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Jetpacks, flying cars and taxi drones: transport’s future is in the skies

The Wisk Cora, an autonomous electric aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter. Image via Wisk. 

SYDNEY — Paramedics with jetpacks, border police in flying cars and, city workers commuting by drone all sound like science fiction — but the concepts are part of an advanced air mobility (AAM) market that is expected to be worth as much as $17 billion by 2025.  

As urbanization leaves city streets congested and advances in technology allow for vehicles considered impossible just decades ago, using the sky for small-scale aircraft has become increasingly attractive.  

“We can’t continue to use road transport; 3D mobility is really important,” Anna Kominik, Asia Pacific Director at Wisk, said in an interview broadcast on Thursday at the Reuters Next conference.  

Wisk, a joint venture between Boeing Co. and Kitty Hawk Corp., has been testing Cora, an autonomous electric aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter, at its base in Tekapo, New Zealand, for four years.  

Wisk is liaising with regulators, including the US Federal Aviation Administration, to get approval for public use of the air taxi, which can carry two passengers about 40 kilometers plus reserves (25 miles) at speeds of about 160 km/h.  

“Sixty-seven percent of the world’s population will be cities by 2030, so that ground infrastructure can’t keep up and is costly to overhaul,” Ms. Kominik said in a panel discussion recorded on Nov. 5. “We have to move to the sky as a resource.”  

Netherlands-based PAL-V is keeping one foot on the ground while taking to the air. Its two-seat gyroplane road vehicle Liberty, which has a maximum speed of 180 km/h and a flying range of 400 km, received approval for use on European roads this year.  

Delivery to customers will begin in 2023 after they complete the required training, said Robert Dingemanse, chief executive of PAL-V International.  

He added that PAL-V had orders, including down payments, from 15 countries, with interest from 193 countries.  

Ms. Kominik declined to put a timetable on when Cora would carry its first passengers.  

“We don’t expect we will be the first to market; we do expect to be the best,” she said.  

DEVELOPING AN ECOSYSTEM  

The advanced air mobility market could be worth almost $17 billion by 2025 and $110 billion by 2035, according to Allied Market Research.  

The same report suggests the piloted segment will hold more than three-quarters of the market share in 2025, but the autonomous segment will grow fastest between 2025 and 2035.  

Mr. Dingemanse said he expected the Liberty to be used for a range of applications, including pipeline observation, policing and health operations in remote areas.  

Similarly, Richard Browning has already done trial runs of his Gravity jetpack with militaries in several countries and emergency response personnel in the United Kingdom.  

With 317 pounds of thrust, the jetsuit can carry a person for about four minutes. The company is working on updates to extend flying time, and Mr. Browning has built up a dataset of the jetpack’s use across 35 countries.  

Ms. Kominik said the creation of an “ecosystem” of use cases was critical as the industry and technology develops.  

“That requires a very different mindset from government policy, regulators and community,” she said. “We have to create that, because it’s not there at the moment.  

California-based Wisk selected New Zealand because it was unique globally in allowing “beyond line of sight” trials of autonomous aircraft.  

CORONAVIRUS IMPACTS  

Mr. Dingemanse and Ms. Kominik said the pandemic had helped and hurt the industry.  

Sales of the PAL-V slowed as in-person test drives became restricted, Mr. Dingemanse said, but the crisis has provided a boost to the private jet industry and reinforced the human need to meet face-to-face.  

“In that sense, it is an advantage to our solution, which is personal space when you’re traveling,” he said.  

Ms. Koinik said New Zealand’s tight border restrictions had prevented some key personnel from entering over the past several months, but also spurred the opening of a new testing site in Australia.  

Mr. Browning is keen to return to public demonstrations to inspire a new generation: “Landing a 1,000 horsepower jetsuit amongst a school — with an invitation of course — is a pretty good way to stop kids from looking at an iPad for a moment.” — Jane Wardell/Reuters

Outage shows how Amazon’s complex cloud makes backup plans difficult

Image via Tony Webster/Flickr/CC BY 2.0

Major companies using Amazon.com’s data services got a painful lesson this week about how the complexity and market dominance of the company’s cloud unit make it difficult to back up their data with other providers, analysts and experts told Reuters.  

Amazon said that an “an impairment of several network devices” in its Amazon Web Services (AWS) Virginia data center region caused the prolonged outage on Tuesday.  

The outage temporarily interrupted streaming platforms Netflix Inc and Disney+, trading app Robinhood Markets Inc and even Amazon’s own e-commerce site, which makes heavy use of AWS.  

An Amazon spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday that the issues had been resolved.  

The huge trail of damage from a network problem at a single region that AWS calls “US-EAST-1” underscored how difficult it is for companies to spread their cloud computing around.  

With 24.1% of the overall market, according to research firm IDC, Amazon is the world’s biggest cloud computing firm. Rivals like Microsoft Corp., Alphabet’s Google Inc., and Oracle Corp. are trying to lure AWS customers to use parts of their clouds, often as a backup.  

But crafting a complex online service that can be easily shifted from one provider to another in case of emergency is far from simple, said Naveen Chhabra, a senior analyst with research firm Forrester. 

Rather than being a singular “cloud,” AWS is actually composed of hundreds of different services, from basic building blocks like computing power and storage to advanced services like high-speed databases and artificial intelligence training.  

Any given website, Mr. Chhabra said, might use several dozen of those individual services, each of which must work for the site to function. It is difficult to make a backup on another cloud provider because some services are proprietary to AWS and some work very differently at another provider.  

“It’s like saying, ‘Can I put an SUV body on a sedan chassis?’ Maybe, if everything is all the same and lines up. But there is no guarantee,” Mr. Chhabra said.  

Another issue that makes it hard for businesses to diversify is that AWS makes it relatively cheap to send data into its cloud, but then charges higher prices for “egress fees” to get data out of its cloud to take to a rival.  

“That amplifies issues like this [outage] when they happen,” said Matthew Prince, chief executive of internet security firm Cloudflare Inc. “A more resilient cloud is one where egress fees are eliminated and customers can be multi-cloud. I think that would actually increase the faith customers have in the cloud.”  

DEPENDENCIES IN ONE REGION  

AWS itself has critical “dependencies” within its own services where they are linked together in ways that can cause one to fail when another fails, said Angelique Medina, head of product market at Cisco Systems Inc.’s ThousandEyes.  

That is because AWS’s complex services are often built on top of its own more basic services. One problem that crops up with a basic function like networking can cascade through services that depend on it.  

Early on in the incident on Tuesday, AWS said the outage was “affecting some of our monitoring and incident response tooling, which is delaying our ability to provide updates.”  

Ms. Medina said AWS also seems to have critical services clustered in its US-EAST-1 region, where another outage last year also had a widely felt impact.  

“That’s where a lot of their critical dependencies have been located historically,” Ms. Medina said. “Over time, they’ve diversified a bit.”  

Mr. Chhabra, the Forrester analyst, said Amazon has done a lot of “heavy lifting” to make its own services resilient. But what Amazon does not do for its customers is build applications in a way that can withstand an outage by tapping multiple locations or providers.  

Doing so can often involve extra work that might not always be worth it when cloud outages remain relatively rare.  

“It’s this tradeoff you always have between something that is decentralized, something that’s secure and something that’s useable,” said Charly Fei, product lead for Inter Blockchain Communication lead at The Interchain Foundation, which is focused on technologies for decentralizing computing. “It’s not something where you’ll ever get a perfect solution that gets all three.” — Stephen Nellis/Reuters

Trade deficit balloons to $4.02 billion

THE COUNTRY’S trade-in-goods deficit widened in October as merchandise import growth outpaced the growth in exports, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported earlier this morning.

Preliminary PSA data showed the value of merchandise exports grew by 2% to $6.41 billion.

The October reading was a turnaround from the 0.9% drop in the same month last year, albeit slower than the 6.4% growth seen in September 2021.

Meanwhile, the country’s merchandise imports rose by 25.1% to $10.43 billion in October. This marked a reversal from the 15.9% contraction in October 2020 but faster than the 24.9% import growth in September 2021.

This brought the trade-in-goods deficit to $4.02 billion in October, wider than the $2.05-billion shortfall recorded in the same month last year, as well as the $4-billion gap in September.

Year to date, the trade balance ballooned to a $33.21-billion deficit, from a $20-billion trade gap in 2020’s comparable 10 months.

For the 10-month period, exports and imports grew by an annual 16.1% (to $62.10 billion) and 29.7% (to $95.31 billion), respectively. These surpassed the Development Budget Coordination Committee expects exports and imports to rise by 10% and 12% this year. — Abigail Marie P. Yraola

Home-based learning market continues to rise

As online, home-based learning continues to rise, Kumon Philippines remains a sound business decision for entrepreneurs with a passion for learning and education.

Online and home-based learning has been on the rise prior to the pandemic. Today, the market is gradually growing, owing to the boom of technology and the need to deliver education amidst the lockdown.

So, amidst the rise and fall of industries during the pandemic, the education business continues to rise and even to reap the advantages technology offers.

Kumon Philippines, Inc. (KPI) is proof of such a feat and success. The Philippine arm of the world’s largest after-school learning program has become one of the country’s leading education supplementary programs and fastest-growing franchise companies.

Just twenty-five years after its establishment in the Philippines, KPI has now over 300 centers and more than 55,000 students nationwide. Staying true to its commitment to helping franchisees propel their education business, the company pivoted and maximized technologies to develop more Filipino students’ fullest potential through the world-renowned Kumon Method of Learning.

As the Philippine government steadily reopens more schools for limited face-to-face classes in the country, KPI sees a more promising future for its would-be franchisee-instructors and presents the following areas in the Philippines, which have strong potential to prosper as an education business.

LUZON

Batangas
• Nasugbu, Poblacion/Pantalan

Benguet
• La Trinidad

Bicol
• Old Albay (Legazpi), Legazpi City

Bulacan
• Kaypian, San Jose Del Monte City
• Town Center, San Miguel

Camarines Sur
• Grande, Naga City
• Near ADNU, Naga City

Cavite
• Gen. Evangelista St., Bacoor City
• Aniban (Molino Road), Bacoor City
• Salitran (Salitran Road), Dasmariñas City
• Paliparan III (Paliparan Road), Dasmariñas City
• DBB: Area B (Congressional Ave.), Dasmariñas City
• Bahay na Tubig, Imus City
• Sta. Clara, General Trias
• Kawit (Cavite), Kawit City

Ilocos Sur
• Candon City

Isabela
• Roxas

Laguna
• Town Center, Nagcarlan
• Isabang Calumpang, Lucena City

Metro Manila
• Tondo, (Moriones-Juan Luna Area), Manila City
• Paco, Manila City
• Pio-San Lorenzo, Makati City
• Poblacion-Bel-air (Century Mall), Makati City
• Barangka Itaas, Mandaluyong City
• SM Light Residences, Mandaluyong City
• Ugong-The 30th, Pasig City
• Ususan-Acacia Estates, Taguig City
• Serendra, Taguig City
• Uptown, Taguig City
• Tugatog – near Robinsons, Malabon City
• San Jose, Navotas City
• Balara-UP Town, Quezon City
• Celebrity, Quezon City
• Bignay, Valenzuela City

Nueva Ecija
• Gapan City

Palawan
• Puerto Princesa City

Pangasinan
• Lingayen City

Quezon
• Isabang-Calumpang, Lucena City

Rizal
• Mahabang Parang, Angono
• Dela Paz-Robinsons Place, Antipolo City
• Cupang, Antipolo City
• Binangonan Proper, Binangonan
• Binangonan Triangle, Binangonan
• Morong
• Primark Town Center, Rodriguez
• Barangay Sto. Niño, San Mateo
• J.P. Rizal, Taytay

Zambales
• Iba City
• Subic Town, Subic

VISAYAS

Antique
• San Jose de Buenavista

Cebu City
• Lahug

Cebu
• Cordova
• Pajac, Lapu-Lapu City
• Minglanilia

Leyte
• Ormoc City

Negros Occidental
• Victorias City

MINDANAO

Agusan del Norte
• Libertad, Butuan City

Davao del Sur
• Ma-a, Davao City

Misamis Oriental
• Balulang, Cagayan de Oro City
• Gusa, Cagayan de Oro City

South Cotabato
• Polomolok

Several forecasts show that the Philippines is set to reach normalcy by 2025. Post-pandemic, experts still see that online learning will remain relevant and that many will continue to invest in the e-learning market until we see its full potential.

With the current trend, investing in an education enterprise like Kumon remains a sound business decision for entrepreneurs with a passion for learning and education.

Capitalize on home-based learning foreseen growth while partnering with a global brand with a proven track record in the industry. Open your own Kumon Center today by signing up for a FREE franchise orientation.

To learn more about Kumon, visit https://ph.kumonglobal.com/for-franchisees/franchise-enquiry/.

 

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Asia-Pacific’s radiologists looking to AI to improve diagnosis, yet workflow hurdles hinder progress

A global leader in health technology recently released a new radiology industry study, “Precision Diagnosis: Radiology’s Evolution Towards a Digital Healthcare Future”, which surveyed over 100 radiologists in key countries across the Asia Pacific region about their views and challenges in adopting greater digitization. The report found that eight in ten radiologists believe that AI will be introduced into their current workflow – enabling more confident diagnosis and data processing.

This year, the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST) unveiled two programs and technologies developed with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The utilization of AI is a significant development in the country’s ongoing battle against the COVID-19 pandemic and carries the potential to aid in the transformation of how healthcare is administered in the country.

As a core pillar of healthcare, radiology serves as a critical starting point that informs a patient’s state of health, treatment plan, and journey towards recovery. With rising healthcare challenges of aging populations, chronic disease prevalence, and growing demand for healthcare services, the study reveals that many of the region’s radiologists find themselves at a critical crossroad.

Enhancing workflows, increasing efficiencies

Even as the healthcare industry continues to rapidly digitalize, Philips’ research reveals that a number of factors stand in the way of continued adoption of technology within the field of radiology.

For radiologists in the countries surveyed[1], the top five roadblocks in streamlining workflows through technology adoption are the lack of well-organized, reliable and cybersafe IT environments (56%), cost of digital transformation (47%), staff training and knowledge (34%), data interoperability (32%) and implementation and adoption time (31%).

Yet, positively, the radiologists surveyed say they are adopting the use of multi-modality platforms to manage images across modalities like X-Ray and MRI scans and streamline workflows, led by those in Singapore (97%) and followed closely by their peers in Australia (89%) and South Korea (84%).

Opportunities abound to transform precision diagnosis

Philips’ report also finds that AI is transforming healthcare outcomes in Asia Pacific by enabling radiologists to make more confident diagnosis and treatment decisions. Among the three surveyed countries, Singapore’s radiologists are the biggest champions of AI with two-thirds (66%) believing that AI will be introduced into their current clinical workflow, compared to 60% in Australia and 53% in South Korea.

When asked how they envision the future of precision diagnosis, the radiologists highlighted the use of data and AI to improve patient care, particularly with the use of informatics and cloud technologies to accelerate workflows.

In the Philippines, Philips developed a novel solution to deploy and install diagnostic solutions to minimize COVID-19 exposure among healthcare professionals while addressing patient numbers among localized COVID-19 cases. Through the conversion of industrial shipping containers into CT and X-ray imaging cabins, diagnostic facilities are made more accessible – whether inside hospitals, in hospital grounds, or directly situated within communities in need.

The cabins are equipped with CT solutions such as Philips’ Access CT and Incisive CT, or diagnostic X-Ray solutions such as Philips’ DuraDiagnost and DuraDiagnost F30, configured to allow radiologists to perform diagnostic imaging procedures with minimal or no patient contact[1] – assessing pulmonary damage caused by COVID-19. Each cabin has an integral lead shield to reduce stray radiation, UV (ultraviolet) lamps to sterilize the workspace between use, and a laboratory-grade computer cubicle for the immediate analysis of results. The systems can also be linked into hospital IT networks so that radiologists can remotely view scans.

Workplace challenges hindering productivity

As with other healthcare professions at the frontline of patient care, radiology continues to be a highly intensive, volume-heavy role that has only been exacerbated by workplace and technical challenges, and shortage of skilled talent.

Radiologists across the three countries surveyed continue to face pressures at their workplace, with top concerns being increased patient volumes/high demand (33%), variability in staff expertise (15%), increased staff workload/staff stress (14%), lack of AI integration in clinical workflows (11%) and lack of first-time right imaging for diagnosis (9%).

As the healthcare landscape continues to redefine itself, it’s especially crucial to ensure radiology continues to be a key pillar of this transformation. Healthcare leaders need to engage in deeper dialogue with radiologists to understand their pain points and ensure that new technologies are meaningfully implemented and used to their fullest potential. As the first touchpoint of the patient journey, transforming precision diagnosis towards a smarter, more connected practice will enable physicians to overcome manpower hurdles, and provide more personalized and effective patient care into the future.

 

[1] Countries surveyed include Singapore, Australia, and South Korea

[1] https://www.philips.com/a-w/about/news/archive/standard/news/articles/2020/20200703-ct-and-x-ray-cabins-to-help-fight-the-spread-of-covid-19-in-the-philippines.html

 

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52 innovative organizations being accorded the International Innovation Awards 2021

Enterprise Asia is pleased to honor 52 award recipients at the International Innovation Awards 2021. Spearheading the Innovation Revolution, the International Innovation Awards, which aims to create an innovation ecosystem for enterprises, is held annually to recognize outstanding innovations across the globe.

The 2021 Global Innovation Index has shown that in spite of the massive impact of the pandemic, many companies have shown remarkable resilience — especially those that have embraced digitalization, technology and innovation. It has shown that the spending growth of R&D in 2019 at 8.5% has successfully contributed to the global innovation ecosystem building on pre-crisis performance in 2020.

This year’s awardees demonstrated the role of innovation in accelerating growth, efficiency and inclusiveness which is in line with the objective of the award recognition program. The awards not only provide a global platform for enterprises to showcase their innovations but also encourage organizations to continue investing in innovation to pave the path towards a better and sustainable future.

The award drew an exceptional mix of submissions from various industries and countries such as Brazil, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, United Kingdom, the United States of America. 52 emerged as victors from the 260 applications through undergoing a rigorous evaluation process by a jury of prominent judges across three categories: Product, Service & Solution, and Organization & Culture.

“To best prepare our organizations for IR 4.0, we must inculcate greater innovation within our organizations. We must empower our people to constantly innovate and build a culture of innovation within our respective companies. Institutionalize it, so that innovation becomes all-permeating within our organizations rather than a job function or reaction to market forces. Hence, the key is not just changing the way we do business but changing our mindset as well,” Richard Tsang, president of Enterprise Asia, stated in his welcome address.

Among the notable recipients of the ‘InnoCube’ under the Product Category include CYBERDYNE, Inc. from Japan with its Wearable Cyborg HAL, the world’s first wearable cyborg that uses brain waves to command movements, and E.SUN Commercial Bank, Ltd. from Taiwan with E.SUN Smart FX Service, which is a comprehensive FX service with anti-fraud functions embedded in its transactions.

Esteemed winners under the Service & Solution Category are SHOPLINE from Taiwan with SHOPLINE Social Commerce, a full-featured platform that tailors all-in-one commerce solutions for every business type, and Ambiq from United States of America with its Ultra-low Power Processor Solutions for IoT Endpoint Devices, which is the most energy-efficient sensor processing solution in the market.

Prominent awardees under the Organization & Culture Category include Dubai Police with Dubai Police Next 50 Innovation Hub, a transformation initiative to redesign the Dubai Police innovation ecosystem, and Sofokus from Finland with Better Monday®, which is an organism management system that measures employee happiness in the workplace to achieve a happiness-oriented company culture.

Prior to the International Innovation Awards, the International Innovation Summit 2021 was held during the day. Themed “Unleash Your Organization’s Superpower Innovation,” the virtual summit aimed to encourage organizations to tap into their inner innovation powers to innovate in a way that is profitable, creates value and captures customers’ interests.

Over 300 innovation experts, industry leaders and policy makers across the globe gathered at the summit to share and exchange the latest insights on conquering uncertainties and exploring the unknown for organizations to innovate, grow, and evolve.

At the Summit’s opening, Enterprise Asia Chairman Dr. Fong Chan Onn expressed that “Organizations must be courageous to explore the uncertainty to innovate and create. As our journeys grow and evolve, so must our ideas. Improving the ability to innovate has become vital to keeping up with the times.”

Among the keynote speakers is Josemaria Siota, executive director of IESE Business School, who covered the topic of “Corporate-startup innovations in deep tech: Challenges, Opportunities, and Trends.” Mr. Siota shared invaluable insights on establishing a start-up mindset and culture to develop new technologies and offerings and keep organizations on the right track.

Other speakers include Alexey Semeney, CEO & founder, DevTeam.Space; Andy Chun, regional director & Technology Innovation of Prudential Corporation Asia; Akina Ho, head of Digital Transformation and Innovation at Great Eagle HK; Praveen Lala, global director of Delivery, Process, and Operations of GE Digital; Raushida Vasaiwala, general manager of APAC at Celtra;  Makoto Shibata, head of FINOLAB & Chief Community Officer of FINOLAB INC.; Guy Parsonage, partner & Experience Consulting leader of PwC Experience Centre, Hong Kong; Ivana Bartoletti, Global Data Privacy officer of Wipro and founder of Women Leading in AI network; William De Vos, managing director APAC of Board Of Innovation; Dr. Geoffrey Yuen, chief scientist at Parallel Chain; with Gary Ng, co-founder & CEO at viAct, and Martin Daffner, founder & Innovation architect and Corporate Innovation coach of INNOBRIX, as the moderators.

The International Innovation Awards and International Innovation Summit are organized annually by Enterprise Asia, Asia’s largest nongovernmental organization for entrepreneurship and is supported by the British Chamber of Commerce Singapore, Canada-ASEAN Business Council (CABC), Malaysian Alliance of Corporate Directors, Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), Malaysian-Thai Chamber of Commerce, National Agency for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Development (NATEC) Vietnam, National Science and Technology Development Agency Thailand, OAV – German Asia-Pacific Business Association, Singapore Thai Chamber of Commerce (STCC), The Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (HK and Macau) Limited (MAYCHAM). PR Newswire is the official press release distributor partner, and 3Particle as the official production partner. AsianNGO, Bangkok Post, Biz Hub Vietnam, BusinessWorld, Commercial Times, DigiconAsia, Hong Kong Economic Times, Jumpstart, Kumparan, Nikkei Asia, SME and Viet Nam News are the official media partners.

RECIPIENT LIST OF THE INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION AWARDS 2021

PRODUCT CATEGORY
COMPANY WINNING INNOVATION TITLE COUNTRY
AP (Thailand) Public Company Limited KATSAN: INNOVATION FOR PEACE OF MIND Thailand
Bioscience Animal Health Public Company Limited Angentex® COVID-19 qPCR Detection Kit (with IC) Thailand
Charsire Biotechnology Corp. Celludoxa Sanovazo – A Class II Medical Device Trauma Dressing from Patented Process Soybean Extract Taiwan
CTG Brasil Turbine Pneumatic Governor for hydropower plants Brazil
CYBERDYNE Inc. Wearable Cyborg HAL Japan
E.SUN Commercial Bank, Ltd. E.SUN Wallet Taiwan
E.SUN Commercial Bank, Ltd. E.SUN Smart FX Service Taiwan
EVA-GLORY Industrial Co., Ltd Nitrex: protection foam Taiwan
First International Computer, Inc. AR HUD Taiwan
Hettigoda Industries Private Limited Siddhalepa Pain Relief Spray Sri Lanka
IPOWER PRODUCTS LIMITED Electric Pendant Heater + Light & Remote Control Hong Kong
K-WAX International Co., Ltd C.C Coating Maintenance Taiwan
Linyuan Advanced Materials Technology Co., Ltd. Continex LH Series Carbon Black Taiwan
Nu Skin Enterprises Singapore Pte Ltd ageLOC Boost Singapore
PLANET Technology Corporation Renewable Energy Management Controller Taiwan
Pulse Science Company Limited BioSafety Mobile Unit Thailand
Pulse Science Company Limited Incuwork ic Thailand
Simple Foods Co., Ltd. 137 Degrees Almond Milk Products Thailand
SUPIA ASIA PTE LIMITED Supia Academy Hong Kong
Thammachart Seafood Retail Co., Ltd. Salmon Bacon Thailand
Vodafone GmbH Vodafone Giga AR App: A futuristic cooking experience Germany
Yuen Foong Yu Consumer Products Co., Ltd. Orange House 5 in 1 Laundry Detergent Pods Taiwan

 

SERVICE & SOLUTION CATEGORY
COMPANY WINNING INNOVATION TITLE COUNTRY
Aditya Birla Capital Limited Implementation of Digital & Tech Capability India
Ambiq Ultra-low Power Processor Solutions for IoT Endpoint Devices USA
Asia Cement Corporation ACTEC AI Control System Taiwan
Cathay Life Insurance Cathay Vision Experience (CVX) Taiwan
CITIC Telecom CPC DataHOUSE™ AR Remote Hand Hong Kong
Criteo Singapore Pte Ltd Criteo’s First-Party Media Network Singapore
CTG Brasil CTG Comunica Brazil
Dubai Police EFAAD United Arab Emirates
EBM Technologies Inc. Ubiquitous Diagnostic Environment (UDE) App Taiwan
Ekata, Inc. Account Opening API
Merchant Onboarding API
Merchant Review		 Singapore
GARAOTUS (SYSTEX Group) GARAOTUS Cloud Platform Taiwan
GLUU Pte Ltd GLUU, ​A ​Marketplace ​Where ​Individuals/​Businesses ​Can ​Source ​For ​Connectivity (WiFi or ​Mobile ​Data) Singapore
IFS Facility Services Co., Ltd. IFS Intelligent Visitor Management Solution Thailand
Medidata Solutions International Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. Medidata Decentralized Clinical Trials Program Singapore
portto Blocto: Cross-chain, Integrated Smart Contract Wallet Service Taiwan
PRINCE BANK PLC. Prince Bank MobileBiz Digital Banking Application Cambodia
Regional Corridor Development Authority (RECODA) RECODA PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (RPMS) Malaysia
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) RCBC’s DiskarTech Philippines
Shieh Yih Machinery Industry Co., Ltd. Smart Stamping Solution Taiwan
SHOPLINE SHOPLINE Social Commerce Taiwan
SpectroChip Inc. The ONE InstantCare for COVID-19 Rapid Screening Taiwan
Startek Startek Cloud India
Tailored Jewel Sdn Bhd Malaysia’s First Omnichannel Online Jeweller Malaysia
Taiwan Shin Kong Commercial Bank OMNI-U Taiwan
Takeda (Thailand), Ltd. IBD Friend Thailand
TCI Co., Ltd. Innovation Service for Corporate ESG Value Taiwan
Yes Energy Service Co., Ltd. EV/EM Charging System Taiwan
Yuanta Securities Investment Trust Co., Ltd. Yuanta ETF AI Investment Platform Taiwan
Yung Ching Realty Group Yung Ching Realty App Taiwan
Yung Ching Realty Group iplus Smart Innovation Center Taiwan

 

ORGANIZATION & CULTURE CATEGORY
COMPANY WINNING INNOVATION TITLE COUNTRY
[24]7 Customer Philippines Inc. Project CoLove Philippines
AP (Thailand) Public Company Limited AP THAILAND: INNOVATION FROM EMPATHY CULTURE Thailand
Criteo Singapore Pte Ltd Strengthening ​Our Culture ​Of Inclusion ​Through ​A​nd ​Beyond ​The ​Pandemic Singapore
CTBC Financial Holding Co., Ltd. We are family – Stronger Culture, Happy Workplace Taiwan
CTG Brasil Mapping of Social Innovations for Sustainable Tourism Brazil
Dubai Police Dubai Police Next 50 Innovation Hub United Arab Emirates
E.SUN Commercial Bank, Ltd. E.SUN Digital Transformation Taiwan
MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node MIT Innovation Academy Hong Kong
Sofokus Better Monday® Finland

 

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Philippines lags in attracting top talent

Medical students observe physical distancing while seated in a classroom at the University of Santo Tomas, in Manila, Philippines, June 14, 2021. REUTERS/Lisa Marie David

By Revin Mikhael D. Ochave, Reporter

THE Philippines dropped nine spots in an annual global ranking of countries’ ability to attract and retain a skilled workforce, as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the education of millions of young Filipinos.

In the IMD World Talent Ranking 2021 report released on Thursday, the Philippines ranked 57th out of 64 economies, down nine places from 48th (out of 63) in 2020.

“The IMD World Talent Ranking assesses the extent to which an economy develops its domestic talent pool while tapping into the overseas pipeline so as to be able to satisfy the market’s demands for talent,” the IMD World Competitiveness Center, which conducted the research, said.

The IMD rankings are based on three factors: “appeal” or the extent to which an economy attracts foreign and retains local talent, “investment and development” which refers to the measurement of resources allotted to develop a homegrown workforce, and “readiness” or the quality of the skills in the country’s talent pool.

The latest report showed the Philippines remained near the bottom at 62nd place (from 61st last year) in terms of “investment and development.”

“The main factors affecting the Philippines’ performance in investment and development are the effective implementation of apprenticeship programs, the quality of education (measured as pupil-teacher ratio, primary and secondary schools), and the effectiveness of the healthcare system,” IMD World Competitiveness Center told BusinessWorld via e-mail.

The Philippines ranked 60th in terms of total public expenditure on education per student at $475. Its pupil-teacher ratios for both primary (25.78 students to teacher) and secondary education (25.19 students to teacher) ranked 60th and 59th place, respectively. Public expenditure on education stood at 3.5% of GDP (52nd place).

In terms of “readiness,” the Philippines ranked 47th (from 33rd spot in 2020), thanks to its strengths such as readily available skilled labor (9th), competent senior managers (17th), and language skills (21st).

“In terms of readiness, the capacity of the university and management education to meet talent demands as well as the percentage of student graduating in sciences and student mobility inbound are among the factors affecting the Philippines’ performance,” IMD said.

It also flagged the Philippines’ scores from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey of 15-year-old students’ scholastic performance on mathematics, science, and reading.

The Philippines fell to the 43rd place from 31st spot a year ago in terms of “appeal,” which the IMD said was due to the cost of living and low levels of motivation among the workforce.

According to IMD’s talent ranking website, the Philippines this year faced challenges such as ensuring inclusive economic recovery, reviving businesses and consumer confidence, and establishing resilient social infrastructure, especially in health and education.

Sought for comment, University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) Senior Economist Cid L. Terosa said via e-mail that the decline in the country’s ranking can be attributed to the “relatively” weak government investment and support for the education sector.

“Among the 64 countries included in the ranking, the country’s total public expenditure on education per student is the fifth lowest. The inability of the government to spend more on education has partly contributed to the low ranking of the country in terms of pupil-teacher ratio for both primary and secondary education as well as educational assessment,” Mr. Terosa said.

“I think the onslaught of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic last year has made it difficult for the government to allocate more resources to the education sector and to support the transition to alternative modes of learning and instruction,” he added.

Further, Mr. Terosa said the lower ranking will have implications on the Philippines’ economic recovery, since the “talents, education, skills, and training of Filipinos will determine whether more of them will be productively employed in the new normal.”

Mr. Terosa said it is unlikely the Philippines’ ranking will improve considerably next year, given the challenges brought by the pandemic and the transition to a new administration.

Calixto V. Chikiamco, Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) president, said in a mobile phone message that the country’s ranking might even slide next year because it is one of the last countries to conduct face-to-face classes.

“The decline in the country’s performance in various education and competency tests — it placed last in the PISA rankings on math and science competency — may account for the low rankings in global talent,” Mr. Chikiamco said.

“Moreover, due to the unaffordability and lack of broadband, many schoolchildren couldn’t even do remote learning,” he added.

University of the Philippines Professor Emeritus Rene E. Ofreneo said in an e-mail interview that the results are not surprising following the prolonged lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The educational system was not ready. We are plagued with problems about poor internet connection, lack of quality modular materials, lack of quality teachers, and other readiness issues,” Mr. Ofreneo said.

Makati Business Club Executive Director Coco Alcuaz, Jr. said in a Viber message that the government, schools, and private sector should work harder in strengthening the country’s present and future workforce.

“Even if we execute pandemic recovery, infrastructure programs, and other policies and programs, without a strong workforce, we will have a harder time competing in the more competitive, more knowledge-based economy of the future,” Mr. Alcuaz said.

“We have a lot of catch-up to do. Hopefully, the candidates and the next administration put more effort here,” he added.

Meanwhile, Switzerland remained on top of the World Talent Ranking report, which IMD said reflected the widening gap between workers in “talent-strong” economies and a brain drain in others.

European countries dominated the rankings, with the top 10 all from the region. Sweden ranked second, followed by Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, Austria, Iceland, Finland, Netherlands and Germany.

The Philippines lagged behind other Asian countries in the list.  Hong Kong had the highest ranking (11th), followed by Singapore (12th), Taiwan (16th), Malaysia (28th), South Korea (34th), China (36th) and Japan (39th), Thailand (43rd), and Indonesia (50th).

“This has consequences for leadership responsibilities, as it’s clear that talent attraction and retention is no longer just a policy issue. It’s also the responsibility of senior executives who need to realize their role in boosting worker motivation, which is not just driven by external factors such as salary, safety, or quality of life, but also by the opportunities leaders can provide for workers to reskill, to work flexibly, and to have the use of the best tech at their fingertips,” Arturo Bris, director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center, said in a statement.

PHL economy likely to grow ‘at least 7%’ in Q4 — Diokno

The Philippine Star / Michael Varcas

PHILIPPINE economic growth this year could beat the government’s downgraded target, with fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) likely to expand by at least 7%, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said.

“I think it will be more likely that it will be more than 5% this year. Because right now, the year to date is 4.9%, so it’s stands to reason that the fourth quarter will be at least around 7%,” he said at an online briefing on Thursday.

In the third quarter, GDP rose by 7.1% year on year and 3.8% quarter on quarter.

Economic managers lowered its GDP target to 4-5% in August, from 6-7% previously, after the reimposition of a strict lockdown to curb the Delta-driven surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections.

As COVID-19 cases declined, the government eased mobility restrictions and allowed more businesses to reopen. The country is currently under Alert Level 2, but economic managers hope the most relaxed alert level will be implemented by January.

The Health department reported 562 new COVID-19 cases to bring the active caseload to 12,169 on Thursday. Daily infections have plunged from the record highs in September.

Mr. Diokno said there is a need to “patiently maintain” its policy support to drive economic recovery.

“At this point, the BSP remains committed to providing the appropriate policy support to ensure a sustainable path to economic recovery,” he said, ahead of the Dec. 16 policy setting meeting.

Mr. Diokno noted the uneven global recovery that has exacerbated supply issues, which in turn affected inflation.

“Although the increase in prices is expected to slow in the coming years, upside risks to the inflation outlook remain as firms expect supply disruptions to persist until the second half of 2022,” he said.

In particular, Mr. Diokno said the dependence of some local firms on imported raw materials may contribute to higher domestic prices.

He cited higher global non-oil prices, impact of weather disturbances, prolonged pork shortage, and jeepney fare hike petition as factors that could cause faster price increases.

On the other hand, he said that delays in easing restriction measures, lower world economic growth, and the temporary reduction in the excise taxes of petroleum products could help to ease inflation.

“The BSP stands ready to utilize its wide range of policy instruments to ensure that monetary settings remain appropriate to mitigate possible spillovers from external developments that may affect domestic inflation and growth dynamics,” he said.

Headline inflation in November slowed to a four-month low of 4.2%, although still above the central bank’s 2-4% target. This was mainly due to slower increase in food prices.

The country’s inflation has breached the BSP’s target for all months of 2020, except in July when it stood at 4%.

The consumer price index rose by 4.5% year to date, faster than the 4.3% forecast by the BSP. For 2022 and 2023, the central bank expects inflation to return to within target at 3.3% and 3.2%, respectively. — Luz Wendy T. Noble

ASEAN inflation seen at 10-year high in 2022 as demand recovers

INFLATION in Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economies is set to hit its highest level in a decade next year, setting the stage for the start of monetary policy tightening across the region, according to Bank of America (BofA).

Higher energy prices and a recovery in domestic demand and employment will drive inflation to an average of 2.7% in 2022, up from an estimated 2.2% this year, BofA Securities ASEAN economist Faiz Nagutha said at a media briefing on Thursday. Vietnam and Indonesia are set to see the steepest price growth.

“Inflation is here, and it’s here to stay,” Mr. Nagutha said, adding that it will likely peak in the early part of 2022 before coming off a bit and staying at elevated levels. Global inflation is seen to hit 4.3% next year, up from 3.9% expected this year.

Key points from the briefing:

  • The US Federal Reserve will likely double the pace of reducing its asset purchases at its December meeting, and will deliver three rate hikes next year starting in June.
  • A faster Fed taper, along with accelerating inflation, will put pressure on some ASEAN central banks to tighten sooner.
  • Indonesia seen to hike by 75 basis points (bps), Malaysia and Vietnam by 50 basis points, while Thailand and the Philippines are expected to raise their key rates by 25 bps each next year

• Singapore may further tighten monetary policy on top of a 50-basis-point increase in the currency slope expected in April. — Bloomberg

SMC’s Bank of Commerce plans P4-billion IPO

BW FILE PHOTO

San Miguel Corp. (SMC) affiliate Bank of Commerce is eyeing to raise as much as P4.03 billion through an initial public offering (IPO) by March next year.

In an e-mail on Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it received the bank’s registration statement for its IPO on Dec. 7.

The bank is eyeing to offer 280,602,800 common shares for up to P12.50 apiece, with an overallotment option of up to 42,090,400 common shares.

According to Bank of Commerce’s preliminary prospectus dated Nov. 26, net proceeds from the primary offer will be used for lending activities and capital expenditures for its information technology (IT) projects, while the balance will be used for the acquisition of investment securities.

“The issuer will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of the option shares by the selling shareholders,” the bank said.

Bank of Commerce may net up to P3.34 billion from the sale of primary shares.

The bank said it plans to use P1.8 billion to expand its loan portfolio along with its strategy to generate higher interest income. It said the loans “will be primarily to corporate borrowers as well as some housing and auto loans.”

Meanwhile, the net proceeds that will be allocated for its IT projects will be rolled out from 2022 to 2026.

Its P522-million “ATM Refresh” project entails replacing 273 existing automated teller machines (ATM) machines with 144 cash recycling machines and 129 ATMs will be updated with newer versions. The bank also plans to buy additional 15 cash recycling machines and 15 cash deposit machines for offsite locations.

The full implementation of the ATM Refresh project is slated for 2023, while the bank is expected to make annual payments of P104.4 million until 2026.

Meanwhile, it plans to use P400 million to replace its existing Silverlake Integrated Banking Solution (SIBS) core banking system. The system is projected to “go live” by 2023 with annual payments expected until 2026.

“As part of its liquidity management, the Bank plans to place a portion of the proceeds in Philippine government securities to both generate interest revenue as well as to satisfy the High-Quality Liquid Asset requirements of the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) under Basel III,” Bank of Commerce said.

Should the net proceeds from the sale of the primary offer be lower than the expected amount, the bank said it still plans to allocate its net proceeds accordingly.

Bank of Commerce aims to conduct an offer period for trading participants and retail investors from March 7 to 18, with a tentative listing at the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange on March 25.

The bank assigned BDO Capital & Investment Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., Philippine Commercial Capital, Inc., and PNB Capital Investment Corp. as the offer’s joint issue managers, joint lead underwriters, and joint bookrunners. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte

GMA Network sets ‘little less than’ P2-B capex

BW FILE PHOTO

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Senior Reporter

GMA Network, Inc. announced on Thursday that it had set aside slightly less than P2 billion for next year to cover various projects, including the expansion of its digital transmission network and regional television network.

The amount will also cover the company’s investment in content.

“For next year, the capex (capital expenditures) earmarked is a little less than P2 billion, which will be for the expansion of our digital transmission network, upgrading of our post-production capabilities and of our content playout facilities, and expansion of our regional TV network, etc.,” GMA Network Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Felipe L. Gozon said at the company’s special stockholders’ meeting.

In January, the media company announced that it had allocated more than P20 billion for capex and content cost this year until 2023.

The company aims to construct a new building in Quezon City.

Mr. Gozon said GMA Network expects to miss its consolidated gross revenue target this year. “But we will exceed our net income.”

He said in May that the company was anticipating a 15% increase in its earnings this year, on the assumption that vaccine rollouts across the country would further ease restrictions.

As for his growth outlook for 2022, Mr. Gozon said: “As you know, the situation about the pandemic is improving. That’s why we expect the momentum in the later part of the fourth quarter of the year to continue up to next year.”

“And next year being a presidential election year, we have reason to be optimistic. However, it still depends on how far and fast our recovery will be and whether the pandemic will surge or not,” he added.

Mr. Gozon also recalled that in the 2019 elections, political ad sales accounted for only 5% of the company’s total consolidated sales.

“With the pandemic and the Comelec-imposed… 40-50% discount…, we don’t think that this year of political ads will significantly change from prior elections. In other words, our main source of revenues will still come from recurring advertisers,” he said.

GMA Network stockholders also approved on Thursday the company’s subscription to the increase in the authorized capital stock of its wholly-owned subsidiary GMA Ventures, Inc. (GVI) from P50 million to P1 billion, which subscription will initially be in the amount of P250 million.

They also approved the payment of P100 million for the said subscription, including the grant of authority to GMA Network’s executive committee to make additional payment and, if necessary, to increase the subscription of the company to the authorized capital stock of GVI.

“Our diversification efforts to invest in businesses that are not related to our core business of broadcasting will be carried out by GVI,” Mr. Gozon said.

He also gave updates on GMA Now, the media company’s mobile digital terrestrial television (DTT) receiver, which was launched in February.

“As of Dec. 5, 2021, we have sold something like 31,000 units of GMA Now.”

The lockdowns, he said, had an impact on sales. “But we are still optimistic that sales will gain traction as soon as people [are able to] leave their homes.”

He also said the company sold 740,000 units of its DTT receiver GMA Affordabox this year.  “Last year, we sold a little less than one million units. Again, we see that sales of our Affordabox will increase next year.”

GMA Network shares closed 0.15% lower at P13.48 apiece on Thursday.

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