According to statistics from the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), part of the Association for Advancing Automation, during last year, robots were shipped to companies for their North American operations in record numbers with more non-automotive companies installing robots than ever before. RIA figures show 35,880 units were shipped in 2018, a +7% increase over 2017, with 16,702 shipments to non-automotive companies, up +41%. Notable growth came in areas like: food & consumer goods (48%), plastic & rubber (37%), life sciences (31%) and electronics (22%).  In Mexico, orders of robots totaled 3,907 units, just 10.9% of total. Contrary to the trend, the sector with the highest participation was the manufacture of automotive components with 71%, followed by automotive OEMs with 12% and 17% remaining for other sectors. The three main applications that most use robots in Mexico have to do with spot welding with 23%, arc welding 24% and 41% for material handling. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) predicts that by 2019 the number of robot orders in Mexico will increase to 6,000 units, by 2020 the figure will rise to 7,500 units and for 2021 to 9,000.   Source：https://www.a3automate.org/  

The software that fully automizes the process of music creating and an application which addresses the issue of the lack of disability inclusion in the society by with a network of caring volunteers to assist people with disabilities — these are born in Ukraine innovative projects made by teens to be presented in the USA at Diamond Challenge Worldwide Final Round in April. Let’s support Ukrainian teams together and wish them well at the Diamond Challenge Finals and discover inspiring ideas that may change our world from Ukrainian school students! Recently on March 2019, 50 Ukrainian high school students aged 14 - 17 years old presented their business concepts during All-Ukrainian Preliminary Round of Diamond Challenge for High School Entrepreneurs at the America House Kyiv. 19 best teams, which were selected from all over Ukraine by online-judging, presented their Business Innovations and Social Innovations concepts in front of honorable judges.  Diamond Challenge for High School Entrepreneurs is organized by Charity Fund ICEPP with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine in partnership with the University of Delaware, Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and Peace Corps Ukraine. Nataliia Shkurka, Diamond Challenge Coordinator in Ukraine, said: This program is an opportunity for high school students to dive into the world of developing an idea of their own businesses. Unfortunately, Ukrainian schools do not provide business education in the official school curricula, therefore, such non-formal educational programs as Diamond Challenge stimulate teenagers to develop their entrepreneurial skills, financial literacy knoweldge, and motivate them to learn about business strategies, business planning, marketing, financial planning etc. The most valuable thing about this project is that teenagers have a chance to get a feedback about the work done throughout all stages of competition: from online judges, mentors, experts and representatives of successful Ukrainian companies”. This year Business Innovations track was judged by Yurii Tkachenko – General Manager at VELUX Ukraine and Coordinator of VELUX in Belarus; Julia Gerasymenko – Founder and CEO at Business Teaching Center; Tetyana Prokopchuk – Vice-President at the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, Gennadii Shestak – Co-owner and CEO at Ugears, Oleksandr Yarema – Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and Viktoria Mikhailenko – Cultural Affairs Assistant at Public Affairs Section at the U. S. Embassy in Ukraine. The jury faced an extremely important task – to be objective and impartial, but not too strict in order to inspire each of the participants to embody their own business despite the results of the competition. Participants presented their business concepts in various fields such as energy, medicine, tourism, language learning, information technology, etc. Having 5 minutes for pitching in English, each of the team needed to prove jury that they have the most viable idea. First place was awarded to the team NoteSpace from Kyiv (Davyd Viniarskyi and Nikita Taratorin). Students want to create a NoteSpace – a special device with software that helps composers and musicians to automize many aspects of their work, allowing them to fully concentrate on their creative endeavors. It allows to write music down without using note sheets and it fully automizes the process of music creating. Moreover, it provides automatic music sheets turning while playing music. “We are shocked and extremely happy at the same time. We didn’t expect to win. We are very happy and feel extreme responsibility for Ukraine’s representation in the United States”, – noted the authors of the victorious concept Davyd and Nikita. Second place was awarded to ProGranny from Dnipro. The team is represented by Alina Novosolova, Kateryna Lushnia and Anfrii Shevtsov. They want to create ProGranny – Program Assistant with AI, which allows older people to cope with information technologies, recognizing all user requests and interpreting their meaning in an accessible form.  “Our algorithm can be used not only for the ProGranny program, but also for teaching modern informational technologies children, teachers, other people. Our product is ready for 80%, therefore, we are searching for opportunities to launch our Program”, said Kateryna.   Third place was awarded to the team InSky Light from Oleksandriia which consists of Yelyzaveta Terentieva and Dmytro Steblyna. InSky Light is a network of power plants which generate and transmit electricity in a wireless way with the help of Global Electronic Network. Summing up the results of the competition, Tetyana Prokopchuk, Vice-President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine said, “It is encouraging to observe that Ukraine has so many young and passionate leaders who seek to find ways to solve certain social issues”. According to Julia Gerasymenko, the founder and CEO of the Foreign Language Training Center, it is necessary to make your dreams come true despite the criticism and opinions of others. “Many people can say that your idea isn’t viable. But it can possibly change your life and the lives of others not only in Ukraine but also in the whole world. Don’t be afraid to create something new, make mistakes and stand up again. The main thing is to move forward and to know that everything is possible”. Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Oleksandr Yarema stressed “It is incredible that in this Program all participants have equal opportunities regardless place of living, it doesn’t matter if you live in a big city or in a small village. Every project is worth of implementation. I’m impressed by the modern Ukrainian youth who creates such innovative and interesting business projects. It's great that our youth are ready to work for the development and prosperity of our country”, noted Mr. Yarema. Social Innovations Track was judged by Kelli Moorehead – Peace Corps Ukraine Volunteer within the Youth Development Program; Oleksandr Tsepko – PSD Expert, Coordinator of the EU Initiative “Mayors for the Economic Growth”; Andrii Ivchatov – CEO of fitness center for children with physical disabilities “Samotuzhka”; Mariia Barabash – Ukrainian Investment Banker, Social Activist, Founder and President of Ukrainian investment company A7CAPITAL (member of A7GROUP), Co-Founder of Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs; and Bohdan Kelichavii from the USAID’s DOBRE Program. This year 10 teams offered their concepts of social business in different areas: solutions to the problem of urbanization, creation of eco-parks, house construction for homeless and the latest methods of creating environmentally friendly clothes. First place was awarded to the team BINCLE of Svitlana Honcharuk from Zaporizha and Viktoriia Zhdanova from Enerhodar. Bincle is an application which addresses the issue of the lack of disability inclusion in the society by with a network of caring volunteers to assist people with disabilities when they need help. Girls impressed judges with a perfect pitch and a well-developed business plan. “We feel honored to represent our country in the United States, and this must be done very well so that everyone understands that this is Ukraine and see what we are capable of” said Svitlana and Viktoriia. Second place was awarded to the team Rehabox which consists of Serhii Durytskyi, Ivanna Mendyl, Lilia Aliesanova and Dmytro Stakhov. United team from Cherkasy, Kyiv, Pereiaslav-Khmelnitskyi made a concept of special rehabilitation room for military soldiers who suffers from posttraumatic syndrome. Such rehabox use innovative methods of curing, for example, virtual reality. Third place was awarded to the team Re:Project from Kyiv which consists of Milena Rybtsova and Marianna Iovenko. Girls offered to turn the abandoned buildings in Kyiv into new interactive environments for young business companies and startups. “I would’ve never guessed that these projects are developed by teens, because all participants draw the attention to very serious social challenges. It’s very interesting to observe, what kind of solutions they offer!” – said Oleksandr Tsepko, Social Innovations live judge. 2 winning teams expect a $1,000 reward and a paid trip to the USA, where the Worldwide Final Round during the Youth Entrepreneurship Summit from April 13-15, 2019 will be held. Winners at this stage will get 11 thousand dollars for the first place, 7000 dollars – for the second, and for the third one - 3500 dollars.    Source：https://destinations.com.ua/news/business-in-ukraine/894-from-diamond- challenge-to-true-business-opportunities

Mexico´s Central Bank is in talks with Amazon.com Inc. to launch a new government-backed mobile payment system that would allow consumers to pay for online purchases using QR codes, the bank´s head of payments said. It would be the 1st time the world´s largest online retailer offers such scanning technology in Mexico and could eventually open a new customer base in a nation where more than half of the population has no bank account. The payment system, known as CoDi, is being built by Mexico´s Central Bank, known as Banxico. CoDi will allow customers to make payments online and in person through smartphones free of charge using QR codes. A pilot rollout of CoDi is expected this month, according to Banxico. “Amazon and Argentine rival MercadoLibre have approached the bank about adopting the system”, Jaime Cortina, Banxico´s Director of Operations and Payments. Only 3.9% of retail sales were made online in Mexico last year, according to the research firm Euromonitor International, with Amazon and Mercado Libre among the biggest players.   Source：https://www.reuters.com/places/mexico

Egypt’s Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali and Minister of Communications and Information Technology (CIT) Amr Talaat launched on Tuesday the “Wazefa Tech” initiative under the motto “Learn today and pay tomorrow”, which will offer a three-month training program to enhance the skills of job seekers in the communications and information technology sector. The ministry selected 167 young interns, including 91 from Cairo, 14 from Alexandria and 15 from Upper Egypt governorates, in the program’s first batch. Wali pointed out that Nasser Bank will offer flexible zero-interest loans guaranteed by the Ministry of Telecommunications for the young interns to pay the program’s fees, which will be repaid later through the interns’ job salaries within a repayment period of three years. She mentioned that the government would offer LE 100 million to fund the initiative. Meanwhile, Talaat said in December that the CIT sector contributed 3.1 percent to Egypt’s GDP this year. He pointed to the ministry’s efforts in investing in building youth capacities and providing excellent job opportunities by providing training programs aimed at reaching 20,000 young people in the coming three years using direct training methods and digital platforms.   Source：https://ww.egyptindependent.com/egypt-launches-wazefa-tech-training-program/

“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.”

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.

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.

According to TeleGeography, “Mexican start-up GuruComm has become the 1st company to launch a commercial wireless broadband proposition using the 700MHz open access “Red Compartida” network. The company, which has offices in Mexico City and Querétaro, sells modems for US $95.2, and offers monthly plans supporting download transmission speeds of up to 10Mbps and 20Mbps. According to TeleGeography GlobalComms Database, “Red Compartida” (which has exclusive access to a 90Mhz block of spectrum in the 700MHz band) went live in March 2018, covering 32.2% of the population at launch. Initial locations covered by the infrastructure include parts of Mexico City, Nuevo León, Jalisco, Puebla, Michoacán, Colima, Nayarit, Aguascalientes and Guanajuato. Going forward, the network must cover 50% of the population by 2020, and 92.2% of the population by 2024. ”   Source from “TeleGeography” https://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2018/08/29/gurucomm-becomes-first-telco-to-utilise-red-compartida/