Is intellectual capital the key to future prosperity?

In this episode of Crossing Channels, Richard Westcott talks to Diane Coyle and César Hidalgo about how knowledge, ideas and intangible assets are becoming central to modern prosperity. They discuss what makes intellectual capital distinctive, how AI may widen or narrow inequalities, and why some places benefit more than others. The conversation also explores the challenges of measuring intangible value and what kinds of skills, institutions and infrastructure are needed for countries and regions to turn intellectual capital into broader, long-term growth.

Season 5 Episode 3 transcript: https://www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Episode-3-Transcript_Final.pdf

For more information about the Crossing Channels podcast series and the work of the Bennett School of Public Policy and IAST visit our websites at https://www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.iast.fr/

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With thanks to:

• Audio production by Alice Whaley
• Associate production by Burcu Sevde Selvi
• Visuals by Tiffany Naylor and Pauline Alves

More information about our host and guests:

Podcast host

Richard Westcott is an award-winning journalist who spent 27 years at the BBC as a correspondent/producer/presenter covering global stories for the flagship Six and Ten o’clock TV news as well as the Today programme. Last year, Richard left the corporation and he is now the communications director for Cambridge University Health Partners and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, both organisations that are working to support life sciences and healthcare across the city.

Podcast guests

Diane Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. She is the Research Director at the Bennett School of Public Policy. Diane’s latest book is The Measure of Progress: Counting what really matters.
Her own research focuses on productivity, the digital economy and AI policy, and economic measurement. Diane is currently a member of the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy Council, the New Towns Taskforce, and advises the Competition and Markets Authority. Diane was awarded a DBE in 2023 for her contribution to economics and public policy.

César Hidalgo is a Chilean-Spanish-American scholar known for his contributions to economic complexity and for his applied work on data visualization and artificial intelligence. Hidalgo is a tenured professor at the Toulouse School of Economics’ (TSE) Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the head of the Center for Collective Learning a multidisciplinary research laboratory with offices at Institute for Advanced Study (IAST) at TSE and the Corvinus Institute of Advanced Studies (CIAS) at Corvinus University of Budapest. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Alliance Manchester Business School of the University of Manchester.