Introduction Recently, we attended a talk by Dr. Joon Seok Lee, President, Korean Invention Promotion Association (KITA). The talk, Employee’s Patent Compensation System (EPCS) in Korea, was organized by Malaysian Association of Research Scientists (MARS). The EPCS has been a motivating factor for engineers and scientists in Korea to discover new innovations and allow their […]
Background This article is one of a series of articles on how certain industries and products are upended by new entrants outside of the existing industries. This article will focus on vacuum cleaners which are now replaced by robots. History of Vacuum Cleaners Every house will have a vacuum cleaner which cleans dirt and dust […]
Our “Rambutan” Fruits Ready to be Harvested if the Monkeys Do Not Get Them First
Background Today, not many people would know H. N. Ridley. As a Malaysian business and innovation historian, I had studied the development of Malaysian major industries. I noted, in each industry, there was a notable industry champion. Of all the Malaysian industries, plantation rubber had the most economic impact on British Malaya (Malaysia before independence […]
Introduction Buy brewers. Buy distillers. Buy restaurant companies. This was the conclusion the other day from stock market analysts at Morgan Stanley, who predicted that the arrival of the era of driverless cars would trigger a significant pick-up in alcohol consumption. Autonomous vehicles and ride-sharing technology will enable us to glug more than ever, the […]
Dato’ Dr. Anuar is founder of Bison Consulting. He has been involved in the commercialization of technologies and the assessment of new innovation. Dato’ Dr. Anuar has developed expertise in the valuation of new ventures during his long involvement as a private equity manager and investment analyst in Malaysia and Silicon Valley, USA. He […]
Co-Working Spaces In a lobby of a Paris building the size of an Olympic swimming pool, workers huddle in discussion on tan-leather sofas, sheltered by an ornate geometric glass ceiling. Other sit at long wooden tables next to a winter garden, tapping away on laptops with the uniformity of typing pool. This lavish set-up was […]
Background It was reported recently that Shell, the oil giant, had bought a company, New Motion, a Dutch firm with 30,000 private charging points at home and offices in Europe. This is an interesting development, and it indicates that the oil giants are contemplating a business life after oil. The downstream sector, especially the retailing […]
Automation and Jobs A report by Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford (The Report), has examined the susceptibility of jobs to computerization. The impact of computerisation on jobs (labour market) is well-established. It is documented that there will be a decline in routine -intensive occupations, that is, occupations mainly consisting of task following well-defined procedures […]
Introduction The recent Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2917 saw major car companies exhibited several models of electric cars. Subsequently, investors are piling-up their bets on mining companies that are involved in lithium, the key component for making batteries for electric cars. BlackRock, one of the largest fund managers in the world, has […]