwestern state develop a strategy to reverse outmigration and increase GDP growth, through investing in sectors and cross-sector strategies to create jobs and attract new businesses. The sector strategies resulted in 140,000 new job commitments, 420 retained job commitments, and over $30 billion in new and retained payroll. The state jumped 24 places on the Forbes Best States for Business ranking.

Developing a human capital strategy for the industrial sector of a major Middle Eastern economy

Developed projections and scenarios for future labor market demand and supply, taking into account ambitious sector growth plans and large investments, as well as potential disruptions through the fourth industrial revolution. The project identified approximately 400,000 future occupations for young job seekers, which we used to design a $450 million skill-building fund.