Growth (48)

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14 moonshot technologies BofA says investors must know

  • "The pace at which themes are transforming businesses is blistering, but the adoption of many technologies - like smartphones or renewable energy - have surpassed experts’ forecasts by decades, because we often think linearly but progress occurs exponentially."
  • BofA Global Research strategists led by Haim Israel release a 152-page research report identifying 14 "radical technologies that could change our lives and accelerate the impact of global megatrends."
  • They have a $330B market size today that could grow to $6.4T by the 2030s, Israel says.
  • "These moonshots could transform and disrupt multiple industries, contributing to the next big cycle of technology-driven growth."
  • The 14 are:
  1. 6G: "The next generation of telecom networks will be needed in less than a decade as data continues to grow exponentially and 5G reaches its upper limit capacity."
  2. Brain Computer Interfaces: "As we reach a point where humans are unable to keep up with computers and AI, brain computer interfaces could

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The Fastest Growing Brands Of 2017

In a modern business era of near-constant disruption, which brands are winning the hearts of consumers the fastest?

Today’s charts look at the brands that are trending upwards. See below for the brands that have gained the most in brand value since last year, as assessed by BrandZ in their report on the world’s 100 most valuable brands.

Onwards and Upwards for Tech

As many big name brands try to find their footing in today’s fast-paced consumer environment, it’s not surprising to see up-and-coming tech brands skyrocketing in value.

Biggest Movers in Tech

In line with growing revenues, tech brands like Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix are also flying high with their brands. Amazon, for example, had its brand value soar 41% since last year to make it the fourth most valuable brand in the world at $139 billion. Chinese tech companies are gaining traction in the eyes of consumers as well, with Tencent and Alibaba both growing their brand values at clips of 20% or higher.

Note: the measure of “brand value”, not to

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A Timeline Of Future Technology

A Timeline of Future Technology

Making predictions about future technology is both fun and notoriously difficult.

However, such predictions also serve a very practical purpose for investors and business leaders, since failing to adapt to changing industry paradigms can completely decimate a business venture, turning it into the next Blockbuster, Kodak, or Sears.

Today’s infographic from Futurism rounds up some of the most interesting predictions about the future, from trusted sources such as Scientific American and The National Academy of Sciences.

Machines,Big and Small

The confluence of robotics, artificial intelligence, and increasing levels of automation is a prevailing trend throughout the projected timeline of future technology.

In less than 10 years, we will be able to control machines based on eye movements, while ingesting nano-sized robots to repair injuries from within our bodies. Later on, it’s also expected that the next wave of AI will be a reality: by 2036, predictive AI

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Growth in the global electric-vehicle market

With the recent announcement from Volvo that all vehicles will have electric engines in 2019 and phase out combustion engines, it becomes shockingly clear that electric is growing.................and faster than we have previously believed. Clearly Tesla (TSLA) has more competition than ever before so I bring you this piece from McKinsey to give you the breakdown. By the way, what does this mean for crude oil?  Just tossng it out there.

New research on electric mobility reveals Chinese OEMs produced 43 percent of EVs worldwide in 2016 and highlights other trends in supply and demand.

China has increased its lead in electric-vehicle (EV) production, according to new McKinsey research (Exhibit 1). Chinese OEMs produced 43 percent of the 873,000 EVs built worldwide in 2016. And the country now has the largest fleet of EVs on the road, overtaking the US market for the first time (see sidebar, “Our methodology”).

Exhibit 1
Electric Vehicle Index, ranking 10 countries based on market and industry performance

China extends EV industry leadership

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Y Combinator, one of best-known Silicon Valley accelerators, has an impressive track record of success. With well-timed investments in Dropbox, Stripe, and Airbnb, the startups in the company’s portfolio are now worth an aggregate of $600 billion in market capitalization.

While Y Combinator has made a clear impact on the tech sector, the company also launched an internal side project in 2007 that would end up becoming highly influential in a different and surprising way.

Its user-powered news aggregator called Hacker News, which is now visited by 20 million people per month, has become a mainstay for entrepreneurs, tech professionals, and venture capitalists around the world. Using a Reddit-like interface, users can upvote and downvote articles that they think have the most relevance to trends and issues affecting the tech sector.

Data Mining For Trends

Today’s charts come to us from Variance Explained, and they help to paint a picture of what topics have been trending on Hacker News o

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rtxqye3.jpg?width=400The US pharmaceutical industry is on the brink of a new ecosystem — but it's not taking off as smoothly as expected.

Up until the past few years, biologic drugs made from living cells didn't face competition once they lost patent protection. That's been changing with the introduction of drugs called biosimilars. But their rollout hasn't exactly been the game-changing experience some had expected.

"We believe that biosimilars will capture meaningful market share, but the disappointing commercial success so far with less than $2 billion annual sales illustrates that the bar is high," Morgan Stanley analysts said in a report on Wednesday. That's in large part because of the economic challenges that biosimilars face, the report says. 

Biosimilars are a bit more complicated than your average competing medicine: Unlike generics for chemical-based drugs like antibiotics that can be interchangeable with branded versions, the copycats of biologic medications, produced using living cells, have a

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Autonomous Cars And Second Order Consequences

Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and absorb this piece which I believe, will blow your mind.  I had read a good deal on self-driving cars and the implications of what lies ahead but this piece by Ben Evans has completely re-written my belief of what life will be in ten years.  Wowsa!   I know what I'll be dreaming about tonight. *lol*  Enjoy-

There are two foundational technology changes rolling through the car industry at the moment; electric and autonomy. Electric is happening right now, largely as a consequence of falling battery prices, while autonomy, or at least full autonomy, is a bit further off - perhaps 5-10 years, depending on how fast some pretty hard computer science problems get solved. Both of these will cycle into essentially the entire global stock of (today) around 1.1bn cars over a period of decades, subject to all sorts of variables, and both of them completely remake the car industry and its suppliers, as well as parts of the tech industry. 

Both electric and a

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Believe it or not, autonomous vehicles have been many decades in the making.

Even in 1939, General Motors had an exhibit called “Futurama” at the New York World’s Fair that presented a model of the world 20 years in the future. Central to this display was a system of automated highways and vast suburbs, with a focus on how automation could reduce traffic congestion and lead to the free-flowing movement of people and goods.

Since then, many autonomous vehicle concepts have popped up at various times – but they have always fell short due to technical limitations. Only recently, due to advances in technology, have self-driving cars been able to overcome three primary engineering challenges: sensing the surrounding environment, processing information, and reacting to that environment.

Today, the future for autonomous vehicles is bright, and it is expected that there will be millions of self-driving cars on the road by 2035, creating a multi-billion dollar market.

Autonomous Vehicles: What

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Netflix Now Surpasses DVD And Blue Ray Sales

Marking a major milestone in home entertainment’s shift to digital formats, video streaming subscription revenues surpassed DVD / Blu-ray sales in the United States for the first time in 2016. While U.S. consumers spent $6.23 billion on subscriptions to services such as Netflix (up 23% from 2015), DVD and Blu-ray sales dropped 9.5 percent to $5.49 billion, according to the Digital Entertainment Group's year-end report.

Looking at the home entertainment market as a whole, it is clear that the future of video distribution is digital. While consumer spending on streaming subscriptions, video on demand and electronic sell-through increased in 2016, all physical formats, both sell-through and rental, suffered double-digit declines. Digital business models now account for 56% of home entertainment spending and could soon surpass box office earnings to become the largest source of income for the entertainment industry.

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facebook-1602262_1920_1_2.jpg?width=400The impending IPO of Snap Inc., the parent of social media platform Snapchat, is shrouded in mystery, typical of the way business is run at the company. To maintain control of the company, its founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy are expected to reportedly hold about 70 percent of the voting power following the IPO, with new investors getting no voting rights.

Ad Dollars On Upward Trajectory

Notwithstanding the limited visibility into the IPO, advertisers are warming up to Snapchat. Ad firm WPP's CEO Martin Sorrel told CNBC that its clients spend about $90 million on Snapchat in 2016, which is a notable increase from the $30 million WPP predicted at the start of the year. Given the ad spend statistics, Sorrel believes the company's total revenues could be higher than what the markets have been anticipating.

Advertising Revenues Of Facebook, Twitter

Quarterly filing by Facebook Inc FB 0.64% showed that ad revenue totaled $6.82 billion in the September quarter of 2016, with 50 percent

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amazonpatentafc.jpeg?quality=80&strip=all&w=320&width=750

Amazon’s aerial dreams aren’t limited to drone deliveries.

In April, Amazon was awarded a patent (unearthed by a CB Insights analyst on Dec. 28 ) for Zeppelin-like warehouses in the skies. Amazon wants to create an “airborne fulfillment center” (AFC) to hover at altitudes of around 45,000 feet and spit out delivery drones with customers’ orders.

The designs suggest that the AFC will either be supported by an airship or incorporated into one. “An airship, or dirigible, is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft which can navigate through the air under its own power,” the patent explains. “Airships gain their lift from gas that is less dense than the surrounding air, such as helium or hot air.” Not being fixed on the ground like conventional distribution centers has its perks: The AFC can change locations depending on factors likes weather and expected or actual demand.

Earlier this month, Amazon tested its first drone delivery in the United Kingdom, dropping off an Amazon Fire

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Wall Streets Top Picks For 2017 With Trump

new-years-day-1924608_1920.jpg?width=300We are into the homestretch of 2016, and the markets have seen strong upside this year, benefiting from the domestic economy's resilience and the election of Donald Trump.

With just four sessions to go, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been a up a solid 14.4 percent, the S&P 500 has risen 10.8 percent and the NASDAQ Composite is 9.1 percent higher — with all the three major averages trading off their all-time closing highs.

Among the ten S&P sectors, eight have been in the green. Old economy stocks such as energy, material, industrial, financial, utility and telecom are all up by double-digit percentages. Technology stocks are also up decently. However, the healthcare sector has taken a hit.

Though it is tough to replicate the performance of 2016, given the tougher comparisons and the uncertainty around policies amid the political leadership transition, Wall Street does see some opportunities that are compelling.

Here is a compilation of some top picks recommended by Wall Street an

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Admin

Energy Of The Future. Demand By 2050

Energy2050_1536x1536_500_Standard.ashx?mw=1536&car=72:35&cq=50&tco=500&width=400When it comes to energy, there is one matter everyone agrees on. For the near future, at least, the world will need more of it—and how it is produced and used will be a critical factor in the future of the global economy, geopolitics, and the environment. With that in mind, McKinsey took a hard look at the data, modeling energy demand from the bottom up, by country, sector, and fuel mix, with an analysis of current conditions, historical data, and country-level assessments. On this basis, McKinsey’s Global Energy Insights team has put together a description of the global energy landscape to 2050.

It is important to remember that this is a business-as-usual scenario. That is, it does not anticipate big disruptions in either the production or use of energy. And, of course, predicting the future of anything is perilous. With those caveats in mind, here are four of the most interesting insights from this research.

Global energy demand will continue to grow. But growth will be slower—an ave

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Get ready for the era of augmented humanity.

Global research powerhouse IDC says the next era of IT transformation will marry technology with biology to take the human mind and body to unprecedented levels of mental and physical capability.

That was one of the top worldwide IT predictions for 2017 as outlined Tuesday by Frank Gens, senior vice-president and chief analyst at IDC.

Gens dubbed IDC’s augmented humanity concept its new “fourth platform.” Over the past few years, IDC has been laying out its view of a “third platform” consisting of cloud, mobile, social and big data/analytics. As described by Gens on Tuesday, the fourth platform of augmented humanity pushes the current wearable technology trend beyond skin-deep layers into “cellular and sub-cellular levels” of our biology.

“The fourth platform will be the penetration of the human body and the integration of technologies with human biosystems,” he said. “This means the fourth platform is us.”

Major tenets of the fourth platfo

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The noise and bustle on the streets of India’s biggest cities is a defining characteristic of a country that’s home to over a billion people.

Every year, millions more leave their traditional homes in rural towns and villages and head into urban areas. The United Nations World Cities Report 2016 says 9.6 million people will move to New Delhi by 2030.

To qualify as a megacity under the UN definition, an urban area must have a population of 10 million people. The UN takes into account urban sprawl and measures populations beyond official city limits. On these criteria, India currently has five megacities.

1. New Delhi The capital city has a population of 26.5 million people
2. Mumbai India’s financial hub has a population of 21.4 million people
3. Kolkata An important trading hub, with 15 million people living in urban area
4. Bengaluru The ‘Silicon Valley’ of India; 10.5 million people call it home
5. Chennai Home of the Indian motor industry, as well as 10.2 million people

Othe

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The Top 10 Emerging Technologies Of 2016

top-ten-emerging-technologies-2016.jpg?width=750

Sometimes the world is not yet ready for a new technology to enter the fray.

Virtual reality, for example, sat on the sidelines for many years. The industry went into hibernation around the time of the Dot Com Bust, and it has only recently re-emerged with promise.

It is only today that big companies like Microsoft, Google, Samsung, HTC, and Facebook have the infrastructure, peripheral technologies, and capital in place to properly commercialize the technology. Now, instead of using primitive 300 x 200 pixel LCD displays that were prohibitively expensive in the 90s, we are looking at a world where display will be in beautiful 4k quality. Meanwhile, accelerometers and gyroscopes can measure head movement, and modern computing power can reduce lag and latency. It took many years, but finally the true potential of VR is being realized.

Like virtual reality, there are 10 other emerging technologies that are finally ready for prime time. Some, like the recent advances in artificial intelli

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Is Your Start Up Idea Already Taken?

There’s an ongoing joke in the startup world about how aspiring founders pitch their new ventures. Every startup idea is reduced to an “Uber for _____” or a “Tinder for _______”, where some niche untapped market is inserted in the blank space.

Much to the chagrin of many venture capitalists, this formulaic phraseology is so pervasive that it actually may hinder the creation of any actual original ideas. That’s because entrepreneurs are expected to be able to communicate their brilliant startup idea in just a few words, and it’s easier to go this route than to try and explain something complex and unique.

That said, if you do want to venture down this path, there are a few semi-successful companies on the following list. You may have even heard of some of them, such as Dollar Beard Club, TaskRabbit, or The League.

There’s also a few available slots, if you don’t mind running with an idea like the “Tinder for Boats” or the “Airbnb for Pizza”.

is-your-startup-idea-taken.png
Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist

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The Top 10 Millenial Brands

millennial-brand-survey-chart.png

The market for U.S. millennials is expected to blossom to $1.4 trillion by 2020, according to international consulting firm Accenture. While this generation of digital natives is already a primary marketing target today, in the upcoming years millennials will make up a hefty 30% of all retail spending in the country.

However, millennials are complex and notoriously difficult to read, even for professional marketers. With values that seem to contradict one another, it’s a challenge for companies to successfully gain market share with this audience.

As millennials mature, researchers are gaining ground on the needs and wants of this generation. This week’s Chart of the Week shares data from a comprehensive survey of 3,500 millennials that were asked, without any prompt, about their favorite brands over the past three years. The results, which can be found in deeper depth here, help give us some insight as to what millennials look for in a brand.


Tech Brand Disparity

It’s likely that no

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