Innovation

• [New] COVAX has already engaged 186 countries worldwide - including all 47 countries in the African Region - and aims to deliver 2 billion doses globally for high-risk populations by the end of 2021, including 1 billion doses for low and middle-income countries.
• [New] Private investors could save up to US$ 2.9 trillion a year by 2030 as a result of the lowered costs of raw materials and the promotion of employment and innovation.
• [New] 2020 is undoubtedly a turning point for innovation, new opportunities and outlooks in the financial and payments sectors in Brazil over the coming years.
• [New] Alberta carbon offset values surged by 20% in recent days after the provincial government confirmed that the excess emissions charge under its Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction programme will rise by C$10 next year, matching the increase in Ottawa's CO2 pricing mandate.
• [New] Singapore is turning its attention to electric vehicles following Hyundai Motor Group's investment in a new innovation centre that may produce up to 30,000 vehicles a year by 2025.
• [New] The growth of consumption in emerging markets represents a significant growth opportunity as more than one billion people are expected to enter the consumer class in the coming decades.
• [New] With the data market scaling exponentially, it will take the intersection of both vision and the right technology to create the global digital infrastructure that will drive growth in the years to come.
• [New] Cloud databases have been growing double digits for years and Gartner predicts that by 2022, public cloud services will be essential for 90% of data and analytics use cases.
• With the world's demand for meat projected to double by 2050, cultured meat offers an innovative food system that will provide nutritional security, drastically reduce carbon emissions, and increase food safety worldwide.
• As the world of digital payments continues to evolve and expand as a result of new innovative solutions, we will see biometrics, facial recognition, voice recognition, smart vending solutions becoming more prominent in the world of payments in the coming years.
• Following the success of the EIC pilot phase (2018-20), the fully-fledged EIC is expected to be launched early next year under Horizon Europe, the new EU research and innovation programme, with increased funding for breakthrough technologies.
• Israel is a center for technological innovation, and the TMT sector continued to perform solidly in 2020, providing a highlight for Israeli dealmaking in an otherwise unpredictable year.
• In order to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, Joe Biden has pledged to finance the development of low-carbon aviation and shipping technologies, investing, over ten years, $400bn in clean energy innovation.
• The United States wants to maintain its leadership in AI, while China aspires to become the primary center for AI innovation by 2030.
• Without more affordable and reliable clean energy technologies, the world will not meet its climate goals, regardless of the level of ambition of international commitments under the Paris agreement-even if Europe achieves its ambition of climate neutrality by 2050.
• Quinbrook plans to commit significant capital to the UK energy sector over the coming years to develop and construct innovative and impactful infrastructure designed to aid the UK economic recovery and reduce carbon emissions.
• In the coming phase, the UAE Ministry of Economy and its partners will work on launching a new phase of initiatives to increase SME capabilities, enable national entrepreneurship, and encourage start-ups and businesses operating in innovation and technology related sectors.
• The U.K.'s preeminent film bodies, the BFI and BAFTA, have produced a report that identifies innovations across five key areas to reduce carbon emissions in film production, with a view to zero emissions by 2050.
• The EU must allocate portions of its €750bn Covid-19 recovery fund to emerging, innovative technologies which decarbonise energy, the built environment, industry, transport and the agri-food sector if it is to meet its net-zero goal by 2050.
• By 2026, the 250th anniversary of the United States, China's strategic plan calls for it to be well on its way to becoming the unchallenged world leader in science, technology and innovation.
• In a world post-Covid - 19 and post-Brexit economy, innovation will be essential if the UK wants to maintain its competitive edge writes CTO of Thales in the UK, Dr Paul Gosling.
• In 2020, the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board provided the following recommendation to the UK Government: 'Government should enable an Advanced Modular Reactor demonstrator in the period 2030 to 2035.

Last updated: 29 November 2020