Hyundai-Kia Ties With Microsoft For “In-Vehicle Entertainment” 8 May 2008
Posted by Michael in Branding, Innovation, Korea, News, Products, Services.add a comment
Bill Gates, after meeting with Korean President Lee, announced Microsoft will invest $100M+ in setting up the “Automotive IT Innovation Center” jointly with Hyundai-Kia Motors, the nation’s premier auto company. According to Reuters, the first product under the partnership would be a voice-controlled system linking mobile devices to car stereo systems; Later versions are expected to include multimedia and navigation-related features. In plain English: the US-bound Hyundai and Kia vehicles will soon have Microsoft-powered gadgets and interfaces inside the cars. As evidenced by Ray Ozzie’s “Mesh” plan, Microsoft is working hard on its new corporate vision to provide ubiquitous connected experience across all devices and environments, including the driver’s seat. Meanwhile, BMW has begun offering on-board internet access. Other companies like Nissan and Apple should also be looking at similar opportunities.
[From Web 2.0 Asia]
Asian Execs Pick Top 20 Most Innovative Companies 27 April 2008
Posted by Michael in China, India, Innovation, News, Opinion.add a comment
In a 22 April post, BusinessWeek columnist Bruce Nussbaum lists 20 most innovative companies as selected in a poll of Asian executives. An interesting, divergent list and series of comments, especially about why no Chinese companies made it.
China Construction Bank Named Most Innovative 21 April 2008
Posted by Michael in China, Innovation, News.add a comment
BEA Systems, Inc. , a world leader in enterprise infrastructure software, today announced the winners of the company’s international Most Innovative Customer awards, choosing three winners out of more than 50 nominees from across five continents.
In the Americas region, the winner was Embarq Corporation , a provider of a complete suite of integrated communications services including voice, data, high-speed Internet and wireless in 18 states and a member of the S&P 500. In the region covering Africa, Europe and the Middle East, the winner was Screwfix, one of the largest retailers of home-improvement products in the United Kingdom. The winner in the Asia Pacific region was China Construction Bank, a major commercial bank headquartered in China with offices in Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, New York, Singapore, Seoul and Tokyo.
China Construction Bank was named the “most profitable bank in Asia” by Asiaweek magazine in 2006. Much of its success can be traced to the state-of-the-art financial infrastructure it has built on a BEA foundation. The bank is frequently cited as operating one of the most innovative banking systems in the industry. BEA technology also provided the underpinning for one of the largest business integration projects anywhere in the world, spanning hundreds of applications and supporting 13,629 branch offices.
[From CNN Money]
Get A Hip Replaced And See The Taj! 18 April 2008
Posted by Michael in India, Innovation, Observation, Services.add a comment
In another angle on Asia as a lower-cost medical destination for Westerners, India is capitalizing on its plethora of tourist sights like the Taj Mahal and Rajistan to offer an innovative combination of medical services and tourism.
“India is a perfect destination for medical tourism that combines health treatment with visits to some of the most alluring and awe-inspiring places of the world. A growing number of foreign tourists are flocking in large numbers because of the superlative medical care, equipment and facilities that are in India.
India excels in providing quality and cheap health care services to overseas tourists. The field has such lucrative potential that it can become a $2.3 billion business by 2012, states a study by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). In 2004, some 150,000 foreigners visited India for treatment, and the numbers have been rising by 15 per cent each year. India is in the process of becoming the “Global Health Destination” owing to the following advantages:
- The cost of medical services in India is almost 30% lower to that in Western countries and the cheapest in South-east Asia.
- Language is a major comfort factor that invites so many foreign tourists to visit India for medical and health tourism. India has a large populace of good English speaking doctors, guides and medical staff. This makes it easier for foreigners to relate well to Indian doctors.
- Indian hospitals excel in cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery, joint replacements, transplants, cosmetic treatments, dental care, orthopaedic surgery and more.”
[From TravelVideo.tv]
AirAsia Good Airline But Innovative? Maybe Not. 18 April 2008
Posted by Michael in Innovation, Observation.add a comment
In response to Fast Company’s recent ranking of Innovative Companies, some comments have focused on an Asian company on the list, AirAsia. A good Airline, to be sure, but not developing and commercialising new concepts, services or products. Being a really good competitive business doesn’t mean you are innovative. Some have made the assertion that Asian executives and entrepreneurs are ‘guilty by non-association’ with innovation, and that Westerners with new ideas still have an advantage when it comes to getting heard by financiers and others who are in a position to advance innovation. I would disagree to a large extent, and say that proven experience in innovation usually gets attention in Asia, no matter your country-of-origin. In broad strokes there are more evident examples of innovation coming into the region than going out (perhaps ex Japan, Taiwan and Korea). However in many industries we see an acceleration of entrepreneurial energy, but it’s first-generation in many cases, and the people who are in positions to fund and share the risk in “native” innovation should keep that in mind.
Asia Benefits From ‘Brain-Gain’ 17 April 2008
Posted by Michael in Culture, Innovation, Insight, Observation.add a comment
Science and technology is booming in Asia, and acting as a magnet for Asian scientists wishing to return home after training in the West—especially to China—attracted to full- or part-time positions in both academia and industry.
Promoting the eastward migration is a strong government push—particularly in China, Singapore, Korea, and Japan—to become global players in science and technology, and massive investment from the pharmaceutical industry. The result is a heady mix of new R&D opportunities.
Yet the “returnees” are only one side of the story. Also finding new opportunities are Western scientists wishing to work in Asia—including academics taking up professorships at Chinese universities. At the same time, scientific institutions in the West are keen to seize the new opportunities for research collaboration in Asia.
All of this means that Asia is now enjoying a significant brain-gain.
[From Science Careers]
Taiwan Wants To Build Their Own Brands 15 April 2008
Posted by Michael in Branding, Innovation, Observation, Opinion, Products, Services, Taiwan.add a comment
Huang Der-Ray, director general of the Hsinchu Science Park Administration, said companies in the park had steadily increased spending on research and development from 4 percent of total revenue in previous years to 7 percent in the past three years.
Companies have also begun to focus on innovation and building their own brands. Mediatek, a chip design company that initially focused on optical storage drivers’ chips, has ventured into other areas, including designing chips for wireless communications and high-definition digital televisions. The company is one of the most profitable in the science park and is considered a pioneer in its designs.
Several companies in the science park have focused on research into new technologies, including solar energy. Just in the past two years, more than 15 companies in Hsinchu have invested in solar research, Huang said. One, Gintech Energy, has been successful in designing solar panels, which it sells to power companies around the world.
More companies are also moving toward design instead of just manufacturing. A decade ago, only about 20 or 30 companies in the Hsinchu Science Park were chip design companies, with most being contract manufacturers. Now, there are 80 companies whose focus is IC design, Huang said.
“This is Taiwan’s Silicon Valley,” Huang said. “This park is not just a manufacturing base. It wants to design new products. We are now going toward this direction, creating Taiwan’s own brands.”
Analysts said one of the biggest challenges Taiwan companies faced in developing a global brand is overcoming the label-consciousness of consumers here, who prefer internationally recognized brands rather than domestically designed products. Other than Acer and ASUS, which are laptop brands of Taiwan, few homegrown Taiwan high-tech products are known around the world, unlike in South Korea.
[From the IHT]
Malaysia Gets First Asian Neuroscience Center 15 April 2008
Posted by Michael in Innovation, Malaysia, Services.1 comment so far
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) will become the first public institution of higher learning in Asia to have a neuroscience research centre, equipped with the latest technology and tools capable of producing high resolution images of the brain.
Siemens Malaysia Sdn Bhd deputy president Tobias Seyfarth said the latest technology known as Ultra High Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging 7 Tesla (MRI 7T), reputed and recognised as among the best in the world, would be introduced for the first time in Asia at the centre.
“The neuroscience research centre equipped with MRI 7T will overshadow the MRI 3T used in most Asian countries,” he told reporters after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between USM and Siemens Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
[From Bernama]
Samsung Pushes 3D Plasma TVs 14 April 2008
Posted by Michael in Innovation, Korea, News, Products.add a comment
Electronics powerhouse Samsung recently unveiled a three-dimensional viewing experience that stirred many among the tech-journo crowd witnessing the event. Apparently the content, a Tiger Woods smack, came at them so fast and stunningly real that a ‘fore’ wasn’t heard from behind the goggles. Yes, goggles are still with us but the technology is getting pretty sweet, especially for over-cashed gamers who want nothing but the latest. We’ve seen some high-profile cinematic 3-D this past year, notably U2’s concert, and we’re likely to see Samsung and others bring the experience into the living room.
“After a century and a half of intermittent research, three-dimensional television is so close, you may feel you can reach out and touch it.
Some people watching the demonstration at Samsung’s digital media and telecoms research park in Suwon, an hour south of Seoul, do try to grab the animated images of approaching spacecraft, anthropomorphic cars and blobby aliens. It makes them look even sillier than the oversize goggles they have to wear to get the 3D effect. But the experience is so riveting that none of them cares. “It feels really real,” declares one normally sceptical French technology journalist as he tries on the goggles for a third viewing.
The target early adopters for 3D TV are, anyway, the affluent young men who have redefined cool to include computer games. No longer geeky, this business will be worth $46.5bn (£23.6bn) by 2010, almost half as much as the $104bn filmed-entertainment market, and it’s growing faster. High-end games, like most animated films today, are created using CGI (computer- generated images), and making them 3D is child’s play: you just instruct the computer to calculate each frame from two slightly different angles. The result is an illusion of depth which, whether you’re roaring around Monte Carlo in your F1 Ferrari or quarterbacking the Dallas Cowboys to NFL glory, makes a huge difference to the feel and enjoyment of a game.”
[From The Independent]
CIO Asia Mag Names Tech Innovators 13 April 2008
Posted by Michael in Innovation, News.add a comment
The 7th annual CIO 100 Index and CIO Awards were announced and presented March 13. The CIO 100 index (www.cio-asia.com) recognizes regional enterprises and organisations that have excelled through creative and innovative IT projects in the past 12 months. The expert panel of experts judged all entries, based on the details provided, relating to best practice, in areas including knowledge management, e-business innovation, people management, and value chain excellence. Other criteria included customer service, security, resourcing, cost management and quantifying IT value.
Here are summaries of the CIO Award winning projects:
The Chubb Insurance Group - Asia Pacific, specializes in property and casualty insurance. Chubb Singapore implemented the OPERA initiative, a component-engineered web-based architecture, underpinned by open standards, which automated several key insurance processes. OPERA standardises the production process and the claims administration systems, facilitating interaction with Chubb business partners around the Asia-Pacific. OPERA has led to greater flexibility in meeting customer demands, increased productivity and improved decision-making.
Fonterra is a New Zealand-based cooperative, responsible for more than a third of international dairy trade and having some 20,000 employees world-wide. Fonterra Malaysia implemented a trade promotion management system - with automated back-end processing - called SmartTrade, to control and manage promotion investment. SmartTrade is designed for dynamic and high volume transactions, needing special business functions to cope with multiple trade promotion activities. This system provides shared information to generate more sales, build brand awareness and increase profits.
The MTR Corporation runs an urban mass transit system, a fast railway link, a suburban and cross- border railway network, plus feeder systems. As part of a successful merger with the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), MTR’s project involved the strategic implementation of IT systems to enable the delivery of promised merger synergies, such as fare reductions and reduced back office costs. The team successfully implemented 19 “Day One” IT project systems simultaneously. The merger - completed in December 2007 - has been very smooth and the effective integration of IT across the new Corporation played a very important role.
SingHealth is Singapore’s largest healthcare group employing more than 14,000 healthcare professionals. Their winning project was the implementation of the “Digital Ward - Innovating for the Hospital of the Future” as part of their vision of a paperless and technology-enabled ward. This including innovative and cost-effective systems such as - Computer on Wheels (COWS), Mobile Electronic x-Ray Computer (MERC) and Vital Monitoring System and RFID Wrist Tag (VEGA). The Digital Ward projects delivered increased value and efficiency to SingHealth’s entire in-patient healthcare chain.
The Wallem Group is an integrated maritime service provider, based in Hong Kong and operating across 21 countries and at sea. Their winning ERP project was the integration of Microsoft Dynamics AX for their many vessels. Wallem integrated suppliers and customers via e-procurement and reporting and developed a multi-dimensional business intelligence reporting system. The project led to improved knowledge capture, sharing and retention. The integration of their different business processes has increased the Group’s efficiency and speed up Wallem’s response to market.
[From PRWeb]
