If the only certainties in life are death and taxes, we owe it to ourselves to live a good life, and we owe it to each other to make taxes as fair and efficient as possible. The UK tax authority, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, (HMRC) is busy working on the efficiency part. They are ..read more

Professor Stefano Pascucci looks at the pressures on the global food system and the role of insects as an alternative source of protein. What is the fundamental problem with the present global food system? We have an imbalance, and it is all related to access. On the one hand, we have access in abundance to ..read more

The recent IPCC report is a critical update on the fight against climate change. Steffen Boehm, Professor in Organisation and Sustainability, considers its key findings and implications. Why is this latest report so important? First, it is the best scientific advice on climate change we have available globally.  It features 234 authors from 66 countries ..read more

PPE saves lives but also creates vast amounts of waste. Professor Peter Hopkinson explains why a ‘circular’ approach is needed to tackle a new environmental crisis. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has become a key tool in the fight against coronavirus. In 2020, more than one billion single-use disposable masks were used by NHS workers (an ..read more

Dr Allen Alexander, Senior Lecturer in innovation at the University of Exeter Business School, argues that we need to think again about efficiency-at-scale advice to businesses. When start-ups reach scale-up phase – typically at around three to five years old – conventional business coaching steers them towards greater efficiency and productivity measures. Often this creates ..read more

Chendi Zhang, Director of the Exeter Sustainable Finance Centre, discusses the pros and cons of investing in ESG policies. With the push towards a ‘green recovery’ post-pandemic, boards and investors are weighing up how ESG (environmental, social and governance) initiatives impact their bottom line. Most big companies now incorporate social responsibility into their decision-making. Recent ..read more

Professor Stefano Pascucci and Amanda Goodwin introduce research being embarked upon for reducing food waste in Cornwall. If food waste was a country, it would be the third biggest greenhouse gas emitter behind China and the USA. A staggering 10 million tonnes of food and drink is wasted in the UK each year, yet research shows that 14 ..read more

Dr Edmond Awad discusses the moral and ethical issues of driverless cars and what it means for the development of AI. The end of humans as car drivers? The announcement last week that driverless cars could be allowed on UK motorways by the end of 2021 is another step towards vehicles being powered by AI ..read more

Just a few days ago I had my first Covid vaccination jab. After more than a year of various levels of lockdown, this seems like such a big personal step forward for me and many others. And while there is still a long way to go, it is certainly starting to feel as though we ..read more

The recently launched DIGIT Lab is a Next Stage Digital Economy Research Centre led by Exeter INDEX. Together with academic partners, the University of East Anglia and Oxford Brookes University, and over 20 industry partners, the centre is working with Large Established Organisations (LEOs) to understand the barriers to driving change and improving productivity through ..read more