When China banned waste imports in January 2018, it started a domino effect. Shipments were diverted to South East Asia, which soon became overwhelmed, forcing governments to take action. Malaysia announced a ban in October. Thailand stopped issuing import licenses last year and will probably impose a ban in 2020, according to an executive at a Bangkok-based plastics producer and recycler.
Abu Dhabi: Hub71, a global tech hub launched earlier this year, is aiming to attract 30 to 40 firms in 2019 to boost start up ecosystem in Abu Dhabi, its head told Gulf News in an interview. “Our first start up will join us in a few weeks and we are expecting to attract 30 to 40 firms by the end of 2019. Majority of them are from the Mena region,” said Mahmoud Adi.
Hub 71, a Dh1 billion initiative was launched by Abu Dhabi government in March to boost starts ups in the technology sphere and diversify the economy away from oil.
Singapore has introduced the world’s first mobile app for trademark registration. Developed by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), the app named IPOS Go will allow businesses to file their trademarks directly with IPOS via their mobile devices.
The app offers a simplified user interface that offers a seamless and fuss-free application experience which will reduce the registration process to less than ten minutes.
The French Senate approved a 3% levy that will apply to revenue from digital services earned in France by firms with more than 25 million euros in French revenue and 750 million euros ($834 million) worldwide. The tax is due to apply retroactively from the start of 2019. Other EU countries, including Austria, Britain, Spain and Italy, have also announced plans for their own digital taxes.
The Rwandan central bank is looking into ways it could potentially issue its own digital currency to make the processing of transactions more efficient and to boost economic growth.
The National Bank of Rwanda plans to learn from the experiences of central banks such as Canada, Singapore and the Netherlands, which have tested the use of blockchain technology, Financial Stability Director-General Peace Masozera Uwase said in an interview in the capital, Kigali.
TransferWise, the money transfer company that’s taking on Western Union, is valued at $3.5 billion after a new investment round, making it Europe’s most valuable financial technology start-up. In lowering fees and adding a slick online platform to help consumers move money globally and track their transfers, the London-based company is taking a modern approach to a staid business that’s been dominated by giants like Western Union and MoneyGram.
The Silicon Valley giant is leading a group of more than a dozen companies - including Visa, Mastercard, Uber, PayPal and Booking.com - that calls itself Libra Association backing a new digital currency, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
The group is aiming to raise as much as $1 billion (Dh3.6bn), with each participating firm pledging an initial investment of $10 million to float an initial coin offering. Facebook is targeting participation of 100 companies in the fund.
China's Ninebot has unveiled new electric scooters which can autonomously drive themselves to charging points. The business said that it plans to release its new KickScooter T60 next year to scooter rental firms, such as existing Ninebot customers Bird and Lime, allowing customers to rent the vehicles by the minute through an app. Ninebot’s new scooters can guide themselves to charging points by connecting to the internet and locating nearby stations.
A new bullet train set to enter service ahead of the Tokyo Olympics hit a record speed of 360 kilometres per hour in a test run, operator JR Central said. The N700s – the suffix stands for "supreme" – is the first new model of bullet train on Japan’s busiest line for almost a decade. The train is lighter and uses less energy than existing designs, as well as boasting additional safety features in case of earthquakes.
Scientists have created a robot that may be able to help the elderly perform tasks amid a shortage of nurses in the UK. Named Baxter, it has two arms and 3D printed 'fingers', allowing it to step in when a person is struggling with things such as getting dressed.
Artificial intelligence allows the robot to detect when assistance is needed and learn about the owners’ difficulties over time. When it's ready for use in healthcare settings, it could help free up the time of staff so they can do other work.
VMware announced that it is acquiring Carbon Black, a publicly traded security company that focuses on securing modern cloud-native workloads. The price of the acquisition is about $2.1 billion. In addition, VMware also confirmed the acquisition of Pivotal, which will have a value of about $2.7 billion. VMware’s revenue for the last quarter was $2.44 billion. That’s a big day for VMware.
The US online retail giant will be joined in the Series G funding round by existing backers T Rowe Price, Fidelity Management and Research, and Greenoaks, Deliveroo said in an emailed statement. The London-based startup, which has raised $1.53bn to date, gets a cash infusion to expand its technology team and network and compete against the likes of Just Eat and Uber.
INFOMINEO RESOURCES
A highlight of some of our resources to expand your knowledge on Africa and the Middle East.
With a growing understanding of the impact Artificial Intelligence (AI) is likely to have on customer relations and sales, retailers across the world are exponentially investing in AI with an estimated global annual spending reaching around 7,3 billion dollars by 2022. Artificial intelligence has become a future strategic imperative for retailers.
Infomineo had findings on the Identified companies including the type of presence in Morocco direct or via a distributor, their financial information, contact information of the CEO (direct e-mail and telephone), as well as additional comments.
INFOMINEO
Infomineo is a data and research service provider, that specializes in Africa and the Middle East, dedicated to supporting global companies in getting access to information that powers their investment decisions in the region. Through a direct presence in key markets such as the UAE, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco, Infomineo provides a quick access to market data on key questions such as: market and product prioritization, partner identification, commercial due diligence, route to market, supply chain mapping and competitive analysis among others. Along with conductingCustom Research for clients, Infomineo also delivers an Expert Network service and a Business Translation service.
INFOMINEO, Business Center - Dubai World Central, Dubai, PO Box 390667