ICT Luxembourg
has released a Whitepaper on AI in Banking, which is leading the way in my opinion – giving food for thought and also paints a picture that we probably all (can) share in one way or another. I strongly recommend the read. It has been a collaborative effort of many parties and surely they are aiming at showing the attractiveness of Luxembourg, but I believe this is much broader. You can download the paper here.
It´s been my pleasure to contribute a chapter to the new book „Digital Marketplaces Unleashed“, which is published by Springer on October 13th, with my dear co-author Björn Matthies.
This collection of different views on how digitalization is influencing various industrial sectors addresses essential topics like big data and analytics, fintech and insuretech, cloud and mobility technologies, disruption and entrepreneurship.
The technological advances of the 21st century have been massively impacted by the digital upheaval: there is no future without digitalization. The sale of products and services has left the classical point of sale and now takes place on a variety of channels. Whether in the automotive industry, travel and traffic, in cities, or the financial industry – newly designed ecosystems are being created everywhere; data is being generated and analyzed in real time; and companies are competing for mobile access channels to customers in order to gain knowledge about their individual contexts and preferences. In turn, customers can now publicly share their opinions, experiences and knowledge as User Generated Content, allowing them to impact the market and empowering them to build or destroy trust.
There is lots of intelligence at the World Economic Forum – but this piece I like in particular for many reasons. Mostly, because it is honest and realistic. It simply just does not work that some city or metropolitan area tries to be the „Silicon Valley of XYZ“ by proclamation. Too many ingredients make the actual Silicon Valley what it is and next to public-private partnership and the close-tied web of relations, the cluster, the special openness to change, itarations and – yes – failure. Adoption of change and embracing of change. And let´s be fair, also the Silicon Valley is subject to change and has been time and time again. Currently the hottest companies leave the traditional „Silicon Valley“, named after the Semiconductor-Companies there, to be headquartered im San Francisco. So really we should talk about the greater San Francisco Bay Area. There will not be two areas of this kind on this planet, because you simply cannot replicate everything AND fill it with life, just because it is a political will. And especially this won´t work for a city or even one single European nation. So I like the analysis provided in this great article of the World Economic Forum: How Europe can build a Silicon Valley.
For 
digital-marketing agency Cooperatize.com, taking bitcoin for payment was easy enough, all co-founder Roger Wu had to do was obtain a digital wallet. To promote the move in 2014, he even penned a blog post for Forbes explaining the decision. A great read on PaymentSource.com – you should read the full article here.
Die emotionale, teils dogmatisch geführte Diskussion zwischen Anhängern klassischer Motorisierung und Anhängern von e-Autos aus dem Silicon Valley mit brutalen Beschleunigungswerten verfolge ich seit geraumer Zeit – und bin selbst hin- und hergerissen. Warum? Ich sehe gute Argumente auf beiden Seiten. Zur Alltagstauglichkeit. Zum Öko-Nutzen. Zu den volkswirtschaftlichen Effekten.
Heute fand ich einen Blog-Beitrag mit dem Titel „Wie sich der Kollaps der deutschen Autoindustrie abspielen wird“ des Innovations-Evangelisten Mario Herger. Ich halte den Beitrag für höchst lesenswert – wenngleich er in Teilen der Leserschaft für einen Aufschrei sorgen mag. Die Diskussion ist hilfreich, weil Diskussionen befruchtend wirken. Vielleicht kommen dann auch wirklich spannende Technologien wie e-Autos mit Brennstoffzelle wieder in den Fokus? Schnelles Tanken und hohe Reichweite gepaart mit hoher Umweltfreundlichkeit und einer Beschleunigung zur Freude des Chiropraktikers. Wär was für mich.