LAUNCHPAD

Have you finally been able to abandon your kitchen table and return to the office yet? It seems that many companies are still not sure what to do about their offices. If you read our feature on the future of workspaces (on page 84-88), there is a real difference of opinion. Most are hedging their bets, saying that staff can go back if they want to, but can still work from home.

Our bet is that most of us want to return to the office, albeit perhaps not five days a week. We miss the social banter, the afterwork drink and the physical interaction and collaboration. Really innovative ideas don’t seem to come as regularly when Zooming colleagues from a laptop balanced on pyjama’d knees because you can’t be bothered to get dressed or clear the breakfast things off the kitchen table.

However, most businesses seem willing to be guided by their employees and perhaps this is all part of the growing trend we’re seeing across many companies which really want to recognise and celebrate the value of their employees.

In our Sustainable Futures section of this issue (pages 64-66) we shine a light on B Corps.

Not heard of them? The B Corp movement began in the USA in 2006. Certified B Corps are businesses which meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance people, profit and purpose. The UK is now home to the second largest B Corp community in the world, and we talk to some of them about why they decided to become accredited to this new standard.

Going somewhere? I wish …

Are you looking forward to international travel? The only holiday I’ve taken in the last 18 months was three days in Wales last September. Now I love the Welsh hills and valleys, I spent every summer holiday there from aged 0-15, but it does seem to rain a lot. More seriously, while the last year proved that doing business internationally successfully no longer necessarily means jumping on planes every week, there really is no substitute when researching new markets to visiting them in person and getting under the skin of their culture in order to really understand their needs and capabilities.

In our main feature, Global Intent (on pages 10-15), we look at where the opportunities lie for international expansion. The feature looks at the UK’s top export markets, where to go for help and hears from successful exporters. Don’t let Brexit difficulties put you off, it’s a big, wide world out there and the “Made in Britain” brand retains a lot of international cachet.

This quarter our daily news website was packed full of reports on companies across the region being sold or acquiring others. It got us thinking – How do you go about selling your business? Our feature (on pages 68-74), looks at key issues a business owner needs to know if they are considering selling their business.

Across the rest of this issue we celebrate business success and innovation throughout the region, and there’s certainly plenty of it about.

We can’t wait to kick start our programme of events later this year, and we’ve got lots of ideas up our sleeves to get everyone out meeting each other again, in person, safely. There is no substitute for getting together and we’re overdue two Business & Innovation Magazine anniversary parties, so watch this space.

Enjoy this issue of our magazine and if you have a story you think we should cover, or a topic you feel needs airing, get in touch.

In our next issue:

A main topic for our July issue will be Tech for Good. We report regularly on how technology is changing lives for the better, and our feature will bring all this together – who’s deploying technology for good and where to go for help in bringing your idea to reality.

If you think your tech business is making the world a better, fairer, more creative place, we want to hear from you.

Nicky Godding Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher

Kirsty Muir Commercial Director and Co-Publisher