Daily Archives: July 16, 2021

IBM insists that its revised A.I. strategy a pared-down, less world-changing ambition is working. The job of reviving growth was handed to Arvind Krishna, a computer scientist who became chief executive last year, after leading the recent overhaul of IBMs cloud and A.I. businesses.

But the grand visions of the past are gone. Today, instead of being a shorthand for technological prowess, Watson stands out as a sobering example of the pitfalls of technological hype and hubris around A.I.

The march of artificial intelligence through the mainstream economy, it turns out, will be more step-by-step evolution than cataclysmic revolution.

Time and again during its 110-year history, IBM has ushered in new technology and sold it to corporations. The company so dominated the market for mainframe computers that it was the target of a federal antitrust case. PC sales really took off after IBM entered the market in 1981, endorsing the small machines as essential tools in corporate offices. In the 1990s, IBM helped its traditional corporate customers adapt to the internet.

IBM executives came to see A.I. as the next wave to ride.

Mr. Ferrucci first pitched the idea of Watson to his bosses at IBMs research labs in 2006. He thought building a computer to tackle a question-answer game could push science ahead in the A.I. field known as natural language processing, in which scientists program computers to recognize and analyze words. Another research goal was to advance techniques for automated question answering.

After overcoming initial skepticism, Mr. Ferrucci assembled a team of scientists eventually more than two dozen who worked out of the companys lab in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., about 20 miles north of IBMs headquarters in Armonk.

The Watson they built was a room-size supercomputer with thousands of processors running millions of lines of code. Its storage disks were filled with digitized reference works, Wikipedia entries and electronic books. Computing intelligence is a brute force affair, and the hulking machine required 85,000 watts of power. The human brain, by contrast, runs on the equivalent of 20 watts.

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What Ever Happened to IBMs Watson? - The New York Times

TOP 100: IBM makes big move toward transformation

A recurring theme that weve heard from companies on the 2021 Washington Technology Top 100 is transformation, both for themselves and for their customers.

But few companies can claim as a dramatic a transformation as the one that IBM is undergoing. Big Blue is spinning off its managed infrastructure services business to form a $19 billion a year new company to be called Kyndryl.

IBM will remain $59 billion a year company focused on hybrid cloud adoption, digital transformation and other areas of innovation such as artificial intelligence-related solutions.

We are really returning to our roots as a core technology company, said Steve LaFleche, general manager for IBMs U.S. public sector and federal market.

Pre-split, IBMs revenue is about 65 percent services and 35 percent technology, but once Kyndryl is an independent company, IBMs revenue mix will have flipped to 65 percent technology and 35 percent services, he said. The split is expected to happen by the end of this year.

For 2021, IBM is ranked No. 33 on the Top 100 with $1.1 billion in prime government contracts.

LaFleche explained that the split will have little impact on the federal business because most of the public sector manage infrastructure business takes place in the state and local market.

Another question that was top of mind was how does IBM distinguish between managed infrastructure services and its cloud offerings. Why dont they fit together?

Its rather simple, according to LaFleche. Think of the managed infrastructure services as the people who run data centers and network operations. It is about people and hourly rates.

IBMs focus is on our hybrid cloud platform, he said. The software platform, some of the underlying integrated hardware that enables clients to modernize. Well keep that as part of IBM.

The company has positioned itself to help customers accelerate their digital transformation journeys, modernize applications, and implement intelligent workflows. We will not be running data centers or networks or storage farms or any clients on-premise infrastructure, LaFleche said.

IBMs journey began several years ago and can be tracked through the kinds of acquisitions it has made. Most notably is the $34 billion acquisition of RedHat in 2109 Much of IBMs hybrid cloud strategy is built around Red Hats Open Shift.

That is the foundation of our open hybrid cloud platform, LaFleche said. From there the company has invested in its software stack that sits on top of that platform and the company is retooling its services business to focus on accelerate adoption of the cloud platform.

The company is also incorporating Open Shift into its System Z mainframes and IBM Power Servers.

This will better enable our clients to move to this open hybrid cloud world that we see as the predominant architecture for the foreseeable future, he said.

The opportunity is huge in the federal space because while parts of many agencies are moving to a hybrid cloud, the majority have not. There is a lot of work to be done.

IBM wants to help federal customers keep what they need on premises in a private cloud but at the same time help them move what they can to a public cloud. This will be particularly important as agencies add mobile front ends to systems and improve how they interact with citizens.

Those kinds of moves require a hybrid cloud approach. And IBMs strength is really in that hybrid multi-cloud arena, LaFleche said.

Earlier this year IBM won an $850 million Navy contract for enterprise resource planning support services. This is an example of the kind of opportunities IBM is pursuing in the federal space. The contract is known as NETSS, for the Navy ERP Technical Support Services. It consolidates several existing contracts.

Thats exactly the type of work we want to see, LaFleche said. Anything that involves applications and application modernization and moving those applications forward.

Besides Red Hat, other acquisitions also have been building these capabilities such as Taos in the United States and NordCloud in Europe. Those deals happened earlier this year and brought hybrid cloud consulting capabilities.

These companies are services companies that help clients modernize applications, move them to a hybrid cloud in an open way, he said. So they can run on IBMs cloud, Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure. Its very agnostic.

And this month, IBM acquired BoxBoat, a DevOps consultancy and enterprise Kubernetes certified service provider. The deal extends IBMs container capabilities, which are critical to a hybrid cloud implementation.

While its acquisition strategy moves forward, IBMs partnering strategy has evolved as well. It has forged relationships with AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google. It also partners with Workday, Salesforce and Palantir.

We have embraced a broad ecosystem but with a common mission we want to help drive this open hybrid cloud platform. Were not just partnering for empty calories, LaFleche said.

The pace of modernization and digital transformation is picking up in the government market. Part of that is driven by the COVID-19 pandemic which forced agencies to work remotely. Now they see a real benefit of a flexible workforce whether there is a pandemic or not, he said.

Theres a big pull in the marketplace and the technology is there and the skills to modernize these applications are there, he said. We are at a moment of time where everybody says, its time to go.

Posted by Nick Wakeman on Jul 16, 2021 at 9:44 AM

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TOP 100: IBM makes big move toward transformation - Washington Technology

Respected researcher Paul Debevec has joined Netflix as director of research, a newly created role on the streaming services data science and engineering team.

He will additionally continue his responsibilities as anadjunct research professor of computer science at USCs Viterbi School of Engineering,working within the Vision and Graphics Laboratory at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies.

At Netflix, Debevec will oversee research and development around new technologies in computer vision, computer graphics and machine learning, with applications across areas of production including visual effects, virtual production and animation. Hell also build a team at Netflix, bringing together data and experience from Netflix productions with the aim of developing new storytelling capabilities.

Research from Debevec and several colleagues was recognized with a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award in 2010, for engineering the Light Stage capture devices and image-based rendering system developed for character relighting and used to create photoreal digital actors. This system has contributed to a string of Hollywood films, including VFX Oscar winnersThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button, GravityandAvatar.

In 2017, Debevec received the highest honor from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, its Progress Medal, forpioneering techniques for illuminating CG objects and their application in numerous Hollywood films. In 2014, he was invited to the White House to create a digital 3D model of President Barack Obama.

Debevec is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and from 2012 to 2018 he co-chaired its Science and Technology Council. Hes also a Fellow of the Visual Effects Society and from 2008 to 2014 served on the executive committee and as a vp of computer graphics research organization ACM Siggraph.

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Netflix Hires Researcher Paul Debevec to Oversee Emerging Technology Team (Exclusive) - Hollywood Reporter

FRANKFURT In Hamburg, a fleet of electric Volkswagen vans owned by a ride-hailing service roams the streets picking up and dropping off passengers. The vehicles steer themselves, but technicians working from a remote control center keep an eye on their progress with the help of video monitors. If anything goes wrong, they can take control of the vehicle and steer it out of trouble.

This futuristic vision, within reach of current technology, is about to become legal in Germany. The Parliament in Berlin approved a new law on autonomous driving in May, and it awaits the signature of Germanys president, a formality. The law opens a path for companies to start making money from autonomous driving services, which could also spur development.

With its requirement that autonomous vehicles be overseen by humans, the German law reflects a realization in the industry that researchers are still years away from cars that can safely allow the driver to disengage while the car does all the work. The law also requires that autonomous vehicles operate in a defined space approved by the authorities, an acknowledgment that the technology is not advanced enough to work safely in areas where traffic is chaotic and unpredictable.

So German companies that are pursuing the technology have adjusted their ambitions, focusing on moneymaking uses that dont require major breakthroughs.

Germanys nationwide approach contrasts with the patchwork of state laws in the United States. The U.S. government has issued guidelines for autonomous driving, but attempts to establish mandatory rules that would apply in all 50 states have foundered in Congress amid disagreement among automakers and autonomous driving developers about what the legislation should say.

Some states have encouraged autonomous driving research; Arizona allows Waymo, for example, to offer driverless taxis in Phoenix. But its not yet possible to roll out such services nationwide, achieving the kind of scale that would help make them profitable.

Germany is unique in the sense that you now have a law that pertains to the entire country, said Elliot Katz, the chief business officer of Phantom Auto, a California company that provides software to monitor and control vehicles remotely. In the U.S., we do not have any overarching federal autonomous driving regulation. We have state laws, which is problematic because driving is inherently interstate.

The German legislation could also give the countrys automakers an edge in the race to design cars that can drive themselves. By deploying autonomous vehicles commercially, they will gather large amounts of data they can use to advance the technology. If the services are profitable, they will also help pay for further development.

There are two major topics for the German car manufacturers: the change to electric cars and autonomous driving, said Moritz Hsch, a partner at the Covington law firm in Frankfurt who has followed the legislation. The German car manufacturers are one of our crown jewels. They are really keen to get at the forefront of both topics.

The law permits autonomous vehicles that remain within a defined territory and are overseen by trained technicians. Crucially, it allows the monitors to keep tabs on numerous vehicles remotely. That means a person or team could supervise a fleet of autonomous shuttle vans or self-driving taxis by video from a command center, eliminating the need for a supervisor in every vehicle. In case of trouble, a technician would be able to take control of the vehicle from afar.

Daily Business Briefing

July 16, 2021, 9:07 a.m. ET

Proponents say the law will allow autonomous buses to serve rural areas where public transportation is scarce. Other services might include automated valet parking or robot package delivery. Autonomous vehicles could be used to transport components or workers around a factory complex or students around a university.

Vehicles already exist that can navigate a predictable course, such as from an airport parking lot to a departure terminal, but existing German law requires a human to be on board, which cancels out any cost savings from eliminating the driver.

If a driver can oversee a dozen buses from a command center, there are use cases that would now be attractive, said Peter Liggesmeyer, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering in Kaiserslautern. That will encourage more development, he said.

In technical jargon, the new law allows Level 4 autonomous driving, in which a vehicle can steer and navigate by itself most of the time but may occasionally require human intervention. That is one step away from the autonomous driving nirvana of cars that can operate without any human help.

Volkswagen, for example, has been testing a ride-sharing service in Hamburg and Hanover called Moia. The new law makes it easier for Volkswagen to achieve its goal of converting Moias electric vans to autonomous operation by 2025, though further changes in the countrys public transport law may also be needed.

The use of self-driving vehicles in Germany is now possible, said Christian Senger, a senior vice president at Volkswagens commercial vehicles division responsible for autonomous driving, in a statement. That is something that not only Volkswagen but all market participants have been waiting for.

Technology companies like Waymo or carmakers like Toyota have invested billions of dollars in autonomous driving technology, but have yet to see much return on their investment. Uber sold its self-driving unit last year after investing more than $1 billion. Fatal crashes involving Teslas Autopilot software have raised questions about the technologys shortcomings.

Whether a uniform legal framework will give German companies a decisive edge over American companies is another question. That was the intent.

Germany can be the first country in the world to bring vehicles without drivers from the laboratory into everyday use, Arno Klare, a Social Democratic member of Parliament, said during debate about the law in Berlin.

In the United States, as soon as an autonomous vehicle tries to cross states lines, things get complicated. California, Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania are considered leaders in providing legal parameters for autonomous driving technology. But 10 states, including New Jersey, Rhode Island and Maryland, have not enacted laws or issued executive orders governing autonomous driving, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. Rules in other states have not followed a consistent template.

Raj Rajkumar, who leads the autonomous driving program at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, which has produced many of the leading scientists in the field, said the new legislation would give German companies an advantage. But he said he was concerned that the United States and Europe were both at risk of falling behind China in technology and regulations.

There is an international arms race between the U.S., Europe and China, said Mr. Rajkumar, who estimates that fully autonomous vehicles are still a decade away. China is an authoritarian country. They can pass any rules they want overnight.

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How Germany Hopes to Get the Edge in Driverless Technology - The New York Times

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 13, 2021) Launch Blue, a nonequity seeking pre-seed accelerator program that aims to launch nationally competitive Kentucky startups, will be premiering its first Technology Showcase in mid-July. The showcase will spotlight innovators through a virtual exhibit on LaunchBlue.org. It will take participants on a journey through the innovators' development and commercialization process by utilizing engaging articles and visual elements.

The Launch Blue Technology Showcase will serve as a digital magazine detailing the innovators expertise and technology. In addition, various innovations cover multiple industries, from medicine and biotech to mobile apps and consumer tech.

Eight out of the 10 participants will be University of Kentucky-affiliated innovators who work with the Office of Technology Commercialization(OTC) and graduated from the UKAccel program administered by Launch Blue. The UK-affiliated startups and innovators participating are AmDx PrognostX (Steve and Aaron Carrithers), Cellect Microfluidics (Christine Trinkle), Cellie Coping Company (Meghan Marsac), Jared Hammill, MiMetico (Carrie Shaffer), X10D (Wes Anderson), X-Met (Kevin Huburt and Josh Werner), and Wild Dog Physics (Janelle Molloy). The first non-UK-affiliated innovator participating is Jason Marion with startup ColiGlow. Marion graduated from UAccel and developed his technology at Eastern Kentucky University and Kentucky Commercialization Ventures supported and mentored ColiGlow. The second non-UK-affiliated innovator is Fresh Eyes Solution (Kelly Wright), who participated in the Launch Blue Accelerator.

We are proud of the innovators who have put so much time and effort into determining the best commercialization paths for these UK technologies. The Technology Showcase provides an opportunity to view their work and the benefits of the UAccel program, said Taunya Phillips, director of the Office of Technology Commercialization. The Launch Blue team has been excitedly looking forward to this showcase so that attendees can have the opportunity to see Launch Blue UAccel participants technologies and read their stories. This event is the culmination of hard work by the participants and the Launch Blue team to position these innovations for future success.

You can learn more about any of the technologies or connect with the innovators by accessing the Launch Blue Technology Showcase here.

On July 15, Launch Blue is hosting their first Demo Day, where startups will take center stage. The startups participating in Demo Day will be raising a seed or pre-seed round before the end of the year. Accredited investors can also schedule one-on-one meetings with startup founders. You can view the premiere of the pitch video at 10 a.m. EDT Thursday, July 15, here.

Were immensely proud of the hard work of our innovators and founders and the impact that their technology will have on the world, said Laura Halligan, executive director of Launch Blue. We cannot wait to share their work with you. We hope you join us for both the Tech Showcase and Demo Day.

Launch Blue nurtures the most promising Kentucky founders with scalable technology-based startups through an intensive accelerator and incubator program.

The Office of Technology Commercialization manages intellectual property, commercialization, licensing and startup portfolios for UK. The core mission of the OTC is to advance innovations that make a difference.

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Launch Blue Technology Showcase Will Feature 8 UK Technologies - UKNow

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Invitation Homes Inc. (NYSE: INVH) (Invitation Homes or the Company), the nation's premier single-family home leasing company, announced today that it has invested in Fifth Walls Climate Technology Fund.

We are committed to creating a better way to live and to being a force for positive change, while at the same time advancing efforts that make our company more innovative and our processes more sustainable, said Invitation Homes President & CEO Dallas Tanner. Were very pleased to support the climate tech fund and to be at the forefront of helping to find and advance climate-friendly home solutions.

The Climate Tech Fund invests in technologies that address decarbonization across all stages of and asset classes within the global real estate ecosystem, including materials, construction, operations, and revitalization. Invitation Homes joins Ivanho Cambridge and others who are among the first group of investors to participate in the fund.

Invitation Homes has taken a true leadership position among major real estate investment trusts through its participation in Fifth Walls Climate Technology Fund, said Brendan Wallace, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Fifth Wall. Decarbonizing the residential sector is critical to the future of our environment. Its inspiring to see a leader in the residential space, like Invitation Homes, commit to the science and R&D required to make real estate more sustainable.

In addition to this investment, Invitation Homes continues to build its sustainability related operational actions and investments, including the use of Smart Home technology that helps residents save up to 15% on their energy bills; water-saving landscaping in arid locations; low-flow plumbing; electronic work orders that reduce paper waste; route optimization and stocked vehicles that decrease drive time for maintenance technicians; and an air filter home delivery program that helps provide better air quality in homes and improve HVAC efficiency. A full view of the Companys environmental sustainability efforts can be found here.

About Invitation Homes

Invitation Homes is the nation's premier single-family home leasing company, meeting changing lifestyle demands by providing access to high-quality, updated homes with valued features such as close proximity to jobs and access to good schools. The Company's mission, "Together with you, we make a house a home," reflects its commitment to providing homes where individuals and families can thrive and high-touch service that continuously enhances residents' living experiences.

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Invitation Homes Invests in Fifth Wall Climate Technology Fund - Business Wire

GUANGZHOU, China, July 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LIZHI INC. ("LIZHI" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: LIZI), a leading online UGC audio community and interactive audio entertainment platform in China, announced today that it has inked a partnership with Xinghe Zhilian Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. (Xinghe Zhilian) to integrate LIZHIs audio products into Xinghe Zhilians in-car communications and entertainment network.

Established in December 2020, Xinghe Zhilian Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. (also known as Galaxy Autotech) was born out of a joint venture between GAC Group and iFLYTEK. As an AI technology company in the automobile industry, Xinghe Zhilian aims to optimize the driving experience through the advancement of the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) network and smart cockpit for auto companies. Xinghe Zhilian provides auto companies with integrated intelligent cockpit solutions, artificial intelligence technology, and digital tools. As a service connector, Xinghe Zhilian provides car users with open, comprehensive, and high-quality services for full-scale scenarios and convenient access to content resources.

We are pleased to collaborate with Xinghe Zhilian Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. to further apply LIZHIs audio products to more in-car scenarios and further boost the application of LIZHIs audio technology in vehicles through Xinghe Zhilian's IoV network, said Mr. Jinnan (Marco) Lai, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LIZHI.

We believe that the partnership may also accelerate LIZHIs foray into the field of in-car audio and bring LIZHIs extensive podcast content and immersive audio experiences to a wider range of users.

About LIZHI INC.

LIZHI INC. (the "Company" or "LIZHI") has built an audio ecosystem with a global presence consisting of audio-based social networks, podcast content portfolios and audio communities. The Company aims to bring people closer together through voices by its product portfolios. LIZHI's audio-based social networking product offering, including TIYA App, caters to users' evolving interest in social interactions in real time online and enables users to connect with friends having similar interests, entertain, chat online, and share their daily lives through voices. LIZHI also offers a vertical podcast platform, LIZHI Podcast, that provides users with curated content drawn from its extensive content library built over the years, as well as new podcasts provided by selected content creators. Since the launch of LIZHI App in 2013, the Company's flagship platform, LIZHI has cultivated a vibrant and growing online UGC audio community and interactive audio entertainment platform where users are encouraged to create, share, discover and enjoy audio, and experience immersive and diversified entertainment features through audio. LIZHI envisions a global audio ecosystem a place where everyone can be connected through voices and across cultures. LIZHI INC. has been listed on Nasdaq since January 2020.

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Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Companys beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as may, will, expect, anticipate, target, aim, estimate, intend, plan, believe, potential, continue, is/are likely to or other similar expressions. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Companys filings with the Securities Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:LIZHI INC.IR DepartmentTel: +86 (20) 3866-4265E-mail: ir@lizhi.fm

The Piacente Group, Inc.Jenny CaiTel: +86 (10) 6508-0677E-mail: Lizhi@tpg-ir.com

In the United States:The Piacente Group, Inc.Brandi PiacenteTel: +1-212-481-2050E-mail: Lizhi@tpg-ir.com

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LIZHI INC. Announces Partnership with Xinghe Zhilian Automotive Technology Company - Yahoo Finance

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Mining Cables Global Market Insights 2021, Analysis and Forecast to 2026, by Manufacturers, Regions, Technology, Application, Product Type" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report describes the global market size of Mining Cables from 2016 to 2020 and its CAGR from 2016 to 2020, and also forecasts its market size to the end of 2026 and its CAGR from 2021 to 2026.

For the geography segment, regional supply, demand, major players, price is presented from 2016 to 2026.

This report covers the following regions:

The key countries for each region are also included such as the United States, China, Japan, India, Korea, ASEAN, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, CIS, and Brazil.

Companies Covered:

For the competitor segment, the report includes global key players of Mining Cables as well as some small players.

The information for each competitor includes:

Applications Segment:

Types Segment:

Key Topics Covered:

Chapter 1 Executive Summary

Chapter 2 Abbreviation and Acronyms

Chapter 3 Preface

3.1 Research Scope

3.2 Research Sources

3.2.1 Data Sources

3.2.2 Assumptions

3.3 Research Method

Chapter 4 Market Landscape

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 Classification/Types

4.3 Application/End Users

Chapter 5 Market Trend Analysis

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Drivers

5.3 Restraints

5.4 Opportunities

5.5 Threats

Chapter 6 Industry Chain Analysis

6.1 Upstream/Suppliers Analysis

6.2 Mining Cables Analysis

6.2.1 Technology Analysis

6.2.2 Cost Analysis

6.2.3 Market Channel Analysis

6.3 Downstream Buyers/End Users

Chapter 7 Latest Market Dynamics

7.1 Latest News

7.2 Merger and Acquisition

7.3 Planned/Future Project

7.4 Policy Dynamics

Chapter 8 Trading Analysis

8.1 Export of Mining Cables by Region

8.2 Import of Mining Cables by Region

8.3 Balance of Trade

Chapter 9 Historical and Forecast Mining Cables Market in North America (2016-2026)

9.1 Mining Cables Market Size

9.2 Mining Cables Demand by End Use

9.3 Competition by Players/Suppliers

9.4 Type Segmentation and Price

9.5 Key Countries Analysis

9.5.1 United States

9.5.2 Canada

9.5.3 Mexico

Chapter 10 Historical and Forecast Mining Cables Market in South America (2016-2026)

10.1 Mining Cables Market Size

10.2 Mining Cables Demand by End Use

10.3 Competition by Players/Suppliers

10.4 Type Segmentation and Price

10.5 Key Countries Analysis

10.5.1 Brazil

10.5.2 Argentina

10.5.3 Chile

10.5.4 Peru

Chapter 11 Historical and Forecast Mining Cables Market in Asia & Pacific (2016-2026)

11.1 Mining Cables Market Size

11.2 Mining Cables Demand by End Use

11.3 Competition by Players/Suppliers

11.4 Type Segmentation and Price

11.5 Key Countries Analysis

11.5.1 China

11.5.2 India

11.5.3 Japan

11.5.4 South Korea

11.5.5 Southest Asia

11.5.6 Australia

Chapter 12 Historical and Forecast Mining Cables Market in Europe (2016-2026)

12.1 Mining Cables Market Size

12.2 Mining Cables Demand by End Use

12.3 Competition by Players/Suppliers

12.4 Type Segmentation and Price

12.5 Key Countries Analysis

12.5.1 Germany

12.5.2 France

12.5.3 United Kingdom

12.5.4 Italy

12.5.5 Spain

12.5.6 Belgium

12.5.7 Netherlands

12.5.8 Austria

12.5.9 Poland

12.5.10 Russia

Chapter 13 Historical and Forecast Mining Cables Market in MEA (2016-2026)

13.1 Mining Cables Market Size

13.2 Mining Cables Demand by End Use

13.3 Competition by Players/Suppliers

13.4 Type Segmentation and Price

13.5 Key Countries Analysis

13.5.1 Egypt

13.5.2 Israel

Link:

Worldwide Mining Cables Industry to 2026 - by Manufacturers, Regions, Technology, Application and Product Type - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Business...

Innovative film technology that allows automotive manufacturers to hide radar sensors behind decorative metallic parts has been developed by AkzoNobel

The radar-transparent bright film perfected by working together with customers means vehicle makers no longer have to worry about hiding sensors behind solid metal, which can block the signals of safety features such as anti-collision warnings.

AkzoNobel is an approved supplier of film products for this particular application, and the company was recently specified as a global supplier of emblems by one of the worlds biggest car brands.

Vehicle requirements are changing all the time and were very happy to have solved this difficult problem with an intelligent film coating that allows radar signals to pass through, explains Patrick Bourguignon, Director of AkzoNobels Automotive and Specialty Coatings business.

It was a highly technical process, which involved close collaboration with customers to establish correlations between film properties and radar transmission, he continues. On the surface, it provides an attractive, mirror-like finish. What you cant see is the breakthrough technology weve developed, which allows better and more consistent transmission of signals that ultimately help people to drive more safely.

The products supplied by the companys Film business are mainly used by the automotive and aerospace industries, as well as for signage. They include coated films for substrate protection and decoration, and markings/decals used for safety and decoration.

Innovation not only drives our business, it also contributes to the success of our customers, says Bourguignon, who adds that other vehicle manufacturers are keen to include the bright film technology in their designs. Well continue to channel our pioneering spirit into working together with our partners to develop advanced solutions and meet any challenges that the future may bring.

SOURCE: AkzoNobel

Originally posted here:

Breakthrough automotive film technology puts AkzoNobel's innovation on the radar - Automotive World

PHOTO:The Preiser Project

A recent Gartner surveyidentified the top three business priorities in 2021 as: growth, workforce and organizational resilience and sustainability, and investment in digital capabilities.

All of these priorities are driven from technology enablement. Digital technologies played a paramount role over the last 18 months in keeping workers functioning and maintaining business continuity, from remote working tools and automating processes to contactless, seamless transactions. While all these objectives were in place before COVID-19, what changed dramatically is the emphasis on how we use technology to achieve these ends.

Which digital initiatives nay, innovations implemented during the pandemic will have the most lasting impact? Over the past year we've had the rare luxury of observing technology trends taking shape. A few are already changing the game for every organizations digital transformation priorities.

With more companies either keeping their workforce remote or switching to a hybrid model, industry leaders should reflect on when they accelerated their digital efforts to adapt to remote working and making virtual experiences work. Which technologies helped and which didnt? What digital strategies helped improve operations, user experience and customer service? What can they learn from those that didnt?

Consider your company, customer and employee goals and journeys and how they define your processes. Then evaluate your current operations and processes to decide the best way forward. Base your approach on facts rather than assumptions or how things have always been done. Process mining and discovery tools can help you analyze the multiple processes within your business and most importantly, discover how people and content interact with them and deliver a digital twin of your processes to gain greater intelligence of how your processes are performing as journeys.

To improve business processes, employee productivity and customer satisfaction in demonstrable ways, some organizations are using process intelligence tools with robotic process automation (RPA) platforms to identify which processes are best to automate. Too often, however, leaders guess which processes to automate rather than first having any real visibility into how operations and workers are performing and where automation can change outcomes. Fully understanding how new solutions impact employees and the entire business process can help you avoid frustrating employees and negatively affecting their productivity and, ultimately, the customer experience. Having a digital twin a reliable digital version of a human whose job is to assist in making processes visible and actionable of how your entire business and workforce operates can help you truly understand and evaluate how to move forward with a new way of working.

Related Article: 6 Common Misperceptions About RPA

Reimagining how employees work, and introducing intelligent technologies to assist them, is becoming a strategic initiative for many organizations. Enterprises are embracing AI solutions that create an intelligent digital workplace of skilled humans working with skilled digital assistants as part of this paradigm. Imagine a highly automated, self-learning, efficient and streamlined work environment. An intelligent digital workplace augments workers with technology skills to collaborate, create and execute high value tasks, while putting innovation in their hands.

For example, its widely understood the digitization of content is just the beginning for automating processes and lessening repetitive manual labor on employees. With the high volume of documents and data employees work with, companies must also be able to generate value from them. This includes turning unstructured content into data that can be easily accessible by other systems to quickly generate business decisions. More importantly, AI is making processes smarter by its ability to read content and see and act upon it in ways that trained, skilled humans do (seeing things that data field extraction and loading approaches alone often miss).

Using content intelligence technologies such as natural language processing (NLP), machine learning (ML) and optical character recognition (OCR) for intelligent document processing (IDP) along with process mining tools together yields better data for automation systems that rely on it. And adding skilled insight on content and process will help make informed decisions (requiring context, intention, specialized knowledge and experience) that change outcomes. Better data is a clear outcome, but the ability to apply skill and knowledge to fill in the blanks where data is missing, conflicting or indeterminate is another benefit. This AI-enabled approach gives both human and digital workers the ability to detect changes and pinpoint patterns within processes proactively, immediately spotting and resolving issues that delay customer service responses, lead to noncompliance and impact delivery of service.

As these solutions advance, intelligent digital workplaces will soon be able to extend these capabilities from systems-of record repositories to points of engagement through smarter applications.

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Employee experience has increasingly become a contributing factor to business innovation and success. Employees want a work culture that distinguishes between productivity and busy work, and to be challenged with valuable work that will have an impact on the organization.

At the same time, the emerging issue of talent scarcity means there needs to be a bigger focus on tech enablement.

To address the talent shortage, enterprise automation has quickly begun to shift to low/no-code platforms, giving knowledge workers more access to the power of AI without the heavy infrastructure required to support it. Forrester suggests that the increased interest in low-code platforms alone is driving approximately 50% annual growth, with the market anticipated to rise to over $15 billion in 2021. Low/no-code platforms can make highly complicated technologies, such as IDP, easy to use, and deliver cognitive skills for RPA robots, automation systems, chatbots and mobile solutions. It empowers the everyday worker to have more direct control of intelligent automation initiatives without being an expert on ML or having to completely rely on IT. Additionally, it almost completely eliminates the need for manual coding and speeds up deployment, making it a popular option for organizations increasing their investment in digital transformation and becoming agile organizations.

While many new technologies were introduced over the past 18 months, solutions that augment a hybrid workforce, accelerate intelligent automation and empower employees are here to stay. Digital transformation will always be a driver for shifting from economic recovery toward profitability, but its important to understand the state of your processes and having control of your content before you begin.

Anthony Macciola is Chief Innovation Officer at ABBYY, a Digital Intelligence company, where he leads the companys AI vision and strategy. He holds more than 45 patents for technologies in mobility, text analytics, image processing, and process automation, and advocates their use for changing the future of work, improving the customer experience, maintaining business continuity, and achieving process excellence.

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3 Technologies at the Forefront of Digital Transformation Today - CMSWire