SBWire

New research has indicated that the most crucial technology trend within the German industry is the noteworthy transition from hardware to services. In the digital age, Germany's technology sector has proven to be of vital importance. Not only does the industry produce sales revenues that exceed €230 billion annually, representing 7% of German GDP, but it is also a key enabler that has a significant influence on other industries.

Germany's software development industry is booming. Within Europe, it represents the largest software market covering around 25% of the total European market, ahead of the United Kingdom and France.

HFT Trading hit the headlines once again this year as it emerged that the Treasury had decided to commission an investigation into the impact that HFT Trading is having on the markets. No scope has yet been published for the investigation but it follows similar moves in the US where issues arising as a result of growth in HFT Trading (which now makes up 60% of trading on US equity markets and 30% in the UK) are also being looked into.

Flooding and torrential downpours have wreaked havoc on regions of western Europe with Germany and Belgium seeing some of the worst floods, causing pressure to mount on the already depleted supply chain by reducing the movement of cargo in and out of the region. This year's shipping has already been severely disrupted, with increased expenditures as areas of the world recovered from the coronavirus pandemic which resulted in a shortage of containers, causing catastrophic delays.

Investment banking developments in China & Hong Kong have expanded exponentially in recent times, as the world's second largest economy has opened up its financial markets. One of those looking to shift focus in the region is Citigroup, which has already begun to move away from retail banking in this part of the world in order to focus on investment banking. Citigroup Inc is driving ahead with plans to establish fresh investment banking and trading operations in China.

When it comes to international sourcing strategy, cost is often a defining factor for many businesses. This is especially so given the changing conditions that every enterprise has faced over the past year and the increased need for resilience and agility in order to be able to respond at speed. Competitive sourcing has had a big role to play in this, whether that is with respect to looking overseas to find the best prices on raw materials or outsourcing processes to help keep costs down - and that often means looking overseas at low-cost countries.

Digital stock management is a tool that could help to overcome many of the challenges that continue to arise in supply chain management today. Over the past year we have seen a lot of disruption to supply chains as well as issues of stockpiling and shortages. One of the most pressing areas where this caused the most concern was with respect to essential medication. COVID-19 vaccines have made a huge contribution to opening up the UK once again but there have been issues with these - and many other medications that have either been in short supply or forecast to run out due to pandemic or Brexit obstacles. Digital stock management provides many more options when it comes to ensuring that the right stockpiling is being done, and that there is effective monitoring in place.

The pandemic has caused many supply chain issues, across Asia Pacific and beyond. However, it's auto chip shortages that are emerging as one of the most significant crises that is taking the longest to resolve. Not only that but many manufacturers have now highlighted that the swift shift that we are seeing to electric vehicles may be making the problem worse.

Digitisation has a lot to offer when it comes to innovation in supply chain markets. From improvements to speed and transparency to minimising costs and increasing efficiency there are many benefits for business in investing in a digital upgrade. While initially met with some resistance, digitisation is now a driving force, in particular because of the huge savings that are possible - one recent survey found, for example, that switching to an automated system, rather than relying on manual invoice entering, could generate savings of $600,000 a year.

Private debt has been a solid part of the investing landscape in the US and Europe for many years. However, it's not so well embedded in Asia Pacific where it's an asset class that is still relatively under-invested in. In recent years that has been starting to shift with around a 15% growth rate in private debt AUM per year since 2014.

The asset management industry currently exists in a challenging environment, one that is experiencing shifts in asset classes, market volatility, a potentially long recession and new swathes of corporate debt. However, there are also many opportunities thanks to the large amount of capital that is available for investment and the markets that are expanding in locations such as China and Asia Pacific.

The airline industry has been on the frontline of the impact of COVID-19 with carriers - and investors - really feeling the effects of a world that has largely shut its borders over the past 12 months. Now there are signs of trouble for investors in Cathay Pacific's foreign-currency bonds, as prices drop.

Innovation and growth in renewable energy is moving at a fast pace today with new projects springing up all over the Asia Pacific region. One of the most notable is the search for green ammonia, a gas that is widely used to make agricultural fertilisers. Green ammonia has the advantage of being a 100% renewable and carbon free process, meaning that there are currently many enterprises exploring the possibilities for creating it. Origin Energy Ltd (an Australian electricity and natural gas company) and Mitsui O.S.K Lines, a major Japanese shipping giant are joining forces to look for opportunities to create green ammonia in Australia for the purposes of export.

The vulnerability of energy supply is something that countries like Singapore understand only too well. There is now a pressing need to establish energy security and this is creating many renewable energy career opportunities across Asia Pacific thanks to the potential of sources such as wind and solar power. Singapore is a country that has a large carbon footprint (for its size), contributing 0.11% of global emissions despite being only 0.0005% of the world's land. 95% of Singapore's power needs are currently met by natural gas and the country is dependent on fossil fuels - although not for much longer.

Climate change is likely to be the biggest issue that the world faces over the next decade and this has been putting increasing pressure on embedding sustainability into procurement processes and external partnerships. This goes much further than just purchasing low carbon products and requires a much more invested commitment from organizations than we have seen in the past.

The unfolding situation in Afghanistan has been the biggest news story of recent weeks. Now it's emerging that some of the American tech that was so necessary for forces in the country could be creating problems for those who are left behind. In particular, a biometric database that was used to track terrorists could be employed by the Taliban to identify those who were allies of the US.

Hackers don't have the best reputation - for most businesses the idea of working with someone who has the skills to take advantage of network and system vulnerabilities is an intimidating thought. However, this is also a key step in protecting assets, as decentralized finance platform Poly Network recently discovered.

Medical innovation has been crucial to the global response to COVID-19. However, this is not something that has been particularly easy to achieve in countries where resources are scarce and funding low. In locations such as this, frugal design has been providing options in order to strengthen vital medical response.

COVID-19 research has been a vital part of the progress that has been made in combating the virus and bringing its spread under control. Now, investigators from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have taken this a step further by creating a COVID multidimensional dataset that can be shared in real time.

The gender imbalance in biotech recruitment is a topic that is often hotly debated. While women tend to make 80% of all healthcare buying decisions and make up 65% of the healthcare workforce nationwide in the USA, very few women hold positions of power in biotech and healthcare companies. One report found that women hold just 13% of CEO roles in this industry and only 25 - 30% of C-suite roles.

The traditional drug development process has been somewhat thrown on its head following the incredible speed with which the world developed vaccines to combat COVID-19. As a result, there are now calls to disrupt the process of clinical cancer trials in order to bring breakthrough therapies to patients more quickly.

It may only be the end of summer but we have started to see retail CEOs and brands telling consumers that the best time to start shopping for the Holidays this year is now. This advice is being driven by the fact that there have been so many problems with supply chains in recent months.

Earlier this summer, Google announced a new manufacturing-specific platform that is designed to automate product inspections and help to reduce defects. This is a prime example of how manufacturing recruitment and technology development hiring is helping to change the way that production is handled today. The Visual Inspection AI that has been created by Google is a cloud platform that will fulfill two key functions: identifying defects and examining product assembly. Defects can be a big problem for this industry and are estimated to reduce overall sales revenue by up to 20%. Human error during the manufacturing process can be the cause of up to 23% of all downtime in manufacturing so automation such as this, which can also be far more reliable than the human eye, could be essential to improving both efficiency and the bottom line. Manufacturing recruitment and technology development hiring is crucial to establishing the kind of innovation that could change the face of the sector completely.

Supply chains have been severely disrupted in many different ways over the past 12 months, thanks to the impact of COVID-19. Now, the biggest US trade gateway with Asia is struggling with traffic with the longest waits for berth space in major ports that we have seen in some time. There are currently 37 ships anchored outside the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, more than there have been at any time in the past six months. It's almost double the size of the queue that existed in mid-July and is coming close to the all-time record. One of the reasons for the significant increase in traffic is disruption to transport routes caused by partial closures of a major Chinese port due to a COVID-19 outbreak there. As a result of the queues the average wait for berth space is now 6.2 days - although this is longer than the figures for June it has yet to reach the peak of 8 days that was set in April.

A recent survey of institutional investors and wealth managers from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates, who collectively manage $275 billion in assets revealed that security concerns about digital assets and custodial services are a 'significant hurdle' preventing many from investing in crypto assets for the first time.