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Cities of opportunity – what makes a city ‘great’?

By on May 23, 2013 in Europe, Post, Public Libraries, Trends and Statistics, Web Technology & The Cloud

What makes a city great?  How can cities thrive economically and yet remain liveable?

PwC and the Partnership for New York City have published the latest edition of Cities of Opportunity, a report which analyses the performance of 27 of the world’s cities against ten broad social, economic and technological indicators.  As well as analysing the current situation, the report also looks forward to 2025 to consider future scenarios and key success factors.

The cities analysed in the report currently account for 8% of world GDP but are home to only 2.5% of the world population.

Healthy growth in a city relies on a combination of ‘quality of life’ factors (good education opportunities; healthcare; safety and housing) combined with strong business and solid infrastructure.

The ten indicators used by PwC:

  • City gateway
  • Cost
  • Demographics and liveability
  • Economic clout
  • Ease of doing business
  • Health, safety and security
  • Intellectual capital and innovation
  • Sustainability and the natural environment
  • Technology readiness
  • Transportation and infrastructure

Intellectual capital and innovation

Innovation generates both social and economic growth.  In order to measure each city’s performance a number of factors are considered and scored to create a league table.  These factors include average class size, maths, science skills attainment, literacy rates and percentage of population who receive a higher education.

Also included are:

  • Intellectual property protection (Singapore scores top points)
  • Research performance at top universities (London rates highest – and three Asian cities appear in the top ten)
  • Libraries with public access (Stockholm scores highest)

The key measures of ‘Technology readiness’ include:

  • Internet access in schools and Digital economy score (Stockholm is top in both of these)
  • Broadband quality
  • Software development

The report features case studies on a number of cities and is available for download here.

 

 

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Is Higher Education value for money?

By on May 16, 2013 in Academic Libraries, Public Policy, Research, Society, Trends and Statistics

The UK’s Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and the consumer organisation Which? has published the 2013 survey of the student academic experience at English universities.

The first survey, in 2006, coincided with the introduction of HE fees and the surveys aim to discover whether students are getting a ‘better’ academic experience in the light of increased fees.  The report concludes that there is “no apparent relationship between the fees students are being charged and what they receive”.

Background

  • Although students are paying more, universities themselves are not receiving additional money – student fees are simply filling the gap left by reduced centralised government funding.
  • Student fees trebled in 2012.  The average fee charged is now £8500+
  • Contact with academic staff has hardly increased, despite higher fees
  • Diverse student experience in terms of teaching format and contact hours and the perceived gap in helpful upfront information to help students choose the appropriate course

Key findings – choosing the right university

  • 32% of students might have chosen a different course if they had known what they know now
  • 21% of students thought information provided by their institutions was ‘vague’; 9% thought it was ‘misleading’
  • 29% of first year students think their course is ‘poor value for money’

Student workload

  • The average weekly workload is 30 hours per week
  • Women and mature students study more than men
  • 14% of the 10,000 students who said their course was worse than they expected said the course had not been challenging enough

Contact time

  • No significant change in the amount of contact time or proportion of small group teaching
  • Students paying less than £8000 received same amount of contact time as those paying more
  • Other factors important to students include their satisfaction with the quality of teaching as well as they amount of face-to-face time
  • Significant differences in contact time between subject areas and institutions
  • Students recognise the importance of small group teaching and the amount they receive contributes to their satisfaction levels
  • Contact time has risen by just 20 minutes per week since 2006

The report is available for free download from the HEPI website.

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The future of TV

By on April 30, 2013 in Society, Trends and Statistics, Web Technology & The Cloud

Variety has published a story about a new reality show called @SummerBreak.  That might not sound too interesting, but what makes this show stand out is that it will unfold over four social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube) and completely bypass television.

The ways in which people view and interact with television are being completely transformed.

A number of providers are broadcasting ‘online’ only programmes and YouTube and Amazon have been investing in original programming.   The CEO of Netflix, purveyor of on demand programming, has published an opinion piece which outlines a vision for the future of television.   Netflix has seen a sharp rise in its share price and has added three million new viewers so far in 2013.

The document explores the drivers for a move away from so-called ‘linear’ TV towards ‘internet TV and apps’.  Although linear TV remains popular, the steady growth of such services as BBC i-player, HBO-GO and Watch ESPN demonstrates how TV viewing habits will continue to change.   Drivers for change in television viewing include:

  • Increased internet speeds and reliability
  • Increased sales of smart TVs – eventually all TVs will have Wi-Fi and apps
  • Mobile viewing will increase
  • Internet video advertising will become personalised
  • Innovative new entrants
  • Internet TV apps will improve rapidly, just as mobile phones have done over the last 20 years

Viewers are changing

While the technology is moving forward, consumers’ behaviours are also changing.  New research from the US shows that mobile app usage reaches its daily peak between 7pm and 9pm – traditionally TV prime time.  As app usage between these times increases (rising to 50 million during these two hours) viewing figures for almost all prime time TV shows are declining.  The only shows not losing out are those with older viewers.

TV is not simply losing out to apps of course.  Alternative providers (including HBO and Netflix) continue to grow their market share.  What is known as ‘long form video’ is the fastest growing content segment for tablets.    On demand/ internet TV services facilitate what is known as ‘binge viewing’ – where viewers may watch several episodes or indeed entire series of programmes in one go.

To quote the CEO of Netflix on the future of TV…  TV, as we know it is coming to an end.

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Mobile search: creating moments that matter

By on April 27, 2013 in Mobile Devices, Search, Trends and Statistics

The majority of people who use mobile search to find information on consumer items and services have every intention of making a purchase.  In a study (by Nielsen and Google) researchers found that three out of every four searches trigger some sort of follow up action, including further research or a purchasing decision.

Over 400 participants logged their mobile searches over a two week period in Q4 of 2012 and were asked follow up questions by the researchers.

Key findings

  • 73% of mobile searches trigger additional actions
  • 17% of mobile searches occur ‘on the move’; 2% occur in-store
  • 81% of mobile searches are driven by speed and convenience, even when people are at home with access to other devices

Next steps after mobile search

On average each mobile search triggers 1.89 additional actions.  Of the 73% of mobile searchers who carry out follow up activities:

  • 36% went on to perform additional research
  • 25% visited a retailers website
  • 18% shared the information
  • 17% made a purchase

The research also discovered that when people use mobile search they are:

  • 57% more likely to visit a store
  • 51% more likely to make a purchase
  • 39% more likely to call a business
  • 30% more likely to visit a website

Mobile search triggers rapid activity

One of the most striking findings in the research is the speed of follow up activity.

  • 55% of conversions occur within one hour of the original mobile search
  • 85% of all follow up actions occur within five hours of the original search

The report can be accessed here: Mobile search: creating moments that matter.

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Digital Europe – the latest figures

By on March 25, 2013 in Mobile Devices, Post, Trends and Statistics, Web Technology & The Cloud

In 1996, 66% of the world’s internet audience was based in the US.  By 2012 87% of the world’s internet audience was based outside the US.  Europe is now the world’s second largest internet audience (after Asia Pacific) with 27% of the total, putting on 7% growth in the last year.

In its latest report (Europe Digital Future in Focus) ComScore analyses the latest European statistics and trends.

Key findings

The internet

  • There are 408 million internet users in Europe
  • Russia accounts for 15% of all of Europe’s internet users
  • Italy (17%) and Russia (15%) have the fastest growth
  • Once again, the UK leads the way in user engagement with an average of just over 37 hours per user per month

Mobile and tablets

  • There are 241 million mobile devices in Europe
  • At the end of 2012 all EU5 countries had crossed the 50% smartphone penetration milestone
    • Of the EU5 countries, Germany has the most mobile devices, followed by:
      • UK
      • Italy
      • France
      • Spain
      • Almost one third of UK page views are made via mobiles or tablets
        • The European average is 20%
        • The most popular smartphone activities are:
          • Accessing personal email
          • Weather reports
          • Social networking
          • Instant messaging services
          • Search

Mobile video

The EU5 has seen rapid growth in the last 12 months

  • Mobile video has grown 162%
  • PC video grew by 5%

Search

  • Google sites account for 86% of Europe’s search engine market
  • The figures show that users are not simply using search engines – they are searching within sites such as Facebook, eBay and Amazon too

Shopping and banking

  • 146 million Europeans visited comparison shopping sites
  • The Netherlands lead the way in internet banking – 66% of all internet users accessed online banking sites.  Only 18.8% of those in Switzerland did so

Newspapers

Taking the UK as a case study, the report looks at increased reach for newspapers via video and mobile.

  • The Sun has increased its reach by 16.9%
  • The Mail Online has increased its reach by 11%

The report also features country scorecards outlining:

  • Top 20 internet sites for each country
  • Top news/information sites
  • Top retail sites
  • Top online banking sites

For more information, see the comScore website.

Digital consumers – the rise of the digital multi-tasker

By on March 13, 2013 in Digital Publishing, Mobile Devices, Post, Social Media, Trends and Statistics

KPMG has been researching consumer media behaviour for over five years – during which time we have seen social media go mainstream, the introduction of smartphones and tablets and the rise of digital delivery consumer companies such as Spotify and Netflix.

KPMG’s latest ‘Digital Debate’ report looks at the rise of the ‘digital multi-tasker’ and outlines action points for content providers.  Over 9,000 consumers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Singapore, Spain, the UK and the US were asked about their media consumption patterns.  The report’s key findings include:

An insatiable appetite for media

  • Consumers split their time between traditional and digital/online media
  • People still spend marginally more time offline than online
  • People spend more of their media budget on ‘traditional’ media

However:

  • Spending for every type of digital media in the last year has increased
  • Spending on CDs, DVDs and video games has decreased
  • Ever increasing numbers of people watching mobile/tablet/streaming TV (30+% in Singapore; 14% in the US)
  • These ‘digital multi-taskers’ are interacting with TV in different ways, using second – or even third – screens.

The coming wave of online consumers can accelerate the digital shift

  • An emerging class of ‘mobile first’ media consumers.  Preference for online media is much stronger among the emerging mobile-centric class – particularly prevalent in emerging markets such as Brazil and China.
    • In China most consumers are getting their media via smartphones, tablets of laptops – very few rely on print media

Media and technology companies should cooperate to address this new wave

  • Cooperation across multiple industries is vital if effective new business models are to be found
  • Effective partnerships will ensure everyone will value from the arrangement – including the consumer

The report concludes with some lessons for advertisers that truly resonate for the information professional:

Embrace the new world – some traditional models may still be working (TV may still be making advertising revenues from such big events as The X Factor or major sporting fixtures) BUT that doesn’t mean TV companies can ignore the new digital models.

Use customer metrics – make the most of the digital information available to you to really understand your customers and create stronger relationships

Get to know your digital multi-taskers – and focus on transforming their second screen experiences.

The report is available to download here.

Lower teen crime rates – is the internet responsible?

By on February 28, 2013 in Post, Society, Trends and Statistics

Apparently the peak age for teenage offending is 15.  A new report claims
there has been a drastic improvement in the behaviour of 15 year olds in Sweden
since the mid-1990s – and researchers are theorising that the internet is (at
least partially) responsible.

A report by the Crime Prevention Council of Sweden (Brottsförebyggande rådet -
or Brå) based on a survey of 6,500 15-year olds, found for example that 16% of
15-year olds admitted to vandalising public property (down from 32% in 1995).

Researchers are speculating that changes in teen habits are contributing to
this continuing improvement in behaviour.  Fewer teenagers are meeting up
with friends or hanging around in the ‘real world’ and are socialising online
instead.

Meanwhile in the UK in 2012 there was an 8% overall reduction in crime – and
observers and analysts are debating why.  One argument is that there are
fewer ‘crimes of opportunity’ for young offenders (e.g. cars are harder to
break into). There has certainly been a reduction in the amount of alcohol
consumed in the 16-25 year old age group.  Reports of vandalism began to
decline in 2007 – just as smartphones were taking off.  A youth worker, quoted in the Guardian, states there are “so many [other] things for kids to do” these days.

Do the right thing: workplace trends in 2013

By on February 20, 2013 in Professional Development, Trends and Statistics

Business solutions expert Sodexo has released its 2013 report on key trends affecting the workplace.  The report combines insight from clients, academia, trade organisations, social media monitoring, literature reviews and surveys.  Physical resources and facilities, people and technology all combine to impact the effectiveness of the workplace and effective management of all three can improve performance and productivity.  The report identifies 12 key workplace trends, including:

  • Thriving in the cloud
  • The development of 21st century mentoring
  • New recruitment models
  • The importance of inclusion

A new era of recruitment – facilitated by social media

There have been radical changes in the way organisations engage with prospective employees in the last five years.  A recent study found that 92% of US companies use social media in their recruitment efforts.  70% of employers report having successfully hired a candidate through social media (up from 58% in 2010).  Social media also creates a two-way conversation between employers and potential employees, who can gain a more complete picture of their potential employer using ratings sites and other similar services.

Flexible workplaces – ‘Integration 2.0’

The needs of the 21st century workforce are more complex and dynamic.  Progressive organisations are looking to provide dynamic life/work ‘ecosystems’ that provide flexible work options and contribute to the effectiveness – and wellbeing – of the workforce.  An example is in the development of more social space in workplaces and more multipurpose spaces that can flex to meet different demands.

Do the right thing – the importance of values

The report notes that 35% of the US workforce claims to have been bullied at work – and emphasises how this can prevent people from excelling at work – hurting the bottom line of organisations as well as having damaging psychological effects on staff.

86% of millennials entering the workforce now say they would consider leaving an employer whose values fell short of their expectations.  The report states that all four generations in the workforce see corporate social responsibility as a potential motivating factor at work.

Harvard Business Review has also been discussing the importance of corporate social responsibility and its impact on profitability and sustainability.  Author Eric McNulty sees the role of business leaders as to be clear in setting and communicating their purpose and their values and being clear about how their business model can ensure financial viability.  This clarity is essential if ‘its leaders and followers are to know what is the right thing to do’.

Women in IT and Science

By on February 15, 2013 in Post, Professional Development, Trends and Statistics

Recent research in the US reveals that women are ‘outnumbered and out-earned’ in science.  Men are taking home an average of $1,117 to a woman’s $853 per week while the mean suggested starting salary for women was lower.  The research also found that all women –whether they had children or not – were at a similar disadvantage.

Meanwhile in Europe, the European Commission, working with international ICT stakeholders, has created the European Code of Best Practices for Women and ICT, stating that women are underrepresented in the industry as a whole and in particular in decision-making roles.

The Code represents recent positive developments and aims to ensure that more women choose ICT and are encouraged and supported in the industry.

Recommended changes in education 

  • Schools and universities should organise career events which feature successful female role models
  • Educate teachers as to possible job opportunities
  • Encourage mentoring programmes between young female engineers and students

Recommended changes to recruitment practices

  • Use gender neutral – or female friendly – vocabulary when advertising vacancies
  • Use recruitment procedures that promote diversity
  • Analyse the company’s gender statistics and compare them with local and sector market
  •  Set targets designed to improve gender balance
  • Apply flexible working practices at all levels – including senior management positions

Career development 

  • Offer competence development programmes
  • Finance care expenses (e.g. childcare) when training outside usual working hours
  • Make career planning a responsibility of the organisation and the individual and apply equal opportunities principles in exercising this responsibility

Monitor career development

  • Collect and analyse relevant statistics
  • Create processes to monitor relevant company policies
  • Introduce mentoring programmes

Work/family balance

  • Promote a positive philosophy of maternity/paternity leave
  • Produce guidelines  to ensure staff on leave (e.g. parental leave) are managed appropriately to ensure inclusion
  • Set up resource and competence monitoring during leaves of absence to identify training and support requirements for returners

Broadband coverage in Europe

By on November 12, 2012 in Trends and Statistics, Web Technology & The Cloud

The European Union has published a report on broadband coverage in the EU (Europe) for 2011.

The report sets out to map progress towards the broadband coverage objectives of the Digital Agenda.  This includes ensuring all EU citizens have access to at least basic broadband coverage by 2013 and broadband speeds of at least 30 megabits per second by 2020.

The report looks at the coverage of nine broadband technologies grouped into two broad categories

  • Standard broadband
  • Next generation access (NGA)

in 29 countries (the entire EU plus Norway and Iceland).

Main findings

  • 95.7% of EU homes already have access to standard broadband
  • 50+% of EU homes already have NGA broadband available (target 100% by 2020)
  • Just over 12% of rural homes have access to NGA

Belgium, Malta, the Netherlands and the UK show 100% standard coverage as do many urban areas across the whole of the EU.  Indeed, many additional countries have already reached 95% standard coverage.   Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovenia have seized the opportunity to overcome the deficiencies of their legacy networks by rolling out fibre coverage.

Next generation access

The Netherlands leads the table with 100% availability followed by:

  • Malta 99.3%
  • Belgium 98%
  • Luxembourg 75%
  • Portugal 74.5%
  • Bulgaria 71.4%

The report includes data tables for each of the countries studied showing total coverage and coverage by technology type.

The pdf report can be downloaded by following the link on this page.