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This past year, 2018, has been a very good one for innovation. We've seen the blockchain boom, the increase in low-code and no-code app development, the start of the rollout of 5G technology and AI and AR: All came into their own with countless programs and applications for both business and consumer life.
On the coattails of such a year, I believe that 2019 has the opportunity to show even more promise. Here are the trends I predict we will see in small businesses and across the industry as a whole:
University technology transfers will become an integral part of the startup community.
The innovation economy is always looking ahead toward “the next big thing.” It should come as no surprise, then, that often the new generation of the best and brightest can be found in colleges and universities across the country.
The spark for this was the 1980 Bayh-Doyle Act, which enabled universities, nonprofit research institutions and small businesses to own, patent and commercialize inventions developed under federally funded research programs within their organizations. As a result, corporations and investors in the years since have been turning to colleges for research and development.
Gatorade, Facebook, Remicade: No shortage of household names have come out of college and university research and development. In fact, according to an infographic from AUTM, from 1996 to 2015, tech transfer supported 4.3 million jobs, forming 11,000-plus startups.
Examples? My own company, Sports Engineering Inc., partnered with Worcester Polytechnic Institute to create a unique sole technology, Orca Pharmaceuticals. AstraZeneca announced a partnership with New York University to develop novel drugs for autoimmune disease. The Northwestern University spin-off Naurex Inc. was acquired by Allergan. And there are more ...
Technology will become more prevalent in everyday consumer products.
According to Consumer Technology Association, the U.S. consumer technology sector is set to reach a record $351 billion in retail revenues in 2018. “Technology is improving our lives in more ways than ever -- and consumer enthusiasm is growing just as quickly as companies can bring their innovations to market,” Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CTA, told BusinessWire.
In 2019, I believe that technology will embed itself even further in our everyday lives -- often without our even noticing.
Fitness, for example, will continue its shift from scheduled studio classes and gyms to on-demand apps and streaming services, which are already part of the $30 billion live-streaming industry (projected by MarketsandMarkets research to grow to $70 billion by 2021). Technology advancements to promote safety among professional and amateur athletes will also increase, whether through the technology in a ZERO1 football helmet designed to reduce concussions, or in the sole of a sneaker aimed at minimizing ACL and ankle injuries.
Even our pets will get into the game, with Amazon expected to launch a pet tracker that can be attached to a dog or cat collar. This will be part of a wide trend for pet-specific technology products, which already represent a huge market, given the more than 1.5 billion dogs and cats worldwide.
“Work” will change, both in terms of how we show up and who's there when we do.
As startups look to cut costs and keep employees happy, the traditional office model will continue to evolve. In fact, 70 percent of professionals globally already work remotely at least once a week, according to a recent report by IWG.
Add to this the fact that a recent study, led by Stanford economics professor Nicholas Bloom and his graduate student James Liang, demonstrated that remote workers they surveyed were not only happier, but also more efficient: You can see a clear argument for a new model.
Additionally, the remote office model also allows companies with the increased freedom to pursue the talent they desire, rather than restricting themselves to only a handful of candidates in their local area. I believe that this is actually part of an even larger trend -- whereby companies will use different methods to measure the "desirability" of a candidate, and it won’t always be the obvious.
As Jeremy Auger, co-founder and chief strategy officer at D2L told Inc., “The rise of A.I. and automation means employees are increasingly tasked with jobs that only humans can do: thinking creatively, using judgment, employing empathy, etc. Adaptability will be the most durable skill in the years to come, as the ability to learn and adjust becomes more important than any one skill.”
Further, a “traditional” education won't be as necessary, due to the rise of coding boot camps and other intensive programs that provide students with skills that are immediately applicable for the workspace. These new education models are comprised largely of adults -- people who either chose majors that didn’t funnel into a good career path or recognized that they weren’t qualified for the job they wanted.
These people then returned to school in a non-traditional way to obtain skills, thus joining the other pioneers out there in the new-collar work force.
Cryptocurrency will no longer be the “Wild West.”
Regulation can be difficult when it comes to just about any emerging technology. After all, when something hasn’t existed before, how can you possibly control it? In 2019, however, that is going to change. While crypto's trading volume will likely grow by over 50 percent in 2019, according to a Satis Group prediction, it will also become far more regulated. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced that it will get one step closer to creating international standards for cryptocurrency when it launches its first set of rules in June of 2019.
Some people say such regulation is overdue: A report by the Wall Street Journal in September said that nearly $90 million worth of criminal proceeds had gone through crypto intermediaries in the previous two-year period. According to the WSJ analysis, which it said included only “a narrow slice of suspected criminal behavior,” $88.6 million worth of funds was laundered via 46 exchanges.
According to Reuters, jurisdictions around the world will be required to license and regulate cryptocurrency exchanges, as well as select firms providing encrypted wallets, and firms providing financial services for ICOs.
One thing is clear: With these regulatory improvements coming down the pike, cryptocurrency and the inovation it introduces to all sorts of transactions will be here to stay.
And as entrepreneurs look to the year ahead, innovation, evolution and regulation will serve as the three major themes to carry small businesses and startups forward into 2019.
Source: Entrepreneurship Middle East
The article provides a brief overview of the new FDI Law that offers an arrangement for the UAE Cabinet to allow foreign shareholders to own up to 100 per cent of companies in selected sectors.
To carry on business “onshore” in the UAE, a company established under the UAE Commercial Companies Law has to be at least 51% owned by a UAE or 100% by GCC national. For some foreign investors, particularly those unfamiliar with the region, this inability to have full legal ownership and control has been seen as a barrier to entry or limitation on their business in the UAE.
This article highlights some of the principal of the new Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 9 year 2018 (“FDI Law”) and the impact that it will have on the foreign investors.
As per Article 6 of the FDI Law, a new Foreign Direct Investment Committee (“Committee”) is to be set up. This Committee shall be in charge of the following:
• Issuing the Approved Activities List for foreign direct investors (“Positive list”)
• Making amendments to the Negative List for foreign direct investors
• Approving licensing applications
• Deciding the benefits for foreign direct investment projects
Positive list
The Committee will be responsible to prepare “positive list” to the UAE Cabinet which will set out the economic sectors in which greater levels of foreign ownership will be permitted (more than 49% of the share capital). When determining the positive list, the FDI Committee must take the following into account:
• integration with strategic plans of the UAE;
• achieving the best profit and added value to the UAE economy;
• raising innovation and providing job opportunities and training for UAE nationals;
• limiting negative effects on incumbent UAE companies that conduct a similar activity;
• the foreign investor’s level of competency, expertise and international renown;
• the best use of modern technology; and
• achieving a positive impact on the environment.
Negative list
Higher levels of foreign investment will not be permitted in any sector that appears in the “negative list” set out in the FDI Law. The sectors that are currently listed in the negative list pursuant to Article 7 of the FDI Law are as follows:
• Oil exploration and production;
• Investigation, security, military (including manufacturing of military weapons, explosives, uniforms, and equipment);
• Banking and financing activities;
• Insurance services;
• Pilgrimage and umrah services;
• Certain recruitment activities;
• Water and electricity services;
• Fisheries and related services;
• Postal, communications and other audio-visual services;
• Land and air transportation;
• Printing and publishing;
• Commercial agency;
• Medical retail trade such as private pharmacies; and
• Poison centres, blood banks and quarantine.
Sectors not appearing on the positive or negative lists
If a foreign company wishes to carry on a foreign direct investment project which does not appear in either the positive or negative list, it may apply for permission to have a higher level of foreign ownership than 49 per cent in that sector. The FDI Law sets out the process to be followed in the event of such application.
Obligations of the FDI Company
As per Article 13 of the FDI Law, the FDI company must:
• Comply with all local and federal laws in relation to environmental health, pollution management, and general public health;
• Practice only the commercial activities mentioned in its license;
• Comply with the Emiratization quota (details of which will be issued separately by the ministry of economy);
• Keep accurate accounting records;
• Appoint authorized auditor(s) for a one-year renewable period, up to a maximum of six years;
• Comply with the relevant authorities’ requirements regarding the FDI company’s projects which the authorities may request from time to time;
• Notify the relevant authorities when the FDI company’s projects commence within 5 days.
Although the FDI Law excludes the companies incorporated in free zones, it is worth mentioning that recently the economic departments in the UAE have released a list of activities that can be carried out onshore by companies established in free zones.
Source: Bonnard Lawson
This page throws light on the advantage of investing in the UAE which include: strategic location, state-of-the-art infrastructure, variety of business premises, political stability and more.
Advantages
The UAE has the advantage of:
- Strategic location
- State-of-the-art infrastructure
- Variety of business premises
- Political stability
- Social stability
- Ease of doing business
- Protection of intellectual property rights
- Favourable business regulations
- Open economy
- Economic stability
- No corporate tax.
Strategic location
The UAE is blessed with a strategic location between the east and west, which makes it accessible to major emerging economies, linking shipping routes and facilitating goods' transportation between the various regions in Middle East, Asia, Europe and Africa.
State-of-the-art infrastructure
The UAE provides advanced infrastructural facilities in all fields. In March 2016, Dubai announced to set up the world's biggest wholesale city , with an investment of AED 30 billion. The city, which will occupy an area of 550 million sq ft aims to help the UAE acquire a significant share of the global economic sector, estimated at USD 4.3 trillion. The city will be linked with Jebel Ali Port and Al Maktoum International Airport and will provide logistical support that will fully link with four continents.
Refer to the infrastructure section for more information.
Variety of business premises
The UAE offers endless choices of business premises and locations. According to your business activity, you are at liberty to choose a place appropriate for operation whether on the mainland or in a free zone.
You can set up your business in:
- plush business centres
- fancy shopping malls
- state-of-the-art commercial furnished buildings and towers
- industrial areas
- free zones specialised in a range of industries from logistics to media, power and information technology.
Political stability
The UAE is a model of political stability. Since its formation in 1971, the UAE has been a successful constitutional monarchy and continues to be so. This is because of the belief system of the UAE's Founding Fathers in peace and justice and the continued belief of the present political system and government in the same.
As per Al Bayan's report , the UAE has 102 diplomatic missions abroad which include 80 embassies, 18 consulates and 4 permanent missions. There are 199 foreign diplomatic missions in the UAE which include 110 embassies and 73 consulates.
The UAE is a member of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Arab League and the UN and its agencies. According to the Global Peace Index 2016, the UAE is the third most peaceful country in the region.
Social stability
Despite the presence of a large foreign community in the country, the UAE is a safe place to work in and develop your capital with favourable living conditions and quality of life. The UAE Government emphasises on tolerance in the society. Moderation and acceptance of others are innate in the UAE culture.
With 110 crimes , the UAE had one of the lowest level of violent crimes in the world in 2015. The UAE ranked 9th among countries with lowest crime rates and 4th concerning assault offences in general. These rankings are better than many advanced countries around the world.
Ease of doing business
According to the Doing Business 2019 report, the UAE scored 11th rank globally and 1st rank regionally. The UAE scored impressive ranks in the following indices:
- Getting electricity - 1st rank
- Paying taxes - 2nd rank
- Dealing with construction permits- 5th rank
- Registering property – 7th rank
- Enforcing of contracts - 9th rank
- Protecting minority investors – 15th rank
Protection of intellectual property rights
It maintains protection of intellectual property rights, trademarks and it has enforced laws against piracy.
Favourable business regulations
The UAE signed major business international treaties to encourage business and foreign investments. It maintains tightened export control laws to prevent the movement of illicit goods as per Federal Law No. 13 of 2007 concerning Goods Subject to Import and Export Control.
Open economy
The UAE has its own regulations which prohibit monopoly and encourage competition. The UAE encourages private sector growth and maintains liberal policies in terms of foreign exchange controls, visa policies and import regulations. The UAE has strong ties with key trade associations to strengthen its position as an open economy and player in the international trade and competition.
The UAE:
- is a member of the World Trade Organization ( WTO) since 1996
- is a party to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ( GATT) since 1994
- is a member of the Greater Arab Free-Trade Area ( GAFTA) in which all GCC countries participate
- concluded Free Trade Agreements with Singapore and the EFTA bloc in 2008 and 2009
- is cooperating with the GCC countries to conclude the Free Trade Agreements with the EU, Japan, China, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Australia, Korea and the Mercosur bloc comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Source: UAE Government Website
Dubai engineering solutions giant ARJ Holding Ltd is investing €100 million in the Tallinn-Helsinki tunnel project, tunnel designer Peter Vesterbacka announced at a press conference on Monday.
Mr Vesterbacka, chief of FinEst Bay Area, the group behind the tunnel project, pointed out the total cost of the tunnel stands at €15 billion, with an investment period of 30 years; the tunnel itself has a projected life span of 120 years, he said.
Finest Bay Area Leader Vesterbacka said the total cost of the project is estimated at €15 billion. The investment period is 30 years and the tunnel should last 120 years.
Project already over two years old
The project has been underway for two and a half years already, Mr Vesterbacka said, and Finest Bay Area has invested between two and three million of its own and investors funds.
Of the remainder, a loan is earmarked for 70% of funding, plus equal volumes of investments of European and Asian origin.
Mr Vesterback also swatted back media claims that there were two different tunnel projects in existence. He said in fact that the project comprises two tunnels, one passenger and one freight.
Tickets already one sale
FinEst Bay Area and Mr Westerbacka envisage the tunnel project being completed in 2024. Confidence in the project is such that travel tickets are already available. A return ticket costs €100 at present (half of that for one-way travel), and an annual ticket, with guaranteed unlimited travel through the tunnel for a year, costs €1,000.
Travel time through the tunnel between the two capitals is estimated at 20 minutes.
By comparison, return tickets via the three main car ferry operators, Tallink, Viking Line and Eckerö, cost between €20 and €50 at short notice and without offers. The journey takes between two and three hours in normal conditions.
Now-defunct fast catamaran service Lindaline, when it ran, was closer to this price for a one-way ticket on a journey of around 45 minutes. It is not clear yet whether the company, which had gone into receivership earlier this year, will reopen in 2019 with new vessels, or what ticket prices are likely to be.
Former helicopter service Copterline, which had planned to reopen services between the two cities in recent years, having discontinued them after a fatal accident involving one of its aircraft in 2005, has yet to do so. Ticket prices when it did operate were considerably higher even than those quoted for the proposed tunnel, though the journey time was approximately the same.
Peter Vesterbacka is the former CEO of Finnish game developer Rovio. According his plan, the tunnel's route and its feeder tracks would have four stops, one of which in Tallinn, the second some 15 km from Helsinki, the third near the Aalto University campus in Otaniemi, and the fourth at Helsinki Airport.
Last Friday, Mr Vesterbacka filed a request for initiating the procedure for a national designated spatial plan for the tunnel with the finance ministry.
Helsinki and Tallinn lie approximately 86 km apart at their nearest points, and are separated by the Gulf of Finland, part of the Baltic Sea. The gulf has an average depth of a little over 40 m and is over 100 m deep at its deepest points (not necessarily along the route between the two cities). The underlying bedrock is principally limestone.
Western tourists, a rarity in Saudi Arabia, visited this weekend under a new visa system, as one of the world’s most inaccessible countries tries to open up its society and diversify its economy away from oil.
Thousands of fans flocked to Riyadh’s historic Diriyah district for Formula E, a motor sports tournament using electric vehicles, and concerts including by David Guetta and Black Eyed Peas.
Most were Saudis still unaccustomed to such entertainment in their own country, where cinemas and public concerts were banned until changes by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the past two years.
Despite an international outcry over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudi-led war in Yemen, some Westerners also seized the opportunity to visit a country that still largely restricts foreigners to resident workers and their dependents, business visitors, and Muslim pilgrims.
An American named Jason is spending a week here with his German wife, riding quad bikes in the desert and visiting heritage sites in Ushaiger, 200 km (120 miles) northwest of the capital.
“The race sounds interesting but to be honest it was a means to see the country. We’re happy to be here,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to come for many, many years... I’m so happy to be here and that they’re letting us be here.”
Aaron, a 40-year-old software engineer, travelled from New York for two days. He and a few dozen other adventure travellers seeking to visit every country in the world checked the desert kingdom off their list this weekend.
“Saudi Arabia’s always been an exotic place... and I didn’t think I’d ever be able to come here,” he said as circus performers entertained guests in between races.
Some 1,000 foreigners from 80 countries received the new “sharek” visa, which is linked to a specific entertainment event, the authorities said.
That is a fraction of what they eventually hope to attract.
“Hopefully we will learn from this and see what we need to do for the future, but I can tell you from now that there is a lot of demand...” said Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal, vice chairman of the General Sports Authority.
TOURISM TARGETS
Whizzing electric racecars wound through the ruins of Diriyah, the capital of the first Saudi state built by the ruling Al Saud family three centuries ago.
The UNESCO world heritage site is undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation, celebrating a telling of national history that puts the dynasty and its clerical allies front and centre.
Plans to admit significant numbers of tourists from abroad have been discussed for years, only to be blocked by conservative opinion and bureaucracy.
Now the crown prince is seeking to develop new industries to wean the world’s top oil exporter off petro-dollars.
Tourism is high on the agenda, despite a shortage of infrastructure. Reforms aim to lift total spending - by locals and foreigners - to $46.6 billion in 2020 from $27.9 billion in 2015.
Such efforts have been overshadowed recently by the murder of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the crown prince, with the U.S. Senate blaming Prince Mohammed and insisting that Saudi Arabia hold accountable anyone responsible.
Saudi officials have denied Prince Mohammed ordered the hit, but their changing accounts and ties between him and some of the suspects have complicated Riyadh’s efforts to move on.
James, another American tourist, said the visit corrected some of his preconceived notions, but he bristled at the idea that visiting a country implied endorsing its government.
“Just forget the politics and you can relate to people all over the world,” he said. “That applies to Saudi Arabia, too.”
Source: Reuters
Kuwait has loosened its capital market rules, allowing foreign investors to own a bigger stake of its local banks, according to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Saturday, another step in the Gulf state’s bid to encourage more overseas investment into the country.
Foreign ownership was previously not allowed to exceed more than 49 percent of a bank’s capital, but the new resolution removes this upper limit, according to a statement in Arabic issued by the ministry on Saturday.
It is not yet clear whether shares owned by foreign investors will be allowed to represent 100 percent of a bank’s capital, or how these rules will impact local investors. However, a report by the state news agency KUNA said investors will be required to gain approval from the Central Bank of Kuwait if the shares they want to buy represent more than 5 percent of a bank’s total capital.
The decision comes in accordance with Resolution No. 694 of 2018, which stipulates that "Article 3 of Ministerial Resolution No. 205 shall be replaced by a provision that allows the non-Kuwaiti investor to own and trade the shares of Kuwaiti banks".
The resolution affirmed that each person or group of people who are bound by a legal or economic connection either through joint ownership or mutual interests shall be considered as a single investor.
The decision to loosen the rules related to foreign ownership follows a recommendation by the Capital Markets Authority, which had recently been on a promotional tour of overseas markets to assess what concerns or challenges international investors face when investing in the Kuwaiti market.
The country’s capital markets are currently undergoing a series of reforms to make it more attractive to outside investors.
On April 1 this year, Kuwait divided its stock market into three segments as part of a reform programme aimed at improving the attractiveness of the exchange to investors.
In late June, global index compiler Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) announced that it will include the Kuwait index in its 2019 Annual Market Classification Review for a potential reclassification from frontier to emerging market status. Analysts foresee an increasing probability of Kuwait joining its peer GCC stock markets in Saudi, UAE and Qatar in gaining the upgrade
Last year, the governance board of the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) Russell index compiler added Kuwait to its Secondary Emerging Market Index.
In Saudi Arabia, foreign investors will be allowed to own up to 49 percent of listed stocks on the local bourse. MSCI also decided it will reclassify Saudi Arabia as an emerging market from the middle of 2019
This year, the UAE announced allowing 100 percent foreign ownership in companies in a move to further encourage foreign investment in the country.
In a recent paper, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that financial systems in the Gulf region have developed significantly over the last couple of decades, but there is room for more progress.
“Financial systems have deepened and, overall, the level of financial development compares well with emerging markets. However, it still lags advanced economies and, other than for Saudi Arabia, appears to be lower than would be expected given economic fundamentals, such as income levels," the report noted.
