Spin, the Electric Scooter Firm Acquired By Ford

Ford Smart Mobility, LLC announced the acquisition of Spin—San Francisco-based electric scooter sharing company, which offers its customers the first- and last-mile transportation solution. The acquisition is a recent strategic action taken by Ford to solidify its hold on the mobility space. The company focuses on building a mobility portfolio that would allow its customers to find place in a simpler, faster, and cost-effective way. Joining the micro-mobility avenue would provide the company an enhanced acceleration in business while catering to customer needs.

Spin acquisition would help Ford X, a division within Ford Smart Mobility, LLC that aims to pilot, develop, and acquire new products and services in the transportation sector. Ford seems to look forward to the acquisition of Spin that has made its electric scooters available in five college campuses in the United States and across nine cities. With this acquisition deal, Ford could successfully expand its reach in the scooter business.

With the increasing mobility alternatives that are accessible for customers, it is observed that people utilize several forms of commute for a single trip. The mobility sector, therefore, requires companies to keep pace with the changing needs of the customers. Ford, strives to reflect these necessary transformations into its offerings. With this aim, Ford has turned to scooters that offers equitable last mile transport owing to the affordable solutions. Moreover, with the capabilities of reducing traffic congestion, pollution, and limitations in parking facilities, electric scooters are in for a promising future, in the coming years.

The company stated in a statement that as consumers across the world consider scooters as a feasible alternative for mobility, Ford recognizes it as a significant chance to work along with Spin. The acquisition of the dock-less Scooter Company would be a crucial step towards recognizing their strategy for the prospects of urban mobility, where the company, through its subsidiary known as ‘Jelly’, has already entered the electric scooter rental business recently.

Owing to the changing face of mobility, other manufacturers and automakers are also seen leveraging the potential reflected by this industry. In recent times, another leading automaker, General Motors Co had given a hint of its plan of introducing electric bicycles in the year 2019, although there was no such plan of entering electric scooter domain revealed. With these scenarios, the prevalence of energy-efficient transportation becomes even more evident.

Advanced Smart Sewer Technology to Boom up Stance in Gawler

SA Water, business enterprise wholly owned by Government of South Australia, is undertaking a new trial of the advanced smart sewer technology for $5 million. This trial is mainly taken out for reducing impacts and incidences of the sewerage network errors on its wider community and existing as well as emerging customers. Smells penetrating out of the sewerage networks would be monitored by the new 88 odour detection sensors as well as 10 weather stations for building greater understanding of the odour movement and behavior. It also helps in improving the proactive management of issues over time.

 SA Water to be the First Technology User

SA Water had mentioned that the focus of North Township of Adelaide is to improve the odour management, where detectable levels are consistently above average in various areas of the town. SA Water is considered as the former Australian water utilities for using technology in an in-depth whole of the suburb approach.

According to Peter Seltsikas, Asset Management’s Senior Manager had mentioned that the main aim of utilizing this smart sewer technology is to limit the amount of odour emission affecting the nearby residents. He further mentioned that the vent stacks in the smart sewer technology pulls in fresh air, thereby extending life of pipes. Weather stations are expected to highly benefit in monitoring climatic conditions such as air temperature and wind direction, thereby impacting on the movement of odour.

Forward-Looking Expansion Plans by SA Water

SA Water is also planning to pilot their smart wastewater network, which is located at Stonyfell, in Adelaide foothills. The company has been focusing on monitoring of sewage movement by means of level and flow sensors. This in turn helps in detecting pipe blockages as well as prevents overflows.

Development of the two pilots are also a part of smart water network expansion of SA Water towards Port Lincoln, Penneshaw, North Adelaide, and Athelstone. Success rate of this smart sewer technology is expected to substantially increase the company’s wastewater operations in the forthcoming years. Technological built between wastewater and water networks, which is considered as a leading analytics platform along with expertise in smart network is likely to help SA Water with enhanced customer experience.

Globally, the water industry has been witnessing a successful journey towards digital transformation. Smart water solutions help in improving the operating efficiencies, thereby driving the capital of the technological world. Private equities are witnessing opportunities in the smart water industry with increasing number of smart water M&A.

Apart from this, SA Water has been planning to make heavy investments of nearly $9 million throughout the roll out of company’s extensive smart wastewater and water networks. Installation of each equipment is ongoing as well as planned for transmitting near the real-time information. All the exclusive operations are expected to be in place by 2019.

Ola to Foray in the New Zealand Market

A recognized rideshare service provider, Ola announced on November 6 that it would extend its offerings in Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch and mark its entry in New Zealand. The passengers in New Zealand would enjoy a discount of 50 percent off on their rides for the initial first month.

Brian Dewil, the New Zealand Country Manager, Ola stated that Ola foraying into New Zealand is a significant action for Ola in the New Zealand’s ridesharing industry. The drivers across Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch have provided a cordial feedback to the company. With engaging drivers along the reliable platform, the company is excited to enter into New Zealand, providing the passengers with a new alternative to commute conveniently within the cities, added Brian.

This action was partially announced previously by the Bengaluru-based ridesharing company when Ola was inviting New Zealand’s private vehicle owners to obtain more information about registrations with Ola by visiting the website. With this action, the company ensured the drivers to witness market benefits at an initial 9 percent commercial rate.

The passengers in New Zealand can register rides in a very simplified way. By downloading the Ola app from iOS App store or Google Play store and registering an account the customers can easily book rides. The company plans to improve and provide enhancements to the app after the initial launch phase, as the Ola team would constantly keep track of the customer feedback for advancing the ridesharing experience and offering new offers and promotions. The company aims to leave no stone unturned while delivering great service to the customers.

Followed by its successful operational entry in the United Kingdom and Australia earlier this year, the New Zealand foray would significantly showcase its acceleration into the international market. Ola has already completed 2 million rides in Australia and presently operates with more than 50,000 drivers across seven cities in there. The New Zealand entry showcases as a calculated move for the company as it could enable the company to modify its business model for rightly fitting the requirements of the customers across the globe.

This entry into another international market is expected to boost Ola’s ridesharing services business thereby opening new growth avenues in the ridesharing industry. With this move, the company is strengthening its position as a ridesharing service provider while tackling prominent market competitors such as Ola.

New MyDoc Platform from Singapore Touted to Be Great Cost Saver for Asia’s Healthcare Sector

Singapore-based health technology startup MyDoc has been focusing on healthcare management solutions for large enterprises since its inception in 2014. Its value-based suite of products allows employees to consult doctors through video chat, get online prescriptions, avail chronic disease management programs, get referrals for specialists and even gives access to insurance information. This integrates every aspect of healthcare by bringing together healthcare professionals, patients, employers, insurance companies and pharmacies round the clock throughout the year, thereby saving time and money.

Research done by senior economists at the University of Southern California, Center for Economic and Social Research now claims that the use of the platform by companies across Asia has the potential of reducing healthcare costs in the region by at least 16 % and as high as 28% (USD 540 billion) out of a current US$ 2.7 trillion. At present the annual healthcare expenditure in Asia is predicted to grow at around 8% till the end of 2020.

MyDoc has already joined hands with a number of Fortune 500 companies in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong and some of the key market players in the insurance industry including Aetna, Cigna, and AIA, and is in discussion with many more players in the region.

MyDoc’s proprietary artificial intelligence platform called Pixi, can create a comprehensive picture of a patient’s health, through the combined efforts of human experts and cognitive computing systems to improve on diagnosis and take preventive action against illnesses, giving a more personalized healthcare experience. The system effectively directs human healthcare teams to gain safer co-ordination to ease of moving patients for a customized care procedure for each patient.

The AI system is specially designed to use data from health screenings and internet-of-things devices along with personal inputs by patients pre-fed health risk data sets to reduce errors occurring from preconceived ideas and biases and decide on the urgency of treatment on a case by case basis. The system can be used for a wide range of ailments from common cough and cold to life-threatening diseases.

The research claims that the MyDoc platform improves on patient engagement rates by up to 8 times, and saving 3 hours of time for every patient’s consultation, while seeing return user rate of over 90% in comparison to other leading markets such as that of the United States. This has been made possible by converting the conventional complicated and expensive healthcare process, to a simplified and personal continuous care platform.

Healthcare Industry on High Alert as Drug-Resistant ‘Superbugs’ Pose Significant Threat

European Union’s wide-ranging team of doctors recently discovered dozen of antibiotic drug resistant bacteria, after which they developed an estimate of five bug types that can lead to substantial death and infection rates. The team found out that according to 2015 stats, over 6, 70,000 individuals were ill and nearly 33,110 met with death. They also revealed that this death burden was equal to cumulative death burden of HIV, tuberculosis and influenza.

As per the study, there are higher possibilities that millions of people across Australia, North America and Europe succumb to tuberculosis, staph infection, and gonorrhea to name a few, due to superbug infections in the long run. For which, countries are likely to take crucial steps for prioritizing to fight against the constant threat that is posed by the bacteria immune to several known drugs. Middle and low-income regions are witnessing increased resistance. For instance, in Russia, Brazil and Indonesia, nearly 60% bacterial infections are strongly resistant to minimum of one antibiotic.

Notable Revelations by OECD

The OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) has declared warning of dreadful consequences for the public healthcare as well as spending, however considering circumstances are expected to arise only in cases of increased extreme hospital hygiene and elimination of usage of unnecessary antibiotics. OECD is of the point of view that by 200, there are substantial chances of death rate increasing to 2.4million due to consumption of superbugs. In addition, OECD had mentioned that superbugs treating costs would boost to approximately $3.5Billion per year in every country, inclusive of its analysis.

The OECD public health lead, Michele Cecchini, had stated recently that every country has been spending nearly 10% of healthcare budget on the treatment of AMR (antimicrobial-resistant) bugs. The notable point is that this AMR costs comparatively more than the treatment of flu, tuberculosis and HIV.

Lack of Awareness Leading to Null Effect

Lack of awareness is leading to humans consume more antibiotics per day by means of prescriptions to stave off the infections. This in turn leads to growing development of bacteria that stimulates in resisting drug effect created for killing them. However, researchers are finding out significant ways to dive out solutions to fight resistance with quicker and better testing for determining if each infection is viral. The new swab tests is expected to dent the overuse of antibiotics in the long, thereby benefitting the healthcare industry with positive growth prospects.

With soaring consumption of antibiotics across the globe, doctors are alarming over the multi drug-resistant bacteria strains. Increasing need for patient safety and burgeoning demand for the alternative treatment options is expected to create significant and immediate opportunities for the healthcare industry.

Online Drug Delivery System to Take a Toll in India with Decreased Healthcare Costs

Buying medicines online has turned out to be the latest trend among the consumers and patients in India. With this growing trend, e-pharmacies are also increasing at a significant rate. However, in September, the AIOCD (All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists) had protested against the draft proposal of Central government with regards to formalizing online sales of medicines. The drugs association has been feeling threatened to take a step towards pan-India bandh. Nearly 8.5Lakh chemists from across the nation had participated in the protests.

With easy accessibility and lower prices, online drug retail schemes have begun to pose threats for physical drug stores. The prices online are nearly 10 to 20% lower compared to prices at physical drug stores. Therefore, online players are only been facing significant costs on the basis of delivery.

Testimonials on Online Drug Delivery

Convenience is the major plus when it comes to online drug delivery. Especially for the sick and elderly, online drug delivery turn out to be extremely beneficial as it helps them in eliminating the situation where they would have to face crucial mobility issues. Online players are supplying to over 22,000 pin codes across India, which is inclusive of Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. This in turn has resulted in drastic time reduction taken for delivery in remote areas. E-pharmacies have been taking efforts in delivering on the similar day or in less than 5days.

Online players are of the viewpoint that their model could help in better disease management with increased adherence towards prescribed treatment plans. Digital trials in the online services have been offering greater confidence to the shareholders. Several general insurance companies have been collaborating with the e-pharmacies for outpatient department (OPD) covers owing to the tracking and e-billing facilities that they offer.

Various online players further mentioned that auditability and traceability would be beneficial in government regulation, law enforcement, and the insurance coverage of medicines. Moreover, DHP, the online association is also planning to avoid sales of the habit-forming painkillers as well as psychotropic and narcotic drugs. The main motif of the online players is to cater to the existing and emerging needs of customers and patients suffering from chronic conditions.

Pharmacists have been heavily relying on technology for complex tasks. Online pharmacies provide better pricing compared to the offline stores with growing access, lower product and transaction costs, convenience and better anonymity for the consumers, which in turn is expected to dive in significant revenue growth for the healthcare industry, with notable expansion of customer base on the e-pharmacy platform.

New Strategic Partnership to Drive Blockchain Router Production in MENA Region

Block chain has a come a long way since it has been conceptualized back in 2008. Owing to the potential that it holds, companies are harnessing its capabilities to foster their business growth. OptDyn, a company having the vision of offering IoT, cloud computing, and crypto-currency mining to its customers has entered into a strategic partnership with aSAY Group, an EOH subsidiary which is focused on providing best solutions and assist customers with a tailor-made approach in business.

The strategic partnership is focused on increasing the production as well as adoption of the blockchain router, Subutai in Middle East and North America. The partnership was announced at the seventh Ritossa Global Family Office Investment Summit.

The Subutai Blockchain Router is a ‘green’ and power-efficient broadband cloud router and Internet of Things (IoT) ‘Swiss Army Knife’ gateway with an industrial edition and residential edition. Owing to its great attributes the Subutai Blockchain router earns its users a passive income through several channels of income.

The initial focus of the partnership would be on the production as well as the distribution of the Residential Edition of the Subutai Blockchain Router. This residential edition of the Subutai Blockchain router offers its users with a passive income of nearly US$115 per month, without the need of any technical skills. Furthermore, the cryptocurrency mining and generating passive income becomes simpler with Subutai Blockchain Router as it is easy to connect and use.

Alex Karasulu, CEO of OptDyn, said that the OptDyn team is delighted to collaborate with aSAY and EOH as they are leading companies in the Middle East and North Africa market. Alex further added that OptDyn joining forces with aSAY would provide effective assistance in enhancing the life of million users with the Subutai Blockchain Router, as it expected to revolutionize the cryptocurrency mining market valuing greater than $4 billion.

Osman Koc, General Manager, aSAY Communication Services that with this partnership, they look forward to bring innovative technical solutions that stand essential to the market growth that serve a tremendous customer base. They are eager to recognize the Subutai Blockchain Router impact. The ethical cryptocurreny mining is in uniformity with their goal of becoming a relevant and ethical entity and render a positive role going beyond the conventional business practices, Osman added.

Cryptocurrency mining has gained greater emphasis with time. Moreover, such developments are expected to boost the market for better.

80 Space Exploration Startups from China Enter the Race to Challenge SpaceX

Space exploration is seeing a massive push from China as a number of startups in the country are in preparations to take on industry leaders like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin LLC head on for a significant share in the space market.

The proposition is a risky one, as there are a number of complex technical challenges that are associated with the business. However, with 80 Chinese startups entering the race in space technology, experts estimate that the increased completion will result in more successes than failures. Most of these new businesses are emphasizing on satellite and software related applications. A few are developing launch vehicles that are anticipated to provide a stiff competition to private outfits such as SpaceX for commercial space contracts.

With no significant sign of space-related business in the past 10 years of Chinese history, the country has come a long way at a rapid clip, displaying a very strong private sector of the country. The country opened its space business to private players in the year 2014, to tap into the lucrative opportunities being presented by the worldwide sector of commercial space technology worth more than 300 billion in the last year alone.

In addition the Chinese government has a very ambitious program for space exploration in the coming months including an unmanned lunar landing in December and a lander for Mars in the year 2020. The same year will also see the launch of the Chinese BeiDou satellite based navigation system, which is anticipated to act as direct completion to the U.S. built Global Positioning System.

After the recent rocket launch failure of Landspace Technology Corp., Other developers such as One Space are anticipated to take up the challenge later this year, and through next year as well. Landspace and One Space have already managed to gather approximately $72 million and $116 million respectively through local governments and private investors. Most of these space startups have some sort of government involvement, even if it is only in the form of monetary investments.

Landspace is developing a large size rocket that will be capable of 4 tons, which is nearly as much as SpaceX’s Falcon 9, at only a fraction of the price. The Chinese space market is anticipated to face some tough challenges on the business aspect as well. The Chinese space sector is facing stiff completion from other developing nations including India, China, UAE, and Brazil. In addition, the U.S. restricts Chinese companies from launching satellites that use U.S. produced parts, which is anticipated to act as a major constraint. China is anticipated to counter this through acquiring cost-effective contracts in Europe, especially with clients in the telecommunication and media sectors to create a new market.

Medical Device Innovations Fostered by New Investments

The Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center is running an initiative, which would be crucial and greatly beneficial for the business owners that work towards improving the patient life and enhancing their independence. The center is a collaboration between UMass Lowell and UMass Medical School that is known for assisting biotech and medical device startups.

The Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center received a grant of over $7 million from the National Institutes of Health with which it would establish an all-new center that would be focused towards providing assistance to the researchers that are pioneering the cutting-edge technology in the development of medical devices such as the point-of-care devices and technologies for the patients suffering from disorders related to blood, heart, lung or even sleep disorders. Patients would gain great help while dealing with the health concerns and manage their health irrespective of where they are, with the help of these innovations that work towards improving the quality of life and reducing the hospital stays of patients.

The businesses that work towards innovating the traditional medical devices and have innovations close enough to undergo tests in clinical settings are encouraged to apply for being a part of the new center that is being developed by Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center. This is expected to provide major opportunities for medical professionals across the United States. As stated, a seed funding and the center’s legal, business, and staff expert support would be offered to the successful applications. The Center already awards seed funding to the best new concept from early stage diagnostic, medical device and biotech firms.

According to officials, the center would bring the extensive skills and brilliance at UMass Lowell and UMass Medical School together for the purpose of offering a robust infrastructure for development in terms of technology in and outside the entities, improve the care and treatment-outcomes for patients, and assist in transforming the economy of the region. The center would be established in the UMass Lowell and UMass Medical School by the year end.

Medical devices are gaining tremendous importance with the changing healthcare landscape and the growing demand for effective healthcare treatments. With such funding programs, medical device providers and manufacturers can gain a greater support for providing effective solutions for effective patient-care and incorporate innovations that simplify the task for healthcare professionals. This is expected to boost the healthcare industry with major developments anticipated for the forthcoming future.

Alibaba to Power up and Centralize Its Cloud Business: Prominence

Cloud business is being dominated by established giants that include Microsoft and Amazon. To head up shoulder-to-shoulder on a business note, Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba had recently mentioned that they have plans to make their business totally powered by cloud. Also, he is of the point of view that cloud computing would be taken up as the main business for the company in the future. Alibaba is seeing a huge growth with regards to its cloud computing business over the last few quarters which is also attributed towards its international business expansion.

The cloud business of the Chinese e-commerce giant has been expanding at a significant pace and also saw a revenue growth of over $800 million in the quarter ended on Septembver30, a 90% Y-O-Y growth. Cloud accounted for nearly 7% of the total revenues in quarter versus 5% in the same timeframe year before, focusing on indicating how their business is concentrated but still holds considerably more share.

Expansion Strategy of Alibaba

Alibaba has already firmed up on expanding its cloud business across new territories but outside China, which was more than two years ago. The company has opened up new data centers in Europe and Asia along with others. Recently, the company opened up a novel data center in U.K., which is country where Amazon, Alibaba’s rival holds a strong presence. Alibaba is taking up cloud computing in a way that it would help in diversifying their business beyond retail. With the launch of “New Retail” by Alibaba, the company is gearing up to combine its entire online properties with the brick-and-mortar supplies. This also includes the company’s food delivery and logistics network.

CSS Insights’ senior vice president, Martin Garner had mentioned that Alibaba has been making heavy investments at a significant rate for developing its cloud services. The company has firmed up itself in a way that it is considered as one amongst the hyperscale cloud players of the world, making it up for neck-to-neck competition with Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Alibaba is trying to expand its global footprint with innovations and advancements in its portfolio of cloud services, at a notable pace. Also, the company is experiencing a strong push in the field of IoT (Internet of Things). In the long run, the company will also design on its new AI (artificial intelligence) chips.

Cloud-based services are seen as being pervasive for some associations because of which, in today’s modern world, it is hard to envision using applications as well as innovation foundation workings without the cloud. Business world in the long run will be seen significantly increasing the adoption of cloud computing as it helps in enhancing efficiency, improves cash flow and also offers various other benefits such as flexibility, disaster recovery, automatic software update, capital-expenditure free, increased collaboration, work from anywhere, document control, security, competitiveness and most of all, is environment friendly.