We use cookies to personalise and enhance your experience on this site. By clicking Accept or continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of marketing and social media cookies as described in our Privacy Policy.
Accept and close
This month, IFOW took the local to the global and spent a busy week at the India AI Impact Summit, where we met a variety of policy, industry, and research stakeholders, all under the Summit's overarching framing of ' welfare for all, happiness of all'.
Within this focus on inclusive, responsible, and resilient innovation, discussions reflected an exciting and clear shift in global dialogues toward more people-centred approaches to AI, labour market disruption, work design, and accountability mechanisms - priorities we have long-championed at IFOW. The critical challenge is now in moving from principles to practice: how can we implement this global declaration to transform working lives for good, making sure that everyone can flourish through technological transition?
Back home, growth forecasts for the UK were downgraded this week, creating more difficult terrain for the Chancellor to navigate. But one area of the economy that has been growing at a far greater rate is the green sector – which has been outperforming the wider economy by around a factor of three. As you’ll see from our Deep Dive below, we have been doing fantastic work in Cornwall and Grimsby focused on helping people access green jobs.
The labour market has been particularly challenging for young people, and last week we also launched a series of major reports in partnership with the EY Foundation focused on supporting young people from low-income backgrounds to access better work.
Green shoots then, as spring gradually emerges.Before signing off, we also want to welcome the recent appointment of Jeni Tennison as Chair of the UK Government Digital Service's Responsible AI Advisory Panel. We're hugely excited to be publishing our own in-depth research with the CIPD on responsible AI adoption within workplaces, as part of Innovate UK's BridgeAI programme. The first insights from this work will be published next week, so do look out for those! Congratulations then to Jeni in advance of International Women's Day, and to all the wonderful women leading this debate nationally and globally, including within IFOW and on our Board. We also hope that you enjoy our selection of reads and upcoming events, including the excellent desk review of the different methodologies on AI and labour that have been released recently.
The transition to a greener economy is one of the defining shifts of our time. But – as we outlined in recent publications from our Pissarides Review - the future of work is not predetermined by technology, but shaped by the institutions, firms, communities and partnerships we all build together.
This belief underpins Flourish, our platform designed to help young people in Cornwall and Grimsby - especially those who have struggled to access the labour market - find meaningful pathways into the green economy.
'Green jobs' is something of a catch-all – as was discussed at a Flourish spotlight event we held on Monday at Cornwall County Council’s offices in Truro. If you are a qualified welder, and doing expert work on offshore wind, you’re in the green economy. If you’re using your secretarial or sales skills in a solar company, you are too.
.jpeg)
But one of the biggest challenges isn’t just creating these jobs, it’s connecting people to them. Employers often face barriers when offering apprenticeships or work experience. Colleges can struggle to sustain partnerships with local businesses. And many young people lack clear information about the opportunities that exist or how their skills might fit into them.
Flourish was designed to address these gaps. Rather than functioning as a traditional job board, the platform takes a capabilities approach. It helps young people recognise their skills, interests, and potential, and connects them not only to job opportunities but also to training, apprenticeships, work experience, and local networks within the green economy.
Crucially, Flourish has been shaped with young people themselves. We worked with community researchers based in Cornwall and Grimsby, who conducted interviews with peers, employers, and practitioners to ensure the platform reflects real experiences and local need.
If you are interested in finding out more about this work, do get in touch, or come and meet the team next week at our Flourish Spotlight event in Grimsby.
The explosion of generative AI (GenAI) into society has thrown up critical questions for UK creative sectors. This blog piece explores the current policy debate around copyright, licensing, and fair remuneration for creative works that have been used to train GenAI models.
Grounded in discussions co-convened by IFOW, featuring policymakers, industry leaders, civil society representatives and trade unions, this report sets out ten insights on the digital transformation of work – from governance and skills to the environmental and place-related impacts of AI adoption.
Why are so many organisations reporting low productivity returns despite widespread AI adoption? New research highlights the need to treat AI adoption not just as a technical rollout, but as a social and organisational transition, in order to drive real commitment to the deployment of new technologies, beyond current surface-level usage.
This toolkit brings together two decades of methodologies used to analyse AI’s impact on employment, wages, and productivity, highlighting a critical shift towards task-analysis in favour of occupation-based analysis, as well as the use of LLMs to predict workforce augmentation and displacement.
AI is rapidly transforming the public sector, particularly through frontline delivery services. This report firstly examines how AI transcription tools are being used in UK social care settings, before calling for the incentivisation of meaningful evaluation to inform guidelines and standards.
Are you interested in Grimsby's green future, and in creating pathways into quality green jobs? Do you work as a career or employment support provider, or in green businesses, schools, and colleges, or are you a jobseeker or learner yourself?
Join us for this exciting showcase where we’ll hear from community researchers and an expert panel on building an inclusive green economy in Grimsby, as well as introduce Flourish – an innovative platform designed to help young people and local workers access quality green jobs, through insights into their skills.
Discover how AI has been transforming the UK’s key growth industries, across the creative industries, agrifood, transport, infrastructure, and robotics and AI.
How exactly does gender bias become embedded in the design and deployment of AI? This panel explores the choices, visible and invisible, behind algorithms.
Come together to celebrate, explore, and be inspired by vocational technology at the Ufi VocTech showcase with live demonstrations of the latest innovations in skills development.
Registration is open for our major Making the Future Work conference, taking place at the Institution of Engineering and Technology on Monday 18th May.
We’re delighted to be confirming some fantastic experts joining us on the day, including Phil Smith CBE, CEO of Skills England, and Professor Bart van Ark, Managing Director at The Productivity Institute.
Please do sign-up here. If you are interested in partnering with us for this event, please contact team@ifow.org.
.webp)
