In ASEAN alone, there are 20 cities with over 1.5 million citizens. From 2017 to 2030, South-east Asia’s urban population will grow by 100m people to 373m. In 2030, four cities – Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh – will have populations of over 10m people, while Kuala Lumpur will be close and Singapore is projected to have around 7m people.  What are the challenges of promoting productive, inclusive and sustainable urbanisation? How can cities be engines of development? What are the implications at the city-level for climate change, including mitigation and adaptation? How can businesses thrive in these cities?

Our EICN networks around the world will come together for this research-backed exploration of the global talent landscape with a particular focus on the preferences and motivations of Gen Z. We will also examine how and why companies are experimenting with a four-day working week, and how it is impacting employee attraction, retention, workflows and productivity.

In our regular series on the hot-spots of regional growth, we look at the economic and political outlooks for India.India is likely to be one of the world’s fastest growing big economies in 2023. A vast national market is being created, allowing firms to grow from economies of scale, internal migration is shifting tens of millions of rural people, there is a confident and prosperous middle-class emerging, and empires are being built on new, and green, technologies. From 2014 to 2021, India’s economy grew by 40%.  By 2027, India will be the world’s fifth largest economy. Its’ stock market is the 4th largest in the world, and it has about 100 unicorns. A single national market is emerging in which more firms and consumers use the modern financial system, subsidies are being handed out by the Modi government to attract MNCs. Yet, there are questions over the resilience of its financial system, inequality within cities and between states, the education system and religious tensions. What can we expect from India over the next decade?

As the world faces perhaps its most challenging geopolitical and economic outlook over the past three decades, what is the place of Singapore and what can we expect of its future?

Over the past few years, countless predictions have been made that the global technology industry will suffer a painful rupture because of tensions between America and China. The split is happening at two velocities. The American and Chinese software universes are heading at light speed towards total separation. They were never particularly connected, so the bull for shutting up shop and finding substitute products is quite low.  Hardware is moving much more slowly – that is because it is more globally integrated. 

How should trade architecture work in an age of mistrust? The goal should be to maximise trade consistent with both sides’ strategic security. That means fencing off flashpoints, such as tech, that generate lots of tension but a minority of trade, and let commerce in other areas flourish. How can firms operate in this environment? How will it change over the next 2-3 years? 

While a clear vision of what the metaverse will look like has not formed, interest in such virtual worlds, seamless and interconnected and always on, has grown. This will increase the types of virtual interactions, work and business opportunities. Whatever you think about the metaverse, the hype generated has attracted significant investments, as well as generated discussion around the pitfalls – regulatory, trust and safety and financial – that are relative unknowns. What does the metaverse offer? How can we mitigate against the pitfalls? What will the killer metaverse app look like? What are brands doing in this space? What does your industry need to be doing about it?  We will explore the value of the metaverse for real-world businesses, the economics of the metaverse and its social and ethical implications.

The EIU’s Global Chief Economist Simon Baptist will present the EIU’s global and regional outlook for the second half of 2023 and beyond – with political and economic highlights. And a panel of Southeast Asian business leaders will debate their interpretations of the data, and explore the opportunities and risks they suggest.