Excellence Award Puts Z/Yen On The Right Side Of The Law

We are delighted to announce that Taylor Wessing’s Global Intellectual Property Index (GIPI), compiled by Z/Yen, has just won the “Excellence in Marketing & Business Development Award” at the 2008 Law Society Awards ceremony held on 23rd October. We built GIPI with a similar methodology to the Global Financial Centres Index using PropheZy our proprietary prediction engine. The report is available to download here. GIPI is updated annually and GIPI 2 is due for publication in May 2009. We are currently updating the questionnaire and will be e-mailing a link to our community of Now & Z/Yen readers shortly.

Footprints All Over The Z/Yen Office

Z/Yen is undertaking economic analysis for a new client, Tomorrow's Company, the UK business think-tank. Our work is helping them to evaluate the likely impact on business costs of different international carbon reduction agreements. Poor Linda is having to enter all of Z/Yen's costs to see if the economic model's carbon footprint is in line with our office's.

Z/Yen People Are All Over The Place, Part One

Of course, those of us on the inside of Z/Yen have always known that Z/Yen people are all over the place, but now we have a licence to say so in public. That’s because Z/Yen continues to spread its wings promoting the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) in financial centres around the globe. Mark Yeandle recently visited the Cayman Islands to help the Cayman Islands Financial Services Association (CIFSA) and the Cayman Islands Government to further develop the islands as a financial centre. During his visit Mark addressed 90 people at a business lunch organised by the CIFSA and participated in several meetings with government officials discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the Caymans revealed by the GFCI research. Despite rumours to the contrary, Mark swears that he didn’t get to lie on the beach.

A few weeks earlier, Mark visited Moscow to speak at a conference at MICEX, the stock exchange in Moscow. He addressed a gathering of over 150 people on Moscow’s competitiveness as a financial centre. Moscow had just fallen out of the top 50 in the Global Financial Centres Index; the Chairman of MICEX summed up by demanding (with tongue firmly in cheek) that Z/Yen should change its methodology to ensure that Moscow rose in the next set of rankings. Mark retired quickly to take solace in some beer at £12 a glass. Ian has still to sign Mark’s expenses for that one.

Pro Bono? Yes, Of Course, We All Like U2

Congratulations to Michael Mainelli, who has been awarded a Visiting Professorship at the London School of Economics & Political Science in the Department of Management Information Systems & Innovation Group.

HM Treasury has asked Michael to join the Professional Services Competitiveness Group that is looking at medium and longer-term issues affecting the Professional Services sector. The group is co-chaired by the Minister for the City, Lord Paul Myners, and Sir Michael Snyder, Senior Partner at Kingston Smith LLP. Our Michael leads the task group looking at Global Connectivity, using much of our Global Financial Centres Index learning. The resulting analysis should enable the High-Level Group to prioritise public policy challenges.

Z/Yen People Are All Over The Place, Part Two

Michael has been haring around trying, and failing, to out-do Mark Yeandle’s international whirligigs presenting the Global Financial Centres Index. His meagre haul includes Toronto – to the Financial Services Alliance, the Isle of Man – to the Treasury Minister and his team, Dublin – Finance Dublin and the Financial Services Club. Hardly holds a candle to Mark’s Caribbean capers.

Meanwhile, Alexander Knapp returned to American University's School of International Service (SIS) in late October to give a series of lectures and master-classes on “Applications of Complex System Theory in International Development”. His research and teaching focuses on better understanding massively interdependent systems like poverty or global warming, and developing new approaches in organisational theory for dealing with them. An alumnus of SIS and visiting lecturer there for the past five years, Alexander worked with first-year students helping them chart their academic path during their time at university, and with fourth-year students on advanced issues in conflict and diplomacy.

Ethics Is Not A Place Between Hertfordshire & Cambridgeshire

Ian Harris is increasingly sure that there is something wrong with Z/Yen’s travel policy as he doesn’t seem to escape Zone 1 of the London Underground. However, as George Mikes (a former neighbour of Ian’s) once put it “staying at home broadens the mind”. In London, the world comes to you. At Gresham College, in November, a solid chunk of the Z/Yen world turned out to see Ian lecture on Commercial Ethics. Those unfortunate enough to miss it might like to look and/or listen and/or read the material here. Judging by some of Ian’s remarks about Government-style procurement and the misuse of anti-terrorism laws, Ian might find himself taking a little Caribbean jaunt after all. The weather at least should be good this time of year on the south-east tip of Cuba.