The 2020 special edition of the World Economic Forum’s The Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) series comes out at a very difficult and uncertain historical moment.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has not only sparked a global health crisis and a deep economic recession, deeper than the recession during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, but has also created a climate of profound uncertainty about the future.
The main findings of the report are summarized below:
- Reviving and transforming the enabling environment: Governments should prioritize enhancing long-term thinking capacity, digitizing public services, incorporating strong governance principles, restoring public trust when serving their citizens, preparing support measures for heavily indebted low-income countries, and planning the future deleveraging of public debt.
- Reviving and transforming human capital: Countries should focus on expanding retraining programs, upgrading workers’ qualifications, rethinking active labor market policies, updating educational curricula, rethinking labor laws for the new economy, and using new talent management technologies. to adapt to the changing needs of the workforce.
- Reviving and transforming markets: Countries should prioritize strengthening the stability of financial markets, directing financial resources towards long-term investments, strengthening stability while continuing to expand inclusion, and striking a balance between ongoing measures to support businesses and prevent overconsolidation of the industry with enough flexibility to avoid keeping the “zombie companies” in the system.
- Reviving and transforming the innovation ecosystem: Technology has lagged especially in the ability to offer solutions to energy consumption, emissions and meet the demand for inclusive social services. To manage these complexities, countries should expand public and private investment in R&D to promote the diffusion of existing technologies that support new business creation and employment in the “markets of tomorrow.”
You can check the report here:
https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-competitiveness-report-2020