Monday, November 7, 2016

Asia seems keen on Clinton; Innovation trends for 2017; Global rich descend on New Zealand

1 Asia seems keen on Clinton (Karishma Vaswani on BBC) President Clinton or President Trump? When it comes to trade, Asia appears to prefer Clinton as she is seen as a case of "better the devil you know".

Both candidates have already indicated they won't push through with the Obama-backed Trans Pacific Partnership agreement but some US media have reported that if elected Mrs Clinton may be willing to support it in a different form. Asian economies like Malaysia and Vietnam have most to benefit from the TPP being ratified.

Visas and immigration: Again, a Clinton presidency appears to be Asia's pick when it comes to immigration and visas. Capital Economics says that if Mr Trump were to be elected president, then his plans to "punish American companies that outsource jobs abroad" would hurt countries like the Philippines and India.

Impact on shares and currencies: The markets have spoken - Asian shares fell dramatically last week on news that the gap between Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton was closing. That's because a Trump presidency is seen as volatile for share markets and currencies.

Longer term trends and trajectories are far more important, as are the economic policies the new president will back to support growth in the US. If the US continues on its recovery path, that could help to increase global demand, and lift global growth. However, if the US becomes more protectionist, that would lead to Asian exporters looking for new markets and new trading partners.


2 Innovation trends for 2017 (Khaleej Times) Ericsson's Group Chief Technology Officer, Ulf Ewaldsson, has identified five key technology trends that will stimulate innovation within the ICT industry in 2017, creating new value streams for consumers, industries and society.

“All five pivot around a technology-enabled business ecosystem made possible through a universal, horizontal and multipurpose communications platform,” said Ulf Ewaldsson.

#1: Spreading intelligence throughout the cloud. Connected smart machines, such as robots and autonomous vehicles, are fundamental to the evolving Networked Society. Enhanced cloud architecture that can distribute and share machine intelligence will enable smart connected machines to work on an increasingly higher level.

#2: Self-managing devices. Combining sensory data with AI techniques enables the data from massive numbers of sensors to be merged and processed to create a higher-level view of a system.
#3: Communication beyond sight and sound. Communication will evolve in a highly remarkable way over the coming years, as interaction between human beings and machines evolves to include additional experiences and senses. The internet you can feel is on the horizon.

#4: Fundamental technologies reshaping what networks can do. The laws of physics are the only real restriction on the development of communication networks. Ericsson is firmly committed to pursuing innovations that challenge present system limitations to help us reach beyond what is possible today.

#5: Weaving security and privacy into the IoT fabric. In a world where everyone's personal and financial information is available online, cyber security and privacy are very serious issues for consumers, corporations and governments alike. And the rapid rise of wearables, smart meters, and connected homes and vehicles makes security and privacy more vital than ever.


3 Global rich descend on New Zealand (Emma O’Brien in Gulf News) Terror threats in Europe and political uncertainty from Britain to the US have helped make the South Pacific nation — a day by air away from New York or London — a popular bolthole for the mega wealthy.

Isolation has long been considered New Zealand’s Achilles heel. That remoteness is turning into an advantage, however, with hedge-fund pioneer Julian Robertson to Russian steel titan Alexander Abramov and Hollywood director James Cameron establishing multi-million dollar hideaways in the New Zealand countryside.

Twice the size of England, but with less than a tenth of its people, New Zealand ranks high on international surveys of desirable places to live, placing among the top 10 for democracy, lack of corruption, peace and satisfaction.

With its $180 billion economy dominated by farming and tourism, the nation overtook Singapore as the best country in the world to do business and was rated second to the Southeast Asian nation as the top place to live for expatriates in a survey by HSBC Holdings in September.

Successful Kiwis who have worked in investment banking and other lucrative professions in New York and London are also returning home to raise their families. Billionaire Facebook Inc backer Peter Thiel described New Zealand as a “utopia” in 2011.


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