A recent press release states, “As companies are becoming increasingly focused on the social impact of their business operations, Deloitte has developed a new Social Impact Measurement Model (SIMM), pioneering a machine learning tool that forecasts the results of a large corporate investment – such as opening a new office or headquarters – on a community, across more than 75 social measures. With a high degree of accuracy, the model quantifies the social impact of an investment at the U.S. county level for the four years following the investment, and sheds light onto how different communities might respond with the same level and type of investment. The analyzed social measures span education; housing; family and migration; income and employment; transportation; and industry factors.”

The release goes on, “Companies, communities, and state and local governments have traditionally focused on limited factors such as job creation, output and income figures to estimate the economic impact of new business operations in a given place. But many lacked the ability to understand social consequences. Deloitte’s SIMM seeks to address this gap by forecasting the results from a large capital investment – or what will or won’t likely happen in its absence. ‘Businesses make many corporate investments each year, some of which induce fierce bids by local governments and generate strong debate,’ said Darin Buelow, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and real estate and location strategy practice leader. ‘The ability to estimate the social impacts of a capital investment allows citizens, corporations, economic development officials, and other stakeholders to bring data to the debate, better informing decisions and portraying long-term social outcomes that were previously unknown’.”

Read more at PR Newswire.

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