Business Arena Magazine - Celebrating the 100th issue

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We're celebrating the 100th issue of Business Arena magazine!

Launched more than 10 years ago, this magazine now reaches an important milestone in its life. With every issue, Business Arena has strived to bring forward a rich and diverse content, including a wide range of positive and inspiring success stories from the business community. Thank you for joining us on this fantastic journey. We're looking forward to another 100 issues!

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EDITORIAL

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CELEBRATING THE 100TH ISSUE OF BUSINESS ARENA As the world is still coming to grips with the new realities of a global pandemic, trying to adapt to these unprecedented times, we welcome a special, happy milestone: our 100th issue of Business Arena Magazine. Launched just as the global financial crisis was setting in, our magazine has seen a rough ride, while high production costs and dwindling advertising revenues have forced many newspapers and magazines to migrate online and end their printed versions to save money.

In spite of a difficult start, this experienced team has showed tremendous dedication, creativity, and passion to produce a top-quality product for readers and business partners alike. Moreover, the same team used its expertise in business event planning and organization to create new platforms for the local business community to get together, exchange views, and voice hopes and concerns. From roundtable conferences focusing on foreign investment to major awards galas, Business Arena’s events have become unmissable dates in the business event calendar. But none of these could have been achieved without its readers and business partners,

by

Cristian Cojanu

who deserve a very big thank you.

So, with thousands of published interviews and feature stories, and more than 50 conferences and awards galas under its belt, Business Arena looks confidently into the future. Its team of dedicated journalists, graphic design artists, sales and marketing professionals count on innovation and product quality as long-term strategies for development.

Business Arena now operates with a combination of permanent and freelance staff and has a wide network of writers, salespeople, conference moderators and digital experts with experience in many different markets which it calls upon when required. This allows Business Arena to respond quickly and appropriately to readers’ and clients’ needs.

Please turn to our dedicated section inside where we are honored to present the messages received from our readers on this special occasion, and once again we would like to thank everyone who has read and supported this magazine. We look forward to 100 more!

As always, Business Arena will continue to keep an eye on all the issues affecting the business community, reflecting its views, hopes and challenges.

FROM ALL OF US HERE AT BUSINESS ARENA, ENJOY THE QUALITY, ADMIRE THE VALUE!

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OPINION

THE GREAT RESET OR THE GREAT HYSTERIA? In the past year a ghost has been haunting the public debate. Its name is “The Great Reset”, a concept talked about ever since the 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos. It subsequently became the preferred topic of conspiracy theories.

BY RADU CR|CIUN The ball was pushed rolling in this direction by political groups and media outlets close to president Trump in an attempt to dent President Biden's popularity, an advocate of global fundamental changes. Once rolling, the

RADU CR|CIUN conspiracy ball only amplified and tweaked ideological movements on both ends of the specter.

The failure and not the success of big changes is the issue One assessment of the Great Reset

conspiracy theories that I consider accurate is done by Naomi Klein, a well-known journalist and activist with The Intercept. Conspiracy theories purport "to expose something no one ever attempted to hide, most of which is not really happening anyway, some of which actually should."

At the end of the day, if we take a look at past Davos meetings, "The Great Reset" fits in nicely with the grand titles and glorified objectives that are so typical of the event. To this end, the journalist reminds us of the “Shaping the Post-Crisis World” (2009), “Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild” (2010), “The Great Transformation” (2012) or “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World”(2018) big ideas.

However resounding, what followed fell way short of rhetoric. If anything, society has at times moved in the exact opposite direction.

Although millions of people have been lifted out of poverty, economic polarization worldwide has deepened, the wealth of a minority elite has not ceased to increase at much faster rate compared to the rest of the population.

Businesses, driven solely by the prospect of profits, turned to the largest markets and cheapest labor, leaving behind a poorer and more alienated middle class, higher social tension and frustration.

Meanwhile, we have made only tentative progress towards protecting the environment

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and mitigating climate change as approaches worldwide have not been harmonized and ran contrary to countries’ or economic groups’ vested interests. The United States’ indifference has been an aggravating factor.

The ongoing technological revolution has brought about swift changes which took societies by surprise and caused them to be more reactive than proactive.

The issue is that if our approach, as a civilization, remains unchanged, the outcomes will be the same, The same approach will not bring new results! Therefore, if we want to be able to cope with the fast-paced economic, social, environmental or technological challenges we need a rethink of the current operating model.

So why is The Great Reset such a factor of stress or even fright for so many people?

Human reaction to big changes should not be underestimated I think it is natural for people to react to the changes that decision-makers hail as unavoidable in very adverse circumstances. The change management theory explains that denial and anger precede enquiry and acceptance in how people normally react to change. On the other hand, the more substantial and fast the change is, the stronger the popular resistance. Moreover, the prospect of having to change at a time marked by high levels of unpredictability or anxiety only amplifies the negative reactions.

All these features are already associated with the changes that world leaders propose as part of “The Great Reset." Whoever has the patience to read first-hand and dispassionately about them will see that they are already directions in which the economy started to move, or concepts that had been around for some time, but have seen a comeback in the

context of the pandemic.

The big issue facing the world elites, however, is a lack of trust. Again, the change management theory teaches us that change is easier to implement if the general perception is that of a strong leadership that can be credited by the subjects of change with enough trust to lead them in the right direction. Sadly, this is not the case of leaders currently running the most powerful nations on Earth. Over the past decades theym anaged to leave behind the common interests of the general public and ignore their economic priorities.

Meanwhile, unpopular decisions and a string of blunders during the pandemic, the overall feeling that the crisis mitigation measures have benefitted the rich, deepened even further the divide between leaders and the public and eroded the foundation of trust. Trust in the leader, however, is the main ingredient of embarking on and successfully completing deep change. Without trust, resistance to change will be huge and, no matter how fair and justified the projects are, they will still be regarded with maximum suspicion.

The important questions get lost in the chase after sensational stories - Which are the ‘suspicious’ projects that should shape our future?

- Environmental sustainability aided by financial incentives and targeted investments.

- Promoting economic systems that provide a fairer distribution of wealth, along with social and economic accountability to the next generations.

- The ethical use of technology to meet the needs of all social categories.

- Support requalification so that people are ready for the new labor market which will be quite different from what we know.

- Businesses that focus on achieving value

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OPINION

for all stakeholders, not just for the shareholders.

- A healthcare system which is accessible to all, prepared to cope with future pandemics the occurrence of which is favored by higher urban density and climate change.

- Worldwide government coordination to better tackle humanity's challenges.

- Given the complexity of these goals, the major risk is not that they will be met, but that they are too idealistic to be attainable. The real important questions move in directions other than those suggested by the conspiracy proponents.

- How do we abandon the GDP growth fixation and accept other criteria to gauge economic wealth?

- How to convince the private sector to stop bowing exclusively to the God of the ‘net profit’ and use social performance criteria? And will these projects be carried out against corporations orwith them?

- What role should governments play? Their part during the crisis proved to be crucial, but how appropriate is their recipe to socialize the private sector losses and privatize their profits?

Doesn't a bigger government come with higher inefficiency and bureaucracy?

- How damaging and easily reversible is the recent partnership between governments and central banks as the money printed ended up in the wealthy people's pockets?

- What to do with the losers of the digital revolution? Unskilled labor will be the first (but not the only one) to fall victim to digitalization so how will we keep the social fabric intact?

- How can we guarantee gender equality as education will be an increasingly dividing factor? How will we manage those unable to reinvent themselves so as to cope with an everchanging labor market?

- How can we avoid extreme polarization and the risks of its political consequences?

And the list of these terribly important questions, existential for some, may go on. The bad news is that Romania is also affected. A google search for the Great Reset in Romanian will reveal the predominantly conspiratorial perspective on this topic taken in the public debate even by otherwise respectable analysts.

ROMANIA CANNOT AFFORD TO MISS OUT ON ITS REBIRTH

The fact that the way in which capitalism should be rethought is deemed to be socialism or communism is in itself a remnant of the unfortunate ideology: whoever criticized the communist system was an enemy of the state order and the people. Along the same line, whoever raises the question of amending the capitalist system is labelled a socialist. Unlike communism, the liberal and capitalist world has an advantage that communism never had: to permanently assess itself and speak in all liberty of the possibility of its reinvention.

Romania should not walk away from this

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debate, should not say no to being part of the changes that are heralded. It would be a mistake to see this any other way. The final and ultimate mistake.

Let us be realistic. With or without Romania, these global changes will go ahead and this forces us to choose one of the following: make the most of this wave of changes or ignore it and later blame invented enemies for our newmade irrelevance.

Romania's disadvantage is that it sets out on this journey being vulnerable and running out of time. The crux of the matter is that there is no experience in rolling out a nationwide development plan. Over the past three decades, the country’s development happened haphazardly. The opportunities that investors seized, had not been knowingly created by the government, but came as a natural development. This is how we ended up with significant development and wealth gaps between Transilvania and Moldova or Bucharest and the rest of the country.

In the current setting, this approach stands no chance of winning. Chaotic development will lead to a dead end for two main reasons. Firstly, the changes that the next decade will bring are conditional on human intelligence, highly skilled, technologically literate labor. We stand no chance if we step into the future with tens of thousands of workers making internal combustion engine parts, or working the land.

But a skilled workforce cannot be conceived outside a strong education system with a good grasp of reality, able to tap into the nation’s intelligence.

A word of caution, however, this is a requirement but it will not be enough to cope with the changes. The race for highly skilled workers will be global, which is why a country with a good school system, but unable to retain its graduates is equal to a black hole for taxpayers’ money.

Two things will be key here. Firstly, a working environment that is challenging, comes with exciting projects, prospects of personal development and a good pay check. Secondly, the road, telecommunication, healthcare infrastructure these experts will use in Romania will matter.

The second reason for which a coordinated national strategy is a prerequisite has to do with funding and accessing the EU's €100 billion recovery package. The money should be used to support Romania strengthen three sectors that I find critical given the global changes: food, meaning agriculture; infrastructure on which a sound business environment and good living standards hinge; education and developing the industries of the future.

Romania experiences the same major problem as many developed countries: a lack of trust in decision-makers. This should be ground zero for any endeavor to reinvent the country.

And this is not easy, especially when the people concerned seem to be oblivious to it.

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BANKING

BANKING SECTOR AFTER ONE YEAR OF PANDEMIC The banking sector has an interest in the recovery of the business environment, the strengthening of financial discipline and fostering of investments, all these allowing banking institutions to change the trend of the last decade, resulting in the drop in financial intermediation.

Fifteen years after joining the European Union (EU), Romania ranks last among its EU peers in terms of financial inclusion (67%), financial intermediation (25%), financial education (22%) and, with some exceptions, economic welfare (69% of the EU average).

BY GABRIELA FOLCU}, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ROMANIAN ASSOCIATION OF BANKS From the onset of the pandemic, the banking sector’s soundness ratio indicators allowed for a proactive approach, as banks were able to absorb customers’ problems and expand lending operations rapidly. The banking sector’s solvency ratio stood at 23.18% at the end of December 2020, almost three times above the accepted minimum. The NPL rate stood at 3.83% in December 2020.

Central bank (NBR) data showed that the NPL provision coverage rate increased to 60.6% at the end of 2019, significantly higher than the European average (44.6%).

Banks in Romania continued granting loans at a sustainable pace in 2020, just like in normal times. In the context of the pandemic, banks continued accelerating

GABRIELA FOLCU} lending, covering their customers’ financing needs, the new loans granted to the nongovernment sector standing slightly above the 2019 level. Last year, the new loans granted to companies and households amounted to 84 billion lei, accounting for almost one third of the non-government loan

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balance. This can be explained by the short tenor of some loans, namely less than one year, especially for corporate loans. The corporate segment was the engine behind lending, accounting for 57% of the new loans granted.

The non-government loan balance advanced by 5.5% in 2020, reaching 282 billion lei, while the economy shrank by 5.2%, according to estimates. Therefore, paradoxically, we could be witnessing an increase in financial intermediation of up to 25%.

In the other countries in the region, the financial intermediation index is significantly higher: Hungary - 34.7%, Poland - 51.9 %, Bulgaria - 53.3 % and the Czech Republic 53.4%. Romania also ranks last in the EU in terms of bank assets to GDP. Currently, the Romanian banking sector’s assets amount to

560 billion lei. The banking sector has proven its strength when confronted with endogenous and exogenous risk factors, and it has continued to contribute to supporting economic growth and people’s financial welfare. Banks have absorbed the liquidity problems of their debtors - individuals and companies - in a joint effort with the authorities. In 2020, lenders approved requests for the suspension of payment obligations for 560,000 customers individuals and companies alike. This year they will continue to absorb their customers’ liquidity problems, in keeping with national and European regulations.

In 2021, lending is expected to growth at least at the same rate as last year, although this sector has been marked by legislative uncertainty due to the pandemic. One of the

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BANKING

risks that has been identified is the NPL rate increase. At national level, we are going to see the adaptation of the legal framework in line with the European NPL Action Plan in order to prevent a future build-up of NPLs. From early 2020, the default risk on loans granted to the non-government sector was considered a moderate systemic risk with an upward trend however - on the map of risks to financial stability in Romania, drawn up by the National Bank of Romania.

With the expiry of the moratorium suspending payment obligations on loans granted to the debtors who have had their loans suspended for no more than nine months, in keeping with the European Banking Authority regulations, some customers may default on their payment obligations, therefore triggering an increase in NPLs across the entire banking sector. Romania had one of the fastest NPL reduction rates among European countries, shrinking six times in five years to reach 3.83% at the end of December 2020.

According to a KPMG Advisory impact study, the decrease in the NPL rate to 3% could generate additional capital for lenders totaling 2.3 billion lei, which could generate an additional lending volume of 22.6 billion lei.

At the same time, the loan/deposit ratio went down to 65.89% in December 2020, while domestic saving advanced by 14.4% to 420 billion lei at the end of last year.

Due to last year’s extraordinary conditions, the banking sector’s capacity to generate profit was negatively influenced by the worsening macroeconomic outlook. Across the industry, the return on assets and return on equity stood at 0.98% and 8.86%, respectively, at the end of last year. If we conducted a profitability analysis, we would find

that, in 2019, the national banking sector ranked 11th and seventh, respectively, in terms of ROA (1.4%) and ROE (12.3%) among the European Union Member States.

In this context dominated by uncertainty, there are three main topics that should become priorities, as they could facilitate a fast recovery for Romania’s economy. The first topic involves the use of European funds, representing a huge opportunity for the modernization of the economy and society as a whole. The banking sector is prepared, both at industry level - through the Romanian Association of Banks - and separately - through individual banks - to contribute to speeding up the use of European funds as well as funds made available via the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience.

A second extremely important topic refers to the real digitalization of the economy. The banking sector is one of the most advanced sectors in terms of digitalization.

We need the authorities’ support in order to use digitalization on a wide scale rather than just marginally. For the state, the advantages are less red tape, cost cuts and less tax evasion.

The third topic, and concern at the same time, refers to the best investment options so that economic recovery follows an abrupt upward curve in 2021. This year’s economic forecasts estimate an economic growth of 34%. Romania’s economic recovery depends on how and how quickly we are able to prioritize the solutions available, as the challenges remain the same, while getting even stronger in some cases.

We are confident that the banking industry will be able to support the public policy efforts for the national objectives to be achieved.

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OPINION

THE RECURRING BURDEN (OF FISCAL CONSOLIDATION)

In 2020, almost one in four lei spent by the Romanian givernment came from debt (internal and external), bearing interest that will have to be paid in the future. In brief, that translates into a budget deficit of almost 10 percent of GDP, compared to budget expenditures of about 40 percent of GDP (the exact figures are 9.8 percent and 40.8 percent of GDP, respectively).

BY VALENTIN LAZEA In 2020, almost one in four lei spent by the Romanian givernment came from debt (internal and external), bearing interest that will have to be paid in the future. In brief, that translates into a budget deficit of almost 10 percent of GDP, compared to budget expenditures of about 40 percent of GDP (the exact figures are 9.8 percent and 40.8 percent of GDP, respectively). It's as if a family had its own income for only nine months the year, and the remaining three months it lived in debt, which grows and will have to be paid. This situation is clearly unsustainable, and no one would be surprised if creditors refused to provide any more loans. The solution for the government (as well as for that hypothetical family) would be to increase the incomes and decrease expenses, so as to reach a situation where at most one in twelve lei spent comes from debt (i.e. a maximum deficit of three percent of GDP, with budget expenditures of 36 percent of GDP). This is how the fiscalbudgetary adjustment should be read, as it represents the responsibility of the Romanian government between 2021-2024 .

The first signs in this regard are very encouraging: - a reformist government was formed, with a parliamentary majority behind it; - this government proposed a clear timetable for reducing the budget deficit, from 9.8 percent of GDP (in 2020) to 2.9 percent of

GDP (in 2024); - A first step in this direction was the adoption of the 2021 budget, with a budget deficit reduced to 7.2 percent of GDP, based on clear measures, especially on the expenditure side.

At the same time, there's been good news, as Romania recorded significant economic growth in the last quarter of last year, which is going to have a carry-over effect this year.

Thus, the 2021 economic growth forecast is going to allow an upward revision from 4.3 percent to over five percent. But beware: economic growth alone does not help reduce the budget deficit if both budget expenditures and revenues grow at the same rate. It can only help if budget revenues grow at a faster pace than the nominal economic growth and budget expenditures grow at a slower pace than the nominal economic growth. That's exactly what is going to happen in 2021: in the Budget Law, budget expenditures are projected to increase by about five percent, and budget revenues by about 12 percent (with a nominal GDP increase of around seven percent).

This is where the good news ends and the problems begin, which are neither few nor easy to solve.

The first major problem is that in Romania, unlike other European countries, most of the budget deficit is structural and dates back to before the outbreak of the Covid pandemic19.

As the graph shows, between 2015-2019

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"normal" budget deficit levels is going to be much more difficult, when the pandemicmotivated exceptional fiscal measures are lifted, unlike in other European countries, as seen in the next table: The second big problem is that Romania is now going through a second The fiscal consolidation process in the European Union major fiscal-budgetary consolidation, after the one in 2010-2015, seemingly having learned nothing from that experience. While the causes behind the budgetary imbalances generated in 2007-2009 were never openly discussed, and were hidden under political explanations, the general 2019-2015 budget balance difference (pp of GDP) Note: The projection of the European Commission is conceived on the hypothesis of a 40% increase public never understood why of the pension point and of a doubling of the child allowances, a hypothesis that did not materialize. the 2010-2015 budgetary Source: Eurostat, Ministry of Finance, National Statistics Board, AMECO consolidation was necessary, nor the importance of achieving Romania's economic growth exceeded potentimacroeconomic balance in 2015, when al, which should have led to a reduction in Romania met all five Maastricht Criteria and 13 budget deficit (and its transformation into a of 14 indicators of the Stability and Growth surplus), rather than an increase. This explains Pact Scoreboard. Because these aspects were why Romania entered the Covid-19 pandemic not discussed or understood, they were with non-existent fiscal space and only the abandoned without regrets in 2015-2019, for European Commission's decision to suspend the sake of small individual gains, while the Stability and Growth Pact allowed Romania, sacrificing the general interest. the only state under the Excessive Deficit Of course, it is easier for us as macroeProcedure, to avoid sanctions. conomists to understand these things, because This also explains why Romania's return to by the nature of our Budget deficits (cash)% of GDP profession we have to think long term (over five years) Region/Country and our primary objective is to secure the country's Eurozone solvency (creditworthiness) in Czechia front of domestic and foreign creditors. But things are not Poland the same for the vast majority of our fellow citizens: Hungary - the general public have a Romania* very short time horizon (a month or a quarter), and Sources: European Commission autumn forecast * for Romania, “Fiscal-budgetary strategy 2021-2023” people's main objective is to

Fiscal consolidation

Budget balance in 2020 (percentage of GDP, forecast)

Romania was the only European country to see a budget deficit deterioration (equivalent to four percent of GDP), while the other European countries reduced their deficit (24 states) or and kept it constant (Estonia and Hungary).

Moreover, the deterioration took place as

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OPINION

- by fighting tax evasion and the 'black improve their living standards. They will economy.' It is estimated that budget revenues therefore welcome any wage raises, even when of about three percent of GDP are lost due to tax they're not based on an increase in productivity, evasion and non-collection of VAT. The and any pension hikes, even if they're not based digitalization of the National Agency for Fiscal on wage growth (to fuel it); Administration (ANAF), the general use of - business people have a short time horizon electronic cash registers and other similar (a quarter or a year) and their main goal is to measures should bring in at least half of that increase profits. Therefore, they will enjoy any amount (1.5 percent of GDP) as additional cuts in taxation, even if they may distort the revenue. But this requires a level of political will competitive environment; that currently seems to be lacking.

- politicians have a medium time horizon (an - by closing as many loopholes as possible, electoral cycle) and their main objective is to generated by the many exceptions and tax accumulate political capital. Therefore, they will exemptions that have proliferated in the Fiscal avoid by any means spending political capital by Code since 2015. It is estimated that all these promoting unpopular measures, such as legal loopholes generate uncollected budget budgetary consolidation. revenues of about 4.5 percent of GDP (VAT and All this is understandable. But until all social social security contribution deductions categories learn to look a little beyond their accounting for one third of the total each). personal interest and the short-term horizon, we - by raising certain tax rates. We understand are doomed to the recurring burden of that this is a taboo subject, which the governbudgetary consolidation, from which no one ment is not considering, both for ideological and learns anything. economic reasons (the persistence of the The third major problem (and the most Covid-19 pandemic). However, sooner or later, pressing one, from our point of view) is the such increases will have to be taken into concrete way in which budgetary consolidation account, whether they will be imposed by the should be achieved under the Fiscal-Budgetary European Commission (environmental taxes, Strategy 2021-2023. As illustrated in the table carbon emissions, etc.) or by domestic below, the full budgetary consolidation of economic realities (property taxes). about seven percent of GDP is projected to be secured by keeping budget expenditures under strict control and not Budget consolidation, 2021-2024, percent of GDP at all by increasing budget revenues.

And it is hard to believe that Indicator wage and pension expenses can be Budget kept tight for four consecutive years, revenues knowing that in the election years (and the year 2024 is such a year) Budget the tendency is to let them increase, expenditures with the purpose of accumulating Budget political capital. Therefore, at least deficit 2.5 to three percent of GDP should realistically come from increased Structural budget revenues. Theoretically, deficit increasing budget revenues can be Source: Government of Romania, “Fiscal-budgetary strategy 2021-2023” achieved in three different ways:

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Returning to the closure of legal loopholes, we believe that the process should be urgently set in motion, given that later in the election cycle the political will to do so decreases over time. Ideally, loopholes worth more than one percent of GDP should be identified by the middle of this year and withdrawn from January 2022. The government that can do that would kill three birds with one stone: - it would increase budget revenues by one percent of GDP per year during 2022-2024, thus reducing the pressure on budget expenditures; - it would keep its promise not to raise any taxes in 2021; - it would give the business community a sixmonth advance notification on upcoming taxation changes, thus fulfilling its commitment to predictability; The legal loopholes (called somewhat inappropriately tax expenditures) could be divided into two broad categories: - those that respond to a clear economic need; - those that are more like favors to a profession/ social group, unnecessary but “nice to have.”

The second category can, in turn, be divided into questionable legal loopholes (the existence of which could be accepted at a stretch) and downright harmful legal loopholes (which seriously distort the competitive environment).

If we were to analyze it strictly from an economic point of view, the first category (legal loopholes that meet a clear economic need) could include for example: - reduced 9% VAT rate on medicines, foodstuffs, non-alcoholic beverages, hospitality (as international tourism is a form of export), water for irrigation; - meal and nursery vouchers.

The second category (questionable legal loopholes) could include for example: - reduced 9% VAT on fertilizers and pesticides (strange in the context of the European environmental agenda);

- reduced 5% VAT on books and magazines, entrance fees to museums and memorial houses, sports events, etc. (whoever pays 50 lei for a book with 5% VAT will pay 56.60 lei for the same book with 19% VAT).

- gift vouchers, holiday vouchers, cultural vouchers, etc.

- property tax exemption on buildings in public or private property of the state or of the administrative-territorial units.

- income tax exemptions on wages in the IT, construction, research and development sectors, etc.

Finally, the third category (harmful legal loopholes, with negative economic effects) includes for example: - dividend tax reduced to five percent, compared to the 16 percent tax applied to capital gains (encourages the withdrawal of money from the enterprise, instead of reinvestment); - raising the turover ceiling to one million euros for companies with 1-9 employees, allowing them to pay an income tax of 1% of turnover, rather than a profit tax of 16% (unduly favoring small companies that have a profitability greater than six percent); - raising the ceiling for a reduced 5% VAT on housing units sales, from 90,000 euro (equivalent) to 140,000 euro (equivalent) (it only makes real estate speculators rich).

I have given just a few examples (debatable, of course) of legal loopholes that should be closed and should be subject to analysis sooner rather than later. Any delay in this regard is going to weaken the political will and unrealistically place the entire burden of budget adjustment on expenditures.

And if, at the end of four difficult years, we again manage to secure budgetary consolidation (the second time after the 2010-2015 effort), and we regain creditor confidence, we would do well not to waste these gains by frantically welcoming wage and pension raises and tax cuts that have nothing to do with economic realities.

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ROMANIA'S BILLION-EURO QUESTION

BY OVIDIU CONSTANTINESCU, FACE PR AND NEWS There you have it, the National Program for Recovery and Resilience. A 41 billion euro investment plan designed to reset the country, a true Marshall a plan, as one Romanian politician put it.

The truth of the matter is that, for Romania, this is a one-in-150-year chance for a true national reset, that came out of the one-in-100-year catastrophic pandemic on the back of the once-in-history chance of being members of the European Union.

As it stands on paper, the Program is a shot in the arm not only for the economy in general or for the pandemic-hit industries, but also a true historychanger for Romania. It forces us to focus more on new greener and environmentally-friendly industries; to open-up the state bureaucracy through widespread digitalization; to modernize the healthcare system to the point it can cope with properly taking care of its patients in normal times as well as in critical situations, like the ones we are facing now; to build a proper and modern education system, with new schools and kindergartens; relaunch research and development, push forward with digitalization and AI, broadband and 5G; build badly needed motorways to a scale that not even ex-PM Ponta and ex-Minister Sova could have dreamt of or drawn on their famous motorway wish-maps; (re)build the rail network etc., etc. The Program is so vast and allencompassing that it dwarfs everything that has been promised in all electoral campaigns by all the parties put together in the past 30 years. And, more importantly, it puts the money where the mouth is: four billion euro for water/canal and wastewater treatment facilities in a country where a quarter of the population still use the medieval “eco-loo” situated in the back garden, for modern municipal waste collection and treatment facilities in a country where only 14% of the waste is recycled and 70% is simply dumped;1.5 billion euro for reforestation in country that has harvested lumber like grain.

We have 3.4 billion euro for the healthcare system and the activation of 2,000 new family doctor offices and preventive medicine in a country where somehow people delay seeing a doctor sometimes until it’s too late, and for the digitalization of the health-

care system (as a matter of fact, telemedicine and digitalization of the interaction between the doctor and the Health Insurance Company on one hand and the patient on the other was one of the few good things that came out of this pandemic) We would be able to spend 4.4 billion euro on improving the education system in a country where 40% of the teenagers leaving the system are functionally illiterate.

We have four billion euro for digitalization in the administration, so that I would no longer need to get a hard copy of an act or a document from a state institution just to hand it back, to another state institution, ten feet away. The elimination of the “railbinder dossier” from the Romanian bureaucracy will be a miracle, no shorter of the discovery of fire and the wheel put together.

Then there are the 4.5 billion euro for motorways and five billion euro for the rail infrastructure and the plan goes on and on and on, billion after billion on things that we badly need.

But then I realize that I am old enough and my memory is still intact to remember the Romanian Communist Party’s Program for forging the Multilaterally Developed Socialist Society and Romania’s progress towards communism, adopted in June 1974. It was a 184-page list of directions for strategic investment plans that, over the years proved to have nothing in common with the daily reality. The current Recovery and Resilience is just 154-page long, and if there is one thing that we, Romanians, are good at, it's writing plans. Not planning as such, writing them. Yes, the Recovery and Resilience Program is a galactic chance for Romania, but it has one major flaw: we, Romanians, and nobody else, have to implement it and work hard in the process. We need skilled workforce, we need manpower, we need resilience and determination.

And the billion-euro question is: Do we have what it takes to grab the chance and make the leap forward?

OVIDIU CONSTANTINESCU

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HISTORIC TIES SPUR ARMENIA AND ROMANIA COOPERATION While Armenia and Romania enjoy warm and solid relations, underpinned by shared values and expanding potential for economic partnerships, the opportunities for further development are substantial. In an interview with Business Arena, Sergey Minasyan, the Ambassador of Armenia to Bucharest, speaks about specific cooperation opportunities and outlines his key objectives as ambassador to Romania.

How would you characterize Armenian Romanian relations and what areas need improvement?

Relations between Armenia and Romania have a solid historical basis, mainly due to the millennial presence of the Armenian community

Sergey Minasyan, the Ambassador of Armenia to Bucharest on the hospitable Romanian soil. Romania was one of the first states to recognize the independence of Armenia, and a few days later, on December 17, 1991, it established diplomatic relations with the Republic of Armenia. Since then, the bilateral relations have been developing steadily between the two countries. Over the years, more than 50 bilateral agreements and other documents have been signed with the aim of strengthening and increasing the level of our multidimensional cooperation, based on trust and confidence.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has also caused significant disruption to these relations, as our main programs and events have been postponed, cancelled, or had their format changed. However, we do hope that after we have overcome the crisis, we will fully resume our programs and projects, lifting our bilateral agenda to a new level.

What was the volume of bilateral trade in 2020 and what are the most traded goods between the two countries?

Economic relations between Armenia and Romania have yet to reach their full potential, especially following the coming into force of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) on March 1, 2021. Moreover, the European Union is Armenia’s second biggest export market, with a 21.9% share of the total, and the secondlargest source of imports, accounting for 19.5% of the total.

As of 2020, the total trading volume between Armenia and Romania was 6.9 million USD, of which exports amounted to 6.8 million USD. Compared to the same year-before period, the total trading volume increased by 54.4%, with exports increasing by 56.3% and imports decreasing by 8.2%.

There are 65 trading companies with Armenian capital in Romania. In terms of the value of subscribed share capital, the Republic of Armenia is ranked 89th.

Romanian imports from Armenia consist mainly of food, beverages and tobacco, while Romanian exports to Armenia include mainly machinery and transport equipment, chemicals and related products as well as furniture.

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The Index of Economic Freedom by the Heritage Foundation ranks Armenia’s economy ahead of all other Eurasian Economic Union countries and many EU countries. To what extent could that aspect attract more investors to do business in your country?

Indeed, according to the 2021 Index of Economic Freedom published by the Heritage Foundation, Armenia’s economic freedom score is 71.9, making its economy the 32nd freest in the world. Armenia’s overall score has increased by 1.3 points. Armenia is ranked 18th of 45 European countries, and its overall score is above the regional and world averages.

As for Armenia’s neighbors, Iran is ranked 168th, Turkey 76th, Azerbaijan 38th and Georgia 12th, while Armenia’s partners in the Eurasian Economic Union Russia and Kazakhstan are ranked 92nd and 34th, respectively, Belarus is 95th, Kyrgyzstan is 78th.

As you know, one of the most significant indicators for investors to establish a business in a foreign country is the index of economic freedom.

What are Armenia’s overall strengths as a potential investment destination?

Armenia has the potential to be considered a favorable investment destination. The main objectives of our state policy in the investment sphere focus on improving the investment environment, improving the legal framework and promoting investments in the economy of Armenia, including foreign direct investments.

One of the main goals of the Armenian investment policy is to create a conducive environment for investments and business, to increase transparency of the regulatory environment and investment sizes, to reveal the country’s competitive advantages, to create high-quality and highly paid jobs, to develop market infrastructure and human capital as well as to provide sustainable economic growth and welfare for the population.

The Armenian Government implements the “Open Doors” policy, liberalization of investment activities, reservation of national and most favorable treatment of foreign investors, proper protection of investors and other advanced international practices towards foreign investments, providing for full property ownership.

Armenia creates an excellent possibility for foreign investors in high tech industry and particularly in information technologies.

The recently established “Investment Support Center” Foundation housed in the Ministry of

Economy of Armenia has a task to promote foreign investment in an efficient and streamlined manner, and to provide full support to foreign business people in Armenia in a number of areas: - Providing information on Armenia’s investment opportunities and conditions, including government incentives and other procedures; - Support in all investment procedures and support in relations with various state authorities; - Consultancy on resources required for investment, including existing land and another real estate, state-owned property, co-financing sources, and potential resident partners; - Providing investment projects to potential investors according to their interests; - Ensuring immediate response to problems arising during investment activities.

The investment policy, by the way, is one of the spheres where the existing Romanian experience might be very interesting and valuable for the Armenian side.

With its contrasting landscapes, rich history and culture, Armenia could be an attractive destination for Romanian tourists. To what extent could the two countries develop their tourism cooperation?

Armenia is a unique tourism destination with a huge and diverse cultural heritage as well as tremendous landscapes. Armenia’s countless tourist destinations provide opportunities for different kinds of tourism such as recreational, rural, ecological, spiritual, religious, cultural, and more, both in the regions and in the capital, Yerevan.

Tourists are especially attracted to the pearls of millennium-old Armenian cultural and historic heritage, medieval monasteries, churches, fortresses and castles located on the territory of Armenia, some of which have been included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. One of those sites is the Holy Echmiadzin, which is visited by thousands of tourists every year. As you may know, Armenia was the first country in the world that adopted Christianity as a state religion (301 A.D.). According to the legend, Jesus Christ descended from Heaven and indicated the place for a church to be built. At the beginning of the 4th century, King Trdat III and Saint Gregory the Illuminator built the Holy Echmiadzin (“The Descent of the Only Begotten Son”) Cathedral, which is now the religious center of Armenia.

Besides that, the landscapes and nature of the Armenian Highland provide with numerous

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possibilities for lovers of adventure tourism, such us hiking or trekking in picturesque mountains (on average higher than in Romania, the highest peak being Mount Aragats, with a height of 4,090 meters), gorgeous canyons and deep gorges in the warmer seasons, as well as winter ski resorts for colder periods of the year.

Armenia offers its visitors numerous festivals throughout the year, from wine tasting to several cooking masterclasses, special classes for weaving the famous Armenian carpets or baking Armenian flatbread (lavash), the tradition of which has been inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List as an expression of Armenian culture.

Armenia has plenty of wonderful places to visit and admire and each Romanian tourist will find something close to their heart!

Armenia has a large diaspora, including an important Armenian community in Romania. To what extent can that help consolidate the bilateral ties between the two countries?

As I already mentioned, for centuries Armenian and Romanian peoples have shared a unique relationship, thus providing a strong base to further develop Armenia-Romania relations.

We all know that the historical Armenian community in Romania played an important role in the political, economic, cultural and educational life of the country. It is worth mentioning once again the privileged position the Armenian community in Romania, both as an ethnic and religious minority, and as an integral part of the Romanian society, which serves as a bridge between the two countries delivering tangible benefits to our peoples.

services, as well as trade sectors.

In January-August 2020, the economic activity index was -6.4%, compared to the same period of the previous year. The decline was due to the decline in services (-10.8%), trade (-11.5%) and construction (-19.1%).

The effects of the global economic slowdown, indeed, were reflected in the Armenian economy, especially in the demand for Armenian exports.

Over January-August 2020, the export volume of goods amounted to 1,567.9 million US dollars, decreasing by 106.4 million US dollars or 6.0% compared to the previous year. Commodity export values decreased mainly due to the following products: - Cognac: the decline was -26 million US dollars or -18.8%, - Iron smelting: the decline was -7.6 million US dollars or -28.4%, - Diamond stone: the decline was -19.5 million US dollars or -53.1%, - Smoking: the decline was -15.5 million US dollars or -9.6%, - Jewelry: the decline was -15.3 million US dollars or -52.4%.

As I already mentioned, the tourism industry is one of the most affected sectors of the Armenian economy. In January-June 2020, the number of tourist arrivals amounted to 331.264, which is 60% lower compared to the same period of 2019.

In order to successfully overcome the challenges raised by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of the Republic of Armenia took the appropriate measures, such as the adoption of “The package of comprehensive measures to neutralize the economic effects of the coronavirus” that provides a partial solution to the problems.

To what extent has Armenia’s economy been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic? What measures have been taken in order to help the economy get back on track?

The COVID-19 pandemic has reached almost every country in the world and Armenia is no exception. The outbreak in Armenia was rapid and the state of emergency was long-lasting for the entire country. This has severely affected key economic sectors and services in the country such as agriculture, industry and tourism.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the gross domestic product decreased (-5.7%) in the first half of 2020, mainly because of declines in the processing industry, accommodation and food

What major objectives would you like to have achieved by the end of your term in Bucharest?

Since the first day of my tenure in Romania I outlined a few priorities to organize the Embassy’s work: to deepen and broaden our political dialogue and multicultural ties with the Romanian government, to promote peopleto-people contacts, including civil society and export community representatives, to promote and expand economic, trade and business relations between the two countries, to promote key Armenian policy goals in Romania. I am determined to continue along the path of achieving the major priorities I have set.

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BUSINESS LEADERS LOOK OPTIMISTICALLY INTO THE FUTURE As the business environment is still riddled with uncertainty and concern about the evolution of the health and economic crisis, AmCham Romania President Ionut Simion recently identified some encouraging aspects that should allow Romania to overcome the hurdles: “While these are global challenges that affect all economies, we consider that Romania is in a privileged situation due to: the beginning of new legislative and executive mandates meant to bring stability; the beginning of a new period of allocation of European funds of which Romania can benefit from in record amounts; the considerable overlapping of Government and private sector priorities. We are pleased to find a significant share of the AmCham strategic recommendations in the Priorities for Romania document reflected in the Government Plan.”

In this context Business Arena has asked top local business leaders to share their views on the outlook of their business operations in 2021 and 2022, and identify the main challenges and growth opportunities in the market. Read on to find out what they had to say.

Mihaela Popa, Frist Vice President of CEC Bank’s Steering Committee 2020 was a good year for CEC Bank, despite the challenges brought on by pandemic. The bank managed to achieve a significant increase in total assets, over 25%, remained profitable and took important steps towards achieving its strategic objective of becoming the fifth largest bank in Romania, in terms of assets.

Modernization and digitalization bring growth opportunities and play an important role in CEC Bank’s strategy. If we look at the full side of the glass, the pandemic has helped accelerate the adoption of new technologies and has confirmed that the path we have chosen for

CEC Bank is the right one. In 2020, CEC Bank launched online opening of accounts for private individuals, early this year we also launched the online personal loans, and we will continue to bring new products and services in the e-commerce area: credit cards, as well as services for SMEs. The new normality in financial services will certainly include digitalization, but CEC Bank’s business model is a hybrid one, as human interactions are still necessary. CEC Bank has the largest territorial network and is the only bank in Romania with a significant presence in small towns and rural areas.

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We are talking about areas where the degree of financial inclusion is low and where people, including entrepreneurs, need advice to finance their investment projects. Beyond our commercial objectives, being a state-owned bank, CEC Bank also has a social responsibility: to educate the public and to support the economy and the communities where we are active. That’s why, having a physical footprint is necessary.

In terms of what the future holds, we witnessed a revival of financing needs starting the second half of 2020 - both from individuals and companies. And the beginning of 2021 looks similarly promising in terms of loan demand. In 2021, we expect to grow at a higher rate compared to last year. I think an important lesson that the banking system has learned from the 2010 crisis is the importance of having a good relationship with customers: to be with them for better or for worse. At the beginning of the pandemic, there were concerns that the ability to reimburse loans would be affected. But the fact that banks came up with solutions quickly - at the right moment, helped many customers to overcome more easily the difficult period during the first months of the pandemic and prevented the growth of non-performing loans.

Obviously, we will continue to operate in a volatile and unpredictable environment, with ups and downs depending on the development of the pandemic. But the important thing is that we have adapted and learned to move forward, even in this pandemic context. Because the world still needs cash flows, financing, investment, and we are here to meet those needs.

Traian Halalai, CEO, EximBank

The way in which an organization evolves, and even more so a bank, is determined both by the strategic and operational decisions it takes, and especially by the ability to adapt and the flexibility with which it acts in exceptional situations. And I can say that the decisions taken at EximBank prove to be correct and successful, the way we have adapted our activity allowing the bank to

strengthen its position on the banking market and to actively contribute to the steps taken to accelerate the growth of the Romanian economy.

After a year of learning how to do things differently, but just as well as giving our customers and partners normalcy and continuity, we will continue to mobilize and find solutions to be better despite a context that is still full of uncertainty.

Last year, our efforts focused on supporting entrepreneurs overcome this exceptional period: we offered customers the opportunity to defer overdue obligations, extended overdue credit lines, simplified the application approval process and quickly provided working capital facilities for impacted customers. In addition, the bank exploited an additional financial resource for the benefit of entrepreneurs by participating in the SME Invest program. In addition, large companies and SMEs with a turnover of over 20 million lei in 2019 benefit from new financing and guarantee products with state aid component, offered by EximBank as part of the government support program within the Investment Plan and Economic Recovery.

As a result, EximBank’s activity intensified, and at the end of 2020 the bank registered a very good financial performance: the volume of gross loans exceeded 5.5 billion lei, increasing by 39% compared to the previous year, and the total managed exposure increased by 3.4 billion lei, up to 13.7 billion lei. At the same time, following the adoption of a prudent approach for both the bank and customers, the bank recorded a non-performing exposure rate of 2.6%, significantly improved compared to December 2019 and well below the average in the banking system (3.8%).

As for 2021, we all understand that this atypical situation will continue. So we have another year ahead of us with challenges, but I believe that we have the determination, experience and resources to come up with solutions for the business environment so that it can overcome all difficulties. We will continue to run the programs started in 2020 and, of course, we are ready to implement, depending on

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the general evolution of the situation, other support formulas, in accordance with the strategic plans to support the Romanian economy established by the authorities.

I am convinced that, despite the multiple uncertainties, EximBank will continue to grow, capitalizing on its role that focuses on stimulating the potential of local companies. As for 2022, it is difficult to make an estimate at this time, depending on the response that the local and international economy will give to the health crisis.

Ufuk Tandoğan, CEO, Garanti BBVA Romania

We believe that the economy will rebound this year and we will witness a strong growth in 2022. We are ready to use this opportunity to attract new clients and help the existing ones to further develop their business.

Nevertheless, there is still a fair amount of uncertainty regarding de pandemic, that can determine some companies to postpone the investment plans.

Mioara Popescu, CEO, Idea::Bank

We look to the future with optimism, communicating effectively inside and outside the organization, thus maintaining a muchneeded relationship of trust, both at team level and with customers. We aim to be faithful to the option of constantly innovating and we will continue the digital transformation of the company, taking advantage of the digital advance that our bank currently has following the development of digital sales channels such as Idea::WebDepo, Idea::WebCredit and our strategic partnership with eMAG through which we finance both SMEs

that sell products online and individuals who buy from those platforms.

If at the end of last year we ranked 20th in the Romanian banking system, with a market share of 0.48%, our goal is to maintain the current asset growth rate, which will translate into a 0.6% market share in two years’ time. We also want to increase productivity, aiming at a ROE of 11%.

The challenges are related to securing efficiency and effectiveness, absolutely necessary conditions if we are to respond swiftly and meet customer needs, to create added value both for them and for our organization and shareholders.

Emil Bituleanu, General Manager, Libra Internet Bank

Generally speaking, I am optimistic.

Although there are still many unknowns both in terms of health and economics, difficult times can also become fertile ground for opportunities. This derives from the ability to identify areas with high growth potential. In these circumstances, being open and agile becomes crucial, and we, Libra Internet Bank, have repeatedly proven these main features. Undoubtedly, the main risk for the banks this year is the resuming of loan payments after the expiration of the moratorium for borrowers affected by the negative economic impact of the pandemic. In this sense, we have thoroughly analyzed and taken into account all the possible scenarios and we are well prepared for any kind of evolution. For 2021, our net profit target is of over 75 million lei, with a net assets value budgeted around 7.2 billion lei. Regarding the balance of loans, we forecast a 7% increase. Of course, if after the first quarter we see a positive evolution and a smooth transition back to instalment payments from customers who have benefited from the grace

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period, then we’ll definitely make positive adjustments to our annual targets.

Radu Grațian Ghețea, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Libra Internet Bank

We are all facing a completely new reality, which continues to change at an accelerated pace and within which the role of banks is more important than ever, as part of the economic recovery solution.

Fortunately, banks operating in Romania are more than able to fully honor this important role. Throughout this most unusual period, the entire Romanian banking system has behaved exemplary and managed to quickly adapt to the new conditions, with Libra Internet Bank certainly being one of the best examples in this regard. In a general trend of accelerating digitalization of services, I am confident that Libra Internet Bank will continue to integrate perfectly, given its vocation towards technology and innovation, for the benefit of the end customer.

Kent Orrgren, CEO, World Class Romania

World Class has recently celebrated 20 years in Romania. It has been a rewarding journey so far, as the leading health & fitness network in Romania.

We launched our communication campaign to explain why “Exercise is medicine.” We keep promoting the benefits of exercise to educate and inform the Romanians about the vital importance that an active lifestyle has for stronger health, heart and immunity. Dr. Robert Sallis, a family

and sports medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente, says something that we all should bear in mind, when we decide our everyday priorities: “Regular exercise may be the most powerful medicine we have — more powerful in most cases than any pill or procedure. We literally have thousands of years of data, going back to Hippocrates, that exercise has a powerful therapeutic effect.”

Last year was challenging and we managed to prevail due to a strong teamwork. We opened two new clubs in 2020, number 40 in Sema Business Parc and number 41 in Brasov. We launched our own Premium training online platform and after lockdown we reopened all our 41 health & fitness clubs. Our strict safety, prevention and hygiene protocols are in place and our teams ensure that all safety rules are observed: physical distancing and thorough disinfection of the training equipment and all areas of the clubs, advanced nebulization performed periodically in order to keep the air inside our clubs clean and healthy. Our members are back to their healthy lifestyle routine, more active than ever, at their favourite clubs or online on www.worldclass.ro/online/. 2021 started with great business expectations and so far all estimates were exceeded. This proves that we are on the right track, with a powerful community, a great team of health & fitness experts and all the strictest safety and prevention protocols in place at all our clubs. The growth opportunities do exist and they are connected to the increasing interest that the community and the authorities have in finding the most effective solutions for health and for combating the most common chronic diseases that are also aggravating factors for COVID-19: cardiac disease, diabetes and obesity. It is scientifically proven that regular physical exercise helps prevent these diseases and is also a recognized part of the treatments.

World Class has so far almost 70.000 members.

It is important to keep them active and healthy and grow these numbers to get more Romanians to be more active more often.

At World Class we are on a social mission, we envisage a more active and healthier nation through physical activity, health and fitness and this is what drives and motivate us to keep growing our movement for more movement.

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Ugur Yesil, CEO and Executive Board Member, Kanal D

The entire business environment will face many challenges this year and the next, as the heath crisis is still here and affecting the entire socio-economic context; there are many uncertainties, it is difficult to have a long-term projection at this moment. But, even during the crisis, if you have the capacity to react and adapt really quickly in an unpredictable situation and take immediate decisions, you can seize many opportunities.

Having 2020 as an example, an year in which we adapted immediately to the new pandemic and performed very well, I have every reason to be confident and optimist regarding our business performance in the future. In the first two months of 2021, Kanal D ranked first among the generalist channels, with an RTG [rating] of 8.8% and a 20.0% SHR [market share] in Prime Time (20:00-24:00) at national level. In 2020, Kanal D ranked second, with a 14.4% market share in Prime Time, at the level of the national public, recording a 12% increase from the previous year.

The success, even in pandemic conditions, was possible because we understood the restrictions and the importance of adjusting our workflow, we anticipated the consumption habits and therefore took immediate measures in all respects. We continued to offer our viewers fresh content, relevant and objective information, as well as a total and interactive show on all our platforms: TV, Radio and Digital. We will continue to invest in quality, innovative content, in exclusive video content for the digital platform.

Also, the development strategy of Radio Impuls continues, a radio station which joined

Kanal D two years ago, and which we want to see soon in the top of the most listened radio stations in Romania.

In obtaining these results, I continue to rely on the creative and results-oriented team of Kanal D, but also on the relationship of trust that we have established with our public and with our partners.

Henk Paardekooper, CEO First Bank

Despite the pandemic and the uncertain economic outlook, First Bank progressed well in 2020, in line with the implementation of our transformation strategy. Our various digitalization projects are well underway and have started to produce visible results, all to the benefit of our customers. One such example is our digital banking channel, which registered a stunning growth of 800%.

We are building a stronger and even better bank, being First to make a difference, staying very close to our clients by becoming more digital and with a human touch.

The big challenge will remain the external environment and the further economic evolutions.

The economy will only get kick-started when consumers and companies will regain the trust that the pandemic is on a descendent slope and under control. Currently, we seem far away from this which will result in increased savings, hence restriction on consumption and investments.

However, I expect a real spending bonanza when the flood gates will open and growth will accelerate. No matter the context, the common denominator in First Bank operations will always be the customer experience we provide to our clients: simplified banking, digitally enhanced, and always human.

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Rodica Vasin, Owner, Apulum Porcelain Factory Having lived through a real medical as well as social and economic crisis for more than one year now, we can say that the development of our company continues. We have bold development projects for the future, we aim at reducing energy consumption and using energy resources responsibly, while we also plan to increase our turnover to over 200 million lei this year.

Madalina Teodorescu, Vice President First Bank Changing consumer values and behavior are causing disruption for business globally.

The banking industry makes no exception. The First Bank strategy, "digital with a human touch", was developed long before the black swan event that marked 2020. The challenges faced in 2020, a year that has been anything but normal, only reconfirmed that our vision is the right one. First Bank is a traditional bank, but with a vision for a digital future and a change of mindset - from the focus on the product, to the focus centered around the customer experience.

When looking at the future, we see that both challenges and opportunities reside in digitalization. Challenge because the banking industry still must prove that it can successfully overcome the digital gap between banks and fintech’s, while leveraging on the most important attribute for the client: trust.

In the past months, First Bank recorded unprecedented growth percentages in mobile and online transactions, both for individuals and legal entities: 9 out of 10 transactions are digital. So, the opportunity is obvious: to simplify the technology enough to put into the client's hands the control over its finances and easy access to intuitive digital tools, while seasoning the experience with the best advices offered by a personal banker.

Sergiu Bogdan Oprescu, President of the Board of Directors of the Romanian Association of Banks and Executive President at Alpha Bank Romania Romania has an unparalleled growth potential in terms of banking, financial intermediation, level of financial education and level of economic prosperity. Romania has recorded huge progress since its entry into the European Union, but in order to reach European averages, the country still has a long way to go.

We should obtain a convergence advantage, meaning that our speed should be higher than that of the group we are following.

The challenge for the banking system is to contribute to the development of the Romanian economy by increasing the degree of financial intermediation, as there is a close correlation between the two indicators. Individual economic welfare would improve by increasing the degree of financial intermediation from 25% to the average level recorded in the European Union, which is 85%.

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The latest addition to Business Arena's events calendar is a project designed to expand the scope of its annual award ceremonies.

The Brand Excellence Hall of Fame Awards is the fourth major gala event in Business Arena’s portfolio, joining the list alongside the Awards for Excellence, Most Admired Business Women Awards and Financial Leaders’ Hall of Fame.

Innovation, resourcefulness, perseverance and a culture of responsible risk-taking have helped many overcome major challenges.

Thus, the new awards gala recognizes organizations that have achieved outstanding results through initiatives that demonstrate excellence in brand management.

Celebrating achievement, innovation, and strong brand strategy, the 2021 Brand Excellence Hall of Fame Awards cover the following categories: • Automotive Brand of the Year; • Best Pharmaceutical Brand of the Year; • Brand of the Year in Hospitality; • IT Brand of the Year; • Most Admired Telecom Brand; • Best Real Estate Brand; • Romanian Brand of the Year; • Retail Brand of the Year; • Romanian Banking Brand of the Year; • Best Banking Brand; • Most Admired Banking Product

For more information please contact Cosmin Stangaciu at cosmin.stangaciu@business-arena.ro or phone 0755.274.125

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CFOs ARE MORE OPTIMISTIC THAN LAST YEAR BUT STILL FOCUS ON COST CUTS Chief financial officers in Romania are more optimistic than six months ago regarding the evolution of their companies’ main financial indicators, according to the latest edition of Deloitte CFO Survey Romania, conducted based on opinions expressed by over 100 CFOs. Although half of the respondents show optimism, cost reductions continue to be the next 12 months’ priority for 37% of them, down from 58%, at the beginning of the pandemic. The second priority is organic growth of business (up from 13% to 18%), followed by digitalization (11%), as work from home and internal process automation have become crucial in most of the fields. The costs expected to increase the most, according to the study, are those related to provisions for bad debts, followed by cost of debt and of equity. At the opposite end, real estate expenses are likely to decrease the most.

The reduction in demand remains the main concern for companies in 2021, although, as far as the domestic demand is concerned, the share of respondents who expect a decrease is down to 44%, from over 70%, at the beginning of the pandemic. On the other hand, the shortage of skilled professionals climbed back among the factors that are likely to pose a significant risk to business over the next 12 months, as mentioned by 43% of CFOs, compared to 11%, in the first months after the outbreak of the pandemic.

Asked when they expect their company to return to a pre-crisis level of revenue generation, 34% of respondents said they are already at or above pre-crisis level, 43% said that 2021 would be the year of the recovery, while 20% estimate this would occur in 2022 or later.

In order to ensure company recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, companies will focus on

health and safety of the workplace (38%) and on digital transformation (38%), so that they can keep the organization running even with lockdown, isolation and social distancing rules in place, the study shows. One of the areas that least interests them is the exploration of new markets, as only 1% of companies consider this for the near future.

“The chief financial officers’ perception on the future has significantly improved over the past six months, helped by the support measures announced by local and European authorities and by the start of the vaccination against the new coronavirus. According to our study’s conclusions, most sectors estimate at least a stabilization in 2021, with several exceptions, such as tourism and hospitality. Despite this, the business environment continues to be governed by prudency, considering the fact that cost reduction continues to be the preferred strategy for the following period, the risk appetite is limited, and the efforts for ensuring the organization’s proper functioning are substantial,” said Zeno Caprariu, Audit Partner, Deloitte Romania, Leader of the CFO Program in Romania.

More than half of the companies (56%) expect to report higher revenues in 2021 compared to 2020 and thus to regain from last year’s lost ground. Despite this, 84% of respondents say they are not willing to take risks, as half of them feel a high degree of uncertainty, especially in fields such as tourism, hospitality and financial services.

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BUSINESS ARENA - 100TH EDITION

INTERVIEW

BANKING ON A POSITIVE OUTCOME A dedicated optimist, Raiffeisen Bank Romania's President & CEO Steven van Groningen focuses on the positive aspects of a pandemic-ridden business environment. In an interview with Business Arena, the experienced banker talks about the challenges and opportunities for the banking industry. # WHAT ARE RAIFFEISEN BANK'S MAIN STRATEGY LINES THIS YEAR? WHAT ARE YOU RELYING ON? We are still concerned with protecting our employees, customers, partners from the COVID pandemic. We stay alert and keep in touch with our clients in order to understand their problems, we continue to finance the economy and to find the best development solutions. As you know, in February 2021 we saw an estimate of Romania's fourth-quarter 2020 GDP, and the figures are better than we expected. In Q4, Romania had the strongest recovery in the EU (+ 5.3%, compared to Q3 2020 and compared to the -0.4% EU average). The conclusion is that in 2020 the GDP fell by only 3.9%, representing one of the best results in the EU. Only five countries had a smaller GDP contraction. In our area, Poland had a better performance (only - 2.8% in 2020). There are of course explanations for these trends. The lower share of services in the total GDP helped us; in other EU countries services account for a bigger share of the economy, and services have been the hardest hit by the COVID 19 crisis. It also helped that we had a good control of the pandemic, the vaccination process is well organized, and we are among the top countries in the EU in terms of the number of people that have already been vaccinated. Consequently, we have also revised up the economic growth forecast for 2021, from 4.2% to 5.2%. All these aspects make me optimistic about the evolution of our economy and our bank in 2021. Banks will

continue to finance the economy, we are part of the solution during this period and it is clear that there is potential for growth. # IS 2021 GOING TO BE A BETTER YEAR THAN 2020 FOR BANKING AND THE ECONOMY? As I said, I am optimistic and I think 2021 is going to be a good year, but I must emphasize that I never look at the short term. We have been talking about a certain economic uncertainty for several years, and now we can see its effects. We all agree that 2020 was a year that did not resemble anything that we have experienced so far. If I were to think about a delicate moment for the banking industry in 2020, what comes to mind is the time when the country rating agencies were discussing a potential downgrade action. We managed to overcome that moment, and that helped us. I do not think that banks have reasons to complain about 2020, especially compared to other sectors of the economy.

On the other hand, we carefully monitor developments in the economy to be well positioned and prepared for the risks that may occur in the medium and long term. We must not lose sight of the fact that now we cannot assess exactly what the impact is going to be. There is always a risk that things may not go well in certain sectors and areas. The pandemic crisis is going to have long-term effects and we must look carefully to the future. Banks are part of the solution and there is growth potential.

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WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES OF THE # COVID-19 CRISIS? ARE THERE ALSO OPPORTUNITIES? In banking, risk management is a normal and important activity, for both short-term and longterm risks. In the first phase of the COVID 19 crisis, we focused on managing short-term risks.

Now, it is the time to look carefully and better understand the medium- and long-term risks. On the other hand, the Romanian banking system is well capitalized, and I do not see any problems in the short- or the long-term.

There are opportunities without a doubt. We see growing segments, even more than we would have expected, such as IT, the pharmaceutical sector, agriculture, etc. There are substantial European funds and programs, totaling almost 80 billion euros - I'm talking about the 46.4 billion euros part of the multiannual budget 2021-2027 and 33.5 billion allocated to Romania from the recovery fund. The availability of funds in the market is going to raise the need for bank cofinancing. They will also create added value and jobs. So we have opportunities and we need to be able to take advantage of them.

Loan demand was good in 2020, except for the two months of state of emergency lockdown, and I expect this trend to continue in 2021. If we're talking about SME financing, these companies need banks to be their partners, capable of supporting not only their financing needs or current operations and payments. They are looking for more. Thus, we are not the only a source of financing for companies, but, through our partners, we provide accounting services, access to a platform containing information about the payment behavior of some companies, and foreign VAT reimbursement consultancy services.

This is a way of building sustainable partnerships and diversifying our role in the economy.

Since you asked about opportunities, this is a good time for us to talk about Romania's financial intermediation, which has the lowest level in Europe. We need to ask ourselves what we can do to increase the level of financial intermediation. Of course, we can point the finger at the banks and say that they should give more loans, but I think we need to have a much broader approach. We should look at the legislative framework and the

STEVEN VAN GRONINGEN, President & CEO of Raiffeisen Bank Romania authorities' initiatives to support an increase in financial intermediation, we should assess the predictability of the business environment, the evolution of exports and what the agricultural year looks like. There are many things that can increase the level of financial intermediation, and I think we should all be concerned about that. # WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS REGARDING THE CONSOLIDATION AND RESTRUCTURING OF THE ROMANIAN BANKING SYSTEM IN 2021 We cannot talk about restructuring, but we can talk about consolidation and transformation in the banking system. Consolidation will continue in the coming years because we do not need so many big banks in Romania. However, we must bear in mind that mergers and acquisitions are expensive processes and involve a great deal of effort. As for bank transformation, the process is simple.

Everything that can be automated will be automated. Current operations will become self service, and the role of bank branches will be to provide consultancy services and sales. In addition, banks will turn to other income sources, they will find ways to bring individual customers closer to corporate ones, by shortening the path between them. Subscription mechanisms for customers and customized packages could also be introduced, and the number of partnerships with various service providers and fintechs will increase.

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BUSINESS ARENA - 100TH EDITION

INTERVIEW

THE LESSONS WE HAVE LEARNED FROM THE PANDEMIC HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE EXPERIENCE OF THE APPROXIMATELY NINE YEARS SPENT IN ROMANIA? Coming to Romania, in 2012, represented a key stage both in my professional and personal life. This country surprised me from the beginning, by the natural beauties and historical destinations it has to offer, the kindness of the people, and the experiences

Ufuk Tandoğan, CEO Garanti BBVA Romania you can live here. Although I had a very tight schedule, the nature of my job allowed me to visit many destinations here and I can honestly say that I have found unique places throughout the country, where I felt extraordinary and would return anytime. This is the reason why I have released two books about this country –

“Discover Romania,” sharing my travel notes and wishing to help increase the awareness within the public about its richness. Having this aim in mind, both books were written in three languages, namely Romanian, Turkish, and English.

HOW WAS 2020 FOR YOU, A YEAR CHARACTERIZED MAINLY

BY THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC? The coronavirus pandemic turned 2020 into an atypical year, completely different from the previous ones, and every person has deeply felt the changes that took place overnight. For me, 2020 was a year full of challenges for the banking sector and many changes on a personal level. At the same time, it gave me the opportunity to spend more time at home, exercise outdoor by running in parks and travel, as much as possible, in Romania, rather than in foreign countries.

WHAT LESSONS HAVE YOU LEARNED IN THE RECENT MONTHS? 2020 has taught us that a major crisis can occur when you less expect and that we are vulnerable to major changes. However, at the same time, I have learned that people can make important changes in their lives in a very short time, can adapt and become even better than before. In 2020, we learned to look more closely at the needs of those around us, to be more emphatic, and work together to adapt and overcome challenging moments.

Moreover, besides all this, I have learned that we must cherish every moment and live our lives to the fullest.

WHAT ARE THE GOOD THINGS THE PANDEMIC HAS BROUGHT? The coronavirus has generated various problems, but we should also be aware of the positive aspects too. Among the changes with major global impact are the reduction of pollution, as levels of activity in many sectors decreased, so did air pollution, less use of paper, greater use of information and communication technology, and digitalization.

Moreover, let's not forget that due to the pandemic we all had more time to spend with our dear ones. Of course, not as much as we would have liked to, because the prevention measures imposed certain limits.

A B magazine

AWARDS for

EXCELLENCE Enjoy the Quality ***** Admire the Value in partnership with

With its strong tradition in creating new opportunities for the business community to express fresh views and ideas, and in recognizing business success and outstanding achievements, Business Arena is pleased to announce the upcoming Awards for Excellence, the latest highlight in the business events calendar. Guests gather to celebrate excellence in business, sports, culture, and community, enjoying the company of friends and industry colleagues.

Innovation, resourcefulness, perseverance and a culture of responsible risktaking have helped many overcome major challenges. Thus, this edition of our awards gala brings recognition to individuals and organizations that recorded outstanding results and achievements during a challenging year 2020.

FIND MORE DETAILS ON OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.BUSINESS-ARENA.RO. For more information please contact Cosmin Stangaciu at cosmin.stangaciu@business-arena.ro or phone 0755.274.125

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Business Arena Magazine is a monthly English-language business magazine published by Business Arena Publishing Group SRL. The magazine was launched in October 2009, and, since then, it has gained reputation as a valuable source of information and analyses for business people and professionals, offering a wide range of exclusive interviews, feature stories and reports, market analyses and special columns.

A B magazine

With over 30 years of experience in the business media segment, Business Arena Magazine’s team of dedicated journalists, graphic design artists, sales and marketing professionals count on innovation, responsibility and product quality as long-term strategies for development.

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This allows Business Arena to respond quickly and appropriately to clients’ needs.

Business Arena operates with a combination of permanent and freelance staff and has a wide network of writers, salespeople, conference moderators and digital experts with experience in many different markets which it calls upon when required.

This allows Business Arena to respond quickly and appropriately to clients’ needs.

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BUSINESS ARENA - 100TH EDITION

100TH ISSUE ANNIVERSARY

Messages from our readers We would like to thank everyone for their kind words of congratulations and support Sergiu Oprescu, Executive President at Alpha Bank Romania I have the great pleasure of wishing “Happy Anniversary!” to the Business Arena publication at this time of celebration, on the appearance of issue number 100.

Having been launched a decade ago, during the economic crisis, the publication manages to highlight the latest trends and information regarding the economic life of Romania, in an objective and non-partisan way.

Business Area captures in its pages the evolution of the Romanian economy, with the progress recorded in the development and consolidation of the financial market.

15 years after joining the European Union, The awards you grant year after year to those people and companies who strive to do more in order to improve certain aspects of Romanian society are certifications of business excellence that any professional in Romania wishes to have in their track record.

My wish to you is to continue to let yourselves be guided by the same basic principles that you have followed so far and to excel by maintaining the same standard of professionalism, in order to transparently and objectively reflect the progress made at every stage and the great achievements recorded in the evolution of our national economy.

Mihela Popa, Frist Vice President of CEC Bank’s Steering Committee Business Arena is a quality publication. I look forward to each issue to read the opinions of renowned economists, but also to discover success stories or new trends in the market. I appreciate the role of the media in educating the public and in the formation a market economy culture.

And I wish you as many successful editions as possible!

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BUSINESS ARENA - 100TH EDITION

100TH ISSUE ANNIVERSARY

Steven van Groningen, President & CEO, Raiffeisen Bank Romania I wish Business Arena many more issues, carrying the same professionalism and quality that we have come to expect! Success can only be built with partners who, in turn, are successful!

Rodica Vasin, Owner, Apulum Porcelain Factory Business Arena magazine has been alongside us in our journey in recent years, its team making sure that all the important moments in the evolution of our company are presented accurately and professionally, which we appreciate tremendously. Happy 100th issue Business Arena Magazine! Congratulations to all the professionals who are behind this publication’s success!

Traian Halalai, CEO, EximBank One hundred editions is a remarkable achievement for Business Arena.

We know very well how much effort and dedication are needed to build a sustainable operation, and I would like to take this opportunity and congratulate you on your success. Congratulations for continuing to stay in “ the market”, finding topics and niches to explore, and for continuing to invest in and for your readers. I wish Business Arena long life, and the editorial team, a lot of inspiration. To remain a reliable source of information for the business community and to continue to play its part in this joint effort of supporting the Romanian economy. Because Romania is growing with us all!

Henk Paardekooper, CEO, First Bank I congratulate Business Arena team for its efforts of bringing closer the members of the local business community. I wish you many more editions ahead and the energy to keep inspiring us with successful business stories.

Ufuk Tandoğan, CEO, Garanti BBVA Romania Business Arena is one of the leading Romanian publications and one of my favorite reads. I highly appreciate the way you are addressing the most important economic challenges and I wish you at least another 100 remarkable editions!

Mioara Popescu, CEO, Idea::Bank Enjoy the Quality. Admire the Value - a slogan demonstrated in each of the 99 previous editions of the magazine and in every business, macroeconomic or leadership article.

Whether on paper or online, I am sure that you will continue to bring to the public topics that revolutionize thinking or help consolidate social trends, with professionalism and elegance, with your analytical spirit and the high quality level. Now, on this special occasion, I wish you a long and fruitful activity, Business Arena! Good luck and a healthy year ahead to your team and readers!

Emil Bituleanu, General Manager, Libra Internet Bank Staying relevant in the long run is not simple, whether we are talking about the media, banking or any other field.

Congratulations to the team of Business Arena Magazine for the 100th anniversary! This is a truly remarkable performance and I am convinced that this publication will continue to be a landmark of professionalism and a valuable source of information and analyses for business people and professionals all over Romania.

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BUSINESS ARENA - 100TH EDITION

100TH ISSUE ANNIVERSARY

Ugur Yesil, CEO and Executive Board Member, Kanal D Happy anniversary and may you have as much quality information as possible about the evolution of the business environment, both in Romania and around the world! The 100 issues reached by Business Arena magazine represent a performance for the editorial act, in general, which I greet and congratulate also on behalf of my team. It is encouraging for business people and for the business environment to have a print and online platform where we can express ourselves as a community and where we have access to successful examples that inspire other businesses. Congratulations to the entire Business Arena team for an exceptional media product!

Radu Graţian Gheţea, Chairman of the Board of Directors Libra Internet Bank The existence of authentic business journalism, able to perform indepth analyses and provide top quality information, is one of the defining conditions for the economic health of any society.

Business Arena Magazine is unquestionably one of the fine observers of the domestic economic environment, currently being a well-established publication in the Romanian journalistic landscape. Congratulations to all Business Arena Magazine columnists for putting your mark on business journalism and for your 100th edition anniversary!

Kent Orrgren, CEO, World Class Romania It takes professionalism, integrity, courage and passion to build a successful business publication. Business Arena has a strong network of readers and supporters. You have worked proactively during the years to stay close to your community and I want to congratulate you on the anniversary of your 100th issue. Business can be a really tough arena, especially in these challenging times, but you have managed to remain selective and focused on quality, objective information. This is what the business community needs from a dedicated publication: accuracy and reliability. Congratulations Business Arena once more!

Madalina Teodorescu, Vice President, First Bank 100 editions are a milestone that Business Arena team should be proud of. Such an achievement could only be reached by hard work and perseverance.

Congratulations for the result, I hope the future holds many more victories for Business Arena.

Looking forward to being part of the next successful projects of Business Arena!

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BUSINESS ARENA - 100TH EDITION

HOSPITALITY

ROMANIA'S HOSPITALITY MARKET STAYS STRONG DESPITE DIFFICULT 2020 Though significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts, the Bucharest hotel market continues to receive attention from hotel operators to expand their networks. In the CEE & SEE region, Prague, Budapest, Warsaw and Bucharest are the top-ranking cities of interest amongst major operators. Operators show confidence when it comes to the market’s recovery: they predict smaller cities to recover between 2022 and 2023, and capital cities between 2023 and 2024.

According to Cushman & Wakefield's Hospitality Operator Beat Q4 2020, a survey amongst selected international and regional hotel operators active or interested in the CEE and SEE region, the transaction volume in Romania reached about 9.5 million euro in 2020, down 87% from approximately 75 million euro in 2019. This was in line with the general trend seen in CEE & SEE. The company points out that due to COVID-19 restrictions, investor activity was put on hold in 2020 and many sellers postponed their planned sales.

However, investor interest in Romania remains relatively strong due to a clear basis for future growth in the local hotel market, coupled with the flow of the expected new capital into the hospitality sector from 2021.

Similarly, from the operators’ perspective, Bucharest was one of the most highly attractive markets in the CEE/SEE region, following closely behind the more developed markets of Warsaw, Prague and Budapest, according to the Operator Beat survey. Other cities in Romania mentioned by international operators as their target markets included

Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Iasi, Constanta and Brasov – where brand penetration is significantly low.

Regarding hotel performance, occupancy reached the lowest level in May 2020 at 5.1%, due to governmental restrictions on hotel operations and travel. Together with the ease of restrictions, the occupancy level started rising in the summer period, reaching 17% in September, before it began to decline again due to the second wave of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the ADR for the Bucharest market reached EUR 68 in 2020.

COVID-19 has been causing delays or even cancellations in several projects in the CEE/SEE region, which can be good news for hoteliers, as it is likely to constrain supply growth and facilitate a faster market recovery.

In Bucharest, despite the challenges faced by the market, a few fresh hotels opened, including the Moxy Old Town (July 2020) and Holiday Inn Bucharest Times (January 2021).

In addition, the ongoing projects under construction, such as the Autograph Collection in the Old Town center, or the room

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extension and renovation of the Radisson Blu Complex, are due to open in 2021 and 2023 respectively. According to the Operator Beat survey, the majority of operators are expecting major regional cities to recover earlier than capital cities, with 53% of respondents expecting these markets to recover by 2023.

This is in line with Oxford Economics’ forecast, where tourism demand in Bucharest is similarly expected to fully recover by the same year.

Bogdan Gubandru, Director Investment Agency, Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, said: “Before the pandemic, the hospitality market was under-supplied, an aspect that will be highlighted again, with the end of the restrictions and the economic recovery.

Significant opportunity remains and developers will align their delivery of new hotels with the return to some form of normality in terms of travel. We expect to see a steady return of business travel in the second half of 2021 and decent underlying domestic demand around the country.”

In turn, Sevda Cadir, Hospitality Advisor CEE & SEE Cushman & Wakefield, said: “The Bucharest hotel market had been driven by international business demand; hoteliers thus faced a difficult year in 2020, due to the market’s sharp decline of its main demand generator. Despite the current challenges in the market, however, the outlook for Bucharest hotel sector remains positive on the long-term perspective.”

Also, Frederic Le Fichoux, Head of Hotel Transactions, Continental Europe Cushman & Wakefield, said: “In the past years, Bucharest has recorded an impressive demand growth, which is reflected in the strong occupancy levels the market has achieved. Despite the short-term challenges for hotels in the city, investors and operators remain optimistic on its long-term prospects, with continued keen interest in the market and expectations of a relatively quick recovery. Accordingly, Bucharest is increasingly becoming a highly attractive market amongst local and international investors and operators.”

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BUSINESS ARENA - 100TH EDITION

CRIPTOCURRENCY

PRO-COUNTER Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of Bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network. Bitcoin is open-source; its design is public, nobody owns or controls this cryptocurrency and everyone can take part.

Bitcoin price grew significantly within a short period of time making the BTC/USD pair quite popular among active traders and investors. Through many of its unique properties, Bitcoin allows exciting uses that could not be covered by any previous payment system.

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BUSINESS ARENA - 100TH EDITION

OPINION

IS TESLA’S BITCOIN INVESTMENT A SMOKESCREEN? Tesla and Bitcoin, two extremely popular brands share a common trait: their skyrocketing market value. Since the beginning of 2020, Tesla's share price has increased ninefold, resulting in an overall value higher than that of Toyota, Volkswagen, Daimler, General Motors, BMW, Honda, Hyundai and Ford together. Clearly, some may say that Tesla is not a car manufacturer, but a tech company.

It follows that comparing it to car manufacturers would not be fair.

BY RADU CR|CIUN Let us, therefore, see how it fares against the likes of Amazon and Apple. Amazon's P/E ratio (price-to-earning) stands at around 77, and Apple's hovers around 36. Tesla’s P/E ratio is 1250... No surprise there, as the company only started to be profitable about a year ago.

The graph below, courtesy of Bloomberg, gives a crystal clear picture of the disconnect between the company’s profitability, measured as earnings per share, and changes in its share price.

Some would argue that Tesla does not even derive these profits from making cars. In 2020, it reported a profit of $721 million, as

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the company had earned $1.6 billion from the sale of CO2 credits. The company would have otherwise been in the red.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, confounds by its stellar performance, which defies reason.

Its market value is 90 times higher than five years ago and four times higher than last year. Moreover, its volatility was at times extreme, as its value halved in the first quarter of 2020 to later increase tenfold.

Volatility is key when looking at Tesla's decision. Firstly, we need to agree that Tesla is an undertaking and not a hedge fund, betting on highs and lows. Indeed, such funds revel in making high-risk investments, which can potentially come with high returns (or equally high losses).

So what could have pushed Tesla to buy such a fickle asset? Let us work on the assumption that its goal was not to get a particular individual rich. A Bitcoin holder could have made a hefty profit on the 10% share price increase during the week when Tesla announced that it had bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, an amount exceeding the company’s RED budget...

Could it then be a typical treasury investment by a company with cash to spare?

According to conventional wisdom, such investments are made in safe assets by companies interested more in preserving their capital for dividend payouts or in profitgenerating activities within their scope and expertise. Investing in unstable assets would only adversely impact the company’s market value. That is one implication that Tesla not only overlooked, but seemed to actively pursue.

Under the accounting method used to recognize Bitcoin holdings on the balance sheet, they will be recorded as indefinite-lived assets. As a result, the value of existing intan-

gibles and goodwill will increase four times after the Bitcoin purchase. It is worth noting that classifying Bitcoin as intangible assets goes against Tesla's call to recognize the cryptocurrency as a financial asset similar to well-established currencies, accounted for as financial assets.

This is not the only inconsistency. It is equally strange that a company which poses as an environmental advocate, invests in a cryptocurrency whose “mining” requires huge amounts of electric energy. Its rising price will only increase the appetite for an activity that uses resources without a clear economic value.

On the other hand, Tesla has informed the public about the accounting treatment of the Bitcoin position. It will be valued at cost if the market value exceeds that of purchase or at market if it is below costs. In other words, losses will be recognized in real time, whereas profits are recognized at sale alone.

On the upside, such an asymmetric approach is set to lower the volatility of the related balance sheet position, but on the downside, it creates more uncertainty around the company's valuation.

All ties with the fundamentals of economics will be severed by the excitement that will greet Tesla's decision, coming from those driven by an unwavering trust in the God of technology who is also behind the inflating tech bubble. They could be the reason why Tesla's Bitcoin purchase might be seen as a publicity stunt stirring up the emotions needed to drive Tesla's (and Bitcoin’s) price to new record highs. A smoke screen getting thicker and misleading to investors.

According to Bloomberg, in December 2020, Morgan Stanley had a price target for Tesla of $540 per share, while JP Morgan's price target was $90 per share.

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BUSINESS ARENA - 100TH EDITION

CRIPTOCURRENCY

JANET YELLEN WARNS BITCOIN IS 'EXTREMELY INEFFICIENT' AND 'HIGHLY SPECULATIVE' AS BTC PRICE PLUNGES

Janet Yellen has blasted bitcoin again in an interview with CNBC at the New York Times Dealbook conference. The treasury secretary “issued a warning about the dangers that bitcoin poses both to investors and the public,” the news outlet conveyed.

Regarding bitcoin, Yellen was quoted as saying: “It is a highly speculative asset and you know I think people should be aware it can be

extremely volatile and I do worry about potential losses that investors can suffer.”

The price of bitcoin started falling sharply Sunday afternoon, dropping almost 18% from the high of above $58K to $47,827 at the time of writing, based on data from

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned about the dangers of bitcoin as the price of the cryptocurrency took a nosedive. She sees bitcoin as a highly speculative asset and is worried about potential losses investors can suffer. Yellen also believes that bitcoin is not widely used as a transaction mechanism due to its inefficiency, reiterating her view that the cryptocurrency is often used for “illicit finance.” markets.Bitcoin.com. Its market capitalization has fallen below $1 trillion.

The treasury secretary further opined: I don’t think that bitcoin … is widely used as a transaction mechanism. To the extent it is used, I fear, it’s often for illicit finance.

“It’s an extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions, and the amount of energy that’s consumed in processing those transactions is staggering,” she added.

Many bitcoiners bashed Yellen’s remarks on social media, accusing the treasury secretary of not understanding bitcoin and advising her to do some research before making statements on the subject.

“Sec Treasury Janet Yellen states: ‘Bitcoin is extremely inefficient,'” Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki commented. “Give me a break. Does she think printing trillions of fake dollars is efficient? Does she not know the

more fake dollars she prints the more efficient and valuable bitcoin becomes? God bless her.”

During the same interview, Yellen also touched on the subject of central bank digital currencies. The Federal Reserve has said that it is studying the digital dollar, which could roll out over the next several years. Yellen said: “I think it could result in faster, safer and cheaper payments, which I think are important goals.”

The treasury secretary has talked about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies several times since her Senate confirmation hearing in January. She has promised to work with other federal regulators to implement effective regulation for cryptocurrency. Claiming that the misuse of cryptocurrencies is a growing problem, she stressed last week the importance of regulating institutions that deal in bitcoin to make sure that they adhere to their regulatory responsibilities.

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CRIPTOCURRENCY

BNY MELLON GETS INTO CRYPTO

OLDEST US BANK BNY MELLON SETS UP CRYPTO UNIT TO OFFER BITCOIN SERVICES

The Bank of New York Mellon, BNY Mellon, has set up a digital asset unit. The oldest bank in the U.S. plans to “hold, transfer, and issue” bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on behalf of its clients. The bank aims to eventually treat cryptocurrencies like any other assets.

The oldest bank in the U.S., BNY Mellon, announced Thursday “the formation of a new enterprise digital assets unit that will accelerate the development of solutions and capabilities to help clients address growing and evolving needs related to the growth of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies.”

BNY Mellon is a global investments company with a presence in 35 countries. As of Dec. 31, 2020, the bank had $41.1 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $2.2 trillion in assets under management, according to its website. “BNY Mellon is proud to be the first global bank to announce plans to provide an integrated service for digital assets,” said Roman Regelman, the bank’s CEO of Asset Servicing and head of Digital.

“Pending further evaluations and approvals, we expect to begin offering these innovative and industry-shaping capabilities later this year.”

The team will be led by Mike Demissie, head of Advanced Solutions at BNY Mellon.

He commented: “The digital assets unit

plans to deliver a secure infrastructure for transferring, safekeeping and issuing digital assets.”

“Enabling the use of digital assets is critical to transforming the future of custody,” said Caroline Butler, BNY Mellon’s head of Custody. “Our digital asset capabilities should help evolve the way the financial industry operates, including custody, collateral management, issuance, investment management and other segments.”

While the bank’s official announcement does not mention which cryptocurrencies will be supported, the Wall Street Journal reported the bank “will hold, transfer and issue BTC and other cryptocurrencies on behalf of its asset management clients.” The bank further plans to eventually treat digital currencies like any other assets.

Regelman explained that “Digital assets are becoming part of the mainstream,” noting that “Until now, those money managers have had to use separate custodians for their cryptocurrency holdings.”

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MORE CORRECTIONS EXPECTED

VETERAN TRADER PETER BRANDT SUGGESTS BTC WILL PEAK AT $200K BUT HINTS OF POSSIBLE DEEP CORRECTIONS

Veteran trader Peter Brandt has implied in a tweet that bitcoin will go through deep price corrections before it gets to the $200,000 mark. Brandt points to the 2015-17 bull run when bitcoin went through similar corrections about nine times as the precedent the crypto asset might follow.

Consequently, Brandt is asking his Twitter followers to predict the number of similar 30% price corrections that they expect to see before BTC ultimately gets to the $200,000.

Already, as Brandt explains in the tweet, the crypto asset has gone through one such correction since the March 2020 price crash.

Nevertheless, since then the crypto asset, whose price grew by more than 300% in 2020, has been on an upward trend. On February 21, the crypto asset set a new all-time high of $58,228, according to Messari data. As a consequence, some bitcoiners now predict that a price of $100,000 can be achieved in 2021. In the meantime on Twitter, the reaction to Brandt’s BTC price prediction, as well as his expectation of large corrections, has been mixed. Some users appear to agree with Brandt’s suggestion that there will be many corrections before the $200,000 price is achieved. Still, others think BTC will even surpass $200,000 while many believe the number of corrections will be fewer this time around.

BITCOINERS EXPECT FEWER CORRECTIONS For instance, in their reply to Brandt, one user named Tho said: “Couldn’t tell, because

the end of this bull run is $298,000, not $200,000 and if you ask how many times, the answer is 6 times. it’s mean that 4 more times.”

Another user, Mike Thomas says there will be one significant correction at around $100,000. Still, Thomas argues: “With the (increased) amount of coins coming offline, the increased demand, and barring another black swan event, I do think 30%+ corrections are a thing of the past.”

Meanwhile, another user known as Frank Squisher insists that “if the speed of this parabolic rise increases, the next correction could be the last one…If it slows down a bit, we may be able to handle one more big correction before the final run-up.” Still, not all users are convinced that the crypto asset will make it to $200,000. One such user, London hold asks: “The question is do you think we’ll hit 200k?”

Meanwhile, on Feb. 22, bitcoin (BTC) prices dipped significantly to the $47,500 region after being above the $55k handle for a short period of time. BTC lost 13.63% in value quickly on Monday, but has since regained some of the losses.

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CRYPTOCURRENCY

WHAT IS AN NFT?

INSIDE THE NEXT BILLION-DOLLAR CRYPTO SENSATION

NFTs are taking the internet by storm and marked as one of the best use case for blockchain technology.

If you haven’t heard of them now, it’s only a matter of time. Whether its digital sports cards or digital artworks, NFTs have been taking the internet by storm and have simply doubled their total volume in USD in the month of February alone. So what are these digital assets selling for fortunes, from niche marketplaces to worldfamous auction house Christie’s?

WHAT DOES NFT MEAN?

An NFT is a non-fungible token existing on a blockchain. A token is the sign of ownership of an asset. For example, a concert ticket is a sign of ownership of one space for a concert. A Bitcoin is the title of ownership to the underlying value of the Bitcoin. A token is a digital asset, stored on the blockchain. As the blockchain is transparent, it is easy for all to see who is the owner of what token.

Fungible refers to an asset that is easily exchangeable. A dollar is very fungible, you can give me a dollar in exchange for some good and I can then re-exchange it for another service. A neighbor could borrow a pound of sugar to bake a cake and buy me another one in a few days when he goes to the supermarket. It doesn’t

matter that the sugar is different, it is easily replaceable and exchangeable. A non-fungible token is a unique token that isn’t easily exchangeable with another. The foremost use case is artworks. Artworks have been selling on the blockchain for millions of dollars (or in this case a blockchain native currency, Ethereum).

Examples abound but the most famous NFT artist so far is Beeple who first sold 21 pieces of artwork on digital marketplace Nifty Gateway for a total of $3.5 million. He then went on to sell his masterpiece “EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS” at Christie’s for $6.5 million. Beeple is Mike Winkelmann, previously a graphic designer from Charleston South Carolina.

Artworks are not the only things exchanged in these marketplaces. More and more volume in the NFT space is coming from digital sports trading cards. In fact, fans of basketball have already spent $230 million trading NBA Top Shot cards. These cards represent certain classic moments for the sport and there is only a limited amount of each. The ownership and the scarcity of these cards are insured by the Ethereum blockchain. Recently, a rare Lebron James highlight sold to the highest bidder for a crisp $200,000.

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WHY WOULD ANYONE PAY FOR THIS?

The crazy thing about these purchases is that anyone can download Beeple’s artwork or Lebron’s highlight. It is as simple as clicking ‘save image’ on your laptop. What buyers are after is not the artwork in itself but the proof of ownership for that artwork. The buyers are akin to art collectors putting their most prized possessions on display in museums. NFTs represent a way for art collectors to encourage financially their favorite artists online.

As humans evolve more and more, especially in lockdown, it seems only natural that we decide to buy art in the digital world as well. One step further, certain platforms such as Decentraland allow users to buy land or real estate in a digital world.

While this has been no more than a niche sector of the internet, in the last six months it has truly exploded onto mainstream media and seems to be here to stay. While the first experiments with NFTs date back to 20132014, the market seems to arrive to a certain maturity and mainstream appeal in 2021.

Several issues remain with the NFT market, however. As the main currency of exchange and the network on which marketplaces are built is Ethereum, transaction fees are very high and it is commonplace to have to pay $50 to transfer the property title of an NFT from its creator to the buyer. On platforms such as Rarible or OpenSea, the current market leaders, not only does each transaction (creation of the NFT, bids, transfer of ownership) costs users large sums, they also amount to the terrible carbon footprint of the Ethereum network.

There is hope, however, as Ethereum is planning to change its architecture by the beginning of 2022 to be much more ecofriendly. In the meantime, certain marketplaces have found technical solutions to these limitations. Drops.is, an upcoming NFT project

that lets you do a lot more with NFTs than just buy and sell. It allows users to create NFTs, bid, stake, take loans by using your NFT as collateral.

It’s also using a Layer 2 solution by building on Polygon network, reducing both the costs of these transactions to a few cents (which are paid for by the platform itself) and the important environmental costs.

THE NEW CREATOR ECONOMY

The most exciting part of the NFT revolution is that artists specialized in digital arts will finally be compensated for their work. Until now, it was very hard for artists to monetize their creations because of the very nature of digital art and its infinite reproducibility. Now, true fans of the artists will be able to directly support them with any middle-men or platform.

Mainstream artists seem to have caught on to this trend with artists such as Grammywinning Kings of Leon releasing their latest album as an NFT. It’s also the case of Grimes, Lindsay Lohan or even Soulja Boy who all released NFTs representing music, digital artworks or even the ownership of a limitededition vinyl.

But it is not only artists who can make money from NFTs, the market for digital sports card for example has already exploded. Soccer trading card platform Sorare has seen the unique 2020-2021 Kylian Mbappé card sell for $65,000. Cashing in on sports fans stuck at home has turned out to be extremely profitable for these platforms, so much so that it has brought the attention of gaming giant Ubisoft who has now partnered up with Sorare for future projects.

NFTs are the hottest item in the recent crypto craze and as mainstream artists start to discover them they will only become more popular and coming soon to a digital market near you.

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DID YOU PUT THE ACTIVE LIFESTYLE ON HOLD?

YOU HAVE 5 REASONS TO PRESS RESTART! Do you find it difficult to resume intense physical activity after a a few months’ break? Have you already got used to the sweet routine of #WorkFromHome and not even this beautiful spring can talk you into leaving your house too often? World Class experts sound the alarm and bring you 5 reasons to forget about postponing physical exercise.

1. Sedentary lifestyle is a health hazard. You have all the means to eliminate it! Are you still sitting down?

We were designed to move, run, jump, lift and carry! So we need to keep up the daily habit of exercising to strengthen our natural movement patterns! Here is what the World Health Organization advises us to improve cardiorespiratory function, maintain muscle mass, bone health, reduce the risk of depression and non-communicable diseases, including heart disease and diabetes: 300 minutes of moderate physical activity per week for adults and even more for children!

2. Exercise fights respiratory viral infections!

You are certainly concerned about your health, now more than ever and any passing cough worries you. You can do something concrete: movement. Remember that physical activity can help eliminate bacteria from the lungs and airways. This can reduce the risk of catching a cold, flu or other illness! In fact, the journal Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews published a research that shows that moderateintensity exercise reduces the risk and severity of respiratory viral infections by 29%!

3. Movement builds a stronger immunity every day!

Do you have a chronic state of fatigue even though you don’t lose any sleep over it or make intense efforts daily? You may feel instantly better if you take an outdoor walk or exercise a few times a week. It is already proven that regular exercise increases your immunity because it produces changes in antibodies and white blood cells! White blood cells are the cells of the body's immune system, which produce antibodies that play a crucial role in fighting disease. It has been found that those who engage in moderate physical activity produce a greater number of such white blood cells and thus can fight infections more effectively. Also, a short rise in body temperature during and immediately after exercise can prevent bacteria from multiplying.

4. Don't you feel like doing anything today? Appetite comes with practice!

Isolation, restrictions of all kinds, social distancing and all the consequences of the pandemic have made us think not only about our physical health, but also our mental well-being. The closeness and rich social life we enjoyed before were much more comfortable for our soul and mental state. What can you

do? By no means sinking in your sofa again! Sitting down for hours increases your appetite for inactivity, and then you are sure to become a sedentary person, with all the harmful consequences for your health, immunity and longevity. Make a change today. Break the routine, set the alarm clock earlier, put on your sports wear and get moving! It will be a bliss for your mind health, but also for your general wellbeing. Exercise slows down the release of stress hormones and thus you enjoy even more protection against diseases that are triggered by stress.

Listen to what Horatiu Radulescu, World Class personal trainer, has to say about this: “Turn movement into a lifestyle and you will not have to push yourself, invent reasons, look for resources or struggle to find time. I want my message to reach as many people as possible who have not yet understood the important role that movement plays in their lives.

This is the satisfaction that my job gives me, to be able to change the quality of people's lives for the better, to give them healthy reasons to smile every day.”

5. Youth without old age… Come to the gym to see that it's not a fairy tale!

If you ask the shepherds of Sardinia, the old people of Costa Rica or the fishermen of the island of Okinawa how they reached the venerable age of a hundred years, they will all tell you the same thing: they kept moving all their life. Exercise keeps your heart young, your health strong and your life long.

It gives you a meaning, it helps you create goals, reach them, feel invincible, have confidence in yourself, succeed in everything you set out to do.

General Manager of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says it much better: “Movement can add years to your life and life to your years! Especially now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, exercise is more than necessary! We have to move daily, safely and creatively!”

Through fitness you feel healthier and more energetic, and the feeling of fatigue disappears. Take your sports shoes, casual clothes and come to live the sensational experience of group fitness classes at World Class! And on the days when you don't reach the gym, train online with your favourite World Class instructors and trainers on: www.worldclass.ro/online/!

LEADERS’ AWARDSGala F INANCIAL

HALL OF FAME 2021 in partnership with

Business Arena Magazine is proud to announce the 2021 edition of its annual event dedicated to the leaders in the financial market:

FINANCIAL LEADERS’ HALL OF FAME 2021

Business leaders from the financial and baking sectors, directors of investment funds and representatives of some of the largest companies in Romania, together with representatives of the local authorities, high government officials and diplomats are invited to take part in this exclusive event.

Digitalization and online access to banking and financial products and services shape the future of the industry, while the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant contribution to speeding up the process.

Operating in a highly competitive environment, banks and financial institutions have made outstanding progress in introducing new and innovative products and cutting-edge technologies in order to adapt their business model to the requirements of the new millennium.

Speaking at last year’s edition, Florin Ganescu, Executive President of the Romanian Association of Banks, emphasized the industry’s efforts to fight the

negative effects of the healthcare crisis. “The financial industry has been acting responsibly in Romania and elsewhere. We expect a lot from people in decision-making positions, but when results don’t come, we can replace their inaction with our actions.” He added: “In the interviews I have given during the Covid-19 pandemic, I insisted on emphasizing the efforts of bank and financial industry employees, who have served their customers discreetly, with responsibility, subtlety and effectiveness.”

As always, Business Arena Magazine is proud to recognize the achievements and successes of banks, financial institutions and business leaders that find the winning strategies in spite of the challenging economic background.

Business Arena Magazine is proud to recognize the achievements and successes of banks, financial institutions and business leaders that find the winning strategies in spite of the challenging economic background.

For more information please contact Cosmin Stangaciu at cosmin.stangaciu@business-arena.ro or phone 0755.274.125

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BUSINESS ARENA - 100TH EDITION

POSEIDON Handmade in engraving and micro painting techniques, automatic Swiss made mechanism Iguana leather belt Housing of 43.5 mm diam.

The universe of Augustine watches ATLANTIS Women’s watch inspired by the stor y of Atlantis, the lost world.

CENTURION Automatic movement watch, with engraved finishes and silver elements, 44 mm diameter case. Alligator strap.

APOLLO11 Watch dedicated to the Apollo 11 program, with manual Swiss-made skeleton mechanism.

The dial contains an authentic piece of the spaceship that landed on the Moon.

WINDOW OF THE THE BASILICA OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI Manual skeleton mechanism. 42 mm diameter case, manufactured using mixed stained glass techniques.

SILK ROAD Eta 7750 valjoux watch movement, 42 mm diameter case, with silver elements and micro-painting finish.

Augustin Matei deserves to be famous,

as he is an endangered species: an artisan.

SAILING CHRONOGRAPH Eta 7750 valjoux watch movement, silver dial, manufactured using micropainting techniques.

The idea is simple: you come with your

wish or desire and he turns it into a watch.

The limit can only be the availability of

components, because for his

imagination – the sky is the limit.

SAINT GEORGE RC Watch dedicated to the founder of the motorcycle club. Eta 7750 valjoux watch movement, 41 mm diameter case, with silver elements.

Micro-painting finish, textile strap.

FAMILY CRONOGRAPH Eta 7750 valjoux watch movement, manufactured using micro-painting techniques.

MULTIPLICATION OF LOAVES AND FISH (BIBLICAL THEME) With gold, silver and diamond elements. The dial houses a piece of the relics of St. Cyprian.

Handmade using micropainting techniques.

SANTA MUERTE Eta 7750 valjoux watch movement, 42 mm diameter case, with engraved finishes, dedicated to a member of Gremium MC.

The most important in the creating process is the idea and concept for each one.

They are inspired by the client’s passions, life stories or the most meaningful values.

For each person a watch may be something different.

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FASHION

HOW TO DRESS FOR SUCCESS? THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BUSINESS DRESS CODE IN A COMPANY The idea that business and pleasure work together is not actually a fact. It has been proven so many times that people who adopt a relaxed outfit at their workplace don’t make a fortune. Because a certain dress code that usually involves a high degree of formality not only provides you with a good image in front of your partners, clients, employees, but also inspires confidence and trust and gives you a certain mood for work.

OUTFIT: TRENDS BY ADINA BUZATU PHOTOS BY VALI BARBULESCU Because in the Romanian business environment, there are many people that make confusion between the office attire and the smart casual style, which can be appropriate for work but only in certain fields and on certain days, I’ve decided to speak, in my new article, about the importance of the business dress code in a company and the way you should approach it correctly.

The power of the business suit First of all, wearing a business suit for an important meeting is sure to make a good first impression. Since you don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression, you’d better choose a high-quality suit and wear it with the right attitude. The way you dress shows professionalism, experience, and respect for others.

Also, being in an important position in a company requires formality and attitude. You can’t have them without an impeccable business suit. The outfit is the first thing people notice and it’s your way to gain respect, authority, and trust from your workers. If you go to the office in jeans, a shirt – without a tie - and a jacket, don’t expect people to take your plans and ideas very seriously. This kind of outfit involves just a minimum dose of

formality and it’s appropriate for a casual Friday, when you don’t have to organize meetings and take important decisions.

Moreover, there are top companies with a long tradition of excellence in the business world and this involves the dress code, too. If you work for such a company, you must wear a good quality suit and respect these traditions.

But the business attire is important for your performance, as well. A certain way of dressing puts you in a certain working mode and helps you be creative, organized, and willing to score points for your ideas. The business suit gives you a certain aura and gets you in the right mindset to fulfill tasks and negotiate with clients in a very professional way.

How to dress right for the office Choosing a business suit requires attention to every detail. You can’t show up at work wearing oversized jackets and pants or in a poor quality suit.

Sizing is essential. When buying a business suit be careful that your jacket fits perfectly on your shoulders, that it doesn’t become too tight when buttoned and that your sleeve’s length is the right one, ending just below your wrist.

Different body types require different types of suits. That’s why it’s important to buy a suit that fits your measurements, not one that you saw in your colleagues’ collections. If you can’t

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choose the right suit on your own, you should ask for personal guidance from a clothing advisor. In our shop, we help people understand their body structure and choose the clothing pieces that work for them. Moreover, we have a personal tailor that can make adjustments to your suit if it doesn’t fit you perfectly.

Quality makes the difference. If you want to take the full benefit of a power suit, you need to buy a high-quality one, made of wool or a blend of wool and slik, wool and cashmere, ussually with a very soft texture. Don’t even think about opting for cheaper options made of polyester or cotton. Besides the fact that they look cheap, they will look even worse after you wear them a few times.

Always make the right combo. Match your suit with your shirt and be sure you go for a unicolor shirt, preferably white or in a light shade of blue, grey, or pink, depending, also, on the tasks and meetings you need to fulfill and attend that day.

Accessories are the final touch. Not only in the business attire, but in every outfit, accessories give that perfect final touch. In this case, think of a tie, braces, shoes, and maybe cufflinks. Use a tie in contrast with your shirt but in a matching shade with your suit. You should usually think of matching contrasts. If you are in

the mood for prints, you should only choose graphic, minimalistic prints.

Regarding the braces, choose them instead of a belt, for a suit with personality. Imagine Michael Douglas in the "Wall Street" movie that brought him an Oscar. The critics said, at that time, that the outfits helped Michel Douglas feel his character and deliver such a great performance. You should go for high quality hand made braces, from a brand with history such as Albert Thurston. Peak the braces according to your style, your personality or your hobbies. Your entire business attire should be more than a statement of style. It should reflect your personality. Complete your outfit with Oxford shoes in shades of brown or tan. The shoes must be of high quality and in the right size because they need to provide not only a good image, but also comfort.

The idea of wearing high-quality formal pieces at work is important because it must convey a message of professionalism and confidence mixed with style and good taste. This way you’ll convince your business partners and clients that you are able to make good choices.

We are waiting for you in our TRENDS by Adina Buzatu shop in Baneasa Shopping City, Road Bucharest-Ploiesti no. 42 D, ground floor and on www.adinabuzatu.ro

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QUANTUM COMPUTER

NEW TECHNOLOGIES HAVE MADE LIFE EASIER IN MANY WAYS, YET WE CAN SEE THAT WHEN CONTROLS ARE LACKING IT CAN LEAD TO UNFORESEEN SOCIETAL OUTCOMES.

WILL QUANTUM COMPUTERS TRULY SERVE HUMANITY?

Let’s take advantage of this early stage of their development to avoid the mistakes of past technological upheavals

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From the very earliest times in recorded human history, new technologies have been used for both positive and negative reasons.

Scientists such as Robert Oppenheimer, whose work ultimately led to the development of nuclear weapons, have been only too aware of how technology can be harnessed by society in ways that raise ethical challenges.

Our experience with computers is no different. New technologies have made life easier in many ways, yet we can see that when controls are lacking it can lead to unforeseen societal outcomes.

We are now on the threshold of a new computer technology era more powerful than anything that preceded it: the age of quantum computing. However, this time we have a chance to stop and think carefully about the ethical use of a transformative technology today while we can still shape the future.

Nicholas Niggli, deputy secretary general of the Republic and State of Geneva, a Swiss canton, believes it is possible to take a step back and anticipate the full breadth of the possible impact of new technologies. He cites the example of Henry Dunant, who cofounded the Red Cross. Dunant saw the impact of modern weaponry on war and conceived of the Geneva Convention as a way to instill rules designed to mitigate the new and fearsome development of mechanical warfare.

The word disruptive does not come close to describing the impact of quantum technologies. We have become used to describing new applications in sectors such as finance and banking as “disruptive,” but this term is inadequate in the context of quantum computing. There is now an informed consensus that the impact of quantum computers across a whole swathe of humanity’s lived experience will be akin to an industrial revolution at an even larger scale than anything we have

previously experienced. There exist today literally dozens of quantum processors all over the world with hundreds more likely to be unveiled this year and next. Many of these computers are still experimental, but companies such as IBM, Honeywell and Google have published roadmaps that will take today’s early-stage devices to ones that will have real-world impact. There are also dozens of start-up companies all over the world who have raised capital to build a quantum computer, including IQM in Finland, OQC in the United Kingdom and Xanadu in North America.

Quantum computing will likely make its initial presence felt in areas such as drug development and discovery, materials science for developing better batteries, and carbon sequestration. It will also amplify the power of AI in many fields, including real natural language processing and “optimization” problems, for example, efficiently routing thousands of delivery vans. Certain uses of quantum computers are already entering real life. The generation of unhackable keys for cybersecurity is just one example.

There are few, if any aspects of human life that will not be impacted when fault-tolerant quantum computers—machines that no longer suffer from error and instability—become commonplace. With the rise of unprecedented computational power, however, there will be major new areas of ethical concern, including the acceleration of human DNA manipulation (Do we want to allow people to ‘edit’ their physical characteristics, for instance?); the creation of new materials for war; or an intrusive AI presence in most human activities.

In truth, far more areas will be impacted than we can imagine. Newton’s oft-quoted description of the enormity of what lies ahead of us is strikingly appropriate in this context:

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I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.

The potential of quantum computing has become a geopolitical issue. National programs across the world, from the U.S. to China, from the U.K to Japan, highlight national efforts at the expense of a global perspective. Huge amounts of money are being allocated to sometimes duplicative national research programs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world to a stark realization that despite the obvious benefits of globalization and the enormously beneficial ways in which technology has been adapted by societies in the past decades, there are still harrowing inequalities. One of the greatest challenges in quantum computing will be to determine how we can avoid a situation where an elite group of people or countries control quantum technologies.

It is true that once effective quantum computers are universally available, drugs and vaccines to protect us from some of the most horrible diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and COVID-19 will be developed more effectively and more quickly than is possible today. However, if issues around the tragedy experienced by society during the past year can serve as any sort of catalyst, we need to start thinking about how we can ensure that all of humanity can benefit from scientific advances.

Some of the more obvious questions are: How do we ensure that quantum computing’s benefits will accrue to society as a whole and not just small portions?

How do we ensure that we apply the

principles of diversity throughout the entire quantum ecosystem that is now being developed?

What happens when AI moves from a mere hypothesis used in trivial areas such as shopping recommendations to critical areas, including meaning-aware language processing that leads to the point where machines have unimaginably greater powers of communication than anything we have experienced?

What about the extension of human longevity—a reality that quantum computing’s ability to model molecular states could make more realizable?

These far-reaching implications only underscore the importance of timely ethical interventions. We were asleep at the wheel at the dawn of the internet era in the mid-1990s, but we can take lessons from the immediate past. Imagine if we had access to a magic time machine and could be transported back to 1995—would we have let things develop in the way that they have?

Let’s be brave and let’s not wait until it’s too late. Let’s make sure that as a society we embrace this debate and we don’t hold back.

There is in fact something even bigger at stake. Ask any scientist why they are excited by quantum computing, and they will say that quantum computers offer us a way to peer beyond the veil and understand the very nature of reality itself—truly, science for humanity.

We need to stay awake at the wheel this time and remain ever watchful, ready to address threats, mitigate possible harm and extend potential good universally so that we can deliver quantum technologies that bring the most benefit to the most people.

A B e veevnetnst

63 MOST ADMIRED BUSINESS

AW ARDS Gala2021 Enjoy the Quality

* * * * *

WOMEN

Admire the Value

in partnership with

The World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law index reveals wide variations in women’s rights at work. Overall, it says women have only threequarters of the employment rights that men enjoy.

The nations with a perfect score in the Index are Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Sweden and, joining the list this year, Canada, which recently improved parental leave rights. In these countries, the index shows, women who work are on an equal legal standing with men, measured on indicators including access to jobs and protections on gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace.

Although there have been improvements in many areas, with 40 nations enacting reforms to improve gender equality in the past three years, in the Middle East and North Africa, women workers still have just half the legal rights of their male colleagues.

An increasing number of women manage industrial facilities, major companies and build their own successful businesses in Romania nowadays.

They have achieved a high level of recognition.

Therefore Business Arena Magazine proudly announces the upcoming special awards gala dedicated to the ladies that make a difference in business.

Experts agree that Romania has seen some improvement in gender equality in recent years, but efforts must still be made to ensure equal opportunities for men and women in the workplace.

In this context, Business Arena continues its tradition, celebrating women’s achievements and their vital contribution to the success of business and banking activities throughout Romania. On this note, our publication proudly announces the upcoming special awards gala dedicated to the ladies that make a difference in business.

The Most Admired Business Women Awards Gala 2021 will bring together entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders, diplomats, and professionals from a wide range of sectors to celebrate the successes of women in business.

For more information please contact Cosmin Stangaciu at cosmin.stangaciu@business-arena.ro or phone 0755.274.125

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INNOVATION

QUANTUM COMPUTING

AI CYBER TALENT CRUCIAL FOR FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

In quantum computing and AI fields, the only shortage is cyber talent with expertise in both fields.

Quantum technology is a core transformative technology of our time, said Vikram Sharma, Founder and CEO of Quintessence Labs during a CES 2021 event.

Unlike the first three industrial revolutions

— which dealt mainly with electricity and industrialization — the fourth one will center around 5G, AI, robotics, autonomous vehicles, and quantum computing.

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Interesting Engineering (IE) was in attendance.

Cyber Talent crucial for quantum computing, AI revolution "In the last 50 years we've harnessed quantum to great effect — from silicon to modern computers, it's revolutionized human life," explained Sharma.

However, quantum computing encapsulates a two-stage structure of the fourth industrial revolution. "Now we're at the crossroads of a second [stage of the] revolution: instead of passively harnessing quantum reactions, we create new quantum effects," said Sharma. This opens "up a host of new technologies in imaging, sensing, cybersecurity, and more."

One area these advances are providing great advancements is the realm of quantum security. The first step is generating true random numbers, but frontier technology called quantum computing solutions will also involve encrypted key management, explained Sharma.

Rise of 'adversarial' AI, comparative quantum budgets Pete Tortorici, Director, Joint Information Warfare at DoD Joint Artificial Intelligence Center And the future of nations pitting AI against one another is closer than ever. "That threat definitely exists," remarked Director Pete Tortorici of the Joint Information Warfare department of DoD's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.

However, the ability to fully execute the potential of AI attacks between country's is beyond everyone's reach, as far as Tortorici knows, he said. "Future concerns lie with [a] near-peer rival — how to leverage AI to secure capabilities, and also build robust frames [so

we] know when we have a security breach."

"The U.S. has a $1.2 billion quantum initiative. China has been developing [a] national lab for quantum information," which could be a $10 billion program, said Tortorici.

"If we look at quantum computing, Google's Sycamore is relevant, from second-half of 2019 — that processor achieved a solution to a particular problem," demonstrating an advantage over the best supercomputers.

China's quantum tech accelerates computing '100 trillion' times The Google Sycamore's test demo completed in 200 seconds what typical computers would take multiple years to complete, Tortorici explained.

In December of 2020, Chinese researchers solved a problem called "Gaussian Boson sampling." Conventional computers would take 2.5 billion years to solve it, but the scientists in China did it in minutes.

"That's a 100-trillion acceleration in computing," Tortorici said.

Open AI, Radnet, mass implementation of next-gen computing To solve AI problems like this, the U.S. government is investing in new connections with academia. One subject of interest is natural language processing. Open AI's development of "Dolly," an amalgamation capable of creating images from strings of text.

Crucially, when asked to build an image of an animal at sunset, the AI knew which direction to cast the shadow of the creature in the field. AI can also enhance the medical field.

RadNet — a leading developer in AI for mammogram interpretation — detects breast cancer up to a year before conventional

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INNOVATION

means. With mass implementation, it can lower the cost of healthcare.

Least recognized, yet most pressing issues for AI There exists a need to build a broader community of experts surrounding AI, as more of the country's workforce enters digital fields under a growing quantum umbrella of technological advancement.

"Organizations are tuning into the transformative potential of quantum that years ago was only an interesting science issue," said Sharma.

"Many organizations' understanding of the real business value from quantum technologies" are built on internal expertise on AI and quantum computing.

'Standing agenda' item for World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum views quantum as a standing item on its agenda — "whether computing itself or the impacts on cyber-security," said Sharma.

"People generally have a conception of risk in cybersecurity, but a lack of proper understanding of what this means for cybersecurity today," added Sharma. To him, people should "educate stakeholders," to show them which issues of advances are most relevant to their interests, and how they may prepare for the quantum future.

Cyber Talent needed for nascent quantum, AI industries Despite their common appearance in science magazines and websites, AI and quantum

computing are very nascent industries.

"Forefront in the mind of the DoD is how to cultivate and retain talent in these spaces," said Tortorici. "The question is how to maintain [cybertalent] and continue building it, going forward."

This includes data scientists, analytics, and much more. The two speakers at CES 2021 praised the academic resources for AI and quantum in Boston, in Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon University — where education involves "not just research, but application and engineering-level" learning — which helps both companies and government agencies find and hire the "right mix" of varying talents in different areas, said Tortorici.

Global effort to keep pace with quantum revolution "Very few people worldwide are available with [both] quantum computing expertise and AI knowledge," said Tortorici. There appear to be "similar national initiatives in China," although naturally to what extent these are at any given moment is difficult to parse, from the outside.

However, in the U.K. and elsewhere, there's a colossal quantum tech initiative to train quantum engineers. "Not just scientists, but engineers — Australia," for example, "established the quantum academy," explained Tortorici.

From the future of defense to data analytics, and from enhancing cybersecurity to growing and employing the next generation of cyber talent in the fourth industrial revolution — if the applications of quantum computing and AI to have limits, they exist beyond our current scientific comprehension.

Even after 50 years, there is no end in sight for these nascent fields and industries.

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BIT OR QUBIT? THE FUTURE OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE AND QUANTUM COMPUTING Quantum computing (QC) is an emerging technology with a lot of promise. It fundamentally changes the way we perform calculations by relying on probabilities rather than logical paths. But how does this new technology compare to high-performance computing (HPC), an already existing technology that has proven its usefulness in solving complicated problems? Will there be a competition between quantum and high performance within the near future?

Understanding quantum Understanding the importance of quantum computing requires a working definition of a few key concepts.

A fundamental concept in quantum computing is the idea of qubits. Qubits are the most basic logical unit of quantum computing. The standard computing equivalent is a bit. A notable characteristic of qubits is the idea of superposition.

In quantum physics, this refers to the concept that the state of a physical system can be in one or many states at once. This means that the qubit can exist as 1, 0, or both.

However, when this qubit is observed or measured, it will collapse to a single state.

The importance of that characteristic is difficult to understand when looking at one qubit but consider two qubits. Two qubits can represent a greater combination of states simultaneously because each qubit can be either a 1 or a 0, giving the possible combina-

tions all at once: 00, 01, 11, 10. For conventional bits to achieve this combination, they must be manually flipped.

Another key concept of quantum computing is entanglement. Entanglement is when two quantum particles are put into an entangled state where they have an intrinsic relationship that can span large distances even across the universe. For example, we will entangle two qubits and then separate them. If we observe one of the qubits and the result is 1 then we know without a doubt that if we were to observe the second qubit that the result would also be 1. This concept is hard to comprehend because it seems to contradict the normal laws of physics as there is no data transferred between these two particles. They are simply linked in an unknown fashion.

Professionals in computing and physics alike are excited about the potential that quantum computing can hold. While the industry is still years away from being able to properly utilize its power, dreamers and scientists alike are looking towards quantum as the key to unlocking new scientific breakthroughs, performing calculations that traditional computers cannot, and performing certain algorithms at never-before-seen speed.

How can quantum computing outperform high-performance computing?

Grover’s Algorithm is a very famous and common example of how a quantum algorithm

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INNOVATION

can achieve an answer faster than a traditional algorithm. Grover’s Algorithm is essentially an optimized way to zero in on a unique input to a black box or mystery function that produces the desired output. To help understand this algorithm, let’s look at its application in searching unstructured data.

The idea is that each piece of data is assigned an index such as 0000, 0001, 0010, etc. For the sake of this problem, let's also say that we have an oracle function that returns 1 when the input is desired index and 0 for every other input.

Searching unstructured data via traditional methods requires brute force. Because the data is unstructured, the traditional algorithm would need to look at each entry in the database. This would mean the number of steps required to search the entire database would be O(n) where n is the size of the database. So how can we speed this up?

The quantum algorithm takes a different approach. This approach is to first put a series of qubits equal to the number of input bits in the index in superposition. This means that these qubits have an equal opportunity to collapse to every answer when observed. We then pass these qubits through the oracle function from the problem definition. What does this do? It inverts the possibility that the qubits collapse to the correct answer but leaves the rest of the probabilities alone. This isn’t very helpful at the current moment, but we can use Grover’s diffusion operator to make all other probabilities interfere destructively with each other. However, we must perform this operation multiple times to decrease the possibility that the qubits collapse to the wrong answer to essentially 0.

The number of steps it takes to achieve this result is √n where n is the size of the database.

This makes the algorithm O(√n) and when compared to O(n) of the traditional method

and at the large size the speed up significantly.

This example is oversimplified, and Grover’s Algorithm is not a solution that would be put into production, but it shows an example of how quantum computing can be extremely useful.

What is happening right now in the industry?

The computing industry has predicted that quantum computing will be able to solve business problems such as weather predictions, financial markets, security, and hybrid computing model. IT giants such as IBM, Google, and Rigetti are attempting to build quantum computers that will achieve quantum supremacy.

The idea of quantum supremacy is a matter of much debate, but the basic concept is that a quantum computer has achieved quantum supremacy once it can outperform a traditional computer which is simulating that same quantum computer logic. This measurement is important because if we are never able to prove that a quantum computer can outperform a traditional one then the concept of quantum computing becomes obsolete.

Recently, Google has claimed that it has achieved quantum supremacy with its Bristlecone chip. However, IBM has published a rebuttal to Google’s claim stating the traditional computer simulating the quantum circuits could have been more optimized, which would shrink the gap between the speed of the quantum computer and the traditional one. This shows that that quantum computing discoveries and claims are highly criticized and questioned.

Major nations are spending billions of dollars on quantum computing. Google AI scientists claim their quantum computer “Sycamore” can complete a task involving the

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verification of the randomness of large numbers in just three minutes and twenty seconds. For companies to continue to achieve a high level of supremacy, better algorithms need to be developed. Progressing in quantum computing will enable unique problem-solving capabilities. For companies to reap these benefits, the continuing fast pace of research and development must take place.

Thankfully for the sake of progress, it seems that quantum computing research shows no sign of slowing down. Below is an example of advancements made in quantum computing by showing the exponential growth of the number of qubits in computing systems:

calculations required in fluid dynamics and weather forecasting. Similarly, Google has invested in state-of-the-art infrastructure at competitive pricing and discounts help you stay within budget.

Quantum Computing Expenditure There has also been a steady increase from the US government in mil-aero areas, including satellite image processing, signal, and intelligence processing. HPCs are playing a pivotal role in training and simulation related to communications, intelligence, and surveillance.

Quantum and HPC: Allies not enemies

HPC’s current market and projection According to Gartner Forecasts, by 2022 the market size and growth of the cloud services industry will be nearly three times the growth of overall IT services. It was valued at USD 9.35 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach USD 18.74 billion by 2025.

Amazon as the pioneer and the leader in the Cloud Sector has grown 50% in 2018 and constantly adding state of art features to its HPC series for Genomic sequencing, Reservoir Simulation, and speech and facial recognition.

Microsoft is also expanding its services to include every type of workload and has a dedicated VM under the 'H-series' line up for HPC computing. Which are valuable for the

At this moment, HPC still offers better performance for our current computation problems. This is apparent from a large amount of investment in HPC technologies from tech giants such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. The practical technology for quantum computing is nonexistent but with recent claims of quantum supremacy, there is a chance we are closer than we thought. The future of computing is not a direct competition of these two technologies but rather a marriage both. One technology can pick up where the other cannot. In examples such as massively parallel workloads, HPC will still offer better performance over quantum but in fields such as pharmaceutics and molecular modelling, quantum pulls ahead. Together both technologies can work in tandem to solve humanity's greatest problems.

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MICROLED TEHNOLOGY THIS GIGANTIC 165-INCH MICROLED TV FOLDS INTO NOTHING WHEN THE GAME IS OVER It's as fun to watch it unfold as it is to actually watch your program on it.

C Seed is no stranger to extravagant TVs, but its latest set takes things up a notch. And a giant one at that.

The Austrian company’s just-announced M1 is a folding 4K MicroLED TV set that rises

out of the floor like a robot when you’re ready to watch the big game or binge your favorite show. While that alone makes it noteworthy, so does its size, as the set measures a massive 165-inches diagonally.

You may take as much enjoyment out of watching the M1 turn on as you do watching an episode of The Sopranos on it. When you’re ready to sit down and take in a show or a movie, a hidden compartment in the floor opens, an obelisk-like column rises from it and

then, once upright, the folded-up screen fans out before locking itself into place in the set’s base. Basically, it’s a Transformer that turns into a TV and doesn’t take up any room when you’re doing something else.

Just as impressive is the TV’s vibrant, crystal-clear image quality of its 165-inch 4K MicroLED screen. The display is coated with a special screen surface display that ensures black areas are rich and accurate, while the company’s Adaptive Gap Calibration Technology renders the border between each of the screen’s folding panels totally invisible.

Built into the set’s aviation-grade aluminum frame are a pair of 250-watt broadband speakers and a 700-watt subwoofer, helping create an immersive viewing experience.

C Seed is billing the M1 as the “world’s first foldable 165-inch MicroLED TV” and technical innovation like that doesn’t come cheap. The set, which is available in four finishes—Black, Gold, Silver and matte “Titan”—will set you back $400,000.

Amazingly, the M1 isn’t the company’s largest folding TV. That title belongs to the brand’s 301-inch outdoor TV. It’s nowhere near as elegant and its image quality can’t compare to the M1, but it can withstand the elements and measures a jaw-dropping 25 feet by 19 feet.

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AIR FORCE ZERO ULTIMATE TURNTABLE In parallel to the development and releases of these models, a project was going on at TechDAS to bring our dream of the absolute ultimate reference turntable to reality. The goal of the project was to develop a truly groundbreaking product, building on our expertise and knowledge and incorporating new ideas and insights. To achieve this goal, the project had to be cost-noobject. And it had to have whatever technologies would be best suited for sonic performance, no matter how much it would cost. We are pleased to announce it is finally complete, though it took one year longer than initially planned. The result is a turntable weighing 330 kg and measuring 902 (W) X 677 (D) X 335 (H) mm.” — Hideaki Nishikawa, the Designer TECHDAS AIR FORCE ZERO TURNTABLEPLATTER BASE The Platter Base (35 kg, extra super duralumin) serves as a hub for the air suspension system.

This Platter Base has four massive blocks composing the air suspension system mounted on it, and where two tonearms can be fitted. The Platters are made of different alloys and placed on the Platter Base. The air suspension system successfully eliminates vibrations that could transmit from the Platter Base to the tonearm and record surface by having the center of gravity much lower than the supporting point. This concept was key to its design, opposed to a theory that weight acts solely as a barometer to record players as some people believe.

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If you have to ask the cost, you cannot afford it but $450,000 is probably a good guess and there will be buyers BASE FRAME The Platter Base sits on a 100 kg Base Frame made of SUS stainless steel. This Base Frame, which has an enhanced speed of oscillatory convergence with special surface treatment, supports the total weight of 230kg of the Platters, Air Suspension System and Platter Base.

TONEARM BASES Two titanium tonearm bases are provided.

Almost any 9 inch, 10 inch or 12 inch tonearms can be fitted with the exception of non-standard lengths.

PLATTERS The Platters are designed for the highest level of vibration absorption by combining different alloys.

For example, the top layer is made of titanium with surface hardening treatment applied to produce hardness equivalent to hard metal alloy. More importantly, these five layers of platters are held as one with air suction similar to vacuum LP hold-down.

This solution allows avoiding metal fittings which could induce mechanical stress.

The five platters float to the height of 10µm and rotate in absolute silence as one unit. To make this possible, the Platter Base surface is precision machined with a tolerance of less than Sµm at its circumference.

AIR SUSPENSION SYSTEM The AF Zero has an Air Suspension System consisting of four blocks providing insulation and absorbing low frequency vibrations at the four corners.

This air suspension module is uniquely developed by TechDAS and air is supplied from an electric pump to the air suspension modules.

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FRANCK MULLER’S NEW LIMITED-EDITION WATCH DOUBLES AS A BITCOIN WALLET AND CAN BE PURCHASED USING CRYPTOCURRENCY ONLY Remember the Franck Muller Encrypto watch that debuted in 2019 as the world’s first functional Bitcoin timepiece?

There’s a good chance that you might have no recollection of the $50,000 watch, but the Swiss manufacturer has come up with another Bitcoin watch, and the timing couldn’t have been better. After all, it’s an opportune moment to cash on the resurgence of cryptocurrencies, which had been mostly

dormant for the last two years. Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $58,042 last Sunday. Coming back to the new Franck Muller timepiece, the watchmaker has turned the mechanical watch into a cold storage Bitcoin wallet. Fittingly

named “Free The Money. Free The World,” the new Encrypto watch functions as a two-piece “Deep Cold Storage” set. For the uninitiated, a cold wallet means offline storage of the coins rather than on the internet. In addition to that, a unique public address is etched on the dial, and the watch also has a sealed USB containing the private key.

You can check your balance directly through the dial.

The watch features a 41mm tonneau-shaped case with a black DLCcoated brushed titanium finish. Right at the center of the dial is the Bitcoin logo, while the turquoise and the white colors contrast the black theme of the watch.

Powering the watch is a Swiss automatic caliber FM 0800 movement with 42 hours of power reserve.

Only 500 examples of the watch will be made, and it is priced at $12,000. However, there’s a catch.

The Encrypto “Free The Money. Free The World.” watches will be offered via Bitcoin.com and can only be purchased using Bitcoin out Ether tokens.

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ULYSSE NARDIN’S NEWEST CREATION IS A SPARKLING TIMEPIECE COVERED WITH MORE THAN 2200 DIAMONDS Swiss watch brand Ulysse Nardin has introduced its newest masterpiece that is completely covered with diamonds and takes the level of visual brilliance to a whole new level.

Ulysse Nardin has been an integral part of the landscape of Le Locle, known as a center of Swiss watchmaking, for 175 years. Located in the Jura Mountains, close to the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle turns into a snowy wonderland in winter and the bucolic setting of the town wrapped in a think a layer of snow is a sight to behold. Ulysse Nardin has tried capturing the delightful visuals offered by snow-covered Le Locle through the exquisite gem-setting on its latest creation called the Sparkling Free Wheel.

The new Ulysse Nardin Sparkling Free Wheel timepiece is based on the Executive Free Wheel that debuted back in 2018. The unusual watch is a compelling reinterpretation of a mystery clock with its distinct dial where the components are artfully hidden and exposed for a stunning visual effect. The Sparkling Free Wheel is adorned with a total of 2,251 pavé-set, top-quality stones that have been meticulously selected and comprise a total of 5.90 carats. The exquisite gem-setting technique used for covering just about all visible surfaces of the watch is known as “snow-setting.” Geneva-based workshop Art

Setting was tasked with the job of finishing the Sparkling Free Wheel that needed diamonds of different sizes to be placed side by side to completely cover the watch’s surface, like a blanket of fresh snow. This process alone takes 120 hours of work for each watch. The 44mm case houses the same UN-176 caliber found in the original Executive Free Wheel that uses silicon in its high-performance and lowwear Ulysse Anchor Escapement, thanks to which the movement offers an impressive power reserve of seven days. Only 8 examples of the Ulysse Nardin Sparkling Free Wheel will be available for sale, priced at 225,000 CHF (about $248,000 USD).

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HOW VAN CLEEF & ARPELS

PUT A BALLET INSIDE A WATCH

In a feat of unmatched clock-making, Balanchine’s Jewels has been animated, scored, and put inside three new timepieces The New Yorker described it as “the world’s first full-evening abstract ballet”.

Forget fairy tales, dancing dolls, swans, sugar plum fairies, comatose princesses, dream sequences and anthropomorphic mice-fighting nutcrackers – Balanchine’s 1967 ballet, Jewels, “was a three-act ballet shorn of all that old-fashioned stuff, and therefore worthy to stand alongside the most prized art of the period, which was abstract art: Jackson Pollock, Henry Moore.” It was a landmark in the history of dance.

Balanchine’s company had just moved into the Lincoln Center and he wanted to choreograph a work worthy of this new home. The muse alit when, passing the windows of Van Cleef & Arpels on Fifth Avenue, he was struck by the beauty of the jewels. Thus the eponymous ballet was born.

Freed from the burden of narrative, the three acts of Jewels express the essence of three different schools of ballet. “Diamonds” is an

evocation of Russian imperial ballet set to the music of Tchaikovsky; “Rubies” uses the brisk,

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witty Capriccio of Stravinsky to evoke the modernity of the American Jazz Age; and Fauré’s Pelléas and Mélisande and Shylock are used for “Emeralds” to recall the romance and nostalgic tendresse of French classical ballet.

Bringing the inspiration for Balanchine’s masterpiece full circle, Van Cleef & Arpels has placed each act on the wrist in a trio of timepieces that use gem-setting, enamel painting and mechanical watchmaking to create an intense and glittering distillation of the ballet, complete with dancers and musical accompaniment. No detail is too small: even the curtains and proscenium arch of each watch evoke an appropriate real-life venue: the Opéra Garnier in Paris, the Marinsky in St Petersburg and the Lincoln Center in New York.

It is the most remarkable yet of Van Cleef’s poetic complications. At the press of a gemset button, the curtain parts, a frieze of ballerinas moves before the eyes, while silvery notes of music emerge from between the diamonds that cover the case.

But at only 20 seconds, the magical performance belies the decade of thought, care, ingenuity, trial and error that has gone into the making of this tiny ballet on the wrist.

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HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP INTRODUCES TWO NEW ROBOTS

HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP'S "ADVANCED HUMANOID ROBOT" DAL-E. The new owner of Boston Dynamics has some interesting ideas about what robots should be doing Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen a couple of new robots from Hyundai Motor Group. This is a couple more robots than I think I’ve seen from Hyundai Motor Group, like, ever. We’re particularly interested in them right now mostly because Hyundai Motor Group are the new owners of Boston Dynamics, and so far, these robots represent one of the most explicit indications we’ve got about exactly what Hyundai Motor Group wants their robots to be doing.

We know it would be a mistake to read too much into these new announcements, but we can’t help reading something into them, right?

So let’s take a look at what Hyundai Motor Group has been up to recently. This first robot is DAL-e, what HMG is calling an “Advanced Humanoid Robot.”

According to Hyundai, DAL-e is “designed to pioneer the future of automated customer services,” and is equipped with “state-of-theart artificial intelligence technology for facial recognition as well as an automatic communication system based on a languagecomprehension platform.” You’ll find it in car

showrooms, but only in Seoul, for now.

We don’t normally write about robots like these because they tend not to represent much that’s especially new or interesting in terms of robotic technology, capabilities, or commercial potential. There’s certainly nothing wrong with DAL-e—it’s moderately cute and appears to be moderately functional. We’ve seen other platforms (like Pepper) take on similar roles, and our impression is that the long-term cost effectiveness of these greeter robots tends to be somewhat limited. And unless there’s some hidden functionality that we’re not aware of, this robot doesn’t really seem to be pushing the envelope, but we’d love to be wrong about that.

The other new robot, announced yesterday, is TIGER (Transforming Intelligent Ground Excursion Robot). It’s a bit more interesting, although you’ll have to skip ahead about 1:30 in the video to get to it.

We’ve talked about how adding wheels can make legged robots faster and more efficient, but I’m honestly not sure that it works all that well going the other way (adding legs to

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wheeled robots) because rather than adding a little complexity to get a multi-modal system that you can use much of the time, you’re instead adding a lot of complexity to get a multi-modal system that you’re going to use sometimes.

You could argue, as perhaps Hyundai would, that the multimodal system is critical to get TIGER to do what they want it to do, which seems to be primarily remote delivery. They mention operating in urban areas as well, where TIGER could use its legs to climb stairs, but I think it would be beat by more traditional wheeled platforms, or even whegged platforms, that are almost as capable while being much simpler and cheaper. For remote delivery, though, legs might be a necessary feature.

That is, if you assume that using a ground-based system is really the best way to go.

The TIGER concept can be integrated with a drone to transport it from place to place, so why not just use the drone to make the remote delivery instead?

"ADVANCED HUMANOID ROBOT" DAL-E I guess maybe if you’re dealing with a thick tree canopy, the drone could drop TIGER off in a clearing suggest that the company is serious about and the robot could drive to its destination, but developing commercial robots as well as now we’re talking about developing a very willing to invest in something that seems a little complex system for a very specific use case. crazy. And you know who else is both of those Even though Hyundai has said that they’re things? Boston Dynamics. To be clear, it’s going to attempt to commercialize TIGER over almost certain that both of Hyundai’s robots the next five years, I think it’ll be tricky for them were developed well before the company was to successfully do so. even thinking about acquiring Boston The best part about these robots from Dynamics, so the real question is: Where do Hyundai is that between the two of them, they these two companies go from here?

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LUCID AIR EV

THIS EV IS AIMING TO CRUSH TESLA WITH MORE THAN 500 MILES OF RANGE The Lucid Air is set to debut next year with a world-class interior — and 517 miles of range in the EPA's test If you’re an electric-car startup, you need an angle to make the world pay attention— especially if the media has portrayed you as a Tesla copycat for years. For Lucid Motors, that angle is simple: 500 miles of range—800

PETER RAWLINSON, CEO OF LUCID MOTORS

kilometers—on a single battery charge.

That would make its upcoming Lucid Air luxury electric sedan the longest-range electric vehicle in the world, way ahead of the 402-mile rating for the 2020 Tesla Model S Long Range

Plus, today’s range champion.

The car itself will be revealed September 9, with production to begin within six months thereafter. The U.S. EPA won’t release official range estimates for the Lucid Air, however, until next spring, only a few weeks before the company says it will deliver its first production cars. So Lucid took the gamble of having its range tested by an independent third party with long experience in certifying cars to EPA test cycles.

Tuesday the EV maker announced independent verification of an estimated EPA range of 517 miles, based on tests conducted by FEV North America Inc. in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Those tests used the EPA’s Multicycle Test procedure, codified by the SAE J1634 standard, October 2012, the same one used by every maker when tested for emissions or battery range.

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YOUR MOVE, TESLA.

Lucid unveiled its Air electric luxury sedan in April 2017 but then had to go on hiatus for two years as it sought funding to take the design into production in a purpose-built factory in Arizona. As CEO Peter Rawlinson explained to Motor Trend earlier this year, funders at the time were excited by autonomous-vehicle technology as well as numerous other EV startups.

It took two more years for Lucid to raise enough funding to move into production. It ultimately received $1.3 billion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund, in exchange for more than half the company, according to documents revealed in June.

The company laid off no engineers. And, in the intervening two years, the team changed the design of the Air’s battery cells, the pack

voltage, the power electronics, and the electric motors that power the wheels—two motors on introduction, potentially three later on.

The 2017 Air prototype used a a whopping 130-kilowatt-hour battery (against the 100 kWh of the highest-spec Model S) operating at 400 volts. It had AC induction motors and 150kilowatt fast charging. Its range was promised to be “more than 400 miles.”

The car that is to go into production next spring will have a somewhat smaller, more energy-dense pack—Lucid isn’t giving numbers at the moment—operating at around 900 volts, a pair of permanent-magnet motors, and 350kW fast charging. The range will be at least 517 miles, per the tests, and could go higher if it can get the same 0.75 EPA “adjustment factor” for efficient air-conditioning that let the Model S Long Range Plus squeak past the 400-mile mark.

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The changes, as CEO Peter Rawlinson told Spectrum several months ago, were all in the service of efficiency—getting as much range and performance out of every kilowatt-hour by reducing air resistance, wasted energy due to resistance, and mechanical friction in every aspect of the car. To do that, he told us this week, an EV company has to engineer not only the car but every facet of its electric powertrain. The most visible aspect of an EV’s efficiency is its design. The Lucid Air offers a longer cabin and more legroom than the longwheelbase version of the Mercedes-Benz SClass, Rawlinson says, despite having the footprint of a mid-size car like a Honda Accord.

While it “reads” big visually, he notes that it’s smaller not only than the Tesla Model S but even the Porsche Taycan, which has far less interior volume.

The smaller footprint and low height gives the Air a smaller frontal area than competitors, which multiplied by the lowest drag coefficient in its class (0.21), requires less energy to displace air than other EVs. (Note that each maker does its own Cd testing, so drag coefficients from different brands may not be directly comparable.)

One of Rawlinson’s passions is the necessity for any electric-car maker to engineer all the critical components of its powertrain in-house: battery pack, motors, inverters, transmission, and software. “Every detail adds up,” he stressed, returning to the theme multiple times over the course of an hour-long chat with Spectrum.

He laid out the advantages he feels Lucid has over every other EV maker—in each area.

BATTERY PACK

Despite having no cars in production just yet, Lucid already has a trove of data on the performance of its batteries under extreme

duty cycles. That comes from the experience its parent company Atieva garnered when it provided battery packs to all 24 cars fielded by the competing teams in the Formula E electriccar racing series.

The revised pack that will launch in the Air operates at “significantly over 900 volts,” permitting fast charging at up to 350 kW and reducing resistance heat. Like other packs, its cells are packaged into modules (or “bricks,” as Rawlinson calls them), that make up the building blocks of the pack.

Although Lucid isn’t giving details about the cell chemistry it jointly developed with battery partner LG Chem, it uses thousands of 21700format cylindrical cells (as Tesla does). Lucid and LG Chem together engineered a specific cell architecture with lower-resistance connectors, again in the service of reducing energy wasted as heat due to resistance.

Rawlinson lauded LG Chem, as a long-term and dedicated partner. And, he added, that company’s global cell-production capabilities relieved him of that responsibility. “Thank goodness I don’t have to build a gigafactory!”

TRACTION MOTORS

One of the secrets to the Lucid’s packaging is an “ultracompact” motor, one Rawlinson says produces 55 kW per liter of volume, an output density he says is two to three times that of any other maker’s motor. One of the secrets to its efficiency is what he describes only as a novel (and heavily patented) method of cooling that puts liquid closer to the core of the motor, unlike traditional designs with coolant circulating around the periphery.

The Lucid motor spins at up to 20,000 rpm, with unspecified breakthroughs in the magnetic design to reduce cogging losses—the torque produced by a permanent-magnet motor due to the interaction of the magnets

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and the stator slots, especially noticeable at low speeds. Again, the CEO was cagey about exactly what the design advances were. More details may emerge next month when the car is revealed.

INVERTERS

While Lucid’s use of silicon-carbide MOSFETs for switching doesn’t do much for the EPA test cycles that determine its range rating, Rawlinson suggests they reinforce

range in the much broader array of uses in realworld driving. And he spoke sadly of a (nonTesla) competitor’s use of a third-party inverter, noting that mixing high-voltage insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) components with MOSFETs wasted energy.

TRANSMISSION

Rawlinson set his design team to develop the e-motors and the transmission as a “single rotational system” to ensure the most integrated and compact device possible. The

gearbox hasn’t been shown yet, and the company has applied for multiple patents.

One example Rawlinson was willing to discuss, however, was the 3-dimensional shape of the gear teeth themselves—an area few makers spend much time on.

Lucid has patented the involute profile of the gear teeth within its transmission, optimized for performance and efficiency to transmit maximum torque under power while spinning with the least resistance otherwise.

SOFTWARE

“We are as much a software company as a hardware company,” Rawlinson cheerfully admits, echoing some investors’ mantra (both pro and con) for Tesla. From the control strategies for each component of the powertrain to a user interface he promises will be “revolutionary,” the creation and optimization of the Lucid Air’s software could be the topic of a whole series of articles by itself. We left the specifics of that topic for another day.

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INTRODUCING THE MCLAREN ARTURA,

A LIGHTWEIGHT SUPER SERIES HYBRID, HEAVY ON PERFORMANCE

The new model, with a combined 671 hp and 531 ft lbs of torque, also debuts the McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture platform.

When racer Bruce McLaren said “Life is measured in achievement, not in years alone,” who would have imagined how prescient those words would prove to be? It’s an observation that rings true not only in regards to McLaren’s own life, tragically cut short at 32 years of age in a motorsport accident, but for the automaker that now bears his name.

First appearing on the scene as McLaren Cars in 1985 before being rechristened McLaren Automotive in 2010, the British

marque has exerted a substantial impact on the supercar industry, one that belies its relatively short history. McLaren’s latest attempt to alter the landscape debuted today: the McLaren Artura, a model touted as the brand’s first series-production highperformance hybrid, and which joins the 720S in the brand’s Super Series category.

It’s true the new plug-in hybrid doesn’t signal an entirely new direction for McLaren, as the renowned P1 and more recent limited-

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edition Speedtail both incorporated electrification. But the Artura does represent a new approach. At a technical briefing back in December, McLaren’s director of product strategy, Jamie Corstorphine, said the “objective [with the Artura] was to add functionality and performance that comes from the high-performance hybrid powertrain, but without the weight penalty you’d normally expect with that technology.”

Achieving it required finding an alternative to the turbocharged eight-cylinder configuration used in both the P1 and Speedtail. “We wanted to build on some of those achievements, but also take the opportunity that’s afforded by building the car from a clean sheet of paper,” said Corstorphine. About the new system he added, “If we think about the power train in total, from the front of the engine, through the engine, e-motor and transmission, it’s not only shorter, but also narrower than our V-8 power-train systems.”

As a result, the Artura’s new 3.0-liter turbocharged V-6, a dry-sump aluminum engine, weighs only 353 pounds, a weight reduction of 110 pounds compared to the P1 and Speedtail’s V-8. Making 577 hp and 431 ft lbs of torque, the combustion engine is com-

plemented by a 94 hp electric motor packing an additional 161 ft lbs of torque. The e-motor gets its juice from a battery pack comprised of five lithium-ion units, with a 7.4 kWh capacity that enables a top speed of 81 mph on electricity alone and an EV range of 19 miles.

“The entire system drives what is called an axial flux e-motor within the bell housing of the transmission,” said Dr. Sunoj George, McLaren’s head of Electric Drive Technology, during the December briefing. “Selected for the size and power density, the axial flux motors are a significant improvement in performance over the traditional radial flux motors you find in high-volume production hybrids.”

The Artura’s V-6 and e-motor combine for 671 hp and 531 ft lbs of torque. That power is managed by a new eight-speed seamless-shift gearbox (SSG) and McLaren’s introductory use of an electronic differential. All of this allows the vehicle to cover zero to 62 mph in just 3.0 seconds on its way to a 205-mph top speed.

Those performance figures are also owed to the fact that the car has a curb weight of only 3,303 pounds—especially impressive considering the heavy battery setup in the mix.

Another major lightweighting advance is the Artura’s new McLaren Carbon Lightweight

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Architecture (MCLA) platform, which features a carbon-fiber monocoque with aluminum subframes as well as an innovative electronics system which relies on sophisticated ethernet networking to minimize the need for extensive wiring throughout the vehicle. That approach alone cut weight by greater than 10 percent.

The rear-wheel-drive coupe offers four drive modes: Comfort, for optimal pairing of the V-6

and electric motor under normal driving conditions (the car relies solely on electricity under 25 mph); Sport and Track modes, for when spirited driving demands more immediate and sustained power delivery; and the allelectric E-mode ideal for shorter urban jaunts.

Also expected to enhance the drive experience is a new rear suspension that reduces weight while bolstering stiffness, plus P-Zero tires equipped with Pirelli’s embedded

chip technology, which transmits pertinent metrics to the electronic stability controls. (The more performance-oriented Pirelli P-Zero Corsa, outfitted with the same tech, is available as an option.) Carbon-ceramic brakes come standard—front and rear discs measuring 390 mm and 380 mm, respectively—and feature forged aluminum calipers.

The interior separates itself from its McLaren stablemates with a more pronounced emphasis on roominess, though it’s still a McLaren, so best to temper expectations if you’re substantially built. For driving convenience, the digital instrument cluster is located on the steering column and adjusts with the steering wheel’s setting, so it’s never blocked from view. Also clearly prominent is the cockpit’s eight-inch central display operating McLaren’s MIS II infotainment system with voice control, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionalities. But wait, there’s more: Cars arriving Stateside will further pamper with heated, 10-way adjustable sport seats and, for audiophiles, the option for a 12speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system.

Priced between the McLaren GT and the 720S, the Artura starts at $225,000 and is intended to compete with the likes of Lamborghini’s Huracán Evo, Ferrari’s F8 line and Maserati’s MC20. The model will be presented in four trim packages, with even more exclusive tailoring offered through the McLaren Special Operations division. Orders for the Artura are currently being accepted, with initial deliveries expected later in the year.

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HYPERCAR

BUGATTI JUST UNVEILED

THE FIRST PROTOTYPE OF THE $9.6 MILLION, 1600 HP CENTODIECI

The final 10 hypercars are expected to roll out next year.

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In the summer of 2019, Bugatti unveiled the breathtaking Centodieci, a limited-edition homage to a ’90s supercar that sold out in a few hours. Now, two years on, the luxury marque has dropped the curtain on the very first prototype for series development, setting the wheels in motion for production.

Limited to 10 just examples, the multimillion-dollar hypercar pays homage to Bugatti’s 110-year history (Centodieci means 110 in Italian) as well as Romano Artioli’s iconic EB110.

While the Centodieci features similar engineering to its limited-edition siblings, the Chiron and Divo, its angular styling is akin to the classically ‘90s ride albeit a little more refined. It has the EB110’s signature angular silhouette, along with the same glass engine cover, small horseshoe grille and five round side air vents.

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There are, of course, modern touches. At the rear, the Centodieci is fitted with a light bar instead of its predecessor’s two oval lights and four exhaust pipes instead of the original two.

The rear wing also reflects that of the EB110 but can be adjusted if desired.

Naturally, it’s way more powerful, too.

Under the hood, the Centodieci is equipped with an 8.0-liter W-16 engine that is expected to produce a staggering 1,600 hp and propel the four-wheeler from zero to 62 mph in 2.4 seconds. The EB110’s 3.5-liter V-12, on the other hand, churns out just 603 hp in the most souped-up version. The Centodieci is also 44 pounds lighter than the Chiron and packs 100 more horses than both the Chiron and Divo.

“Our aim was to create a modern interpretation of the shape and technology of that time: but at the same time, we didn’t want to lose the charm and character of the EB 110,” Achim

Anscheidt, design director at Bugatti, said in a statement. Needless to say, each Centodieci requires a painstaking amount of work and undergoes body, aerodynamic, engine and transmission calculations before countless tests and simulations occur. At the same time, the design team checks the styling is on point.

Basically, the team needs to ensure the rolling chassis is capable of all drivetrain functions and the car’s exterior can handle that gutsy engine.

“In the next few months, in addition to building the exterior and running more advanced simulations in the wind tunnel, we’re very much looking forward to going out on the test track to start tuning the chassis,” André Kullig, Bugatti’s technical project manager for one-offs, added.

Bugatti expects the $9.6 million (€8 million) hand-crafted Centodieci hypercars will roll out to the 10 lucky customers next year.

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2022 CADILLAC CT5-V BLACKWING GETS A GLORIOUS 668-HP V-8 AND A MANUAL Starting at $84,990, this sedan will serve as a final gas-powered sendoff to Cadillac's impressive V performance subbrand.

Forget about the name change for a second. Or that this is the final era for gas-powered Vs. Let's first live in the now and revel in the fact that the most powerful Cadillac ever is offered with a manual transmission.

That's right, the CT5-V Blackwing's 668-hp supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 comes standard tethered to a six-speed Tremec TR6060 gearbox from the Camaro.

But with this most excellent news comes equally bad news. Cadillac boss Rory Harvey confirms that the CT5V Blackwing—along with its simultaneously announced CT4-V Blackwing sibling—will be the last gasolinepowered V models, capping off a brilliant run of ferociously capable yet daily-drivable models that started with the 2004 CTS-V. It doesn't mean V is dead, but next time around it'll be electric.

Although this highest-performance CT5 is an evolution of the previous CTS-V, both the model name and performance designation have changed this time around. CTS has become CT5, and the former top V moniker has become V Blackwing. That's a shift in the previous hierarchy of V Sport to V to now V and V Blackwing. Although the Blackwing name started as a label for the exclusive-to-Cadillac twin-turbo V-8 that powered the short-lived CT6 and CT6-V, the company

now says it means simply "the pinnacle of Cadillac performance."

It seems silly to change the nomenclature now, right before another total revamp to electric power. But, also, who really cares what it's called? We won't look a gift V8-powered, shift-it-yourself supersedan in the mouth.

The supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 returns for an encore performance from the previous CTS-V with intake and exhaust improvements that bump its output from 640 hp and 630 pound-feet to 668 and 659, respectively, this time around. Although the Eaton four-lobe supercharger still displaces 1.7 liters, it now has smaller-diameter rotors to improve response. Each engine is hand-built by a single technician at the Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, who signs each of his or her creations.

Cadillac promises a 3.7-second zero-to-60-mph time with the available and quick-shifting 10-speed automatic, although that's not any quicker than before.

The quickest we got out of a CTS-V was 3.5 seconds to 60 mph, and with a similar claimed weight of just over 4100 pounds for the CT5-V Blackwing, we expect similar results. With the manual, the CT5-V Blackwing will be slower. No one cares

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HYUNDAI UNVEILS

'CHARGER ON WHEELS' IONIQ 5 WITH SOLAR PANEL ROOF The IONIQ 5's bidirectional charging allows it to charge other vehicles and personal electronics.

Solar-powered cars might still have some way to go before they truly take off. Still, more and more companies are adding optional solar panels to their electric vehicles as the technology becomes more viable — Tesla even announced a solar feature for the Cybertruck.

With its new IONIQ 5, unveiled today, February 23, in a virtual event, Hyundai joins the solar party with a car geared toward sustainability and futuristic mobility.

Originally presented at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show as the 45 EV concept, the car has been tweaked with a broad range of new features.

The IONIQ 5's body design is a throwback to the 1974 Hyundai Pony, the company’s first production car.

DIFFERENT BATTERY AND DRIVETRAIN OPTIONS ENABLE EV ADAPTABILITY

The car will be available with two battery sizes and two drivetrains. A 72.6-kWh battery that produces a combined power output of 225-kWh and 605 Nm of torque. Combined with the all-wheel drive option, the IONIQ 5 can reach top speeds of 115 mph (185 km/h).

The two-wheel drive option, meanwhile,

enables the longest range, reaching around 300 miles (480 km) with the largest battery option. The IONIQ 5 utilizes ultra-fast 400 V and 800 V multi-charging that has the capability to fully charge the vehicle in as little as 18 minutes using 350kW chargers.

OPTIONAL SOLAR PANEL CHARGING FOR 'BATTERY ON WHEELS'

The two stand-out features for the IONIQ 5 are the optional solar panels on the IONIQ 5's rooftop as well as the ability to charge other electric vehicles — including e-bikes and ebicycles — via a form of bidirectional charging.

The IONIQ 5's solar panel roof option doesn't come with the standard model — meaning pricing has yet to be revealed for the option. However, Hyundai says the vehicle's solar panel option can help extend range up to 1240 miles (2,000km) per year (around 3 miles per day) of additional range if it's driven in locations that see a healthy amount of sunny days per year.

This isn't the first time Hyundai has unveiled a car with solar options: in 2019, the company revealed the hybrid Sonata with a solar roof. Other companies investing in the

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potential of solar vehicles include Hollandbased Lightyear and the urban mobilityfocused Squad Mobility.

IONIQ 5's "V2L (vehicle-to-load)" function, meanwhile, allows the vehicle to serve as "a charger on wheels," Hyundai explains.

If the IONIQ 5's battery level is above 15 percent, you can plug it into another electric vehicle to charge it. The charging speed is a little slow at 3.6kW, though it may well prove to be useful at a pinch — personal electronics such as laptops can also be charged using the technology.

An impressive feature in the IONIQ 5's cabin allows a HUD (heads-up display) to be projected onto the vehicle's windshield, allowing a safer way for drivers to look at their speed and directions without looking down from the road.

IONIQ 5'S ECO-FRIENDLY INTERIOR

Hyundai says the vehicle reflects its commitment to sustainability — materials for interior touchpoints such as its seats, headliner, floor, and armrests are made using

The IONIQ 5's design is a callback to Hyundai's first production vehicle, the Hyundai Pony.

recycled PET bottles, plant-based yarns, natural wool yarns, eco-processed leather with plant-based extracts, and bio paint with plant extracts.

Hyundai says the vehicle reflects its commitment to sustainability — materials for interior touchpoints such as its seats, headliner, floor, and armrests are made using recycled PET bottles, plant-based yarns, natural wool yarns, eco-processed leather with plant-based extracts, and bio paint with plant extracts. The Hyundai IONIQ 5 will be available starting in Spring 2021 (between March and May). Until now, the price has only been revealed for the special edition 'Project 45' IONIQ 5, which will likely be the most expensive car in the range, at $63,000.

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MERCEDES SLR-AMG CONCEPT DESIGN TAKES THE SLR MCLAREN TO THE FUTURE

With Mercedes-Benz hard at work readying the F1-powered AMG One hypercar for production, there’s no way it will launch a spiritual successor to the iconic SLR McLaren.

However, after looking through these illustrations, we wish the German brand did just that.

Responsible for this study, fittingly dubbed the Mercedes SLR-AMG Concept Design, is artist Georgi Bozhkov who works for RecomBlacksmith. While the car takes

inspiration from the SLR McLaren, it brings with it its own unique style and would be a real head-turner if it ever made it to the production line. The first thing worth talking about are the dimensions. The car appears quite a bit larger than the SLR, as well as the current AMG GT, and is all the better for it.

These generous proportions have allowed Bozhkov to create a lengthy hood that seems to stretch on forever and looks absolutely gorgeous. The passenger compartment is positioned well back, meaning the driver and passenger almost sit over the rear axle.

We’re particularly fond of the front fascia thanks to the unique headlights with incorporated LED daytime running lights, the prominent Three-Pointed Star badge, and the aggressive front bumper and splitter. The sides are also rather unique thanks to the presence of large gills behind the front wheels that sport the colors of the German flag, while at the rear there are thin LED taillights, dual exhausts, and a pair of tailpipes.

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TEAM FORDZILLA P1 VIRTUAL RACE CAR CONCEPT CREATED

BY FORD DESIGNERS Last summer, Ford launched an esports team under the Team Fordzilla banner, and that banner has now been applied to a virtual race car concept created by Ford designers with input from the gaming community.

Dubbed P1, it was unveiled at the recent Gamescon 2020 and will appear in a video game in 2021.

Design decisions were made via fan votes on Twitter, Ford said in a press release.

Denizens of the social media site voted on specific elements such as seating position, cockpit style, and drivetrains, which Ford designers incorporated into their work.

The car penned by Arturo Ariño, exterior designer for Ford Europe, won decisively, with 83.8% of the vote.

Ariño's design was partly inspired by the current Ford GT, but also has some futuristic features.

It incorporates "morphing technology," allowing the bodywork to switch from a long-tail configuration for circuits like Le Mans to a shorter configuration for tight circuits like Monaco, according to Ford. The automaker said it's in "advanced discussions" with a developer to incorporate the P1 concept

into a racing game in 2021. Ford is also building a life-size model of the concept car at its design studio in Cologne, Germany, which will be unveiled later this year. No word yet on McLaren's reaction to Ford's use of the name of Woking's plug-in hybrid hypercar.

Ford is not the first automaker to design a concept car for a game. The Vision Gran Turismo project was produced numerous cars from multiple automakers for the "Gran Turismo" video game series. Ford has said that involvement with gaming will help influence corporate thinking, but has otherwise been vague on plans for Team Fordzilla, or how it connects to the car-making business.

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HYPERCAR

PRODUCTION OF THE $3.4 MILLION HYPERCAR WILL BEGIN IN JANUARY 2023

GORDON MURRAY’s NEW T.50s NIKI LAUDA IS A 750 HP TRACK-READY BEAST Gordon Murray’s much ballyhooed T.50 hypercar won’t be here until next January, but that hasn’t stopped the legendary designer from announcing a new model named after late Formula 1 legend Niki Lauda.

Unveiled on what would have been the race car drivers 72nd birthday, the T.50s Niki Lauda is designed, appropriately enough, for the track. And while it may look just like its roadgoing sibling, Murray’s latest automotive confection brings more power and an even lighter curb weight.Since the T.50 is heavily inspired by the designer’s most famous creation, the McLaren F1, you’d be forgiven for assuming that that the T.50s Niki Lauda would be influenced by the McLaren’s track-only variant, the F1 GTR. But that assumption would be wrong. Murray’s new hypercars were designed and developed alongside one another—spiritual siblings but distinct vehicles.

“For the T.50 our target was clear, to make the best driver’s car for the road,” Murray said in a statement. “With the T.50s Niki Lauda it was equally clear, to make it the best driver’s car for the track. Putting it another way, we asked ourselves what would be the coolest thing to drive on track and create a track driving experience like no other car in history?”

Since the T.50 was first announced, Murray made clear he was more focused on driver

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experience than performance specs. Track driving, of course, is different, and it seems that this time the marque has put its effort into building the most powerful vehicle possible. The T.50s Niki Lauda is powered by a naturally aspirated, Cosworth-designed 3.9-liter V-12 which combines with a roofmounted, high-performance RAM induction airbox to deliver 725 hp and 358 ft lbs of torque. It can also rev at 12,100 rpm.

Those impressive figures mark are an increase of 71 horses and 14 ft lbs of twist over the street-legal T.50, significant bumps that can be attributed to revised cylinder heads and camshafts, as well as to a higher compression ratio of 15:1. The vehicle’s mighty mill is mated to an automatic Xtrac Instantaneous Gearshift six-speed paddle shift gearbox, which won’t thrill the purists but can still be used to push the car up to 210 mph (a top speed has yet to be announced for the T.50).

More power usually means more weight, but not this time. The T.50 tips the scales at 2,174 pounds, but the T.50s Niki Lauda is even lighter, weighting in at just 1,878 pounds. The two cars are built on the same carbon-fiber monoque chassis, but all the track-focused model’s carbon-fiber body panels are entirely unique. Despite this, the chassis was constructed using advanced part-binding technology to ensure structural rigidity. The car’s windows and screens have also been glazed to reduce weight.

The interior cabin has also been given a minimalist makeover. The T.50’s three seats have been replaced by a single racing seat with a six-point harness. Other than that, the only real features are a carbon-fiber steering wheel and a single screen that will display only the most critical driving information, to make sure you’re not distracted while out on the track.

As you might expect, the T.50s Niki Lauda

will be even more exclusive than its limitededition sibling. Only 25 of the track-focused model will be built, and 15 have already been spoken for. The marque’s second car will cost $3.4 million, with production expected to begin in January 2023, once the T.50 production run has been complete.

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THE ROLLS-ROYCE GHOST:

EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT THE GAME-CHANGING LUXURY SEDAN

From design to specs and pricing, here’s what you should know about the completely redesigned luxury sedan.

To showcase the new grille, 20 LED lights are set beneath the top to illuminate the stainless-steel vanes.

Looks can be deceiving. A quick glance at the new Rolls-Royce Ghost as it wafts oh-soserenely by, and you might be hard-pressed to distinguish it from the outgoing model. Yet only two components have been carried over—an umbrella and that hood-mounted, gossamerwinged flying lady known as the Spirit of Ecstasy.

Beneath the relatively familiar exterior, however, lies a car enhanced by a multitude of landmark improvements. Everything from a new, lighter, all-aluminum spaceframe architecture to all-wheel drive and all-wheel steering to a redesigned suspension that enhances that “magic carpet” ride. Oh, and the new Ghost also reflects a single-minded

focus on delivering almost-mystical levels of silence.

Talking of architecture, the 2021 model year Ghost is now built on the same aluminum spaceframe “Architecture of Luxury” platform first used on the eighth-generation Phantom and passed on to the Cullinan SUV. It allows the Ghost’s suspension assemblies to be pushed to the very front of the car so that the vehicle’s still-potent 6.75-liter V-12 can sit behind the front axle, achieving an optimum 50/50 weight balance for athletic handling.

Look no further than that stately, instantly recognizable Pantheon grille to see the subtlety of the Ghost’s visual evolution—and the insane attention to detail that has gone

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into this new offering. To showcase the grille, 20 LED lights are set beneath the top to shine down on the stainless-steel vanes. But illuminating polished stainless created rather too showy a display, so the backs of the metal blades were sandblasted to give a softer, ethereal glow.

More impressive still is the construction of that allnew aluminum body to reduce shut lines, the unsightly gaps where body panels butt-up to one another, like around the doors, between the hood and grille and around the trunk. With this iteration of Ghost, Rolls-Royce went on a mission to eradicate as many shut lines as possible and reduce panel gaps to a hair’s width. To create the larger panels, a quartet of artisanal welders work in symphony to deliver one continuous seam.

THE ENGINE: POWER, AND PLENTY OF IT

Why change a good thing? That was Rolls’ thinking in regards to its 6.75-liter twin-turbo V12. As before, the engine delivers 563 hp and 627 ft lbs of torque. Subtle changes to the engine mapping means that max torque is now available from just 1,600 rpm, which is only 600 rpm above tickover. But now, the eight-speed automatic transmission delivers that mechanical muscle to all four wheels, instead of just the rear ones. If there’s need to escape the prying lenses of the paparazzi, a firm squeeze of the throttle will thrust you from standstill to 60 mph in just 4.6 seconds.

THE PRICE OF P ERFECTION

Trust us, no one sticks with the base price when buying a Ghost. The MSRP of $332,500 is the starting point before most buyers tailor to taste. Colors, trim, wheels, monograms, pinstripes, tread-plates; you name it. Our test car came in at $428,250.

And now there’s the option of the Ghost Extended, starting at $380,000, with 6.7 inches added to the wheelbase for even greater stretchout space in the back. Options also include a reclining, aircraft-style Serenity Seat and rearseat Champagne chiller, of course. We’re sure that soon to follow will be the inevitable Black Badge Ghost. After all, it’s the next logical step in luxury for what’s arguably the best Rolls-Royce ever built.

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LOTUS UNVEILS NEXT-GEN E-R9 ELECTRIC ENDURANCE RACER The new E-R9's design gives the feeling of a car and a jet fighter combined.

Lotus unveiled its new design concept for a next-generation "pure electric endurance racer", the E-R9. Finished in black and gold as a nod to Lotus' Formula 1 motorsport heritage, the vehicle could hit the electric race tracks by 2030, the company stated in an accompanying press statement. The car features "morphing" body panels as well as vertically mounted control surfaces that assist with highspeed cornering. The EV's sleek canopy bears a striking resemblance to a fighter jet and is mounted in a delta-wing upper body.

In fact, the design results in the E-R9 being "partly driven like a car and partly flown like a jet fighter", says Richard Hill, chief aerodynamicist at Lotus. The E-R9 was developed

by Lotus' Engineering division, which delivers projects for external clients: the concept is a showcase for the division's design philosophy and innovative spirit in the fields of electric powertrains and aerodynamics. E-R stands for 'endurance racer', while the 9 is a tribute to the company's MkIX, the car Lotus used for its debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1955.

"What we’ve tried to do is to push the boundaries of where we are technically today and extrapolate into the future," Richard Hill explains.

"The Lotus E-R9 incorporates technologies which we fully expect to develop and be practical. Lotus has an amazing history of developing unique solutions, and we’ve done it many times in motorsport and with our road cars."

E-R9's electric powertrain innovation Perhaps the most important innovation for the E-R9 is represented by the vehicle's "morphing" panels. The feature — which can be triggered manually by the driver or set to adapt automatically via sensors — allows the car's delta-wing profile to change shape so as to deliver minimum drag on straights and maximum downforce at corners. Each of the ER9's wheels is powered independently by its own electric drivetrain via a manually controllable system that is enhanced with torque-vectoring. The feature is inspired by technology already available on the Lotus Evija electric hypercar.

"Battery energy density and power density are developing significantly year on year," explains Louis Kerr, vehicle architect at Lotus.

"Before 2030, we’ll have mixed cell chemistry batteries that give the best of both worlds, as well as the ability to 'hot-swap' batteries during pitstops." As AutoSport points out, the presentation of the E-R9 comes hot on the heels of Group Lotus and Renault's Alpine announcing that they will co-operate on a potential future team entry for Formula E. Formula 1, meanwhile, aims to crank up the production of more sustainable engines in a bid to prevent it from being left behind by the innovations increasingly showcased on the Formula E race circuits.

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MOTORBIKES

A MORE MUSCULAR

BMW R18 FROM FCR ORIGINAL FEW NEW BIKE launches have been as controversial as the BMW R18. Seeing a German contender in the cruiser market has perplexed many people, and some of the styling touches—such as the fishtail mufflers—have furrowed a few brows.

But as multiple road tests have since pointed out, the R18 is a cracking good example of the genre. And custom builders have been quick to whip out the grinders and reconfigure the biggest ever boxer.

The latest workshop to tackle the R18 is FCR Original, led by Sébastien Guillemot. With the help of the Parisian BMW dealer Bärenstark, he got a brand new R18 delivered to his workshop—a four-hour ride south, in the small rural town of Chauvigny.

Sébastien and his crew have gone for a sporty vibe, dialing down the classic elegance of BMW’s ‘First Edition’ styling and amping up the muscle factor—a German FXDR, if you like.

They’re calling this machine the ‘Sport Edition,’ and planning is already underway for a short run of customs in this style.

It’s an unusual approach for FCR, who usually go for a classy, nickel-plated vintage style. But BMW have already nailed that angle with the stock bike.

The biggest change to the character of the bike is the new exhaust pipework, which is virtually straight through. Sébastien describes the sound as “raucous and powerful,” and we believe him. It’s matched to a new intake system, “to replace the original plastic parts that are too big,” says Sébastien. “Our design office redrew the intake pipes in 3D and printed them, before creating the final parts in aluminum using CNC. We also made a new support for the original intake itself. The air

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filters are now K&N.”With all the noise and emissions constraints removed, we reckon this R18 will be putting out considerably more grunt than the standard 91 hp. The big boxer looks even more impressive than usual too: everything has been repainted in black. It meant dismantling the entire engine, but the effort was worth it.

The enormous valve covers are now carbon fiber. “We designed these in 3D and then printed molds for the carbon.” There’s a new ‘Sport Edition’ engine plate too, just to ram the point home.

On the dynamic front, the biggest change is the wheel size. The stock bike runs F19/R16, and FCR have switched this to F18/R17 to balance things out. “We wanted to keep the bike easy to ride, and didn’t want to put a big tire on the back—which would make the bike feel ‘heavier’ to ride,” says Sébastien.

The wheels are painted in a gloss black, and were assembled and finished in the FCR workshop. The R18 normally runs Bridgestone Battlecruise or Michelin Commander rubber, but FCR have fitted sportier Michelin Road 5 GT tires. The stubby exhaust is the biggest—and

most needed, according to some—visual hit here, but other tweaks include closefitting aluminum fenders and new bars, which are narrower and have less pullback than the stock bars. FCR have refitted the standard (and perfectly fine) controls, but changed the brake and clutch master cylinders to Beringer items.

The compact turn signals are FCR’s proprietary items, installed on custom brackets, and at the back they double as brake lights.

On the factory R18 the seat is a deep vshape, filling the gap above the hardtail-style rear frame tubes. FCR have opened things up with a more compact bobber-style seat that moves the rider closer to the bars and reduces the visual bulk. After meticulously taking apart

and painting all the hard parts black—right down to the driveshaft and brake calipers—the FCR crew turned their attention to the bodywork.

They’ve settled on a simple and traditional BMW Pur Metal silver.

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LUXURY HOME

THIS COLORFUL, LIGHT-FILLED

$13 MILLION MANSION IN BOCA RATON WAS DESIGNED FOR ENTERTAINING And for golfing, as part of a private club.

The latest trend in home design—maximalism—has seemed to be reserved mostly for spaces in urban and northern climates. But this mansion in Florida’s Boca Raton proves that the trend can shine even in bright sunlight. Inside this 7,500-square-footer, candy-colored modern sofas in the great room are paired with walls of gilt-framed, dark paintings in the old masters tradition, with brass and white-lacquered accents. All of it is bathed in the light coming through the soaring windows that look out onto the pool and deck. The great room has a second, cozier seating area around the flat-screen TV’s wall and a massive brass coffee table.

The dining area is spacious enough for two tables in a cheery blue hue, each seating 10 in velvet chairs.

Crystal chandeliers sparkle off the aluminum-tilewrapped pillars, and a two-panel mural serves as a focal point. The ceiling above the tables is done in a metallic finish. The vast, sleek kitchen is a mix of modern appliances, more white lacquer and brass and a black-marble waterfall countertop on one of the two islands. Wallpapers serve as yet another layer of color and texture not only behind the art in the great room, but also throughout the four-bedroom, six-bath home. The buyer either needs to embrace this brand of maximalism or spend a fortune tearing down all that paper. Rainbow-hued checks mark the walls and sheer drapery of one of the home’s two offices, while a coral-and-blue-print paper marks the

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other. One is more mirror, acrylic and lacquer; the other dark woods and rich tapestry rugs.

Even more patterns and textures find their place together inside the primary bedroom suite.

In the bedroom, a barnwood chest of drawers sits beside the woven sea-grass head- and footboards of the four-poster bed and polished mahogany tables, against a backdrop of more wallpaper. A dramatic wall of white-veined black marble accents a black-and-white tiled floor and woodpaneled cabinetry in the shower zone, while a polished brown wood with silk drapery marks the cabinetry and windows surrounding the soaking tub. Massive walk-in closets and a sliding door out to the patio complete the suite. The dramatic metallic touches from the entertaining space also carry through to the rest of the home, including the front of the house with its 12-foot, solid brass door and the aluminum mosaic tiles dotting the industrial, steel and white-tiled custom staircase.

Upstairs, more neutral tones of soothing whites and dove grays prevail, but with no less texture.

The remaining three bedrooms and baths occupy this space, plus an additional lounging area overlooking the pool and patio down below.

Outside, the terrace is also made for entertaining with multiple seating areas and an outdoor kitchen meant for large groups. The blue countertop links to the formal dining room inside, and even the playful candy-hued notes are repeated in the pool, with its ability to change colors through special lights.

Other features include a three-car garage, elevator and Lumen smart-home technology throughout. A few custom details speak to a love of high-end fashion: The front door’s pull was designed by the same artist who designed one for Barney’s in New York City, and the fragrant ylangylang tree in the yard is meant to evoke the scent of Chanel No. 5. The home is also part of the St. Andrews Country Club and sits just beside the golf course. A $150,000 membership is a mandatory part of the purchase. The home is listed for $12.95 million with Mark Nestler and John Poletto with One Sotheby’s International Realty.

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INNOVATIVE LIVING

THE LUXURY MANMADE ISLAND CONCEPT

WHERE HOMES COST UP TO $1 BILLION Packing up and moving to an exotic island has been a long-held dream for many globetrotters, but it seems the prospect is becoming even more attractive due to the global pandemic.

A number of island brokers reported a huge spike in demand for private islands in the months after Covid-19 brought much of the world to a standstill, with one telling the New York Times he'd had his busiest two months in over 20 years.

And judging from the response to this upcoming floating luxury real estate development launching close to the Bahamas in 2025, interest in relocating to a safe haven in the middle of the sea is still high.

The Blue Estate Group has been inundated with requests after unveiling plans for the man-made Blue Estate Island, where property prices start at $19,800 and rise to over $1 billion. Located a 25-minute plane journey from Bahamas capital Nassau and just under 90 minutes from Miami, the island will

measure 4,921 feet by 3,280 feet (1,500 meters by 1,000 meters), an area half the size of Monaco, and can accommodate up to 15,000 permanent residents.

Those who snap up a place at the "world's most exclusive private residence" will be treated to more than 340 days of sunshine each year thanks to the island's prime location, according to the developers.

"At first we were worried whether the current pandemic might have a negative impact on the project," Erik Schmidt, Chief Communications Officer for the Blue Estate Group, tells CNN Travel.

"But luckily it played out differently. Some districts are almost completely sold out and the sales team is doing it's best to keep up with the requests and questions." The proper-

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ties on offer range from $19,800 interior apartments measuring 20 square meters, $194,400 balcony apartments, a $54 million five-bedroom garden villa and two "signature estate" mega mansions, each with an estimated $1.15 billion price tag.

Those wealthy enough to afford the latter will need to present a "groundbreaking architectural concept" before they can be approved to purchase the mansion, and Schmidt confirms that one application has already been submitted.

The island, which is built with "ultra-high performance concrete modules," will have its own state-of-the-art health clinic, as well as an international school that can cater to children from "toddlers age to diploma graduates."

'Everybody is welcome' "There are no special requirements to become a resident on the Blue Estate," Schmidt explains.

"We require all residents and visitors to comply with the "Blue Estates Community Guidelines & Rules" from the day they arrive on the island, and they must be able to selfmaintain their life on the island.

"Everybody is welcome to buy, own or rent a property and/or open a business on the Blue Estate." Residents who work here can apply for a range of business licenses, valid for a period of 12 months, but they will not be subject to taxes. "The increase in remote work opportunities of the past decade (not only due to the pandemic) allows more people to freely choose a 'home base' that meets their individual requirements best," he explains, before indicating that the average resident's ages is likely to be "significant lower" her than most other cities. "Young entrepreneurs can focus on their start-up business and don't have to battle paperwork and pay high taxes."

Green community Blue Estate will also hold a number of ocean clubs, lagoon-style pools, playgrounds, markets, restaurants, bars and shopping areas, so residents are likely to have plenty to keep them entertained.

Although it's difficult to judge how much the global pandemic may have contributed to buyers' decision to purchase a property at Blue Estate, Schmidt says many have expressed worries about "personal or business

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INNOVATIVE LIVING

restrictions" in their home countries.

Although the majority of buyers have been from the US, some properties have been purchased by residents of Canada as well as Europe and China.

"Dissatisfaction has always been and will remain, a driving factor for change," Schmidt adds. There's also no visa requirement for buyers, residents "can stay as long as they wish on the Blue Estate," according to Schmidt. However, all arrivals be subject to airport-style security checks.

While construction doesn't begin until next year and the island won't be fully completed for another four years, some of the properties may be ready for handover by mid-2023.

In order to achieve its goal of being one of the "world's greenest communities," all of the island's energy will be generated from renewable sources, and it will operate a policy of no single use plastic and zero emission.

Blue Estate is also open to non-residents,

however visitors must apply for a permit/visa prior to their trip as only a specific number of visitors will be allowed on the island at the time. There will be two hotels on the island to accommodate visitors.

Mobile island Although its position in the Caribbean Sea means strong current could become a concern, the island is protected with outside walls measuring over 160 foot that will "dwarf the ocean's biggest waves," according to the Blue Estate Group.

It will also hold automated hurricane shutters that can be extended to provide the community with an additional shield from high winds. In the worst-case scenario, the entire island can be "moved out of the way" of any incoming storms due to its high-tech features.

While Blue Estate appears to be the first first floating real estate development that allows buyers to purchase its properties, Schmidt believes similar projects will begin to pop up in the future, particularly due to the demand for isolated locations, which has been brought about by the pandemic. "Our engineers have been working on the project since 2016, which gives us a bit of a headstart," he says. "But nevertheless, we already have plans to scale up if demand stays on the current level or increases."

News of the development comes as construction continues on the Heart of Europe, a $5 billion mega resort made up of a group of six man-made islands off the coast of Dubai designed to replicate popular European destinations such as Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and Venice.

Work on the ambitious project, which will largely be made up of hospitality establishments and second homes, began in 2003 and is due for completion in 2023.

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BUSINESS ARENA - 100TH EDITION

HOTELS AND RESORTS

QATAR IS PLANNING TO BUILD A MASSIVE 152 ROOM FLOATING LUXURY RESORT THAT WILL SPIN TO GENERATE ELECTRICITY Qatar is advancing into the world of sustainable and stunning architecture with breakneck speed, and to keep up with the development spree, the latest addition is a floating hotel that is the newest head-turner in the Middle Eastern country.

As expected, this modern architectural marvel is designed by Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio (HAADS). It will go by the name the Eco-Floating Hotel, effortlessly combining supreme luxury and sustainability. The EcoFloating Hotel rotates like a revolving restaurant and boasts wind, solar, and tidal sustainability features. It should be known the hotel is situated just off the shore and supported on a series of floating platforms.

The rotation action is naturally and intentionally kept very slow, not to make guests dizzy, and would take 24 hours to complete a revolution. Such similar twisting structures have been planned for Dubai as a sky-kissing turbine-shaped scraper and a 688 feet tall twisted skyscraper in New York by the same studio. Let’s explore this superlative creation designed to minimize energy loss and with a zero-waste principle:

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Guests can access the hotel by car, by boat, or by helicopter and drone to a floating pier’s helipad. They are welcomed first into a 700 m2 lobby and then rejuvenate in rooms that flaunt their own balcony, which offers guests different perspectives as the building revolves.

This structure’s architectural genius allows all of the hotel’s platforms, including the connection to the mainland, to be floating platforms. To commence, the hotel is planned to be stationed in the coastal waters of Qatar.

The Floating Hotel also houses indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a sauna, spa, gym, and mini-golf course.

The Eco-Floating Hotel aims for full self-sufficiency and manages this feat by applying solar, wind, and tidal energy generated by spinning in place. These all-natural resources cover the island’s needs.

The hotel’s rotating system employs dynamic positioning (DP), a computer-controlled system to maintain a ship’s position automatically.

The Floating Hotel, which has 3 different entrances, aims to provide access from land at any time of the day thanks to the 140-degree pier that surrounds itself.

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SUPERYACHT

THIS 262-FOOT SUPERYACHT CONCEPT

COMES WITH ITS OWN STAGE FOR CONCERTS ON THE HIGH SEAS

Plus a hot tub and a two helipads for good measure.

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Charly Phitoussi started the Instagram @prestigeyachts to showcase the world’s preeminent luxury vessels and help users momentarily escape. The account now has some 120,000 followers and the Parisian content creator has decided to take things to the next level and design his own “floating palace.

Phitoussi partnered with French yacht designer Julien Cadro to create the new concept, which fittingly goes by the name of Boss. The fast displacement yacht, which is designed to cruise the Mediterranean, features a sleek silhouette with clean lines and a needle-like bow to cut through waves.

Phitoussi told Robb Report in an email that aviation was also a source of inspiration, which explains the two wings protruding amidships that double as sundecks.

The 262-footer is fitted with three generous decks and geared toward outdoor living. The main deck features a sprawling beach club, along with two large doors so seafarers can store one or more vehicles on

board when needed. Elsewhere, there’s a big space that can be used as an open-air cinema or a private concert stage depending on whether you prefer movies or music. This deck also offers one visitor cabin.

The upper deck, meanwhile, is equipped with a fully stocked bar and open dining area from where you can enjoy the sea views. (It’s also where you’ll find the aforementioned sun decks.) This deck also features an enclosed dining room and saloon, plus the remaining VIP guest cabins and the owner’s suite.

One of the standout features is the infinity pool that cascades from the upper deck alongside a set of stairs that lead all the way to the swim platform. Boss also features a lounge area in front of the wheelhouse with a dedicated jacuzzi, plus space for two helicopters.

“Our goal was to create the best possible yacht experience for the owner and their guests,” the duo said in a statement. “We hope to make our subscribers dream with our project in these difficult times.”

And dream we shall.

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LUXURY YACHTING

THIS NEW 146-FOOT, ALL-ALUMINUM SUPERYACHT COMES WITH A 3-LEVEL MASTER SUITE Adding 15 feet to its well-received 40Alloy yacht, Italian shipyard Sanlorenzo revealed its latest model, the all-aluminum 146-foot 44Alloy fast-displacement-hulled superyacht. With five yachts already sold, this new addition to the Alloy line appears to be a winner right out of the gate.

Given the goal of designing a yacht that would provide the ”highest quality of life on board,” design studio Zuccon International Project delivered plans for the 44Alloy with all kinds of indoor/outdoor usable space and, most notably, a multi-level master apartment. This private owner’s suite comprises 1,560 square feet divided among the distinct spaces and includes both indoor and outdoor areas.

“The owners‘ cabin was conceived as a loft, and is divided in three levels: lobby, bedroom and living room/office,” Bernardo Zuccon told Robb Report. “It offers the owner a new way to experience [his or her] time on board.”

The overall look of the yacht, adds Zuccon, came as the result of “a deep alteration” in the way most yachts are traditionally conceived, with strict design parameters between the interior and exterior. On this 44Alloy, the indoors and outdoors are “tied together by the same stylistic language—with lines, colors and materials harmoniously mixed” into a holistic package.

The Zuccon team was inspired by Austrian modernist architect Adolf Loos (who also inspired Frank Lloyd Wright) and his Raumplan spatial planning method, which Bernardo describes as being based on distinct rooms (defined by different levels). “On board the new 44 Alloy, each [environment] is on a specific level, indoor and outdoor;

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The master bedroom is on its own level.

Embrace the indoor/outdoor flow with this yacht's emphasis on blurring the lines and a tri-level master, expandable beach club and on-deck hot tub. every level has different functions but at the same time is part of the same [environment],” he says. Martina Zuccon created the interior design of the first hull. The layout includes accommodations for 10 guests in five staterooms, including the spectacular master. Catering to the yacht’s 10 guests will be nine crew members.

Martina was challenged by the yacht’s distinct dimensions and proportions, while also keeping in mind the brief of creating a continuous flow between the inside and the outside spaces of the yacht.

“With this in mind, we’ve created a very [unique] atmosphere,” she told Robb Report, “obtained by light and shade effects, and a wise use of matte and glossy surfaces—walnut, a very

Main saloon. marine and elegant wood, which can in a certain sense represent the balance between classic taste and more modern trends, has been mixed with different finishes and reflective surfaces to amplify the perception of spatial expansion.”

The second hull’s interior will be by Florencebased architect Michele Bonan. French architect Christian Liaigre and his firm is queued up for the third yacht.

The 44Alloy will hit a top speed of either 20 or 22 knots, depending on the engine package.

Two MTU M 12-V 2,000 M96L engines provide the 20-knot top speed, while a pair of MTU 16V 2,000 M96L bring the top end to 22 knots.

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A V I A T I O N

UNITED AIRLINES JUST INVESTED

$1 BILLION IN OUR AIR TAXI FUTURE We could see the zero-emissions aircraft servicing airports as soon as 2024. see this zero-emissions aircraft servicing airports in United’s major hubs by 2024.

“Archer’s eVTOL design, manufacturing model and engineering expertise has the clear potential to change how people commute within major metropolitan cities all over the T H E E L E C T R I C A I R C R A F T W I L L S H U T T L E world,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in a P A S S E N G E R S U P T O 6 0 M I L E S A T S P E E D S statement.

NEAR 150MPH Indeed, the airline estimates that flying one of Archer’s eVTOLs between Hollywood and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) could reduce CO2 emissions by up to 50 percent per passenger.

Coincidentally, Los Angeles is one of the first cities Archer plans to launch its fleet and one of United’s largest hubs. up developing electric vertical takeoff and United isn’t the only party getting in on the landing aircraft.

Archer action, either. Separately, the startup The startup says its eVTOLs, which are announced that it reached an agreement to being positioned as commuter air taxis, will be merge with special purpose acquisition able to shuttle passengers some 60 miles on a company Atlas Crest Investment Corp. to single charge and hit speeds of up to 150 mph. become a publicly listed company. The While still in the prototype stage, the full-scale combined company, soon to be listed on the aircraft is scheduled to be unveiled later this New York Stock Exchange under “ACHR,” will year, with mass production slated for 2023. have an equity valuation of $3.8 billion. Archer According to Archer, jet setters can expect to also said it expected to receive $1.1 billion of THE AIRCRAFT COULD gross proceeds to fund future growth, S TA R T S E R V I C I N G A I R including $600 million in private investment in PORTS IN UNITED’S public equity (PIPE) from investors such as MAJOR HUBS Stellantis and United. Fiat Chrysler also BY 2024 recently announced a partnership with Archer to develop flying cars.

It could be a prescient move. Morgan Stanley predicts that the market for eVTOLs could reach $1.5 trillion in the next 20 years.

United Airlines believes that soon we’ll all be taking air taxis to the airport—and it just ponied up big bucks to get in on the action.

The airline has just announced that it will invest more than $1 billion in Archer Aviation, a start-

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FORMER NASA CHIEFS ARE PLANNING TO BUILD A HOTEL IN SPACE BY 2024 It will feature décor by noted interior designer Phillipe Starck.

Space hotels might feel like a far-off fantasy, but they could be a reality sooner than you thought—that is, if Axiom Space has anything to say about it.

The Houston-based company, which was cofounded by NASA’s former International Space Station (ISS) manager Michael Suffredini, is planning to launch the first segment of a new commercial space station in just three years, and it will double as an out-of-this-world hotel. The $2 billion project, called “AxStation,” could be built as soon as 2028. The plan is to attach a crew module to the International Space Station by 2024 and then expand from there to create at least two other modules, including a laboratory/ manufacturing facility and a panoramic observatory. The company intends to leave all three modules attached to the ISS until it’s retired, which Suffredini expects to be around 2028. Once successfully detached, the new AxStation would become the first free-flying internationally available private space station.

The outpost will serve both as a research platform and go-to destination for the first wave of space tourists. This is why Axiom is going to great lengths to make the accommodation far more luxurious than the somewhat antiseptic ISS. The crew module, which will double as the hotel, features décor by noted interior designer Philippe Starck. The cabins will offer plush padded walls and furnishings, futuristic color-changing LEDs and panoramic views of our home planet that’s some 250 miles away. The exterior modules will

be built by European aerospace company Thales Alenia Space, who also constructed approximately half of the modules for the ISS, while the interiors will be manufactured in Houston.

Axiom’s plan appears to be in full swing, too.

Last year, NASA gave the company the go-ahead to attach one of its crew modules to a docking A rendering of the commercial space station being built by Axiom Space.

port on the ISS, along with a $140 million contract to make it happen. Axiom has also secured a deal with SpaceX to send a handful of private astronauts for short stays on the ISS by the end of this year. Seats are rumored to cost $55 million and one has reportedly been snapped up by Tom Cruise, who is in talks with producer and director Doug Liman to shoot the first film in space. Space tourists heading to the AxStation will spend up to 15 weeks training for their mission.

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AERONAUTICS

CUTTING EDGE GROUND RECORDERS SELECTED TO MEASURE FUTURE X-59 QUIET SUPERSONIC FLIGHTS For the deserts of Southern California, the major milestones of aviation have long been marked by the unique sights, and sounds, of flight.

From the late Chuck Yeager’s breaking of the sound barrier in 1947, to the space shuttles’ approach and landing at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (then Dryden) in Edwards, and through today, one recognizable sound is the sonic boom – a loud, sometimes startling event that we hear on the ground when an aircraft overhead flies faster than the speed of sound, also called supersonic speed.

NASA, for decades, has led the effort to study sonic booms, the loudness of which are considered the key barrier to enabling a future for overland, commercial supersonic aircraft.

That future will be closer to reality when the agency’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) airplane takes to those familiar skies in 2022, taking the first steps to demonstrating the ability to fly at supersonic speeds while reducing the sonic boom to a significantly quieter sonic thump.

While NASA will fly the X-59 over communities around the U.S. as early as 2024 to analyze the public’s perception and acceptability of quiet supersonic flight, the agency will first need to prove that the X-plane is as quiet as it’s designed to be.

To do this, NASA will measure the sound of

the sonic thumps in the Mojave Desert using cutting edge technology – a brand new, stateof-the-art ground recording system for a brand new, state-of-the-art X-plane.

NASA has contracted Crystal Instruments of Santa Clara, California to deliver a highfidelity sonic boom – and soon to be, a quiet sonic thump – recording system, capable of providing the data necessary for the agency to validate the acoustic signature of the X-59.

“This will be the first time that we have a single system across NASA to do this research, and it will incorporate a lot of newer technologies to allow us to get this done,” said Larry Cliatt, NASA’s tech lead for the acoustic validation phase of the NASA’s Low-Boom Flight Demonstration mission. “I consider it the next generation of sonic boom, and soon to be quieter sonic thump, recording systems.”

NASA will utilize the Crystal Instruments Ground Recording System, or CI-GRS for short, to gather time, waveform, and spectral data related to sonic booms and sonic thumps. The CI-GRS will also feature the

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NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology aircraft, or QueSST, is designed to fly faster than the speed of sound without producing a loud, disruptive sonic boom, which is typically heard on the ground below aircraft flying at such speeds. Instead, with the X-59, people on the ground will hear nothing more than a quiet sonic thump – if they hear anything at all.

The X-59 will fly over communities around the United States to demonstrate this technology, but first, NASA will need to validate the X-plane’s acoustic signature, using a ground recording system.

Credits: NASA / Joey Ponthieux

ability for NASA to install custom software and algorithms to perform various specialized operations for real-time sonic thump analysis.

With this technology, NASA will have the ability to extract, review, and analyze specific data from a recording. For example, the CIGRS will have the capability to accommodate software that can distinguish a low-amplitude sonic thump from the X-59 among other ambient sounds. That software will also be able to calculate a number of different types of acoustic metrics, including perceived sound level, which is the currently accepted measure for sonic boom loudness.

“What we are building is a data acquisition system that will use the latest advancements in technology, with cutting edge hardware and software capabilities, so that NASA can capture the high-quality sonic boom data they need,” said Darren Fraser, Crystal Instruments vice president of sales.

The first deliveries of the CI-GRS are expected to be deployed for initial field testing at NASA Armstrong, and later, some will deploy outside Edwards Air Force Base with

units spread out as a 30-nautical-mile-long ground microphone array. This will be part of the next rounds of the Carpet Determination in Entirety Measurements flights, called CarpetDIEM for short. These flights will simulate the acoustic validation phase for the X-59 by deploying an aircraft from NASA Armstrong, which will fly over the array at supersonic speeds, testing the units’ ability to record sonic boom data, before they capture the X-59’s quiet sonic thumps.

The lessons learned from the CarpetDIEM tests will facilitate any necessary updates and modifications for the final CI-GRS design, which will then be used in the same method for the X-59 with as many as 70 ground recording stations. Another requirement NASA will need the CI-GRS to meet will be its ability to operate remotely. In previous, similar supersonic acoustic research efforts, NASA deployed sonic boom recorders in the field, and collected the sensors at the end of each test day. A 30-mile-long microphone array in the Mojave Desert, however, presents a logistical challenge.

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NEWS AND TRENDS

NASA SUCCEEDS IN TESTING MOST POWERFUL ROCKET 'IT HAS EVER BUILT' NASA is now one step closer to sending humans to the moon -- again.

NASA successfully carried out a test of the most powerful rocket the agency claims it has ever built.

The agency conducted a second test of the Space Launch System (SLS) at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, running the engines on the rocket's core stage for over eight minutes. The test was intended to simulate the amount of time it would take for the rocket to reach space from the ground.

"The SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, and during today’s test the core stage of the rocket generated more than 1.6 million pounds of thrust within seven seconds," acting NASA administrator Steve Jurczyk said in a press release. "The SLS is an incredible feat of engineering and the only rocket capable of powering America’s next-generation missions that will place the first woman and the next man on the Moon."

The test comes as the agency prepares to send an unmanned Orion spacecraft on a test flight around the moon. The goal is to then send humans (including the first woman) to the moon in 2024 — a feat that hasn't been achieved since Apollo 17 landed on the lunar surface in 1972.

"Today is a great day for NASA, Stennis and this nation’s human space exploration program," Stennis Center director Richard Gilbrech said in the release.

"So many people across the agency and the nation contributed to this SLS core stage, but special recognition is due to the blended team of test operators, engineers, and support personnel for an exemplary effort in conducting the test today." NASA conducted its first hot fire test of the SLS core stage on January 16.

The rocket's four RS-25 engines were fired together for approximately one minute before the test unexpectedly ended. The agency decided to conduct a second test under "a variety of operational conditions" to ensure that the engines would last

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long enough for the rocket to reach space.

"This longer hot fire test provided the wealth of data we needed to ensure the SLS core stage can power every SLS rocket successfully," SLS Program manager John Honeycutt explained. "During this test, the team conducted new operations with the core stage for the first time, repeated some critical operations, and recorded test data that will help us verify the core stage is ready for the first and future

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SLS flights for NASA’s Artemis program."

As far as next steps are concerned, the agency will refurbish the SLS' core stage and ship it to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the parts will be reassembled with the Orion spacecraft attached, NASA said. According to the agency, the SLS is the only rocket that "can send Orion, astronauts and supplies to the Moon on a single mission."

We at Business Arena Publishing Group keep an eye on the latest trends in the business media and put our readers' wishes first, as we constantly aim to extend our readership potential and gain greater coverage and circulation. In keeping with our expansion strategy, we are happy to introduce The Book of Excellence 2020. Widely acclaimed for its prestigious annual awards dedicated business, culture, civil society, and sport personalities, Business Arena Magazine has heard its business partners and readers alike, who have been asking for a new platform that could put under the spotlight all the Business Arena award winners, with their success stories, challenges, expectations and hopes.

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We have decided to build the new publication around our dynamic award events, and showcase their winners: Most Admired Business Women Awards, Financial Leaders' Hall of Fame, Business Arena Awards for Excellence. Our readers deserve to know more about these successful people Overall, this new magazine is and organizations, so more than 30 business designed to include a wide variety of exciting leaders, entrepreneurs, highly-regarded topics and promote business excellence. We plan to professionals, companies, and banks will publish the magazine annually and jam-pack the pages full be included in our first edition, with of success stories to inspire you. Our aim is to inspire readers interviews, biographical details with new ways of thinking; promote greater awareness of issues and company profiles. affecting their business opportunities; and expand our audience to a new generation of business people, entrepreneurs, and professionals. The Book of Excellence will cover the most dynamic business sectors in this country, including banking, car manufacturing, IT&C, real estate, agribusiness, hospitality, retail, pharmaceuticals and so on. It will have a company profile section, lists of top companies in multiple categories and of course exclusive interviews. cosmin.stangaciu@business-arena.ro or paul.madrio@business-arena.ro or abonamente@business-arena.ro