Top Banner

(Site Alert) Top Banner

Strive Innovation Fund winners aim to reduce plastic waste and promote inclusion with a focus on small shops in emerging markets.

How small merchants can help drive sustainable consumption

How Small Merchants Can Help Drive Sustainable Consumption

About the Center

(Header) About the Center

Focus Areas

(Header) Focus Areas

Events

(Header) Events

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to small businesses, but a silver lining emerged amidst the shuttering of storefronts: a clearer understanding of the types of support small businesses need to survive, grow and compete in today’s digital economy

The secret ingredients to thriving small businesses

Insights

(Header) Insights

(Footer) About the Center

(Footer) Focus Areas

(Footer) Events

(Footer) Insights

InlineImage

PostContent

Weathering technological turbulence&nbsp;In the absence of a crystal ball, the starting point for the societal conversation about technology must be the values that we hold, the kind of society we want to be. We want growth, yes, but we want it to be inclusive. We want economic prosperity, but not at the cost of precariousness and security.It is a battle that by all accounts we are not currently winning. In the U.S. and in many mature markets, technology has created some highly paid, high skilled jobs. But since the 1990s, we have also seen low wage jobs grow twice as fast as middle-wage jobs. This has left many people in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mastercardcenter.org/content/dam/public/mc-cig/uploads/100_million_and_counting_FINAL.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 16px;">precarious jobs with low pay and volatile incomes</a>.Supporting ideas that can impact economic securityJust as technology has shifted the economy of the future, so can new, socially impactful forms of tech help make that economy fairer and more inclusive. This is not merely wishful thinking; we have seen this in action. The entrants to the&nbsp;<a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.thersa.org_action-2Dand-2Dresearch_rsa-2Dprojects_economy-2Denterprise-2Dmanufacturing-2Dfolder_future-2Dwork-2Dawards&amp;d=DwMGaQ&amp;c=uc5ZRXl8dGLM1RMQwf7xTCjRqXF0jmCF6SP0bDlmMmY&amp;r=N3A8u9jkFPTMAlbvRWCI0ws4jl1CPwcO3ULT4qGesl0&amp;m=FUup4gQKgAmiW2-o2WX9u_-PzUIsANkedFQ3b3FFJRE&amp;s=b7lS94Xjwrz0YEMEYNKmCc6iSlKAbvaQ5RWOHhAeTZI&amp;e=" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 16px;">RSA’s Global Future of Work Awards</a>&nbsp;were a diverse spectrum of WorkerTech initiatives making a difference to workers’ lives here and now. And that is why, to explore the positive potential of tech to support the future of work, the RSA is working in partnership with the&nbsp;Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth&nbsp;on a unique&nbsp;<a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.thersa.org_action-2Dand-2Dresearch_rsa-2Dprojects_economy-2Denterprise-2Dmanufacturing-2Dfolder_rsa-2Deconomic-2Dsecurity-2Dimpact-2Daccelerator&amp;d=DwMGaQ&amp;c=uc5ZRXl8dGLM1RMQwf7xTCjRqXF0jmCF6SP0bDlmMmY&amp;r=N3A8u9jkFPTMAlbvRWCI0ws4jl1CPwcO3ULT4qGesl0&amp;m=FUup4gQKgAmiW2-o2WX9u_-PzUIsANkedFQ3b3FFJRE&amp;s=IcqxxUScG-ccC7DNXg-JhndLTJX6ZuJ0PBBNcogj3Xs&amp;e=" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 16px;">Economic Security Impact Accelerator</a>.&nbsp;The idea is to support and scale up a cohort of initiatives, chosen from the Future Work Awards applicants, that has the potential to address the economic insecurity that will be borne by the most vulnerable of citizens, through technology and social innovation. Members of our cohort include&nbsp;<a href="https://www.trezeo.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 16px;">Trezeo</a>,&nbsp;which provides an income smoothing bank account for gig workers that tops up earnings, interest free, during quiet periods, and French startup&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bob-emploi.fr/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 16px;">Bob Emploi</a>,&nbsp;which uses artificial intelligence and big data to give jobseekers a personalized assessment of their job prospects and advice on how to re-enter the labor market.Another important dimension to the accelerator is a focus on place. Although the U.K. government is committed to inclusive models of growth, some of the best thinking across the world is among local leaders. Working with tech innovators and supported by the skills and insights of the RSA and Mastercard teams, we want to explore how scaling up innovation could make an observable difference in certain localities.Just as the future of work can seem upsetting to many people, so the world of fintech can appear to be focused on the needs of the privileged. The Economic Security Impact Accelerator will show how emerging technology can make working lives better and highlight how so many of today’s innovators can be both commercially and socially successful.&nbsp;This project is about supporting the companies that can help build the economy that we want to live in, not just the ones with the biggest potential profits.These are gaps that our work and the Economic Security Impact Accelerator seek to fill. The world is changing, but we are optimistic about the opportunities that lie before us if we build on the good will and ingenuity of socially minded entrepreneurs on the ground. The key to driving inclusive growth will be partnerships that harness that ingenuity. We want to change the conversation away from fear toward hope and illustrate that business and technology can create a new future of work that benefits everyone. The Economic Security Impact Accelerator is an example of one key partnership that we hope will move the needle in the right direction.Authors:<a href="https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/matthew-taylor-blog" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 16px;">Matthew Taylor</a>&nbsp;is Chief Executive of the RSA. He blogs on topics ranging from policy, politics, public service reform and cultural theory to the RSA itself.<a href="https://www.mastercardcenter.org/our-team/payal-dalal" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 16px;">Payal Dalal&nbsp;</a>currently serves as the Vice President, Global Programs at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. She oversees the Center’s philanthropic investments around the globe.<a href="https://www.thersa.org/action-and-research/rsa-projects/economy-enterprise-manufacturing-folder/rsa-economic-security-impact-accelerator/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 16px;">Find out more about the Economic Security Impact Accelerator</a><a href="https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/matthew-taylor-blog/2019/03/how-do-we-ensure-that-the-digital-economy-doesnt-leave-people-behind" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 16px;">This post was originally published on RSA’s website</a>.

The Center is partnering with the RSA to support and scale up a cohort of innovative U.K. initiatives to create a future of work that benefits everyone.

This blog was co-authored with Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the RSA in the United Kingdom.
Every industrial revolution&nbsp;is greeted by optimists predicting the coming of a leisure society and doom merchants foretelling mass unemployment.
Headlines like ‘the robots are coming’ or ‘millions of jobs at risk of automation’ may dominate the newspapers - but we know the truth is somewhat more nuanced than that. Today there are more people employed in the U.K. economy than ever before; in many places, a shortage of workers is a more pressing problem for our economy than a lack of jobs.
Furthermore, while there is no question that certain sectors will be strongly impacted by AI and robotics, there is only so much we can know about these changes in advance. More important than prediction is preparation.

How to Ensure the Digital Economy is Inclusive