OPINION13 February 2023

From cost-of-living crisis to AI: Lorna Tilbian on 10 threats and opportunities

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Lorna Tilbian

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Necessity is the mother of invention, writes Impact columnist Lorna Tilbian as she explores the areas offering future growth amid uncertainty in the next decade.

Uncertainty question marks economy_crop

To mark the 10th anniversary of Impact, I am taking a look at five present threats and five opportunities for the next 10 years. Several real and present dangers are influencing the world around us.

1. Inflation and the cost-of-living crisis

The combination of higher food, energy and mortgage or rental costs will hit the lowest paid disproportionately hard and could cause social unrest beyond the public sector strikes that have been a feature of post-pandemic life. Businesses will need to increase salaries by at least 5% or to the extent that they can pass on wage inflation alongside higher raw material, freight and energy costs to their end users. Those with real pricing power will succeed, others will fall by the wayside.

2. From energy crisis to energy independence

Today’s energy crisis is likely to impact Europe and the euro negatively over the next two to five years, but will also create opportunity. In contrast to the US, ...