In this issue of the Actis Macro Forum Insights and Perspectives, we start with an in-depth look at the changing world of payments, a sector where as a firm we have been investing heavily in recent years. Ali Mazanderani, one of the leading members of our global Financial Services practice has written a two-part series, the second of which will appear in our next issue, focusing on how changes we have seen take hold in the developed world have moved at an even faster pace in our growth markets, suggesting that the penetration of electronic payments will enable consumers and businesses across these markets to skip a generation of financial infrastructure investment. We also look at how innovation has become a centrepiece of Chinese economic strategy and how the focus on localisation through import substitution is now gaining explicit support, particularly in industries like medtech, where the country has historically relied on R&D innovation from the developed world.