On 26th October 2018, Professor Xiaolan Fu delivered a presentation at the 10th World Investment Forum in Geneva for the UNCTAD Academic Network on Investment. Organised by the United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD), the Forum focuses on addressing the latest challenges in the global investment ecosystem for sustainable development.

 Professor Fu's talk centred on the Fourth Industrial Revolution brought about by the expansion of the digital economy and its impact on global value chains. With global value chains featuring increased trade-in-intangibles as well as conventional trade-in-goods & services, Prof Fu’s presentation stressed the importance of changing conceptual frameworks that measure global trade to better assess this changing dynamic. 

Moreover, Professor Fu noted that the persistence and deepening of the new globalisation paradox in international economic system; despite the reshoring of manufacturing activities in industrialised countries, increased automation of production processes has translated into a limited rise in human jobs. Furthermore, she predicted a wider divergence and inequalities between different stages of global value chains for Developed and Less-Developed Countries. Amid all these changes to the global economic order, Professor Fu highlighted the role of policy measures and international cooperation to help LDCs develop the necessary skills, human capital and capacity to benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Read more information about the UNCTAD World Investment Forum here  

Find out more about Professor Fu's work on trade in intangibles here