In a major effort to assist ICT industry in Taipei to expand its business in the global market, the Department of Economic Development, Taipei City Government hosted the 2019 ICT Procurement Meeting at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center on Wednesday May 29.  Over 18 international buyers and 65 ICT suppliers joined the business matching event to explore business opportunities in Taipei. An estimated US$35.5 million procurement for ICT vendors during the meeting. With great potential and leading industry clusters, the ICT industry in Taipei stands at a leading position in the global ICT value and supply chain. The creative engineers, flexible business culture and diligence of its workers make the ICT industry in Taipei City a crucial part of the global ICT industry. Among the participating international buyers, many have an annual turnover of more than US$100 million, and some even exceed US$10 billion, with leading names including Toshiba Memory, Intel, Fireeye, Innowave Global, Microdia, Viscom, Vietnam Network Technology, All IT Hypermarket, Servex, Code Solutions IT Consulting Services, Computer Union and Super International. The buyers were looking to purchase a wide variety of ICT products, including servers, storage devices, DRAM, memory cards, IoT, smart homes, alarm systems, network equipment, connected devices, computer accessories and peripheral products, GPS solutions, video conferencing, photography solutions, medical technology, wired and wireless headset components, smart bracelet components, special copper wire. The Taipei City Government dedicates to promote the development of the ICT industry in Taipei. With the aim to attract more international enterprises to come to Taipei, the Taipei City Government provides different subsidies and grants to newly established or innovative enterprises, including investment subsidies; startup, branding, R&D and angel funds; and incubator grants. The Neihu Technology Park 2.0 Project will begin operation in the first season of 2020, providing more space and quality infrastructures for the enterprises to focus on ICT, startups, fintech and smart cities. In another effort to make Taipei the best destination for global investors, the Department of Economic Development has established the Invest Taipei Office (ITO) to assist foreign enterprises investing in Taipei. The ITO provides one-stop service for businesses by organizing the resources of the Taipei City Government, with services ranging from laws and regulations consultation, business inspection arrangement, company registration and visa application consultation to subsidies information. The ITO also has good connections and cooperation with the central government. By combining the resources of the Taipei City and central governments, the ITO can effectively assist enterprises expanding their businesses to Taipei.

Bahrain is on track to roll out 5G networks next month, according to a government minister. Housing Minister Bassem Al Hamer said it would prove essential in the adoption of smart city technology, which he described as a necessary requirement for the future of urban communities. Both VIVA Bahrain and Batelco are launching 5G networks. Mr Al Hamer told a panel at the first session of the UN-Habitat Assembly, which concludes today in Kenya, that he hoped smart city innovation would result in more interaction between the government and individuals. “It is possible to use monitoring devices to collect data and information, such as traffic congestion, temperature, air quality, the efficiency of electricity, water and other networks – which then can be analysed by artificial intelligence,” said Mr Al Hamer during the event at the UN-Habitat headquarters, in Nairobi. “It will be an essential element in the quality and efficiency of services, and therefore countries can achieve development goals that focus on sustainable cities. “Many countries in the world are currently connecting cities with 5G technology, which maximises the possibilities and raises the efficiency of the use of these technologies – and enhances efficiency and capabilities of the infrastructure. “(5G) has become essential and represents one of the key components of smart cities. “Bahrain will begin to implement it next month.” Successful commercial trials for 5G technology were held in June last year. VIVA has partnered with Chinese telecom giant Huawei to set up its network, while Batelco is working with Swedish company Ericsson. In February VIVA said its network was already completed and enabled. The following month Batelco announced its 5G deployment would happen in phases in key locations. 5G technology will enable customers to enjoy super-fast Internet and smart technologies driven by the Internet of Things (IoT), as well as virtual reality, ultimate real-time gaming and 3D 8K video. It also provides a platform for artificial intelligence and connected cars.   Source:https://www.gdnonline.com

Kenya is hoping for new jobs and business opportunities when a plan by Microsoft Corporation to set up a technology development centre in Kenya comes to fruition. The US corporation's vice president for gaming Phil Spencer said during a meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House, Nairobi that the center would serve the eastern Africa region, the presidential media unit reported. The technology center would be the seventh globally for Microsoft and would be the lead hub of engineering for the company and its affiliates. “The African Development Centres will contribute to Microsoft's interests across global businesses such as Office, Azure and Windows among others,” said Mr Spencer. He did not give a date for the establishment of the center or the investment required. The announcement comes as technology players across the world seek to leverage on tech-savvy Kenyan youth in various ICT disciplines. Mr Spencer said the corporations would absorb 100 engineers in vacancies that were announced in March, describing as exciting the changes in the Africa technology landscape. The centre will leverage on the diversity of the regional landscape to build world class talent capable of creating innovative solutions for global impact. It would also act as an engineering springboard for new technology investments in Kenya. Microsoft has earmarked Nigeria as the other beneficiary of a similar facility on the continent to serve West Africa President Kenyatta said the technology development sites carried great potential for job creation, talent development and technology transfer among Africa's youth especially in countries with good ICT literacy ratings. The president challenged Microsoft to ensure intellectual property rights of Kenyans involved in their projects are adequately protected. "Ensure we do not lose the intellectual property rights that belong to our young people. We need an open and transparent partnership," President Kenyatta said. He also asked the company to democratize innovation in the digital space by expanding the range of African languages available and usable on the internet.     Source : https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/Microsoft-to-set-up-tech-hubs-in-Kenya--Nigeria/2560-5113346-13mljm5/index.html

The Japanese auto makers after World World II used lean production to grow market share.  In the 1980s the American auto makers started using it as well.  Today, almost all auto makers use lean production as they cannot survive without doing so. Lean production uses statistical process control and a flexible organization to design and build products while reducing variance (i.e. errors) in the manufacturing process. Information technology has been the exception to lean production until recently.  Almost all large organizations use lean principles to optimize manufacturing and services. Information technology has not done because it is more difficult to optimize software versus optimizing physical products.  In addition, corporate information technology has not been around as long in comparison at only 50 years old. Recently, the rise of DevOps (development/operations) is how information technology gets the results of lean production. The effect of DevOps on how we work and interface with technology has been revolutionary. One of the authors of the DevOps movement, Gene Kim, believes it operates on the following principles: 1. Continuous experimentation – the organizational culture is allowed to experiment and take risks and learn from failure as well as use repetition and practice to reach mastery. 2. Systems thinking – this is focusing on the performance of the entire system versus the performance on a particular project or department. 3. Feedback loops:  - this is having an understanding of customers and responding back to them all whether internal or external, to shorten response time and amplify feedback. Isaac Cheifetz ( a special to the Star Tribune) recommends the 2013 book “Phoenix Project” to learn more about DevOps.  It is a story about a struggling auto parts chain that discovers the power of DevOps. As society moves more into being driven by information,  being able to optimize IT just like manufacturing and services has done using lean principles is one giant leap forward.   Source：http://www.startribune.com/lean-principles-now-being-applied-to-information-technology/510069502/

The government will conclude the main details of Thailand Cyberport development in the next two months before getting the project off the ground by year-end to create a national digital community and one-stop facilitator for startups and entrepreneurs. The announcement comes after the digital economy and society (DE) minister and his team met the chairman of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Co last week. The two parties agreed to drive development of Thailand Cyberport. Hong Kong Cyberport is a digital community whose management company is wholly owned by the Hong Kong government. DE Minister Pichet Durongkaveroj said Thailand Cyberport, through a collaboration with Hong Kong Cyberport, aims to be a national innovative community for multiple sectors and a centre of the startup ecosystem in the region, attracting venture capital firms and global enterprises.  "The existing ecosystem for startup incubation is not enough to drive the government's Thailand 4.0 roadmap, and thus the government needs a more practical driver of digital ecosystem development," he said. Mr Pichet said the existing incubation projects for startups operated by private and state agencies lack the necessary functions for startups from seed-level incubation, connecting them to strategic partners and investors, and driving collaboration with local and international business partners. "Thailand Cyberport will help incubate startups at all levels seeking angel funds, skills management coaching and venture capital," he said, adding that the project will embrace areas as diverse as culture, tourism and agriculture. Thailand Cyberport will be set up in the vicinity of the Digital Park in Chon Buri province under the government's Eastern Economic Corridor scheme. The DE Ministry is working with the Science and Technology Ministry, the Industry Ministry and the Board of Investment to finalise major details of the Thailand Cyberport project, Mr Pichet said Monday on the sidelines of the "Big Change to Big Chance" event celebrating the eighth anniversary of the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA). Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak visited Hong Kong and met the head of Hong Kong Cyberport Management. Mr Somkid initiated the development of Thailand Cyberport along similar lines. Hong Kong Cyberport is a business park consisting of four office buildings, a hotel and a retail entertainment complex. It describes itself as a "creative digital community" with a cluster of technology and digital content tenants. According to a statement on the Hong Kong Cyberport website, the park is the flagship of Hong Kong's digital tech industry, with a committed team of professionals providing value-added services to support the digital community. Mr Pichet said the government through the DE Ministry is pushing several tasks to fulfil the digital transformation of Thailand. One highlight is establishing a test base for 5G wireless broadband at the Digital Park in Chon Buri. The 5G test base was approved Monday by the National Digital Economy and Society Committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Prajin Juntong.

An Egyptian application titled “7keema” has been named as the best startup in Egypt at the 2018 Seedstars world competition 7keema is a mobile application owned by HealthApp Group that provides safe, instant and high quality services in the field of home care nursing through registered and licensed professional nurses. The app service is provided 24/7, initially in Egypt and planned to reach other MENA countries soon. The competition finalists included five intriguing startups in Egypt (7akeema, Hitchhiker, Odiggio, Vapulus, and Skolera) who successfully presented their companies goals to a jury of local investment and the Regional Manager for MENA at Seedstars. At the end of the pitching round, 7keema startup snatched the prize as the first of its kind in the Middle East. Odiggio, an e-commerce company that sells car parts, ranked second while Hitchhiker, a social media platform connecting users looking to ship items are linked to trusted travelers, grabbed third place. 7keema will represent Egypt at the global Seedstars Summit in Switzerland, held on April 2019. The summit includes a week-long training program which provides an opportunity for app developers and owners to meet with 65 other winners from fast growing economies, along with iconic global investors and mentors. 7keema will also have a chance to win up to $1M in equity investment. The Seedstars world competition is a global startup competition covering more than 65 emerging and developing markets.

“Vkontakte” began testing their payment platform VK Pay and are aiming to become the largest online trading platform in Russia, as is stated in the message by the social network itself. As of today, every VK community will be able to activate a convenient payment solution within the network – the company is beginning their testing of the platform VK Pay. Transfer of funds occurs instantly, as when paying in any store. Gazprombank became a partner of the social network. So far, you can make purchases and pay for services both in the special section "VKontakte" and on the sites of VK Pay partners. Gradually, all users will have access to the service. At the same commission for the input, withdrawal and transfer of funds from either buyers or sellers will not be taken. The launch of VK Pay is an important stage for the final formation of a full-scale e-commerce ecosystem. According to him, the combination of communication and payment functions will make VKontakte the largest site for online trading in Russia. Taking into account the ‘Vkontakte’ demographic and its readiness to make purchases, it is safe to assume a market with a value of no more than 100 billion rubles in the next few years. “Collaborative projects that we are starting to work on aim at introducing an entirely new way of offering services and items for purchase in the digital space, which was dictated by the rapidly changing market of financial services and growing customers’ demand,” – noted Gazprombank. Starting from 2015, over 490 000 communities have activated the service “Market.”

Walmart has announced a new partnership with Waymo, the self-driving car service created by Google.  Walmart and Waymo will launch a pilot project to transport customers to and from a store location to pick up their groceries.  The project is currently being tested out in one Walmart store located in Chandler, Arizona to a group of nearly 400 Waymo daily users. The pilot customers will place an online grocery pickup order on the Walmart website or app. Once the order is complete and fulfilled then, Waymo will transport the customer to and from the pickup. According to Tom Ward, VP of digital operations of Walmart U.S., “while giving customers a unique experience with amazing technology, we’re learning how we can make Walmart Online Grocery Pickup even more convenient. Waymo’s experience, industry leading technology and mission on safety is helping us enter this space in the right way.” Walmart offers online grocery pickup in nearly 1,500 locations and has plans to expand to more stores this year. Walmart and Google have also partnered in the past. Walmart has hundreds of products available for voice shopping via Google Assistant, which is Google's online shopping platform that lives on its smart speaker Google Home and other smart devices.