Why an increasingly diverse Europe needs EQUality In Procurement for ethnic minority entrepreneurs The world’s first Covid vaccine was developed by BioNTech, a German biotechnology company founded and led by scientists of Turkish origin. CEO Uğur Şahin was born in Turkey and moved to Germany as a child to live with his father, who was a “guest worker” in a car factory in Cologne. His co-founder – and wife – …
Continue readingMinority Businesses Matter
Businesses led by ethnic-minority entrepreneurs contribute at least £74 billion a year to the UK, according to a new OPEN report by Philippe Legrain and Martyn Fitzgerald published today.
Continue readingIn memory of Mike Moore
OPEN Advisory Board member Mike Moore sadly passed away on 2 February. Mike had an illustrious career, as the trade minister of New Zealand who opened its economy up to the world in the 1980s, as his country’s prime minister, as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation who launched the Doha Round and brought China into the WTO in late 2001, and as New Zealand ambassador to the US during the …
Continue readingEver Cleverer Union launch
Philippe Legrain presenting Ever Cleverer Union: how AI could help EU institutions become more capable, competent, cost-effective and closer to citizens Great panel discussion with (from left to right): Jochen Richter, Director, Support and Technological Services for Translation, European Parliament; Eva Maydell, Member of the Industry Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee, European Parliament; Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, Co-founder, OPEN; Dana Manescu, Head of Unit, Social Media & Video Communication, DG COMM, European Commission; …
Continue readingEver Cleverer Union
OPEN’s new report explains how AI could help EU institutions become more capable, competent, cost-effective and closer to citizens Europe’s productivity performance is woefully inadequate. But the development and deployment across the economy of artificial intelligence (AI) tools could provide a big boost, benefiting citizens, businesses and public administrations – not least the EU institutions, the focus of this report. Ever Cleverer Union: How AI could help EU institutions become …
Continue readingThere’s nothing progressive about hostility to immigrants
Plus: migration and services trade; refugee entrepreneurs in Australia Is a hardline position on immigration the key to electoral success for the beleaguered centre-left? Denmark’s Social Democrats certainly think so. They took first place in a general election this month after arguing that immigrants threaten the country’s social cohesion and generous welfare state. The far-right Danish People’s Party, whose line that message echoed, suffered significant losses. But notwithstanding the Danish …
Continue readingOut with Orban
Plus: the right Canadian model for Brexit Britain; the coming trade war over European cars For all her faults, Angela Merkel has done more to help refugees in recent years than any other European leader. So it is incongruous – indeed, shameful – that the German Chancellor’s party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is in the same political group in the European Parliament as Fidesz, the party of Hungary’s vehemently xenophobic …
Continue readingThe right Canadian model for Brexit Britain
Britain has much to learn from Canada’s modest realism in negotiating with a neighbouring economic giant By Jack Graham “Britain clings to imperial nostalgia as Brexit looms” (Washington Post). “Whatever form Brexit eventually takes it is a rearward step into an imagined past” (Globe and Mail). “With Brexit, [Britain] seems to be embracing an introverted irrelevance” (New York Times). Having moved from the UK to Toronto last summer, I’ve been struck by the fact …
Continue readingThe new global disorder; is Berlin the new London?; year in review
The new global disorder Season two of The Trump Show. Season three of Brexit Breakdown. Part five of Homicide: Australian PM. 2018 has been another eventful year – and not just on Netflix. There’s also an edgy new French drama, Gilets Jaunes. A terrifying new Brazilian telenovela, Comandante Bolsonaro. Meanwhile a long-running German series, the Merkel Mysteries, has been cancelled. And much else besides. Yet when historians look back at 2018, it is likely …
Continue readingMilitarising the US-Mexican border
Plus: the value of asylum seekers; Brexit; after Merkel As so often with Donald Trump, the move is both for show and at the same time deadly serious. Sending up to 15,000 US troops to defend the border with Mexico against an unarmed “caravan” of Central Americans fleeing violence to seek refuge in America is primarily a way of rallying the Republican base for today’s crucial midterm elections. The images …
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