Issue 30: A bulletin for big ideas and better business.

We’re 30! 🥳

Welcome to our thirtieth issue. This week, we’ll sample some elevated thinking at European Forum Alpbach, explore the next billion (dollar companies) with Forbes, and take in some Nordic Noir. After that, Made by Google lifts the lid on how AI might amplify creativity. But first: Sir John on why university still matters.

OPINION/ EDUCATION 

Getting high: university is about learning to think

💬 Sir John Hegarty

A-Level students will be on tenterhooks this week. By this Thursday, the agitation will reach fever pitch as their grades are revealed. Those in higher education appear to be feeling the pressure. The number who have disclosed a mental health condition to their university has increased since 2010, according to the House of Commons. It was over 5% in 2020/21.

The merits of

higher education

are myriad.

Results season often ushers in a questioning of whether university is the correct option for so many young people in Britain. This year, the argument feels more pronounced. While the economy appears to be turning a corner, the cost-of-living crisis is still keenly felt around the country. The Student Loans Company reckons that graduates in England leave university with an average debt of £44,940 (a BBC expose has shown burdens as high as £110,000). It’s little wonder that students are stressed.

Yet the merits of higher education are myriad. Universities are where young people go to learn how to think. It’s where people pick up the ability to discern a good idea from a bad one. Skills of interrogation, criticism and expression are vital for a society that wants to push forward. Lecture halls and libraries are where many first discover that the world is nuanced, layered and hard to understand. In a world of outrage and binary debates, that becomes more vital than ever. The government and academic institutions need to come together to ease the financial burden on students. Dropping out is rarely the right course of action.

THE AGENDA

✏️ Pencil it in: your agenda for the coming week

1.
Taylor Swift performs shows on The Eras Tour at Wembley Stadium. The UK dates come in the wake of a string of cancelled performances in Vienna, which were called off after a security threat.
15th – 20th August

2.
Edifying thinking will ensure at the European Forum Alpbach this week. Organisers have dubbed the event ‘the European summer capital of discourse.‘ The theme for 2024 is ‘Moment of Truth’.
17th – 30th August

3.
The annual Norwegian International Film Festival takes place in Haugesund. The nation has become a cinematography over-achiever since the invention of Nordic Noir.
17th – 23rd August

4.
Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups list is published. Of roughly 50,000 venture-backed companies, the media brand picks 25 which are set to reach unicorn status. But does getting picked make a high valuation more likely?
13th August

5.
The Tour de France isn’t the only cycling event that matters. The 79th annual La Vuelta a España, Spain’s annual cycling race will this year begin in Portugal, traversing the entire country.
17th August

US / TECHNOLOGY

Pixellated view

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is actually a Gemini.
Credit: Andrej Sokolow/dpa/Alamy Live News

Google’s annual launch event – Made by Google – opens at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View today. The show is used to highlight the tech giant’s latest hardware releases. Specifically, that means its Pixel smartphones which today move into their 9th generation. The major focus will be on the AI capabilities of Google’s astrologically-named chatbot, Gemini. The future of AI assistants is about having them in your hand (or in your ear), so the company that best integrates them into a phone is anticipated to win significant market share. Google has had a turbulent time of late. Shares in its parent company Alphabet took a tumble, last week it emerged that the company had rode rough shod (along with Meta) over rules on how to treat minors online. Most recently, it was found to have violated anti-trust laws. Google bosses will hope that creativity can outshine these setbacks at the launch today.

Credit: Clo’e Floirat

GLOBAL / TRAVEL

Failure to launch

A better window.
Credit: Maciej Bledowski / Alamy Stock Photo

Air travel was once inseparable from the executive lifestyle. Not anymore. Covid-19 lockdowns forced business to take place over videoconference rather than in person, and companies have been slow to return the jet set to the skies since. Chief of the Global Business Travel Association, Suzanne Neufang, told the Financial Times that businesses are cutting one-day work trips by plane, and flying less generally. The CEO referred to the situation as a “new normal” that is likely to endure, as inflationary pressures push companies into cost-saving exercises – and travel companies charge more for fewer trips. Cutting flights is undeniably good for the environment, but professionals are losing out by travelling less. The view through an air cabin window does more to inspire and stir the soul than the sort one opens to join a Zoom meeting.

US / LEISURE

Pocket science 

Deep pockets.
Credit: Juan Navarro/ Above Summit

Polly Pocket was the lifestyle maven that little girls aspired to in the 1990s. A portable case snapped open to reveal a cross section of a tiny house, garden and figures (notably, Polly herself) for kids to play with on the move. Airbnb, the short-term home rental brand has partnered with Mattel, the company that manufactured Polly Pocket, to create a life-sized version of the toy. And fans are invited to book to stay there. The surreal experience is a smart play for nostalgia and novelty, reviving a much-loved toy from its target audience’s youth. As Airbnb is coming under fire for contributing to over tourism (and getting booted out of some European cities), using creativity to tell a different story is a savvy idea.

If there were a little more silence, if we all kept quiet…maybe we could understand something.

/Federico Fellini