This week-Trade-Tech-Events

The Science of Stress

Stress isn't just contagious; it alters the brain on a cellular level

Scientists at Cumming School of Medicine's Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), at the University of Calgary have discovered that stress transmitted from others can change the brain in the same way as a real stress does. The team discovered that the activation of certain CRH neurons causes the release of a chemical signal, an 'alarm pheromone', that alerts the partner. The partner who detects the signal can in turn alert additional members of the group. This propagation of stress signals reveals a key mechanism for transmission of information that may be critical in the formation of social networks in various species.

Event professionals and marketers: You do not want to remembered as a brand that propagates fear. Or, do you?

The neurons that rewrite traumatic memories

It is currently estimated that almost a third of all people will suffer from fear- or stress-related disorders at one point in their lives.

Event professionals and marketers in the HealthTech space, you have the opportunity to educate you audience about the science of burn out.

Make good use of it.

The Technology Driven Human Resources

Technology and new business culture, is shaping up to be the driving factor in Human Resources.

Changing business imperatives demand not only a new organizational model for HR itself, but also a massive re-skilling of HR professionals. HR, once designed primarily as an administrative and compliance function, now has the unprecedented opportunity to play a leading role at the highest levels of business strategy, execution, and results.

According to Jon Bischke, CEO of Entelo, a social sourcing and talent analytics software company in San Francisco, organizations that take a data-driven approach to talent acquisition will find a competitive advantage. He states that, "Not only will they know for certain which sources lead to new hires, they'll also be able to identify and surface ideal talent profiles, and automatically seek out both active and passive job seekers who fit the mold. They will have a clearer picture of the talent population that exists and will be able to focus their efforts on the candidates who are the most receptive to new opportunities."

The Organizational Promise of Big Data and Predictive Modeling

Volume, velocity, and variety are three key features that paves the foundation of modern analytical systems, loosely known as Big Data. For HR benefits, Google, has developed a model that predicted promotions with a 90% accuracy.

Smart Cities — Designing cities as digital platform

Exchanging and producing meaningful data and insights, will re-shape cities and urban landscape into intelligent and autonomous systems... that is the vision.

"Smart cities utilize IoT sensors, actuators, and technology to connect components across the city. This connects every layer of a city, from the air to the street to underground. It's when you can derive data from everything that is connected and utilize it to improve the lives of citizens and improve communication between citizens and the government that a city becomes a smart city."

The Technology of Empathy

Empathy is what makes us Human.

In our data driven digital economy, where the brands are talking about the commerce of 'customer comes first' and the customer service agents are taught to spout out phrases like, “I can understand what you feel…” the word 'empathy' is being tossed around like a two cent commodity.

Being empathetic is hard. Very hard. Why?

Because, the Darwinian school teaches us to fight or perish. By doing so, we have forgotten how to feel what the other person feels, unless we are in his/her shoes.

Robotics — Modular, Plug and Play

Modular robots — composed of several interchangeable parts, or modules — are flexible and interchangeable. If one part breaks, it can be removed and replaced. Components can be rearranged as needed — or better yet, the robots can figure out how to reconfigure themselves, based on the tasks they're assigned and the environments they're navigating.

Cornell University-led team has developed modular robots that can perceive their surroundings, make decisions and autonomously assume different shapes in order to perform various tasks — an accomplishment that brings the vision of adaptive, multipurpose robots a step closer to reality.

Robotics — Small and Mass Produced

Tiny robots no bigger than a cell could be mass-produced using a new method developed by researchers at MIT. The microscopic devices, which the team calls "syncells" (short for synthetic cells), might eventually be used to monitor conditions inside an oil or gas pipeline, or to search out disease while floating through the bloodstream.

Biggest trend impacting the retail industry in 2018:

1. Customer experience is more important than ever as retailers are striving to differentiate themselves in a challenging and crowded market. Consequently, experience per square foot will be the new retail metric to measure success.

2. Artificial intelligence will gain more clout with some executives predicting that 85 percent of all transactions will be AI-based by 2020.

3. The rise of the conscious customer will continue as consumers base their buying decisions on many factors beyond price. These new consumers, led and influenced by millennials, are exerting influence on retailers and forcing them to take action.

4. We've arrived at the intersection of elevated consumer expectations and technical possibility.

5. A tale of two hemispheres is playing out as platform players and non-traditional retailers expand their reach and offerings. Global Retail Trends by KPMG

Retail Technology Startups that are making a difference:

How Blockchain will Augment Retail

IBM conducted a recent study about how blockchain reinvents the consumer experience. The main benefits they described are that retail organizations—thanks to blockchain technology—can prove they delivered on their promises. Think about product authenticity, tracking and tracing reliable delivery throughout the supply chain, and accountability of suppliers.

The Human Thinking Artificial Intelligence

Third-wave AI is supposed to aid human thinking, by making sense of the independent world and its varying contexts —

Scientists are developing an AI ecosystem, Mind.AI that is touted of being comparable to human intelligence. Aside from being able to learn autonomously, Mind’s AI can generalize and even reason abstractly through natural language. Instead of using vast amounts of computational power, Mind aims to build its AI through patented proprietary data structures called “canonicals.”

Examples of artificial intelligence that can act as an aid to Entrepreneurs

Industries Disrupted by Robots and AI

Agriculture:

Agriculture is now an exciting high-tech industry, drawing new professionals, new companies and new investors. Goldman Sachs estimates precision farming — the combination of agriculture and technology — could be a $240 billion market by 2050.

Call Centers:

“Thanks to Artificial Intelligence through deep learning with Google's TensorFlow platform, we were able to automate 56.9 percent of queries.” Cristian Rennella, CEO and co-founder, elMejorTrato.com

Cloud Computing — The Concept and the Commerce

Cloud computing is one of the hottest buzzwords in technology. It appears 48 million times on the Internet.

What is it? How does it matter to small business?

With 28 million small businesses making up 99.7% of all U.S. firms, small business is big economy for the United States.

In short — In a complex world of trade and commerce, it is essential that small business owners get what they need right when, and where they need it, whether they're on their computers, tablets or mobile phones – or in the office, out in the field with clients or on the road to meet the next prospect.

The term “Cloud Computing” was coined in 1996, inside the offices of Compaq Computer where a small group of technology executives was plotting the future of the Internet business and calling it “cloud computing.”

The Technology of Light — the Realms of 'Science Fact'

Using optics to build waaaaay faster computers — atomically thin semiconductor that posses optical properties could make computers run on the femtosecond time scale, a million times faster. "The only way to build much faster computers is to use optics, not electronics. Electronics, which is used by current computers, can't go any faster, which is why engineers have been increasing the number of processors."

Neural networks for “Deep learning” computer systems, based on artificial neural networks that mimic the way the brain learns from an accumulation of examples, have become a hot topic in computer science, could be implemented more quickly using new photonic technology.

The new technology known as "opto-spintronics." — In the search for information technology that is even faster, smaller and more energy-efficient, scientists around the globe are exploring another property of electrons -- their spin. Electronics that exploit both the spin and the charge of the electron are called "spintronics."— a stepping stone towards future information technology.

Cybersecurity

"All warfare is based on deception." — Art of War by Sun Tzu

The ultimate goal of deception is to lure attackers to ‘decoy’ assets that look and feel real but aren’t.

5 ways deception is changing the cybersecurity landscape.

Cyber-intelligence expert Tom Kellermann sees a growing hostility in cyberspace, and he fears a new wave of advanced threats aimed not just at committing crimes, but at breaching critical infrastructure. Who are the top threat actors, and what are their key targets?

Changing the Balance of Power — Deception is unique in that an organization can safely watch attacks unfold, using a deception sandbox to engage attackers for deeper forensics. Security analysts can observe attackers in a safe manner because the assets under attack are high interaction decoys that are designed to trick an attacker into thinking they are escalating their attack, all while actively collect forensics. With deception, you can therefore engage an attacker and then use this threat intelligence to activate countermeasures.

If you are an exhibitor at any cybersecurity trade shows, you want to highlight how they (your audience) can easily be deceived by cyber technology, thus making their company vulnerable in the digital landscape.

Re-invention

'Creativity' and 'Newness' is the engine that is set to drive the growth of 21st Century Commerce —

New preception of thinking — For example, if you are a electronic manufacturer or contract manufacturers, you have to think about yourself as an "adaptive company that could commercialize your product from a sketch on a napkin, all the way up to full-scale global distribution and logistics." A new name, new face, new walk and new talk — a CMO's perspective on re-invention

Re-invention open doors as brands seize control of their customer data—and take control of their future. Customer data graphs that businesses own (rather than rent) will empower them to deliver laser-targeted ads, personalize brand sites for 1:1 engagements, accurately measure marketing performance and close the loop on attribution.

When is re-invention required? "You have to catch it just at the tipping point when things are going great, but the increases are diminishing and momentum is giving out." \

What entrepreneurs can learn from the big brands who successfully overcame such challenges.

Not personalization but, being personal is paramount in the process of re-invention.

Get to know your existing clients better. This easier if you exhibit at trade shows. Design your exhibit experience to map out your customer journey for hyper-personalization.

Financial Technology

Startup Fintech Resolved on Building Credit for the Millennials —

Chime, the no-fees mobile bank valued at $500 million as of its last round, has put some of its funds to use with its first acquisition.

Startup Fintech is resolved to make Credit Cards Obsolete —

Paidy, a Japanese fintech startup makes it possible for Japanese consumers to buy online without creating an account or using their credit cards.

166 years old legacy banking Brand is making it's move towards Fintech —

Wells Fargo created an artificial intelligence enterprise team in an effort to develop AI-based technology and strengthen its digital offerings in order to provide more personalized customer service. According to the Accenture report, “Banks that invest in AI and human-machine collaboration at the same rate as top-performing businesses could boost their revenue by an average of 34 percent and their employment by 14 percent by 2022.”

Fintech can Liberate us from Energy Poverty

At its core, the idea of producing more energy than you require and then selling it to the grid will revolutionize the energy sector, once coupled with blockchain, if it can be done on a localized, efficient scale. If we can encourage consumers to create their own energy and gain independence in the process, then we can expect to create a future in which one day we can create a sustainable world, based on affordable energy for all — energy poverty would be a thing of a less enlightened past.

Business Challenges in the Fintech Space

According to the 2017 Global Consumer Pulse Research, published by Accenture, 48% of consumers expect specialized treatment for being a good customer, with 33% of those consumers who abandoned a relationship doing so because personalization was lacking.

America's Biggest Business to Business Trade Show and Conference

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Small Business Expo provides the resources attendees need to stay a step ahead of their competition. Check here for the schedule and registration.

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Cool Global Tech Startups

From blockchain and self-driving cars to AI to apps, search, and drones, here are some cool technology and startups from MWC 2018.

Valossa is an artificial intelligence engine for video processing. The Oulu, Finland-based startup uses combined computer vision and audio recognition algorithms to recognize things in video content the way a human does.

White Raven is a digital browser and AI software for connected and self-driving cars. This innovative Israeli startup is completely redefining how you interact with smart vehicles, with deep learning and computer vision underpinning a visual search engine that superimposes data on real-time car camera footage.

Tipping Point of Blockchain Technology — Industry Segments that is faced with Major Disruption

Financial services:

Functions that still rely on a paper trail are prime candidates for blockchain, which could streamline asset management settlements, insurance claims processing, Know Your Customer (KYC) efforts, and international payments, among other efforts.

Transportation and shipping:

In the marine industry, blockchain has the potential to speed up trade finance dramatically in the areas of processes based on fax machines for transmitting documents to the dozens of stakeholders involved.

Healthcare:

The healthcare industry is exploring the use of blockchain as a way to aggregate information. The technology could be used to give healthcare providers and other stakeholders secure, real-time access to error-free medical records.

Energy and Utilities:

Blockchain can serve as an inexpensive, transparent platform to record and validate financial or operational transactions across a distributed network of utilities and customers. Utilities from Austria to Brooklyn are experimenting with energy exchanges supported by blockchain.