Well, Tech has Ray Kurzweil as the industry’s favorite futurist; and Economists have William White as their goto futurist.
As financial markets reeled last week and fears of a fresh recession or even banking crisis sparked panic, White was more than willing to issue yet another prophecy of doom.
MindMaze technology explores the potential of brain machine interfacing with virtual reality, and it just got a huge financial boost.
Switzerland-based VR company, MindMaze received a major investment from Hinduja Group, who has valued the company at over $1 billion. This is a ten-fold increase since its previous valuation in 2012 where it was pegged at $10 million.
In a recent report published by the Economic Times, the investment is only “less than a third” of the company and makes MindMaze one of two “unicorns” in the AR and VR industry. MindMaze now joins Magic Leap in this category, which was values at over $4 billion.
I have worked in both tech and in Wall Street firms. One thing about Wall Street (WS) is that WS knows legal & compliance, trading, and financials better than just about anyone. And, tech is an industry can do innovation better than just about anyone as well as build world class businesses from the ground up. So, it will be interesting to see how these 2 titan industries play out.
Banks race to beat the patent trolls—and Silicon Valley.
As much as the title states India isn’t ready for AI; much of the world isn’t fully ready either. Very few businesses are planning and prepping for an AI transformation or introduction into their businesses or companies; many schools still require newer methods (if not a program/ set of courses) to teach AI; many financial structures like insurance for business using AI capabilities such as robots that will interact regularly with the public are not widely available for businesses; etc. Lots of planning and work remains even across the US for AI adoption to truly be appreciated by the masses.
India still not ready for Artificial Intelligence (Tech Feature) — New Delhi, Feb 10 : At a time when the global technology giants are set to leverage the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for your daily lives — from taking care of businesses to fulfilling your personal needs — India seems to be reluctant to get on to this bus.
Danaher’s Instruments of Change — If you feel like your industry that has always been on a slow & stable growth curve is now under greater pressure to change; you’re not alone. Recent indicators are showing with the latest changes in tech and consumers (namely the millennials as the largest consumers today); industries have been shaken up to perform at new levels like never before or companies in those industries will cease to be relevant.
Doing well by doing good is now expected for businesses, and moral leadership is at a premium for CEOs. For today’s companies to maintain their license to operate, they need to take into account a range of elements in their decision making: managing their supply chains, applying new ways of measuring their business performance that include indicators for social as well as commercial returns, and controlling the full life cycle of their products’ usage as well as disposal. This new reality is demonstrated by the launch last September of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which call on businesses to address sustainability challenges such as poverty, gender equality, and climate change in new and creative ways. The new expectations for business also are at the heart of the Change the World list, launched by Fortune Magazine in August 2015, which is designed to identify and celebrate companies that have made significant progress in addressing major social problems as a part of their core business strategy.
Technology and millennials seem to be driving much of this change. Socially conscious customers and idealistic employees are applauding companies’ ability to do good as part of their profit-making strategy. With social media capable of reaching millions instantly, companies want to be on the right side of capitalism’s power. This is good news for society. Corporate venturing activities are emerging, and companies are increasingly leveraging people, ideas, technology, and business assets to achieve social and environmental priorities together with financial profit. These new venturing strategies are focusing more and more on areas where new partnerships and investments can lead to positive outcomes for all: the shareholders, the workers, the environment, and the local community.
Continue reading “Technology and Millennials Are Driving Business Strategy and Social Change” »
Good article and perspective. And, I believe areas like Finance and Legal will be addressed over the next 5 to 7 years with AI. However, much of our critical needs are in healthcare particularly medical technology and Infrastructure (including security); and these need to get upgraded and improved now.
I recently read a thought provoking article by Klaus Schwab, called ‘The Fourth Industrial Revolution: what it means, how to respond’. At the beginning of the article Schwab describes the first three industrial revolutions, which I think we’re all fairly familiar with:
1784 – steam, water and mechanical production equipment.
Nice — Bridgewaters engaged. Actually, not too surprised by this.
IBTimes UK spoke to AI finance startup Walnut Algorithms about machine learning and the financial sector.
2 trends that is happening now especially with millennials: car ownership is no longer the desire; and home ownership is out of reach. And, this will impact at a minimum 4 industries — financial, real estate, auto, and insurance industries? Something that many in industry will need to get very creative in addressing to entice the future larger market consumers.
Young people no longer rush to buy their first car, meaning future cities need to think quickly about public transport and the emerging “share economy”, one of Australia’s leading urban futurists says.
Fewer people will “own a car”, “shared” driverless cars will be common and the “Uber” idea of sharing a ride will extend beyond an alternative to taxis, to ‘sharing’ homes, jobs, electric cars, hotel rooms and bikes by 2050.
Continue reading “Young Aussies thinking twice about car ownership: city futurist” »
Could an avg “Joe” from Wall Street actually beat AI? It sounds like it.
Investor and Forbes contributor John S. Tobey has a rather fatalistic view of artificial intelligence-based investing and trading regimes. In a recent article, the former professional investment manager who formerly operated a multi-manager fund of funds, likes three primary investment strategies – and they don’t generally include artificial intelligence and computer-based hedge fund decision processes.
Continue reading “Beat Artificial Intelligence In Markets By Investing In Individual Stocks?” »
Nice! Robo-advice will be accessed by investors worth $2.2 trillion by 2020, equivalent to 12% of the global retail funds.
If you’re a finance professional, the question you probably get asked most by your friends and acquaintances is “what investments they should make”? That’s the basic question that everyone with money will ask. They may ask the “financial advisor” at their bank, they may turn to Google for advice, they may ask their “friends who work in finance”, or they may listen to recommendations of people they trust. However, individuals with a high net worth will typically seek out a wealth management firm with a brand they trust. But which firm?
Try to Google “top wealth management firms” and the first 5 search results will be a comparison of the top 100 wealth management firms. That’s a very competitive space. How do you differentiate yourself from your 99 competitors who are essentially trying to so the same thing you are? One way is through the use of technology, and as a result we see the rise of “robo advisors”. Here’s the definition of a “robo-advisor” from Investopedia:
Continue reading “The Real Truth Behind the Rise of Robo-Advisors” »
