In the 20 months since the COVID-19 pandemic began, technological innovations have gone from futuristic to familiar. These days it’s hard to be out in the world without encountering QR-coded menus or supplying digital vaccine passports.

As the tourism industry—which logged a billion fewer international arrivals in 2020 than 2019—sputters back to life, masks may begin to disappear, but many pandemic-era tech tools will continue to factor into your trips.

“Consumers will come to expect technologies that make them more confident about travel,” says Steve Shur, the president of the Travel Technology Association. “Some of these changes are here to stay.”

In fact, a 2021 Pew Research survey of 915 policy leaders, science researchers, and other experts predicts that, by 2025, our daily lives could be even more influenced by algorithms, remote work, and what some call “tele-everything.”

While novel interventions such as real-time translation devices and facial recognition passport control may make travel safer and more efficient, there are downsides, including concerns about privacy, data security, and biased technology. Here are some of the innovations that travelers will continue to see and use.

Virtual and augmented reality

When the pandemic shut down travel, museums and tourist destinations turned to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to create online exhibits and experiences. While some of these experiences are best seen with a VR headset, most can be enjoyed with just a computer or smartphone.

The Xplore Petra app launched in June 2020, allowing users to “visit” Jordan’s most iconic archaeological site by projecting a scaled-down version of the ruins. Lights over Lapland, an Arctic travel company, launched a VR experience to show off the Northern Lights using VR headsets or computer screens.

Post-pandemic, VR and AR may enhance actual trips by adding experiences such as a simulated climb up the Matterhorn at Lucerne’s Swiss Museum of Transport. The Hunt Museum in Limerick, Ireland, has a VR attraction in which visitors immerse themselves in “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” a 500-year-old painting by Hieronymus Bosch.

The Museum of Natural History in Paris has an AR exhibit that brings visitors face to face with extinct animals in digital form. The National Museum of Singapore has an installation called “Story of the Forest,” where sightseers explore a virtual landscape comprised of almost 70 nature drawings from the museum collection. The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, in Washington, D.C., has an app that uses AR to show what some of its animal skeletons would look like with skin and muscle over the bones, offering a new view of a collection dating back to the 1880s.

“VR is not going to replace travel and tourism. It is just going to enhance tourism,” says Anu Pillai, who runs the Digital Center of Excellence at Wipro, a technology company.

Crowd control

To help enforce social distancing, cities, airports, and museums tested or rolled out crowd-control technology including Singapore’s roaming, vaguely terrifying robots that announce people are too close together and signs indicating how large crowds are at airport gates. As throngs of travelers return to popular destinations, similar methods and devices may be implemented to prevent overtourism.

In Italy during the pandemic, Venice began tracking visitors using cameras designed to catch criminals. Post-pandemic, it plans to harness them to keep tourist numbers at manageable levels, perhaps in concert with the mayor’s proposal to add electronic gates at major entry points (cruise ship docks, train stations) that can be closed if the city gets overcrowded.

“We know minute by minute how many people are passing and where they are going,” Simone Venturini, Venice’s top tourism official, told the New York Times. “We have total control of the city.”

Amsterdam, which also struggles with overtourism, tracks how visitors use Amsterdam’s City Card, a flat-fee pass to museums and public transport. Beach Check UK launched this summer with real-time information on how busy dozens of beaches are along the English coast, guiding travelers away from packed areas.

“Technology can be used to collect data in order to both make better decisions and communicate those decisions,” says Christopher Imbsen, director of sustainability at World Travel & Tourism Council.

UV-C cleaning

Hospitals have used UV-C light to disinfect and kill viruses for more than two decades. Now, indoor public spaces including airports, gyms, and movie theaters are adding UV-C to halt viral spread.

“UV-C is having its heyday right now,” says Peter Veloz, CEO of UltraViolet Devices, which makes UV disinfecting technology.

UV-C has germicidal properties that combat COVID-19 and other nasties, both in the air or on surfaces. Depending on the location, new UV-C installations go into HVACs, on escalator handrails, or through airports and planes via light-equipped robots that disinfect as they go.

If installed and operated correctly, a UV-C system can kill all sorts of bacteria and germs. Even seasonal flu bugs might be zapped before they spread. “COVID-19 could come and go, but what won't disappear are normal pathogens,” Veloz says.

QR codes at restaurants

In the early days of the pandemic, when transmission of the COVID-19 wasn’t yet well understood, restaurants hurried to provide QR codes. The little black boxes of pixelated dots and dashes could be scanned with a smart phone to bring up a menu, let you order from it, and then allow you to pay your bill, all with limited virus-spreading interactions with servers.

While earlier fears that people could catch the virus via menus and other surfaces have been disproven, the codes have proven convenient and will probably stick around, especially with late-pandemic worker shortages.

Such convenience might mean a trade off with privacy, however, since the little codes can potentially gather a large amount of information from users. Some QR programs just take a food order, but others mine data like a patron’s dining history, age, and gender. The restaurant could use that info to send them coupons or event invitations—or sell it to third parties.

“It’s an example of companies exploiting COVID-19 to extend tracking,” says Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the ACLU. “Moving everything to mobile opens people to new ways of tracking and control.”

Travelers should know that QR codes can be hacked; you might scan one, place a dinner order, and wind up compromising your credit card instead. Stanley recommends treating QR codes just as you do links in unknown emails. Either use your phone to look up the restaurant’s menu on the internet or install a protective app like Kaspersky QR Scanner, which will give users a warning if the code isn’t safe.

Contact-tracing tools

Public health groups used contact tracing methods to identify and track down people who were potentially exposed to infectious diseases such as Zika and HIV, and offer counseling, screening, and treatment. These traditional tools were usually based on phone calls to ask individuals about who they were in contact with and to continue researching exposure. The pandemic pushed officials to scale up such efforts and implement new, higher-tech ones to track viral spread and provide information. 

For instance, Apple and Google added contact-tracing functions to new smartphone software, allowing users to opt in and get alerts if they come into close contact with an infected person.

“There’s been a strong recognition about the value of and the important role of contact tracing for infectious disease prevention and control,” says Elizabeth Ruebush, a senior analyst for infectious disease and immunization policy at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. “But we’ve never seen it implemented at the scale of COVID-19.”

Other technologies, such as automated texts, viral heat maps and even CCTV with facial recognition could help track other infectious illnesses or make us ready for the next pandemic.

Even with fancy new apps, however, phone calls and personal outreach will still be at the center of public health. “These tools are aimed to enhance, but not replace, traditional contact tracing,” Ruebush says.

COVID-19 has sped up our adoption of technology. The downside is that this may make it even harder to turn off smartphones while on vacation. Then again, wanderlust is now stronger than ever—and getting lost in the moment still hasn’t been harnessed by a digital code.

One of the most important things in any business is how it is generally regarded by the rest of the world. This includes the customers, of course, but also the general wider public, as well as the partners and competitors in the industry – whatever that industry might be. As it happens, there are a huge number of ways in which businesses can always hope to improve their reputation, and in this article, we are going to go through just a few of the most effective of these in particular. Each of these is worth looking into if you are a business owner yourself.

A physical address does matter 
You’d be amazed at the kind of effect having the right address can have on your business’ reputation. But what counts as a reputable address? Well, it needs to be somewhere that most people regard as trustworthy or otherwise important in the area that you are working within, or the expertise that you have. It also needs to be somewhere that sounds impressive on the page. With the right physical address, everyone is going to think so much more of a business, and this is going to make a huge difference to its ongoing success chances. This is especially important in traditional business settings or if you’re a new company looking to gain some credibility.

Get your branding right
Of course, in order to have a good reputation, branding is very often going to be one of the most important concerns of all, and this is something that is really worth looking into on a regular basis. You’ll find that a good brand is more or less the difference between success and failure most of the time in business, so it really is worth thinking about in detail. To improve branding, make sure it is simple, consistent, and that it makes sense for the business type and services that are offered. This is what really matters all in all.

Be as available as possible
Availability to the public is one of those things that you first learn in business school, and with good reason. The more available a business is in general to people who want to contact it, the more positive the general public’s view of that company will be. There are many ways to make a business more available, from having an open phone line that is looked after well to ensuring that every email is answered promptly. In any case, it’s important to have strong availability at all times, however, that might be achieved.

Create and follow an ethical guideline
These days, it is perhaps more important than ever to be able to display to the public what your ethics are as a business. The more clearly you can do this, the better, as it is going to mean that people are much more likely to appreciate where you’re coming from on the whole. It is particularly important with the millennial and gen Z generations, so if they are your audience you’ll need to make sure you don’t overlook this. Show that you care about people and the planet, and you will do pretty well.

Source: Tech Collective SEA

The volume of data transferred is constantly increasing, but the absolute security of these exchanges cannot be guaranteed, as shown by cases of hacking frequently reported in the news. To counter hacking, a team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, has developed a new system based on the concept of "zero-knowledge proofs," the security of which is based on the physical principle of relativity: information cannot travel faster than the speed of light. Thus, one of the fundamental principles of modern physics allows for secure data transfer. This system allows users to identify themselves in complete confidentiality without disclosing any personal information, promising applications in the field of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. These results can be read in the journal Nature.

Adding new products to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) List of Environmental Goods can boost the region’s responses to calls for climate change adaptation and mitigation, and achievement of environmental sustainability, according to an APEC Policy Support Unit policy brief.

Carlos Kuriyama, a senior analyst with the APEC Policy Support Unit, said that from a trade perspective, a more meaningful contribution in support of green growth requires a more comprehensive range of products.

“APEC economies should explore an expansion of its list of environmental goods, to cover new technologies that could contribute to green growth, but did not exist or had limited applications back in 2012; and encourage APEC economies to consider goods that are cleaner or more environmentally friendly,” he said.

The list is a commitment endorsed by leaders in 2012 to reduce tariff rates of 54 goods to 5 percent or less by the end of 2020 with the intention to improve access to environmental technologies and contribute to green growth and trade liberalization.

It includes solar panels, wind turbines, bamboo flooring, as well as environmental monitoring, analysis and assessment equipment, among others.

Kuriyama said expanding the list could include contemplating a global value chain approach.

“Such an approach would allow adapted goods, which are environmentally friendly or cleaner, and whose use is beneficial for environmental protection or resource management, to be factored in. A global value chain approach would also benefit developing economies, as they could produce some of many components that go into certain environmental products,” he said.

Kuriyama said the current APEC List of Environmental Goods, while serving to improve market access, is not in itself sufficient to support green growth.

Since its endorsement in 2012, the trade of products on the list has grown significantly worldwide and within the APEC region.

Between 2012 and 2019, global and intra-APEC trade in the products on the list increased by 6.4 percent and 7 percent, respectively. In contrast, overall global trade (all products) rose by only 1.9 percent.

APEC’s exports and imports of those 54 products increased by 5.7 percent and 13.5 percent, respectively, between 2012 and 2019.

Kuriyama said tariff reductions, stronger environmental awareness, implementation of environmental policies and regulatory reforms, enforcement of government regulations to protect the environment, progress in developing alternative energy sources and energy-efficient goods, and high international oil prices have motivated the increase of trade in environmental goods.

The policy brief said most APEC economies have been able to implement the commitment under the list to reduce tariffs to 5 percent or less.

It added most non-tariff measures affecting environmental goods are export-related, and these include subsidies, licences and quotas; discriminatory concessional loans and grants to local exporters; and export tax rebates.

Source: PHILEXPORT News and Features

THE European Union is contributing 50 million euros (S$78.2 million) to the Asean Catalytic Green Finance Facility (ACGF), bringing the total contribution from the Team Europe to 783 million euros.

"In the context of a rapidly warming planet, we urgently need to rethink our approach to infrastructure development. The Asean Catalytic Green Finance Facility will help Asean countries build greener, fairer and more sustainable economies. I am glad that Team Europe can contribute to this effort," said Koen Doens, director-general for international partnerships at the European Commission.

Team Europe comprises the European Union, its member states and financial institutions such as national development banks, the European Investment Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Support from development partners of the facility is expected to mobilise 7 billion euros for low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure projects in South-east Asia, accelerating the region's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. To date, co-financing partners have pledged a total of 1.7 billion euros to the facility.

The contribution to the ACGF, which was established by the Asean Infrastructure Fund and managed by the Asian Development Bank, is part of EU-Asean cooperation on environment and climate change under the Strategic Partnership, which, in addition to sustainable finance, includes biodiversity; forest governance; law and trade; sustainable use of peatlands and haze mitigation; emergency response; and smart cities.

Source: The Business Times (SG)

Date: 2 November 2021

Reference: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/asean-business/team-europe-mobilises-783m-euros-for-green-infrastructure-to-boost-economic-recovery

By upgrading the capacity of its multi-modal infrastructure and preparing facilities to serve growing world demand for high-technology goods and services, Thailand expects investment and development across various industries to thrive over the coming decades.

Building on its strategic location in the middle of the Indo-China region, the accelerated pace of economic integration in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and the subsequent improved flows of goods, services and people across the region are creating new opportunities for Thailand’s manufacturing, tourism and services industries.

When the Boten–Vientiane Railway (China–Laos railway) opens for service in December 2021, it will mark a significant advancement in the Trans-Asian Railway1 in its quest to become a fully-integrated transportation platform linking Asia and the Pacific.

At 414 km long, the Boten-Vientiane Railway connects China’s Yuxi-Mohan Railway in the North with the existing meter-gauge railway, which runs from Boten in Northern Laos to Vientiane, before crossing into Thailand at Thanaleng, and continuing to Nong Khai in Thailand’s Northeastern region, and finally to Bangkok. The railway will shorten transportation times from Yunnan to Nong Khai to 15 hours, compared with two days via road.

Besides lowering costs and improving the efficiency of logistics, the rail route will increase GMS access to Chinese markets and create new opportunities for tourism and the services sector. Thailand’s plan for the construction of a high-speed train route linking Bangkok initially with Nakhon Ratchasima, due to open in 2026, and then later with Nong Khai, due for completion in 2028, will enhance Thailand’s capacity to take advantage of better connectivity across the GMS market and China. The construction plan will include warehouses and transportation yards to facilitate goods transportation. A study conducted by the Bank of Thailand showed that the railway will reduce logistics costs from Yunnan to Nong Khai by half, boosting trade with Laos and China.

The private sector also expects collaboration under the Cambodia-Vietnam-Thailand Economic Corridor (CVTEC) to boost connectivity for trade and commerce, as well as for the meetings, incentive travel, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) and tourism sectors. The CVTEC framework links Thailand’s industrial zone in the EEC to tourism destinations in Chanthaburi and Trat provinces; to Cambodia’s Kampot, Kep, Koh Kong and Preah Sihanouk provinces; and Vietnam’s Ca Mau and Kien Giang. The linkage of the three countries via rail, road and water represents an opportunity to develop high- value services such as in the MICE, medical and wellness sectors as well as in goods logistics.

Besides physical connectivity, the 7th GMS Summit Meeting2 included a commitment by the participants to push forward other mechanisms to help facilitate transport and trade flows across borders. These include the GMS Cross Border Transport Facilitation Agreement, which aims at streamlining the rules and regulations for cross-border trade, investment and tourism. The GMS members have also initiated a framework to encourage better integration of the energy sector focusing on power generation, transmission infrastructure, and power trade though power grid connection and the establishment of an integrated regional power market oriented toward clean and renewable energy.

The region also pledged to improve competitiveness by implementing measures for enhancing the food safety, security and environmental sustainability of agri-food production through value chain integration that favours small farmers, rural women and small and medium agri-enterprises and harmonised quality and safety standards. Moreover, tourism in the GSM should be boosted by promoting the region as a single tourist destination backed a well-coordinated marketing campaign and connected tourism infrastructure.

GMS members also announced plans to develop special economic zones and border SEZs with improved connectivity as well as e-commerce. The GMS is also focused on community aspects such as helping one another on matters such as sustainable urbanisation, along with programs to improve surveillance of communicable diseases, particularly across borders, improve public health systems, regulate safe and orderly labour migration, and conduct capacity building programmes for public officials.

Source: The Bangkok Post

Written by Johnny Ong, APAC Healthcare Practice Lead at Zebra Technologies Asia Pacific. 

A Digital Innovation Centre spanning 40,000 square metres of space is planned for Thailand Digital Valley, located in Chon Buri's Si Racha district, in the next 24 months to allow technology testing and development, according to the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry.

The centre is part of the third phase of Thailand Digital Valley, which aims to serve as the digital hub of Asean. The third phase requires 2.6 billion baht in investment. The centre is designed to have labs for 5G testing, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR), cloud innovation labs and a design centre. "This third phase of Thailand Digital Valley is expected to be complete in the next 24 months," said DES Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn.

Construction has begun for the Digital Startup Knowledge Exchange Centre spanning 4,500 sq m under the second phase of Thailand Digital Valley. This facility, Mr Chaiwut said, would create a digital startup community where technology exchange and business cooperation can take place. The construction of this second phase is 80% complete, he said. It is expected to be fully completed in December. The site is fully reserved in advance by tech companies, developers and startups.

According to Mr Chaiwut, Thailand Digital Valley, which carries a total cost of 4.5 billion baht, will be a hub for startups and top tech companies from Thailand and the world to design, develop and test advanced technologies and innovation. It also offers a digital ecosystem which connects big tech firms and digital startups. The targeted digital start-ups include FinTech, AgriTech, Travel Tech, Healthcare Tech, EduTech and GovTech, he said. Mr Chaiwut said the project intends to become Asean's digital hub, driving national technology development and digital startups to global market while attracting foreign investment.

The first phase of the project centres on the 1,500-sq-m Digital One Stop Service, facilitating tech investors. "Thanks to positive feedback from the digital startups in the second phase of the project and the first phase of Digital One Stop Service, the DES ministry has assigned the Digital Economy Promotion Agency [Depa] to speed up the construction of the third phase to capitalise on the country's opportunities and competency in the new economy," he said.

Depa president and chief executive Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin said Thailand Digital Valley is expected to create over 20,000 digital jobs and attract over 50 billion baht in investment. He said Depa has three core development projects to help boost the country's digital transformation, consisting of the Government Big Data Institute (GBDi), Internet of Things Institute, and Startups Institute. These three can have interactive relationships with each other, Mr Nuttapon said. The IoT Institute can provide tech innovation for startups while GBDi could serve as a data source in the ecosystem, he said.

Source: The Bangkok Post

When organizations initially discussed the future of work, conversations were largely around setting expectations among workers about the new hybrid model. Now, as people return to the office, we must think big picture about how we address the impact that the past 18 months have had on segments of the workforce. It’s not just about where work is performed; it’s about having a healthy and supported workforce with the right skills to perform the work.

People need the right skills to operate in this new, digitally enabled environment. And organizations that create strong relationships between technology and people (enabled by new skills and ways of working) are better positioned for future growth.

So, how do we continually train a variety of workers in the most efficient manner possible so they gain new skills? How do we recognize transferrable skills and knowledge and ensure that people have opportunities to grow and thrive? If we don’t address these questions now, the skill chasm that started during the pandemic will only widen.

Skilling all for the future of work
There are short-term and long-term considerations as businesses shape their plans for developing skills across the workforce. Consider these ideas as a starting point.

1. Establish a culture of continuous learning. Businesses are under immense pressure to deal with the current labor crunch. Just recently, I spoke with several retail leaders about the challenges they face in finding workers to cover basic needs, such as filling shifts. Prospective workers have options, and one way for employers to differentiate is by offering a culture that provides access to ongoing education. Acquiring new skills not only helps workers in new roles, but it also equips them to keep pace as the future of work evolves.

Our latest research reveals that more than two-thirds (70%) of workers agree their organization helps them meet their potential by implementing a program of training, skilling and education. While this number may sound promising, there is work to be done—especially in regards to providing the right learning opportunities for all segments.

For example, Target is partnering with education platform Guild to offer workers access to undergraduate and master’s degrees, certificates and 1:1 coaching.  Walmart, through its Live Better U program, is helping workers to do everything form learn a new language or skill through on-demand training to earning a college degree. Walmart recently announced that it will pay 100% of college tuition and books for its associates. The company recognizes that a skilled and well-trained workforce is a win for employers, customers and the business.

Programs like these illustrate that skilling is not a-one-and-done deal. Skilling and learning must be ongoing, especially now as the longevity of skills is different. Years ago, the lifespan of a skill was 15-20 years. Today in the digital world, skills last just 3-5 years before they need to be revisited. It’s important to determine the mechanism by which your business will measure the lifespan of skills. And, furthermore, ensure there are a variety of opportunities for your people to continuously learn. 

2. Improve skills equitably. As the culture of continuous learning takes shape, businesses must be mindful of cultivating skills in an equitable manner. This includes the critical segment of workers that exited the workforce during the pandemic. Businesses need to bring back people who may have fallen through the cracks of no fault of their own.

Some had to stop working to care for children at home. What do they need to feel supported and Net Better Off? What skills do they need to be successful? For instance, when it comes to emerging technologies, our research revealed that the skill gap between ethnic minorities (52%) and others (40%) is highest for blockchain, applied intelligence, IoT and cloud computing.

Equitable skilling will deliberately account for the needs of a variety of workers who are essential to the future workforce. Women have the longest runway to an equitable work experience. They also have the most to gain—unlocking 4.7x their potential—if their everyday experiences are managed better.

3. Customize for greater impact. Skilling should not be a “peanut butter” approach in which you try to do everything for everyone. Not everyone likes their peanut butter the same way. For some, it can be too much in a sandwich, for some too little, and for others it’s just right. Look at each person as an individual when it comes to skilling. Understand the foundation on which they gain knowledge. What are their goals and aspirations for their future of work, not just for that of the business?

If we get serious about skilling, we must think about how to do it more efficiently. This calls for creating a personalization engine of sorts that can recognize skills individuals already possess and illuminate any gaps. Looking further ahead into the future, we will see the emergence of a “skill passport” enabled by blockchain that captures a person’s skills into a transferrable record that can travel with them throughout their career journey. There is simply no reason to reinvent the wheel at every step of a person’s work experience.

Step into the future
As the future of work unfolds, so will your approaches to cultivating skills across the workforce in an equitable way. You won’t be able to do it all in isolation. Think about ecosystem partners and identify the ones that can help. Perhaps they bring the technology component, or the training component. Work together to meet the needs of all workers.

Think about the time horizon for preparing people for the future of work. To skill workers for the future, you should look at the next three to five years and determine what will be the necessary skills in the market. Allow sufficient time to develop those skills.

The future of work is happening now. What is your plan to give all workers the skills they need to succeed?

Source: Accenture