• Global labor shortages drive demand for Human Productivity Portfolio stocks.
• AI breakthroughs make productivity technology essential business infrastructure.
• Human Productivity investing offers exposure to a key secular growth trend.
• The portfolio targets companies building the tools for workplace transformation.

Rethinking the Rat Race: Is Human Productivity the Next Big Thing for Investors?

I’ve always found it funny that for all our technological leaps, the average office job still involves a spectacular amount of drudgery. Answering the same emails, filling out the same forms, sitting in meetings that could have been a memo. It seems we invented the microchip just to create more efficient ways to be inefficient. But I think we might be at a turning point, not because of some grand vision for a work-free utopia, but because of a much more mundane problem. We’re running out of people.

The Real Problem We're Trying to Solve

Look at Britain. Ever since the great departure from the EU, businesses have been grappling with a rather inconvenient truth. It turns out you can’t run a coffee shop, a factory, or a software company without, well, people. This isn't just a British headache, either. Across the developed world, from Germany to Japan, companies are finding it harder and harder to fill vacancies. The talent pool is shrinking.

The knee-jerk reaction is to demand people work harder, but that’s a strategy with a very short shelf life. The smarter, and frankly only, long term solution is to work smarter. This means embracing technology that doesn’t just speed up old processes but fundamentally changes them. We’re talking about tools that amplify what a single person can achieve, turning one employee’s output into that of two or three. This isn’t a ‘nice to have’ anymore, it’s becoming critical business infrastructure.

So, What's the Big Idea?

At the heart of this shift is artificial intelligence, but not the kind you see in films. Forget sentient robots plotting world domination. Think of it more like a very, very clever intern who never needs a tea break and can sift through a mountain of data in seconds. Companies like Microsoft are weaving this practical AI into everything, from Word to Excel. Their ‘Copilots’ are designed to handle the boring stuff, freeing up human brains to do what they do best, which is think, create, and solve complex problems.

Then you have the companies providing the raw power. NVIDIA, for instance, makes the specialised chips that are the engine room for this entire revolution. Every time an AI model is trained or a complex task is automated, it’s likely running on their hardware. To me, this is like selling shovels during a gold rush. It’s a fundamental play on the infrastructure that makes everything else possible.

Why This Isn't Just Another Tech Fad

I’ve seen enough tech bubbles to be naturally sceptical, but this feels different. This trend is anchored in a real, unavoidable economic problem. Demographics don’t lie. Ageing populations mean fewer people of working age, a reality that no amount of political wishful thinking can change. Businesses must find ways to produce more with less human input, or they will stagnate.

This creates a powerful, sustained demand for the companies building the solutions. It’s this collection of firms, the ones creating the digital scaffolding for a new way of working, that makes up what some are calling The Human Productivity Revolution. Their products are becoming less of an optional extra and more of a core utility, like electricity or internet access. The potential for growth here seems significant, as we are still in the very early days of this transition.

A Healthy Dose of Scepticism

Now, before we all get carried away, let’s pour a little cold water on the excitement. No investment is a sure thing, and this is no exception. The regulators, for one, are circling. As AI becomes more powerful, you can be sure that governments will want their say, potentially slowing things down with red tape. Competition is also fierce. When a trend is this obvious, money pours in, and not every company in this digital gold rush will strike it rich. Some will inevitably fall by the wayside. And let’s be honest, the technology itself can still be impressively stupid at times, so there’s always a risk of overpromising and underdelivering. Any significant economic downturn could also see businesses tighten their belts, though the underlying need for these tools would likely remain.

Deep Dive

Market & Opportunity

• Generative AI could add up to $4.4 trillion in annual economic value globally, according to McKinsey research.
• Early users of Microsoft Copilot report productivity gains of 30% or more on routine tasks.
• Labor shortages are driving demand for productivity tools, making them essential business infrastructure.

Key Companies

• Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Core technology is AI-powered copilots integrated across its enterprise software suite (Word, Excel, Teams). Its key application is amplifying worker productivity by handling routine tasks, allowing humans to focus on creative and strategic work.
• NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): Core technology is graphics processing units (GPUs). Its key application is providing the essential computational infrastructure for training and running AI models.
• UiPath, Inc. (PATH): Core technology is robotic process automation (RPA). Its key application is creating software robots to mimic human actions and automate digital tasks like processing invoices and updating customer records.

Primary Risk Factors

• Potential for increased regulatory scrutiny, such as the European Union's AI Act, which could slow adoption or increase compliance costs.
• Intense competition from massive investment in the sector may lead to market consolidation.
• Technical challenges remain, as AI systems can produce unreliable results, posing a risk to company reputations.
• Economic downturns could temporarily slow business spending on new technology.

Growth Catalysts

• Persistent labor shortages, driven by demographic trends like aging populations, create a fundamental need for automation.
• Recent breakthroughs in AI and machine learning have unlocked new automation capabilities for complex tasks.
• Businesses are still in the early stages of adopting these technologies, suggesting a long runway for sustained growth.

Investment Access

• The Human Productivity Portfolio is available on the Nemo platform.
• Investment is accessible via fractional shares starting from $1.
• The platform offers commission-free investing.