Edelman: Edelman Trust Barometer 2024

Edelman: Edelman Trust Barometer 2024

The Edelman report “Trust Barometer 2024” analyzes global trust in institutions such as NGOs, business, government and the media. This year’s report is based on a survey of 32,000 people from 28 countries and reveals a gap between innovation and society that has become a new factor for further polarization. For example, 39 percent of respondents are of the opinion that innovations are poorly managed. Business has the best opportunity to reverse this trend because it is the most trustworthy institution – both in general and when it comes to introducing new innovations into society. But it must focus on explaining the impact of innovation for society and not just for investors.

At the same time, it is also clear that trust in a particular sector does not automatically guarantee trust in related industrial innovations. This is problematic because if institutions manage innovations poorly, this leads to more rejection and less enthusiasm for emerging technologies. In addition, respondents often feel let down by society and technology: For 69%, society is changing too quickly and in a negative direction. For 54%, this also applies to technology. Nevertheless, the technology sector enjoys the highest level of confidence among respondents at 76%. However, only 50% of respondents have confidence in innovations such as AI (machine learning, generative AI, etc.), which corresponds to a delta of 26%. Trust in technological innovations is therefore just as high as in gene-based innovations in the medical sector (50%). At 71%, respondents have greater confidence in innovations in the field of green energy in the energy sector. The full report is available free of charge.