Industry Leaders Magazine Q1 2016

Latest news and trends from around the globe in the fields of F & B, Energy, Manufacturing, Construction and Supply Chain

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March 2016

SWISH

Billionaire Gamers

BIG TICKET Decoding Tel Aviv: The Unicorns and The Vegetarian Palette

POWER PLAYERS And Hedge Funds Rocked Again

GREEN REVOLUTION The Remarkable Legacy of Joel Spira

HOW BIG IS THE MARKET FOR LEGAL POT! INDUSTRY LEADERS MAGAZINE [MARCH 2016]

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March 2016 CLICK AN ICON TO VIEW OR FOLLOW OUR SOCIAL NETWORKS

by Anna Domanska

There is an indisputable list of things that America just does better. From, diversity, old-fashioned diners, space program, free refills, the vastness of USA, and the ‘can do’ attitude and optimism, the rest of the world seems to have accepted that there are certain things America just does better. The same goes for marijuana. The prolegalization wave continues to provide a rise in a whole new economy surrounding the sale of cannabis oils, lotions, paraphernalia and even tantalizing edibles such as the cannabis gelato. Presently, not everyone is the train, but there’s a chance for at least 11 states to legalize recreational marijuana in the near term. In this issue, we looked at the marijuana industry from an economic vantage point. The cover story, ‘Marijuanomics,’ runs from page 48-57.

Our feature, Green Revolution, gives a peek into the legal of Joel Spira, the man who invented the light dimmer, to save energy and extend the lives of the light bulb. Power Players brings to you biographical profile of accomplished hedge fund investor Bill Ackman. SWISH looks into high-net worth individuals, the richest people in gaming today.

PLUS: Big Ticket brings to you the best of Tel Aviv, from its vegetarian smorgasbord to attitude. Read on to know more about the hottest destination on the Mediterranean.

Big Events, Bigger Gains looks into the Presidential Election winners from the App industry, and much more!

Happy Reading!

Anna Domanska Editor-in-Chief, Industry Leaders Magazine INDUSTRY LEADERS MAGAZINE [MARCH 2016]

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Anna Domanska, Editor-in-Chief

Christy Gren, Sub-Editor

Priyansha Mistry, Sub-Editor

Aubrey Chang, Associate Editor

Riana Petanjek, Sub-Editor

Kevin Paul Sr. Graphic Designer

Tony Raval Project Director

Jay Raol Project Director

Jason Miller Sr. Project Director

Richard Dean, Advertising Manager

John Hancock Head-Web Department

Le Manh Coung, Sr Sofrware Coordinator

R R Baratiya

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Julia Hunt, Magazine Production

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Latest in Business

Yahoo Is For Sale And Is Maybe Worth Nothing

12 Green Revolution

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The Remarkable Legacy of Joel Spira

Power Players

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And Hedge Funds Rocked Again

Cover Story

48 SWISH Gazillionaire Gamers

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How Big Is The Market For Legal Pot!

Big Ticket

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Decoding Tel Aviv: The Unicorns and The Vegetarian Palette

Imminent Trends When Apple Cannibalized iTunes

84 New Venture

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On Ease of Doing Business in Singapore

Big event, Bigger gains

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iTunes & Google Play Are The Political Frontier

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Event & Tradshow INDUSTRY LEADERS MAGAZINE [MARCH 2016]

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AMAZON TO OPEN BRICK-ANDMORTAR BOOKSTORES As the physical state of retailing-brick and mortar is claimed to be on the verge of a massive decline due to the growth of online business and retails, there are still valid reasons that make brick and mortar model the best form in the retail industry. Surely the resurgence of the retail form via tech giants, for instance, Amazon’s gigantic bookstore plans, which demonstrates the revival of brick and mortar in major business, is enough evidence to demonstrate that this model is not planning to fade away anytime soon.

Amazon played a major role in uprooting the entire origin of bookstores, which were based on brick and mortar system, out of business annihilating bookstore chains and the businesses of many independent booksellers.

Now, it comes out as a very surprising piece of news that Jeff Bezos is mulling over the concept of bringing the brick and mortar-based bookstore model back by introducing its own 300-400 bookstores.

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The company is apparently known for continuously expanding its horizon for more.

The one, which started as a normal online retailer for books is now the online retail giant selling all sorts of brand merchandise on its Amazon website.

Due to the ever-expanding ambitions of the e-commerce giant, the retail experience of brick and mortar will surely turn out as a good factor in its business, especially strengthening the company’s bond with its Prime members.

The idea of brick and mortar-based bookstore by Amazon can be considered as a good step, because whatever initiative, which gets more volume of books into gyration, is a very good idea. Authors are facing troubles in getting publishers and on the other hand, publishers are facing troubles trying to make a good profit, which makes them adamant about avoiding scripts that are not destined to turn into best sellers.

Apparently, the concept of this is a retail model in motion. The e-commerce giant is planning to conquer the retail world via Amazon brick and mortar format.

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APPLE PAY WILL SOON ALLOW ATM WITHDRAWALS You will soon be able to withdraw cash from the ATMs using Apple Pay, so you can ditch your credit or debit card and use your Smartphone instead. Bank of America and Wells Fargo are working to enable Apple Pay to withdraw cash from ATMs by just placing their iPhones near the cash machine and verifying the withdrawal with the help of device’s Touch ID fingerprint reader.

Wells Fargo’s spokesperson has said that “We have been working on the technology that allows us to use digital wallets, leveraging NFC on mobile phones that can replace the card for transactions at the ATM.” However he did not specifically mention Apple Pay, but confirmed that Android Pay will be supported.

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Betty Riess, Bank of America’s Consumer Banking Products press representative said that “We have a number of mobile wallet programs...” which implies that Apple Pay may be a part of it. Riess confirmed that “Bank of America is presently developing a solution for cardless ATMs. This solution will let customers withdraw cash by using NFC technology on their Smartphones so as to authenticate the transaction at a Bank of America ATM. This functionality may roll out at selected ATMs in the Silicon Valley, Charlotte, San Francisco, New York and Boston at the initial stage, which will be followed by a wider rollout.”

Both the companies have placed engineers for multi-month assignments to develop the Apple Pay options. It is still unclear how Apple Pay will be used at the ATMs, but it will surely allow people to withdraw cash without requiring the credit card or debit card.

Working with Apple Pay can be beneficial to banks as they can be protected against fraud. Authentication is done via fingerprint scan, which will provide better security.

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TESLA

BENTLEY TO COMPETE WITH TESLA BY LAUNCHING ITS EV Tesla has acquired the luxury sedan market so well, and according to reports Bentley is considering joining in by launching its own EV. Tesla Model S costs around $100,000 while Bentley would likely sell for approximately $200,000, so it will be a Tesla competitor but for twice the price.

According to reports, Bentley is planning to build a bespoke electric car by joining the rest of the Volkswagen Group, together with Porsche and Audi. Rolf Frech, Bentley engineering chief said that “We are currently in the stage where we are assessing all the possibilities, but there are a lot of question marks behind this. I think we will have an answer within the next six months to a year to come to a decision on which direction to go, but certainly electric will be a future strategic direction for Bentley. �

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Even when the car will be underpinned by the electric platform that was used in Porsche Mission E, it would have exterior and interior of Bentley. Also, it would not be of the same size as Porsche EV and will have its own design features.

Rolf Frech indicated that the Bentley’s electric car could be based on the Speed 6 concept. Frech noted that the car’s low center of gravity and sporty driving dynamics would be suitable for an electron- driven powertrain. Of course it all has to make business sense for the brand before it is committed to producing.

Unsurprisingly, Bentley could discard the idea before the car reaches showrooms and may leave the production of electric vehicles to the Volkswagen Group brands. Nevertheless, Tesla has proved that there is a market for luxury electric vehicles. And, there’s no brand that implements performance and luxury better than Bentley.

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FORD REVS UP ITS PRODUCTION IN MEXICO Ford will reportedly build a new assembly plant in San Luis Potosi, and expand the factory output from Mexico. Ford ranks 2nd in light-vehicle seller in the United States; and it further plans to add 500,000 units of annual Mexican capacity that will supposedly start from 2018.

This move will make room for plenty of new models, which may include the yetto-be-disclosed hybrid model which is portrayed as Toyota “Prius fighter.” This will allow Ford’s U.S. factories to focus on higher-profit trucks and sport-utility vehicle.

This plan seems to imitate General Motors’ plan to invest $5 billion to double Mexican capacity by 2018. Ford has not yet disclosed any plans and declined to comment on this matter. Last year, Ford built 433,000 vehicles in Mexico, which is 14% of its North American production.

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According to some internal sources, the costs for this project will likely exceed $1 billion, while construction of the factory will start within this year. It follows an investment of $2.5 billion that Ford declared last spring to construct an engine and a transmission plant in Mexico.

Mexico has attracted billions of dollars in automotive investment in the past few years, providing automakers with low wages, an arsenal of free-trade deals, and improved logistics. Many auto giants have started new assembly plants in Mexico or are planning to do so, in recent years. The automakers who are lured by these benefits include BMW AG, Toyota Motor Corp., and Volkswagen AG. Also, Honda Motor Co., and Kia Motors Co. are also planning to open their plants in the country.

The country is looking more attractive due to the implementation of a new labor deal with the United Auto Workers that increases wages for factory workers in the United States. Labor rates in Mexico are one-fifth than the earnings of unionized U.S. workers.

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MICROSOFT PHILANTHROPIES TO DONATE $1 BILLION IN CLOUD COMPUTING Microsoft introduced its new division that is solely dedicated to managing company’s philanthropic projects. Now the Microsoft Philanthropies division has announced that the company will donate $1 billion in cloud computing to more than 70,000 non-profit and non-government organizations over next 3 years, with the support of its Business Development and research unit.

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The company declared that it will provide a variety of cloud services that may make Office 365 programs and Azure cloud computing accessible to more than 300 new universities and 70,000 non-profit groups. This move, as announced by the company is to encourage widespread use of the public cloud that will benefit the public.

Microsoft Philanthropies will make efforts in the following areas:

Serving the broad needs of the non-profit organizations The company will expand its software donation program around the globe. This will include Microsoft Azure, Enterprise Mobility Suite, CRM Online, and Office 365 as a part of the program. This non-profit program is expected to begin in this spring.

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Make cloud resources accessible to universities Azure will be significantly expanded for research programs of universities. Thus far, the company has successfully provided the cloud services for research in more than 600 research projects and is planning to increase it by fifty percent.

Reaching new communities Microsoft Philanthropies will combine access to cloud services with investment in new innovations like low-cost last-mile connectivity and community training.

By combining connectivity and training with cloud services, Microsoft intends to

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support at least 20 of such projects in minimum 15 countries, by the end of 2017.

The company’s CEO, Satya Nadella said that it is a move that would make sure that the technology benefits are not limited to the wealthy people. He argues that cloud computing should be accessible to NGOs and nonprofits and should provide privacy at the same time. He says, “Philanthropy is a start.” He also outlined how cloud computing will be beneficial to non-profit organizations.

Let us wait and watch whether Microsoft’s efforts are successful in delivering longlasting benefits towards its goal of “empowering every person and organization to achieve more” – but as Satya Nadella says, it’s just a start.

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TWITTER VS ISIS Twitter has been profoundly criticized for not effectively policing the presence of extremist groups like ISIS/ISIL, the so-called Islamic State. Due to the terrorist attacks in Paris and in San Bernardino County, the pressure has heated up from the Obama administration and the presidential candidates.

The extremist group uses social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to spread misinformation and to attract and train new recruits. In the past, ISIS has used Twitter to publicize executions of terrorist activities and celebrate them.

Recently, Twitter declared that it has suspended more than 125,000 accounts since mid-2015 that were involved in threatening or promoting terrorist acts in any manner. Later, it also confirmed that the majority of accounts were related to ISIS. Twitter said that “We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism.” The US-based firm relies on users to alert the company about any violations to the company’s policies and has increased its report reviewing teams so as to react

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faster. Twitter also said that “We have already seen results that include an increase in account suspensions and such activity shifting off of Twitter.”

After an update on December 2015, Twitter rules put a blanket ban on hateful conduct. It also has a policy that addresses the problem of violent threats – “You may not make threats of violence, or promote any violent activity, which includes threatening or promoting terrorism.”

The statements also showed that it was difficult to identify pro-ISIS tweets due to the nonexistence of a “magic algorithm” that might be capable of pinpointing online content which is genuinely terrorist.

The Obama administration and the Department of Defense have frequently referred to the use of social networking sites as a recruitment tool for the ISIS. After Twitter declared this news, the White House said that Twitter’s announcement was “very much welcome”.

Twitter is also co-operating with law enforcement and online organizations to work against the terrorist recruitment online and abuse.

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WHY UBER STARTED ACCEPTING CASH PAYMENTS You might already know that Uber has started accepting cash payments in several countries. It all started with a pilot program that accepted cash payments from passengers in Hyderabad, a city in India with a population of around 8 million.

So, what made the company mess with its core feature that is at the centre of its identity? Opportunity. One of the primary reasons of using Uber was easier payment methods, by linking your credit card with your Uber account. The major reason of using Uber was convenience: no issue of finding money to pay the fare, no issue if the driver doesn’t have change, and no confusion over tipping or not tipping.

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Despite of all this, cash has become an important part of Uber’s service in some countries of the world. Currently, Uber accepts cash in 10 countries across three continents, which includes India, Southeast Asia (except Singapore and Malaysia), Nigeria and Kenya in Africa, Peru in Latin America, and parts of the Middle East.

This is just a start, the cash payment option will expand further to reach more regions and gain more Uber customers.

In most of the emerging markets, the number of people owning a credit card and also having an Uber account is less than 10% of the total population. Asia-based Uber executive Mike Brown said that “We are aware that not everyone uses a credit card and there needs to be different payment mechanisms in different places.

We would like to serve everyone so, basically, either everyone needs to accept our system or we need to adapt how riders in other markets pay. ”

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YAHOO IS FOR SALE AND IS MAYBE WORTH NOTHING In February, Maynard Webb, Yahoo’s chairman said that “Our board believes that exploring additional strategic alternatives, along with the execution of the management plan, is in the interest of our shareholders. Our primary focus is to separate our Alibaba stake of our operating business. In addition to continuing work on the reverse spin, which we announced formerly, we will engage on qualified strategic proposals.”

“Strategic alternatives” in Maynard’s corporate-speak is code for “Yahoo for sale”.

On the other hand, Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer said that “Yahoo was going to keep trying to turn itself around.” She also outlined cost cuts of $40 million, asset sales of $1 billion and other promises to do better.

For the last 4 years, Mayer is trying to sail the sinking ship of Yahoo by acquiring startups and other efforts to boost morale. But unfortunately, Yahoo’s revenue has 26

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kept on decreasing, which has resulted in lack of talented employees as most of them are quitting their jobs. When Mayer joined the tech-giant its Q4 earning was $1.4 billion, while this year the company met its expectation, which were low and had Q4 earnings was around $1.27 in 2015.

So Maynard and Mayer are on opposite sides of each other. While Mayer wants to fix the tech-giant, Maynard and other board members want to keep Yahoo for sale.

According to investors, Yahoo is currently worth nothing as its core business is in loss. Its most valuable parts are in stakes at Alibaba and Yahoo Japan. If calculated, Alibaba stocks will worth $32.6 billion and Yahoo Japan will be worth $8.7 billion.

Adding the cash and removing the debt, the amount that the company owns will be approximately $46.7 billion.

The company’s total value of its shares is only $33.8 billion, which is $13 billion less than company’s assets. So Yahoo is not even worth nothing, it is worth negative money. In broad strokes that denote that the company has to pay some other company to take it, that seems quite unlikely though.

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THE REMARKA OF JOEL

The Ma Invented th 28

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ABLE LEGACY L SPIRA

an Who he Dimmer

IMAGE - CENTURION LIGHT DIMMER

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ARIADNI TOGGLER DIMMER

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The story of Lutron Electronics begins with founder and pioneer, Joel Spira, searching for a way to dim the lights in the New York City loft he shared with his wife Ruth. His inspiration might have originated from near-by as dimmed lights were for the most part found in Broadway theaters, where reducing lumens signaled the show was going to start. That was in the late 1950s and mid-1960s, when Spira successfully replaced an old technology with something smaller and newer, a sort of transistor called a thyristor. Spira’s thyristor transistors ultimately transformed homes, schools, restaurants, shops, schools, and most other indoor settings. Empowering a new kind of elegance and functionality, the devices reduced energy use—way before a time when energy conservation became cool.

With this game changing product, the Spiras established Lutron Electronics, which today is a key player in the lighting controls industry. From its Coopersburg, Pennsylvania headquarters, northwest of Philadelphia, the company manages offices in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The privately held firm has expanded to 11,000 items that incorporate controls, sensors, whole building systems, shading items, fluorescent ballasts, and LED drivers, and in addition the technical support services to run with them.

The majority of these items accomplished two important objectives: the human benefits of lighting control and vitality productivity. The company estimates that its installed items in the U.S shave off power usage by 10 billion kWh, worth up to $1 billion in utility cost savings to customers. A great deal of what constitutes lighting controls today is more than simply dialing artificial light up and down. With a more prominent accentuation on human solace and workplace productivity, the control of natural light—daylight—takes up a critical role in the organization’s product line. Here we take a look at the interaction of natural and artificial light, and how tools for managing both can be connected to structures old and new. This is about a company that fosters a culture of innovation, meeting the changing 21st century needs for inhabitant wellbeing, energy cost control, and environmental responsibility.

The office of LMN Architects, in the unmistakably International Style Norton Building in downtown Seattle, take in a 360-degree perspective of a portion of the world’s most grand urban vistas. To the west is Elliott Bay leading the Pacific Ocean and toward the east are the Cascade mountain ranges.

Building owners and architects everywhere gloat about the views from their structures. It’s a part of the fascination of being in tall structures; frequently, the higher the floor, the higher the rent for that very reason. But, prior to

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a remodel of LMN’s 14,400-square-foot office on the fourth and fifth floors of this 17-story around 1959 structure, a great deal of those spectacular views were blocked.

Architects know that natural light is a known contributing element to a feeling of wellbeing and to efficiency.

Further, essentially having something to take a look at something farther away helps reduce PC eye fatigue.

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Two years on from the end of the redesign, LMN Architects has reduced its use of power for lighting by 56%. The firm studied employees prior the remodel and found that, without a doubt, better access to views and daylight were a high priority. Architects know that natural light is a known contributing element to a feeling of wellbeing and to efficiency. Further, essentially having something to take a look at something farther away helps reduce PC eye fatigue.

LMN wound up using a system in the redesign that addresses these issues, to say the very least. The firm initially drew in its own R&D group, LMN Tech Studio, in light studies to explore the various alternative solutions. Their goal was to find what might be ideal.

The LMN Tech Studio uses building performance stimulation, parametric modeling, humancomputer interaction, digital fabrication to serve the needs of clients, and in this case themselves. What they found was their first thought didn’t fill in and they wished. The objective was to benefit as much as possible from those wonderful views while improving the use of daylighting, optimize lighting quality all through the workplace, and reduce energy consumption.

LMN does a lot of work in designing sustainable workplaces. Their approach to their office remodel is the same as their way to deal with their building ventures. This incorporates four LEED Platinum ventures, including the Vancouver Convention Center West and

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LYNEO LX DIMMER GREEN REV

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DALLAS MARKET CENTER SHOWROOM

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The

LMN

Tech

performance

Studio

uses

stimulation,

building

parametric

modeling, human-computer interaction, digital fabrication to serve the needs of clients, and in this case themselves.

Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry, and numerous more with green certifications.

Pretty much as LMN Architects allowed their in-house Tech Studio to explore different avenues before finding a suitable solution, so is the way of things at Lutron. Ed Blair, general supervisor of Lutron’s window system business, says they want more and more people to realize that failure can be a key part of the learning process. Blair credits company founder Joel Spira, who passed away in April 2015, for setting up that sort of ethos.

Developing products that fit the undeniably complex needs of workplaces— healthy daylighting, not all that much glare, and artificial lighting controlled to most extreme effectiveness and efficiency—relies on upon a great deal of engineering and collaboration. Inside the company, he says that implies that building, advertising, and sales people meet to talk about the necessities and approaches to meet them.

The organization, likewise looks outside for inspiration, all things considered.

Lighting is associated with pretty much everything—building energy systems, building codes, as well as employee productivity and health. Lutron maintains collusive relationships with different organizations, for example, Honeywell, Siemens, and Trane. A few research colleges and organizations additionally work with the organization, including Purdue University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Carnegie Mellon Institute, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. From an exchange affiliation point of view, the alphabet soup of organizations (ASHR AE, IES, NEMA and others) that compose and impact construction standards and generally set norms for item execution and wellbeing are coordinated into Lutron’s product

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Developing products that fit the undeniably complex needs of workplaces— healthy daylighting, not all that much glare, and artificial lighting controlled to

most

extreme

effectiveness

and

efficiency—relies on upon a great deal of engineering and collaboration.

improvement process. Additionally, simply remaining close to clients and their needs, including those of planners, keep them pioneering and deep-rooted in the business of improving structures.

AWeber Communications is designed to allow sunlight to enter deep into the open office layout. Interior spaces can exploit natural light, and electric lighting automatically reacts by modifying light levels to supplement, as opposed to supplant, accessible daylight. iPad-Air-2-Mockup copyTotal light administration systems, as Lutron Quantum systems, allow wireless management and adjustment of lights and shades from any place using the Quantum Vue application from any mart device.

One such tool for doing that is Lutron’s IntelliDemand Load Shed, which enables office supervisors to reduce lighting output in a system. This reduces energy costs while easing the demand on utilities; utility clients are incentivized to do this through demand-response programs to prevent brownouts amid peak periods like hot summer days. There’s the RadioRA 2 is a wireless light control system that can respond to interchanges from a utility’s smart meter to intuitively change lights, shades, varying media gadgets, and temperature settings (singular rooms and entire houses). With price responsive controls, either through preset inclinations, or a manual override, lights, shades, and different tools can be observed and controlled remotely—including when utility organizations inform the mortgage holder of dynamic price swings.

Where Blair touts the acknowledged risks of experimentation and discovery, he describes the development of window shades and artificial lighting relative to the complicated nature of glass, light, and solar heat.

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OFFICE APPLICATION LIGHT SHADE

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NEW YORK EXPERIENCE CENTER

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shading devices of all kinds have customarily been and to a great extent remain in the domain of stylish decor, not performance devices.

“We worked with Purdue University on the hypothesis that automated shades would have a beneficial impact on HVAC loads,” he says. “Note that sunlight casts 1,000 watts of energy per square meter. As it passes through glass, about 40% of that energy hits fabric. But that same glass effectively traps most of the heat inside. So what we learned was that window shades only reduce heat absorption by about 10%. We kept our eyes open to new data in this discovery process, which told us the better benefit of shades is in controlling light.”

So, shading devices of all kinds have customarily been and to a great extent remain in the domain of stylish decor, not performance devices.

With Lutron’s research—and enthusiasm for the window shade business it acquired 15 years prior— shading materials and operations have progressed impressively.

Could high-performance glass accomplish the same thing as shades? Blair says self-shading glass exists, yet it’s costly and slow to react to changes in light. Which is not to say this company, which comprehensively considers solar and electric light in the same place, doesn’t think about that as a future plausibility.

“Technology changes every month,” Blair renounces. “A big challenge is for architects to keep pace with the changes.”

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‘AND HEDGE FUNDS ROCKED AGAIN’ WILLIAM A. ACKMAN AGE: 49 NET WORTH: US $2.6 Billion RESIDENCE: New York OCCUPATION: Founder, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management Director of Canadian Pacific Railway INVESTMENT STYLE: Deep Value ORIENTATION: Shareholder Activist EDUCATION: Bachelor of Arts / Science, Harvard University; Master of Business Administration; Harvard Business School

At first glance, Bill Ackman seems like a hypomania, passively attempting to righteously avenge financial fraud with his save-the-world complex. These days, his goal is to mete out as much of the world’s capital to himself so that he can return it in an altruistic way. “And if I don’t do it, who will?” he says.

On December 19, 2012, Bill Ackman declared an inimical war on Herbalife.

During a three-hour ‘public short’ presentation spanning 342-slide webcast presentation at a 500-seat auditorium at the AZA Equitable Center in Midtown Manhattan, he excoriated the company as a “fraud,” “a pyramid scheme,” that causes “enormous harm to the most vulnerable communities.” He called the company a “modern day version of a Ponzi scheme” that should be shut down INDUSTRY LEADERS MAGAZINE [MARCH 2016]

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IMAGE - BILL ACKMAN’S PERSHING SQUARE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT IS A HEDGE-FUND BASED IN PERSHING SQUARE, IN MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY.

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Ackman’s conspicuous success speaks for itself. The activist investor may be highly competitive, but he is fallible.

by federal regulators. The final death blow came when he revealed he had a billion dollar short position and said his target price for the stock was zero. By the following Monday, Christmas Eve, Herbalife stock bottomed 42%, from $41.57 to a low of $24.24, with the company having lost close to $2 billion in market value.

The most recent blitz on Herbalife, which came out on February 9, 2016, has become the bust of the winter amid imploding oil loans and banks blowing up. Couching the dog and pony show as a play for “social justice,” Pershing Square Capital Management has released a webcast entitled “The American Dream Denied” as the ultimate knockout punch. The documentary, shows former Herbalife low-income recruits tearfully losing their homes, relationships with friends and family members because of the money petered out into Herbalife storefronts and products, leading to problems from overwhelming debt to bankruptcy.

What a time to be Bill Ackman.

In recent years, with consumer advocates

protesting pyramid schemes, several market leaders including Tupperware in 2006, and Avon in 2014 have quit the Direct Sellers Association. Herbalife on the other hand has been handed a staying power, much of is attributed to hedge funds betting on the opposite site of Ackman. Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb bought a 8.9 percent stake in the tainted company calling it a “compelling long-term investment” only to dump all his shares for a hefty profit two months later. During that time, activist investor, Carl C. Icahn, bet against Ackman with more than 17 percent stake in Herbalife to turn the game around in a long highprofile, 10-year-old acrimonious battle between the two heavyweights, as Wall Street spectators enjoyed watching the two of them rise and fall, and kiss and make up.

William A. Ackman, now 49, the saltand-pepper-haired, six-foot-three, lean, self-assured, media-savvy hedgefund titan with cerulean eyes, cuts an intimidating presence. He rowed crew at both Harvard College and co-captained the Harvard Business School rowing team. The fabulously

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wealthy – with the most expensive penthouse duplex in Manhattan at $92 million – has a guileless magnetism, but when he spits out words with a fleshtearing incisiveness at steroid-packed presentations, you get a glimpse of an uncharacteristically taciturn psyche.

Ackman’s foundation, Pershing Square Management, has harvested 21% average returns (a market beating figure) since its inception in 2004, until 2014.

Last year, its portfolio dropped 20.5%, net fees when the S&P 500 delivered a total return of 1.4%, including reinvested dividends. This comes after the hedgefund made a name of itself in the Wall Street for commanding nearly $19 billion in assets, and crushing the returns of the stock market for its investors. With the head honcho’s controversial and some of the biggest, ill-fated bets on companies like Valeant, Fannie Mae, and Canadian Pacific, Pershing Square has lost billions.

Silver lining?

In a business where historical trades provide credibility and success begets success, Ackman seeks to defy tradition in hopes of leveraging his failures to unfold his success.

Sure, Ackman’s conspicuous success speaks for itself. The activist investor may be highly competitive, but he is fallible.

In high school, he famously wagered his father $2,000 that he’d score a perfect 800 on his verbal SAT. His father let him off the hook the night before, and he

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scored a 780. In 2012, Ackman joined several hedge fund biggies and serious cyclists partake in a 26-mile Hampton’s bike ride. Although out of practice, he silver-haired hedge fund mogul rushed out in front at an unstoppable pace.

Fresh out of Harvard Business School in 1992, Ackman and his friend David P. Berkowitz cobbled up $3 million to start a hedge fund, Gotham Partners.

At Gotham, Ackman developed methods that he would use again and again, leaving no margin for error.

Amid corporate filings and the hunt of undervalued companies, Gotham started its first hostile proxy fight against a real estate company, First Union Real Estate. It took months of scuffling before Gotham triumphed.

The once highflying Ackman, struggled to right the First Union, including a paltry attempt to merge it with Gotham Golf, another company under Gotham’s wings. Investors started to voice concerns as the agency took a whiteknuckle ride amid financial losses and dwindling reputation.

More than a decade later, Gotham Partners, fizzled out in late 2002 after some illiquid investments left him unable to rebound from an increasingly dire situation. The key moment was when he lost big stakes on J.C. Penney, Borders, First Union Real Estate, and Target, behind poorly timed investments on activism and installing new leadership.

His critics agree that his theatrics,

oversized ego and big mouth in the hedge fund world makes him stand out.

Others warn that his fund has the risk of blowing up. His portfolio is made up of bigger, riskier bets on a dozen or so companies.

One cannot deny that at Gotham, Ackman developed a technique he would use again and again over the years. He went after big targets, took his battles out in a theatrical setting with bombshell announcements where it’s less about words, and more about the action. This method proved useful when he made his first foray into activist short-selling in 2002. He released a conscientiously researched paper condemning the management and reserve levels of the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation.

Within six months, Farmer Mac’s stock had dwindled, paving the way for a quick gold rush for Gotham, which had

record. The head of the $14 billion hedge-fund was named to top dog in Forbes and Bloomberg’s 2014 ranking of the world’s best hedge fund managers.

Pershing Square generated around 40% returns, fueled by a big and bold bet on Allergan, the maker of Botox, which ended up accepting a $66 billion hostile takeover bid from Actavis. While his short bet against Herbalife hurt him badly in 2013, it reversed itself and bolstered his hedge fund’s returns in 2014. Pershing Square also raised some $3 billion in fund listing ahead of its IPO on Euronext Amsterdam. While a majority of hedge funds were seen struggling in 2014, Ackman further distinguished him.

Unlike conventional bigwigs like Carl Icahn, Dan Loeb, and Nelson Petlz who buy shares and then create a plan to fix a company, Ackman by contrast would annihilate a company. People like him

Unlike conventional bigwigs like Carl Icahn, Dan Loeb, and Nelson Petlz who buy shares and then create a plan to fix a company, Ackman by contrast would annihilate a company. sold its stock short. Bond insurer MBIA was up on the bull’s eye as Ackman made a long bet, which finally paid off during the financial crisis of 2007.

Undeniably, Ackman has an enviable

who bet against companies have long been vilified because they seem to be trying to do harm. If Pershing Square did not have a concentrated financial incentive to investigate Herbalife, we would know a lot less about the

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company today.

A few see it as an act of pique, but then again, not everyone can see the Ackman mojo.

Ackman isn’t going after Herbalife because it sold weight-loss shakes.

His issues stemmed from its being a multilevel marketing company, or MLM. If Herbalife collapses, the bond king promised to donate his cut to charity, because he considers any proceed from a corporation so villainous to be “blood money.”

Sure, he expects the stock not just to decline, but to go to zero, he made clear. In recent years, Herbalife shares have lost about a fifth of their value, as news has spread that regulators are investigating whether the company broke the law.

After all, Herbalife has a $2 billion brand without advertising. Multilevel marketing, where your friends and families become sellers, instills an inherent trust that helps companies

economic class; largely a game that most Wall Street executives have no connect with in their daily lives. There are thousands of MLM businesses all over the globe and the industry boasts annual global revenues of more than $180 billion.

If the Federal Trade Commission will step in and declare the weight-loss company tied to a social dynamic to be a pyramid scheme, they will shut down its business in the United States and send the stock price to zero. And so, this could be the shortest and most hostile short of all time.

Some call this manipulation.

blatant

market

Ackman doesn’t intend to finish this game soon. In an interview on CNN, Ackman reminded how long he’s willing to “sit on this bet?”

Ackman replied, “We’re not sitting.

We’re shouting from the rooftops.

They’ve never had someone like me prepared to say the truth about the

Ackman isn’t going after Herbalife because it sold weight-loss shakes. His issues stemmed from its being a multilevel marketing company, or MLM. drive sales. These types of programs are not prevalent among people of higher

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company. I’m going to the end of the earth. If the government comes out and

determines this is a completely legal business, then I will lobby Congress for them to change the law. I had a moral

here is enthusiastic about delivering our worst performance year in history in 2015, it certainly does a good job

“If the government comes out and determines this is a completely legal business, then I will lobby Congress for them to change the law. I had a moral obligation.

If you knew that Bernie Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme, and you didn’t tell anyone about it, and it went on for 33 years.”

- Ackman, in an interview on CNN, on how long he’s willing to “sit on his bet.” obligation. If you knew that Bernie Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme, and you didn’t tell anyone about it, and it went on for 33 years.”

In 2015, Pershing Square battered with a 20.5% loss after Valeant Pharmaceuticals. It illustrates how volatile the activist investor’s returns can be after he netted a triumphant 40% in 2014. In a year-end letter from Pershing Square, addressing the hedge fund’s peak-to-trough decline, Ackman did not blame the unfair force of gravity in the volatile world of hedge fund. “I have often stated that in order to be a great investor one needs to first have the confidence to invest without perfect information at a time when others are highly skeptical about the opportunity you are pursuing. This confidence, however, has to be carefully balanced by the humility to recognize when you are wrong,” he wrote. “While no one

reinforcing the humility-side of the equation that is necessary for longterm investment performance.”

Humility, you say?

“Fortunately,” he winds up, “the lessons we have learned in 2015 should be easy to avoid in the future.”

Presumptuousness took us to the grave in 2008. But if you’re Bill Ackman, your Superman complex might get us out of it. Ackman doesn’t acknowledge defeats. It’s his benign air is what makes his resilient yet effective brand of activist investing that gets to critics.

He reverberates tension with an almost terrifying froideur. Every bet he contests is with implicit aplomb. No hedge fund manager or investor will be able to replicate hos mojo for at least a score.

All told, Bill Ackman carries more weight than he did before.

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COVER STORY

MARIJUA

Ready or not, with its legalization taboos surrounding weed being fe hangs above Marijuana industry outpace the smartphone industry

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ANOMICS

in several states and those old-school ebrezed away, a massive dollar signs y as its potential growth projections y.

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COVER STORY Last month, two marijuana analysis and investment firms co-released a summary of a report that confirms that there’s more underneath the glint of gold. In November, ArcView inked a deal with cannabis industry data analytics firm New Frontier to copublish its comprehensive yearly report. Instead of simply focusing on recreational and medical sales, the report tracks a wide range of legal sales, including cannabis products sold through delivery services and medicinal weed “caregivers,” who can lawfully grow and distribute the drug. ArcView Market Research, is a part of cannabis industry investor network ArcView Group, which provides the most-frequently cited figures and forecasts available for legal Mary Jane.

Legal cannabis sales jumped 17%, to $5.4 billion, in 2015 and the demand is expected to remain strong this year, as sales grow to over $6.7 billion in the U.S, a whopping 25% jump, the report noted.

The industry has become a gold rush, and the promises are far-reaching and attracting notice on Wall Street. Analysts are assessing the stock market benefits of new businesses as pot goes corporate. Hedge funds are weighing the ethics of investing in marijuana.

Derek Peterson, a former Wall Street banker, now heads listed cannabis company Terra Tech, which sells equipment for cannabis growers. Terra Tech specialized in growing conventional vegetables hydroponically - including marijuana. Now, the Wall Street investor is exploiting the expanding market by focusing on producing the drug itself.

Peterson, like many others, believes that the backdrop is encouraging. “You have economic leaders like Richard Branson coming out in favor of legalizing cannabis. It means that users are no longer seen as some loser sitting on a street corner.”

In spite of his company being the first cannabis producer to have Wall Street recognition, Peterson isn’t the only one of a number of pot entrepreneurs making their mark in the U.S. Privateer Holdings, a convention equity group, recently teamed up with reggae icon and vehement anti-capitalist Bob Marley’s family to launch “Marley Natural” onto the market in states where the drug is legal. The Seattle-based private equity firm has secured a 30-year licensing deal to develop weed-strains and hemp-based beauty products and accessories, and appeared as a prominent player in the growing market after securing a $75 million funding last year.

Among cannabis’ growing investors includes Dutchess Capital (portfolio valued of $35 million in 2015), Poseidon Asset Management ($15-20 million), Salveo Capital ($16-25 million), Greenleaf Joint Ventures, Emerald Ocean, and High Times Investor chasing small pot businesses.

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By 2020, legal market sales are forecast to be $21.8 billion. By comparison, this number could be bigger than the National Football League, which saw around $12 billion of revenue in 2015 and is aiming to reach $25 billion by 2027.

EDIBLE CANNABIS PRODUCTS

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COVER STORY Jurisdiction with legalized cannabis.

Jurisdiction with both medical and decriminalization laws.

Jurisdiction with decriminalized cannabis possession laws.

Jurisdiction with legal psychoactive medical cannabis.

Jurisdiction with legal nonpsychoactive medical cannabis.

Jurisdiction with cannabis prohibition.

Just after a few days of New York opening its first medical marijuana dispensaries, hundreds of investors had attended an investment information conference organized by cannabis analysts Viridian Capital Advisors focused on the business deep-rooted in the tie-dye hippie days. Among many of the people leaving Fortune 500 companies and bringing big-company operating and governance experience to the industry’s growth includes Condé Nast Publications Group President Mitchell Fox. Troy Dayton, chief executive officer of ArcView Group says the trend is likely to continue as an increasing number of publicly traded cannabis companies become profitable. “I think that we are going to see in 2016 this next wave of investors, the next wave of business operators, and people who’ve sort of been watching or dipping their toe in, really starting to swing for the fences and take it really seriously,” Dayton said in an interview.

“It certainly legitimizes cannabis in the financial capital of the world and that will get investors interested in the market most of all,” he renounces.

In May 2016, more than 3,000 high-profile industry executives and investors will be attending the Marijuana Business Conference and Expo in Orlando, Florida.

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IMAGE- LEGALITY OF CANNABIS BY U.S. JURISDICTION

Leslie Bocksor, billed as Warren Buffett of the marijuana industry, predicts a bright future for the pot business. “We are seeing ballot initiatives in California, Nevada, Massachusetts, Maine, and Arizona. It means we could see eight, nine, or 10 states with a substantial and robust legal framework for marijuana.” Even though the drug isn’t legalized on a federal level, the field remains clear for small enterprises. “It is going to be gigantic. It is one of the best investment opportunities for entrepreneurs we have ever seen.”

According to the ArcView/New Frontier report summary, nonmedicinal adult use of pot account for $998 million of the total sales in 205, a rise from $351 million in 2014.

(Note: The estimates are based partly on state tax receipts and data on medical and recreational sales) By 2020, legal market sales are forecast to be $21.8 billion. By comparison, this number could be bigger than the National Football League, which saw around $12 billion of revenue in 2015 and is aiming to reach $25 billion by 2027.

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MEDICAL MARIJUANA SHOP IN WASHINGTON

With nearly a dozen states debating changes to their cannabis laws in the coming year, 2016 will be the tipping point in which a majority of U.S. states transition from cannabis prohibition to some form of regulated legal market,” said New Frontier CEO and Founder Giadha DeCarcer.

GreenWave Advisors in its latest annual report in November, said that it estimates revenues to surge in 2017 and 2018. The report defined three types of legal marijuana use: adult recreational use; medical use; and medicinal use of a cannabis product from which the compound that gets a consumer high has been extracted. The “tipping point” would be in 2016, when a majority of states transition from cannabis decriminalization to some form of regulated legal market.

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Part of the growth can be attributed to American’s shifting attitudes towards marijuana. A decade ago, only 36% of Americans supported legalization, compared to the 58% today, according to a Gallup poll. ArcView noted that the compound annual growth rate for marijuana sales including medicinal and recreational between 2014 and 2020 will be 30%.

Looking ahead, there is going to be more competition on price as newer businesses enter the market. There will also be an increased emphasis on protocols, compliance, and regulation.

Now it cannot be all rainbows and butterflies, right? The report noted that marijuana is the most energy intensive agriculture crop produced in the U.S. Since most marijuana is grown in indoors in basements and closets, the industry consumes %1 percent of the country’s electrical output at a cost of $6 billion annually. The report says that such unrestrained use of energy cannot be sustainable in the long term in the legal marijuana markets.

While the drug is still illegal on a federal level, several well-established medical pot markets like California account for the country’s legal marijuana sales.

The US Department of Justice (USDOJ) estimates that California produces 60% of the marijuana consumed in the United States. Assume a $6,000 per kg price, then wholesale marijuana sales in California total approximately $16.7 billion. These estimates suggest that marijuana is the largest cash crop in California, with the next largest commodity, milk and cream, securing $6.9 billion in wholesale sales (USDA 2012). Recreation pot sales are expected to surge the cannabis market’s increasing growth over the coming years. ArcView projects that adult-use marijuana sales will account for more than half of the overall market by 2020. It would represent growth of more than 1,150% for recreational sales over the next four years.

The jump in adult-use pot sales coincides with the first full year of recreational marijuana sales in Washington, which launched its legal recreational market in July 2014, as well as he beginning of legal sales in Oregon six months ago. Meanwhile, sales in Colorado topped $1 billion in 2015, the ArcView Group report noted.

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increase is primarily driven by recreational sales, which crossed $600 million, while medicinal sales came in above $400 million. In Colorado the number of licensed pot growers has grown to 11,289, a number slightly less than the number of auto mechanics in the state. If the numbers keep growing, Colorado would become a national powerhouse for marijuana production. The state boasts more than 200 recreational marijuana shops now, since the first dozen stores that opened in January. The state also reaped $135 million in marijuana taxes and licensing fee, a 77% increase from 2014. Meanwhile, Washington managed to reap $70 million in tax revenues in its first full year.

Those tax dollars have propelled seven more states to vote on approval of recreational marijuana this year.

According to a study of demand for marijuana, it was found that tourists make up for 44% of sales in marijuana stores. In Washington State, the retail industry is much smaller, with only a dozen stores open so far, More than 300 licenses under state review and an outdoor growing season, along with tour companies and marijuana-friendly B&B joints have sprung up like a forest on fire to cater to the boundless ambitions the legalization offers.

In the Pacific Northwest, San Francisco, and Denver, marijuana brands are focusing on high-tech designs such as premium, organic strains, handcrafted, farm-totable, local, hand-processed, no toxins, artisanal, fairtrade selection of cannabis chocolate, kombucha-esque beverages, and beauty products that retail as high as $400-$15,000.

The heavily regulated recreational program in Washington receives more than 7,000 applications, wherein many of those are would-be growers, retailers, and processors.

They have to endure months of delay as state workers process and analyze the applicant list. This is partly because, the Securities and Exchange Commission has warned that loosened laws will create newer ways for fraud, as individuals and companies with shaky business plans and dubious assets.

Moreover, for businesses, getting brands in front of the public has been a challenge. There is a state-wide ban on television or billboard advertisements to directly market pot products. Facebook, Twitter, and Google refuse to accept marijuana ads on their websites.

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stand out with product endorsements as well as pot-related products of their own, there isn’t going to be much of a problem on promotional grounds. Miley Cyrus has blazed it on the stage several times. Mara Hoffman directly referenced cannabis in her Spring 2015 Ready-to-Wear collection with weed-esque print. For fashion designers, the biggest opportunity in this industry right now is vaporizers, as it’s already a billion-dollar industry because it’s an ancillary product and it’s safe for investors and fashion companies. For marijuana businesses that have dreams of mass market sales, “stylization” is the answer. Celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson, and Wiz Khalifa have lent their named to various weed-related lucrative ventures.

As voters in more states legalize the sale and possession of marijuana, the industry has gone from a black-market product grown in hidden facilities in cinder block buildings to a bonanza for cash-trapped states. Pot is no more a hobby. With a widespread cultural acceptance of weed, we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s called the economic miracle of the 21st century.

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Billionaire Gamers It may sound too good to be true, but people actually do play video games for a living. And surprisingly, they make a heck of a lot of money.

When video games were first introduced, they were never considered as a lucrative career option. However, the scenario has drastically changed over the years. Despite the fact that video games are not considered by sports enthusiasts as any kind of sport, the fact is, the video gamers earn big moolah, enough to place them on par with some of the greatest sports stars in the world. The scenario of video gamers has not only changed in terms of their earnings, but also their image as players. The video gamers are no more the general stereotypical nerds with spectacles, they are cool and dashing.

For more than 100 professional gamers, the prize money has topped $250,000. Bear in mind that the earnings shown here are excluding the sponsorship deals and the income that many players earn by streaming their practice games on services like Twitch. Top 5 gamers are listed below and their earnings shown here are based purely on tournament winnings.

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Peter “ppd” Dager Total Earnings: $2,081,844.36 Alternate ID: EG.PPD, ppd Originally a HoN (Heroes of Newerth) player, Peter “ppd” Dager burst onto the Dota 2 scene in 2014 as the new captain of Evil Geniuses.

Regardless of playing an extremely gold-starved style of support, ppd never fails to make his presence felt through his carefully calculated drafting and in-game leadership. He is one of the most outspoken players on the scene and is often referred as the Salt King. He commonly plays at the Support position in the EG team. The Salt King has won $2,082,844.36 from 44 tournaments that he has played including HoN and DotA 2. His highest winning prize was $1,326,932.14 from The International 2015 as part of the Evil Geniuses team.

Peter has been a HoN player; however, his highest earnings came from winning DotA 2 tournaments. He has earned $2,067,232.62 from 36 DotA 2 tournaments and has won $14,611.74 from 8 HoN tournaments. He has been the champion of 18 tournaments, runnerup in 10 tournaments and has held a 3rd position in 8 tournaments.

According to E-Sports Earnings, a website that keeps track of progaming tournaments and winnings, Peter has earned more than any other professional gamer and is ranked #1 on the basis of highest overall earnings.

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PETER “PPD” DAGER

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SAAHIL “UNIVERSE” ARORA

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Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora Total Earnings: $2,076,433.04 Owner: dignitas.Universe, EG. Universe, UNiVeRsE Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora is an American “DotA 2” player who is presently the offlaner (a position in the game) for Evil Geniuses.

This 26 year old pro-gamer has total earnings of $2,076,433.04 from 45 tournaments since he started playing professionally in 2011. The highest prize money he won was from The International 2015 when he took home a whopping $1,326,932.14 from the tournament.

Saahil has been part of Team Dignitas and Quantic Gaming along with the Evil Geniuses. He has been in the champion position in 16 tournaments, runner-up in 11 tournaments and has secured 3rd position in 9 tournaments. He started playing professionally since 2011, but his career was at its peak in 2014, 2015, and now 2016. In 2014, he earned $312,493.63 from 18 tournaments while 2015 was the best year for him as he won $1,730,076.34 from 12 tournaments including the major winning prize of The International 2015. And for 2016, he has so far won $23,095.40 from two tournaments.

According to E-Sports Earnings, Saahil has been ranked #2 on the basis of highest overall earnings.

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Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling Total Earnings: $1,882,720.64 Alternate ID: Aui_2000, C9 Aui_2007, dignitas.@Aui_2000, EG.Aui_2000, PB.Aui_2000 Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling is a Canadian DotA 2 player who is currently playing at the position four support at Digital Chaos. He has total earnings of $1,882,720.64 from 49 tournaments. The highest prize he ever won was also from The International 2015 that was $1,326,932.14.

In 2012, Kurtis began his DotA 2 career when he played at the Carry position for a North American team PotM Bottom. He and his team won the Prodota2 Pro League against Counter Logic Gaming with a 3-1. Soon Kurtis was part of Team Dignitas as it acquired PotM Bottom in September 2012. Later Kurtis decided to switch to support the role and joined RSnake int, which was then re-branded to Speed Gaming.

In 2015, Evil Geniuses picked Kurtis for 4 support position, replacing Zai. The year of 2015 has been the best one for Aui_2000, as he earned $1,641,750.94 from 10 tournaments within a year. He has secured 1st position in 11 tournaments, has been runner-up in 21 tournaments and was in 3rd position in 8 tournaments. He is ranked #3 on the basis of highest overall earnings by E-Sports Earnings.

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Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling

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CLINTON “FEAR” LOOMIS

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Clinton “Fear” Loomis Total Earnings: $1,848,378.24 Owner: EG.Fear, Fear, MYM|Fear Clinton “Fear” Loomis is an American DotA player who combines a terrifying mix of raw talent and honed experience to control any situation, his versatility making him one of the fiercest competitors in the world. He is generally known as “Old Man DotA” and has had near unrivaled presence in the competitive scene since 2006.

Fear has won $1,848,378.24 from 50 tournaments as the DotA poised to become bigger and better than ever with the launch of DotA 2.

Clinton is the cornerstone of the Evil Geniuses DotA 2 squad. He has won a new generation of DotA fans with his constant stellar play. The “Old Man of DotA” continues to be a pillar of Western DotA guiding EG to top three finishes in premier tournaments such as The Defence, DreamHack, RaidCall EMS One, The Premier League, WePlay, and The American Dota League. He was also the part of The International 2015 when he won his highest earning of $1,326,932.14 which is about 71.79% of his overall income.

He has played 46 tournaments and has earned $1,843,013.38 being a part of EG team. He is ranked #4 by the E-Sports Earnings on the basis of his highest overall earnings.

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Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan Total Earnings: $1,753,171.74 Owner: Suma1L*, B-Rabbit, D3m0n, EG.SumaiL.Coffin, SumaiL Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan Syed is a Pakistani DotA 2 player who is currently the mid player for EG team. SumaiL started playing DotA at the age of 8 when he was in Pakistan until he shifted to the United States with his family. After his tremendous performance in the North American Elite League, he was recruited into Evil Geniuses in January 2015.

He shocked the DotA world in 2015 when, at the young age of 15 and playing his second ever LAN event, he helped Evil Geniuses capture a $1,200,000 title by leading the team to 1st place at the Dota Asia Championships. The Evil Geniuses won roughly $6.6 million from The International 2015, with Sumail’s share of slightly over $1.3 million. He became the driving force behind Evil Geniuses’ victory and the youngest professional gamer to win $1 million at the age of 16.

He is ranked #5 on the basis of the highest overall earnings by the E-Sports Earnings site. He has made overall $1,753,171.74 from just 14 tournaments and he’s just getting started.

There is no doubt that being a gamer might be a dream job for majority of the kids, but gawking at the earnings of these pro gamers may surely entice you to become a professional gamer. So, next time you think about forcing your partner or child to turn off that video game, keep in mind that they could be simply in training!

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SUMAIL “SUMAIL” HASSAN

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IMAGE - GORDON BEACH, TEL AVIV

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DECODING TEL AVIV THE UNICORNS AND THE VEGETARIAN PALETTE

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WIKIMEDIA HACKATHON IN TEL AVIV, ISRAEL

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Why are Jews so successful?

The statistics simply speak for themselves.

Jews, who make up 2/10th of the 1 percent of the world population, have made some of the most essential contributions to the betterment of humanity.

To cite some examples: In finance, Jewish names include: Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Rothschild, Warburg, Lehman Brothers, Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts, Bear Stearns, and many more.

Jews as high-technology entrepreneurs include: Google (Brin and Page), Oracle (Ellison), Facebook (Zuckerberg and Sandberg), Intel (Grove and Vadasz), Dell (Dell), and Qualcom (Jacobs).

They make up 54 percent of the World Chess Champions since 1866, 27 percent of the Nobel physics laureates, 31 percent of the medicinal laureates, and have consistently made up more than 20 percent of the Forbes 200 list of the world’s richest people. In the U.S., where Jews make up 2 percent of the population, the constitute of 21 percent of the Ivy League student bodies, 37 percent of the Academy Awardwinning directors, 38 percent of leading philanthropists, 51 percent of the Pulitzer Prize winners for nonfiction, and 26 percent of the Kennedy Center honorees.

No single explanation can account for the record of Jewish achievement.

While some think the Jewish success has do with it genetics or centuries of persecution, it is my hypothesis that Jewish success has more to

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HP, INTEL AND MICRON PRODUCTION PLANTS IN KIRYAT GAT, TEL AVIV

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do with discipline, self-determination, and deferring gratification. The three skill sets that coalesce to create people who think independently, quickly, and flexibly, and can adapt to a particularly difficult situations.

TEL AVIV ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE In Israel, an impressive army profile on a resume carries weight similar to that of an Ivy League degree in the United States. At 18, Israeli citizens quintessentially begin two or three years in the Israel Defense Forces, with few exceptions, mainly for medical or religious purposes.

While most end up in the tank regiments or paratroop, the highest academic achievers are drafted into elite combat units such as 8200, 9900, and Talpiot, where they undergo extreme training in coding and high technology. This has given birth to booming civilian industries build by entrepreneurs who gained invaluable leadership abilities, technical skills, and personal connections in the military, who partake in free intellectual exchange and technical creativity.

A 2013 study published in Haaretz and The Marker noted that 30% of high-tech entrepreneurs in Israel served in one of the IDF technological units, while 29% of high-tech workers came from such units. Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle, by Dan Senor and Saul Singer explores how the country’s economic success is the fruition of IDF service experience.

Between 1980 and 2000, the Saudis registered 171 patents in the U.S., Egyptians registered 77 patents, and Israelis registered 7,652 patents.

Often seen as the closest international rival to Silicon Valley in

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California, Silicon Wadi in Tel Aviv, Israel has produced widely adopted high-technology products, from wireless-internet technologies to ICQ instant messaging. This hotbed of innovation has created an astonishing success story.

So far, Israel has produced as many as 6,000 startups (centered around Tel Aviv), and attracts more capital venture to its high-sector than any other country in the world. According to Israel’s IVC Research Center, more than $6 billion annually, flows into the country through exits, i.e. mergers, acquisitions or IPOs. The start-up capita is 2.5 times the U.S., 30 times Europe, 80 times India and 300 times China. It ranks second behind the U.S. in the number of tech-oriented companies listed on the NASDAQ, more than all of Japan, Europe, India, China, and Korea combined. All major tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Motorola, and so on take advantage of Israeli talent and technology to create cutting edge technologies.

What is even more impressive is that this is coming from a nation of only 8.2 million people. What is the catalyst? Can we replicate the phenomenon?

In 2007, after Paypal acquired Israeli start-up FraudSciences, Paypal President Scott Thompson went to Tel Aviv to meet with the FraudSciences team. In an interview with Freakonomics, he described how the first meeting went: “Every question was penetrating. I actually started to get nervous up there. I’d never before heard so many unconventional observations

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— one after the other. Junior employees had no inhibition about challenging how we had been doing things for years. I’d never seen this kind of completely unvarnished, unintimidated, and undistracted attitude. I found myself thinking, “who works for whom here? Did we just buy FraudSciences, or did they buy us?”

This is the Israeli way of being.

Some of the hottest startups in Tel Aviv, include Wix, a global web development platform with over 68 million users worldwide, Vonetize, a video on-demand services company, enSilo a cyber-security startup, IronSource, a unicorn valued at $1 billion after pre-IPO round of more than $100 million, Checkmarx, Playbuzz, Docady, Windward, Getstocks, AngelSense, FirstImpression, and many more.

Some of these startups have a potential billion-dollar valuation in the near future, while some have already bagged that prize.

THE VEGETARIAN SMORGASBORD The modern metropolis of Tel Aviv, “Silicon Wali” is nestled on Israel’s Mediterranean coastline, stretching 180 kilometers from Haifa in the north to the outskirts of Jerusalem. Tel Aviv is more of a trend-setting city when compared to the likes of Beersheba and Jerusalem. It’s not steeped in history, but it sure is a testament to its contemporary standing in modern history. Hidden underneath the layers of cultural astuteness, is an impressive outlook framed within modern art pieces by alternative artists. Entertainment, as expected in any melting pot, is in abundance. Tourists can relax on the beach, sample the vivid nightlife, and dine in one of the many restaurants and cafes.

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HAIFA GARDENS, ISRAEL

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With gastronomic influences from the Middle East and the Mediterranena, North Africa, and Europe, Tel Aviv is one of the world’s most humble culinary melting pots. From old town street markets and food stands to sophisticated Israeli bites, the food culture in Tel Aviv is hedonist.

Home to approximately 300,000 vegans, the highest per capital vegan population in the world, restaurants in Israel vegan and vegetariancentric. The following are among Tel Aviv’s finest vegetarian and vegan options.

For those who fear that a menu devoted to vegan food would be limited are wrong, once they step foot in Café Anastasia. With playful macadamia and chickpea omelets, tofu crepes, veggie scrambles, and creamy cocoa shake whipped up fresh in the kitchen, the menu is as a nested doll. A popular spot framed by a sprawling outdoor terrace, Anastasia is always packed for breakfast. There are tofu crepes, macadamia or chickpea omelets, and veggie scrambles. The milk here is soy, rice, or almond, whipped up fresh in the kitchen, and that means you can indulge in a superbly creamy cocoa shake.

Caffe Kaymak, a tiny spot with fairy lights strung, in the middle of Tel Aviv’s Levinsky Market, bring’s an inspiring twist on tradition. The menu is strictly vegan here. Specialties include a fundamental bean soup with nutty al dente beans in a sweet tomato broth with a hint of black pepper. One can gorge on the food at the counter open to the street and watch the locals pick through the piles of fresh pomegranates and oranges across the stand.

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When it comes to Georgian vegan food, there’s Nanchuka’s zucchini stuffed with bulgur and cranberry, a pastry pocket stuffed with potato, paired with eggplant salsa, and apirashki filled with seasonal mushrooms. Ethiopian vegan café, Tenat offer a crepe-like Injera bread, which you can wrap around the accompanying lentils, root vegetables, beetroot leaves, and potato salad, and the famous Ethiopian beer, Tusker. Dallal, a posh restaurant next to the Suzanne Dellal Centre for Dance and Theatre is a secluded spot, complete with leafy inner courtyard, offers a completely vegetarian-centric menu. The forestmushroom-and-mascarpone tortellini with hazelnut and truffled goat cheese, the signature Dallal ceviche, are a sure giveaway. Chiripom, which specializes in Israeli cuisine, is famous for a dish that comes in rolled up paper ‘Fried potato croquettes,’ roll croquettes made of fried onion, parsley, and potatoes, deep fried in crisp golden batter.

When it comes to cocktails, place like La Otra, Oasis, and BellBoy Bar offer a cocktail menu that id fueld by the city’s change in season.

Tommy’s Smoky Margarita, has mescal and tequila blended together, roused by of lime and agave syrup at the La Otra is not just promising, but a gem.

Some believe Tel Aviv is an eye sore with the many startups and vegan restaurants that it offers. Not many know that the city offers a historical fix too, but that’s another story.

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WHEN APPLE CANNIBALIZED ITUNES...

ARE WE NEARING THE END OF MUSIC STREAMING APPS?

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Every time she chooses to dig into a music magazine, Alicia Woodham realizes just how significant music streaming is in her life.

“I probably hate going through music magazines nowadays because when I come across a blurb related to records, all I want to do is push the image and start listening,” says Woodham, a music student, who also happens to be a huge Beyoncé fan. “It is a mere hint that based on immediacy and suitability, there is an absolute no need of shoving the genie back in its bottle.”

Not so long ago, the most convenient method to find the music used to be jumping in your car and drive to a store. Now the method of convenience has been replaced by Streaming Music and Google Search. The tech gargantuan like Apple, which is known to have the world’s largest music store, cannibalized its very own music sales the ‘iTunes’. That is how we got Apple Music. Maybe, it is an indication of where the future of the music industry is heading up to.

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MISCELLANEOUS AND “MORE” Since the time when Pandora Internet Radio established in 2000, and then in 2011, when the U.S. music industry marked the entry of Spotify, the music streaming on-demand service has rapidly surpassed downloading as the foremost way individuals listen to music. Digital album and track download sales in 2014 were recorded for 113.2M out of 227M total sales including vinyl and CDs form of physical music.

The business model of the entire music industry, in major segments of its history, has been quite hassle-free. Music label used to serve as a bank to control and finance royalties, production, and distribution along with other expenses required for making music, by organizing agreements with artists.

The cycle continued until iTunes entered the big picture, Apple changed the market norms as it started paying royalties to a song label or artist based on every download.

Spotify for instance, enters into agreements based on a short term with the major labels and loads them with millions of dollars in exchange for assigning the entire catalog of the label on Spotify. The amount is known as miscellaneous income, which is not shareable or assignable to any particular artists.

At present, the entire business model is absolutely different. For beginners, Woodham says, “Artists no longer require a label for releasing an album. Earlier, they needed distribution to publicize their piece by signing with labels. Now, it’s a bedroom task.”

Says Nate Darwin, professor, streaming Who gets to plant a 86

“I probably hate going through music magazines nowadays because when I come across a blurb related to records, all I want to do is push the image and start listening,”

a music magnifies significant question: price tag on streaming culture?

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“For Internet access, if you are paying over $100, and the similar amount for a monthly plan on mobile, how much does a streaming subscription cost?” Darwin questions. “This is a major issue for music on demand, which remains, yet, to be resolved.” He adds further.

PAY FOR WHAT YOU LISTEN...

HELL, LOT OF MONEY! To provide a model of comparable sales, including the ones not marketed via streaming, the music industry designed, the amount of streams required to match the US $7.50 downloaded album or CD’s wholesale revenue. In 2013, 1500 streams were equivalent to one album, such albums made $46.9M in sales, by the year 2014. Every year the equivalent amount doubles with overall sales, accounting 8M in a year with a figure of 235M to 227M. As we are switching to music on demand via online sources, for instance, YouTube, MOG, Apple Music, Spotify, Rhapsody, etc., the format of songwriting is prepared to have another blow on culture and content, especially over younger fans of music who consider music as more of an online stuff based on subscriptions.

Music label used to serve as a bank to control and finance royalties, production, and distribution along with other expenses required for making music, by organizing agreements with artists.

Yes. This latest phase of music intake, represented by online services, which allows you to listen for free of cost, or charges for subscription on a monthly basis, or based on per listener, persong payout via customizable Internet-based radio stations, is exactly what music lovers who are bored of flashy pops and one-hit wonders need. On-demand streaming music services have carved their own niche by building an incentive of ‘Pay for only what you actually listen’ into the world of the music industry to create works with lasting value.

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Daniel Ek, CEO Spotify says, “On every instance when song streams, the music industry receives revenue from Spotify.”

Typically, the terms below, which the record labels work out with the online streaming services, when a particular song is streamed, 60% of the income goes to sound recording owners, 30% goes to the streaming service itself, and remaining 10% is provided to publishers and songwriters. Pandora, the Internet radio site, by far, is the service that holds largest publishing copyrights get the lowest per stream, which is a thousandth of a cent.

THE ‘STAR WAR’ Everyone is aware why high-profile artists like Jay-Z and Taylor Swift have reportedly pushed back against the music on demand model. It is not easy to sit back and hope for your songs to get streamed over 1,000 times in order to make the same amount of money, which you once made on a basic 10-track album. Tough, isn’t it?

Both high-profile singers aren’t fighting against the concept of streaming, but against the business model, which pays fractions of cents per stream.

Jay-Z, in March 2014, launched an independent music on demand service-Tidal. The service aimed at changing the course of entire music history, but so far, the course has been hard for the service since its launch, and as a matter a fact, has been subjected to a heavy criticism.

So far, the company has lost two CEOs and with a strict subscription plan, $10 per month, it competes with free websites and versions of streaming services.

On-demand streaming music services have carved their own niche by building an incentive of ‘Pay for only what you actually listen’ into the world of the music industry to create works with lasting value.

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streaming and file sharing as debasing music, she has held her work from music on demand services such as Spotify. Not only this, she also threatened to hold back her mega-hit ‘1989’ record from Apple Music. The iOS giant, to its credit, promised to pay for ‘per stream’ basis to all artists in response.

As the business of music, began expanding, gradually and agonizingly, across the digital age’s rack, the convenient spot amid the royalty flow of music for the songwriters started deteriorating. The outrageous decline in sales of the album, the result of the shift to digital retail from brick and mortar, and now the music on demand trend, has given a major blow to mechanical royalty income of songwriters.

So far, the royalty rates for performances, which songwriters demand from streaming services, for instance, YouTube, Pandora, Amazon Prime, Apple Music, Spotify, etc, are lower than the payouts offered by terrestrial-radio, in most cases.

WHEN “GANGNAM STYLE” TOUCHED BILLIONS Redefining the form of an art is nothing new, nor is the idea of streaming that started processing in the late 1930s with lift music. Now that the music on demand has taken off, will it be only 3 choruses? Will the form of song react?

Will it mark the comeback of the ABAB song structure with weight balanced sections?

As the business of music, began expanding, gradually and agonizingly, across the digital age’s rack, the convenient spot amid the royalty flow of music for the songwriters started deteriorating.

Pre-chorus? Do we really have time in this busy era for anything arriving in “PRE”?

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have been as ‘enjoyable and better’? We don’t know, but for the time being, how much of Psy’s popular hit can you sing back? Probably, it’s not worth length 4.13. The South Korean songwriter was definitely left with heaps of dollars on the table carrying views and hits in billions, now that is a hell lot of money!

For now, which is perhaps the first instance ever, the music economics is favoring long-term quality content over a flashy introduction.

AFTER ALL, IT’S A FAN-BASED INDUSTRY The focus of music industry on smartphones has resulted in an arrangement of acoustically bargained scenarios. Music aficionados have been forced to put together home audio systems that are dysfunctional, for instance, iPhones connected into old-age stereos, laptop speakers that are highly inadequate, etc. The entire experience of listening at home, which used to be a bastion of eminent fidelity perfection, was ostracized to an afterthought.

But the transformation is under progress.

Smart speaker systems, which are capable of superior audio fidelity and can be connected to the Internet, are now revolutionizing the way how music arrives at people’s home, assisting unprecedented multi-user, multi-room, and multi-source listening experiences, and making the home, once again a best place to discover and enjoy the music via streaming.

Redefining the form of an art is nothing new, nor is the idea of streaming that started processing in the late 1930s with lift music.

Another fundamental switch resides in music creators discovering a fresh way to be heard and to create more connected and deep relationships with their listeners. It is a new standard, which requires an enhanced and different approach for music promotion and curation, but one that provides 94

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exponentially improved control to artists over the method their creation is experienced. Music lovers of today demand a more practical engagement in shaping their personal bond with the artists and the music they love.

With the digital age of smartphones and smart speakers in between, the absolute potential of music streaming to notify the creative process stays infinitely promising and untapped.

The future belongs to those who can establish the most seamless link between the audience, the artist, and their work. It will be the music artists who will be responsible for defining how the future of music on demand is going to look like.

The future belongs to those who can establish the most seamless link between the audience, the artist, and their work.

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NEW VENTURES Ahead of the Curve On Ease of Doing Business in Singapore

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f you had asked that Singaporeans in 2010 to name a successful local startup they might have promptly answered Creative Labs. That company was a pioneer in the audio component market, having entered the MP3 market before Apple. It was founded in 1981 and hit its income peak around 10 years ago, before delisting from NASDAQ in 2007 and shrinking noticeably.

Fast forward to 2016, and you see an island rehabilitated. There are handfuls, if not hundreds, of innovative new companies, numerous hubbled in “Square 71,” a building near INSEAD, the National University of Singapore, and government-supported innovation hubs carrying bizarre named like Fusionoplis and Biopolis. The Economist monikered Block 71, “the world’s most tightly packed entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

There are a few companies bagging venture funding every few months and an embarrassing exit every year.

Today, there’s a speculation apparently; venture-capital investment in the tech segment expanded from under $30 million in 2011 to more than $1 billion in 2013; with 10 exits in 2014. Some of those supposed liquidity events are not registered by global standards, similar to the $30 million that customer

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service chat provider Zopim acquired.

In any case, others have been bigger, for example, the $200 million value Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten put on Viki, a video-streaming service.

The Singapore surge appears to be especially surprising given the citystate’s staid notoriety and the stagnant start-up scene only a couple of years back. As governments around the globe attempt to goad entrepreneurialism to drive work creation and economic joie de vivre, it merits venturing back to consider the three elements that in my perspective have coalesced to power the movement.

Take a look at this. Singapore is regularly positioned as one of the easiest nations to do business in. There are rules and regulations, without a doubt, however they are unmistakably laid out and simple to follow. New firms can be set up in hours, if not minutes. Intellectual properly is respected, and the rule of law is straightforward. Immigration is no less a hotly debated issue in Singapore than other nations, yet Singapore makes it simple to get highly educated workers into the country, and has a specific work pass focusing on entrepreneurs. The clean, efficient city has some benefits over Shanghai, Manila, Jakarta, or Bangkok.

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NEW VENTURES Aware of its worldwide notoriety among the innovative class, it’s attempting to attract, the government has endeavored to address the old view that there isn’t much to do with two casinos, a Universal Studios, Asia’s largest aquarium, a botanic garden, a 55,000 seat multipurpose stadium, a few internationally acclaimed restaurants, and an effective, cutting edge airport terminal that makes leaving the nation a breeze.

Entrepreneurs have for some time been able to take advantage of a scope of awards and related projects to help with early development activities. In 2008, under the National Framework for Innovation and Enterprise (NFIE), the government dispatched the Early Stage Venture Investment Fund program.

The initiative, which drew inspiration from a joint program in the middle of Israel and the United States called the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation, allowed five venture capital companies to receive matching assets from the government.

Eventually named the Technology Incubation Scheme, the project brought a surge of diverse investors into the nation by offering to set up 85% of the capital in a start-up when investors put in 15%.

Investors in the ESVF and TIS programs

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have had to make real commitments, as the government doesn’t cover the salary of the team or other overhead, and obviously the investors need to make good the cash-flow to actuate the legislature coordinating programs.

It is difficult to make an ecosystem overnight, yet reliable, purposeful endeavors by the legislature have given a genuine boost to new companies in Singapore.

Further, research shows that the

number one factor predicting whether somebody will end up being an entrepreneur is whether the individual has received an inheritance or a gift.

Singapore’s sensational development in the course of recent years implies that a large number of its citizens are welloff to take the entrepreneurial course.

brightest in the lost a decade ago. In recent years political leaders have determinedly talked up the significance of entrepreneurialism; state-supported colleges forcefully pushed innovation; and the state-owned TV company MediaCorp has run TV programs praising entrepreneurialism.

However, accomplishing something as risky as starting a business when you could work for a big bank, was countercultural for the best and

These three elements make a reinforcing cycle, as pioneers who enjoy success discover they need to do it once more. In 2010 Melvin Yuan

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NEW VENTURES co-founded YFind Technologies, a company with a clever innovation that could accurately pinpoint people’s location inside a building by tracking their cellphones’ communications with WiFi access points. That ability could be

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the foundation of extremely profitable business intelligence services such as retail “heat mapping,” showing refined analysis of in-store activity. In 2012, an investor poured some funds into the company, along with the government

contributing 85%, only to be acquired a few months later by Ruckus Wireless, a U.S.-based WiFi service provider. Yuan did well from the transaction, he’s gone on to found another start-up that is developing an innovative way to match people seeking original art.

up and coming era of startups. For instance, Hian Goh, who in 2005 helped to establish the Asian Food Channel, in 2011 put resources into Chope, a local restaurant booking portal. After Scripps Networks Interactive acquired the Asian Food Channel in 2013, Goh founded his own venture capital firm to put Some Singaporean entrepreneurs resources into local new companies. are starting to put resources into the Worldwide speculators are starting to take notice. Dave McClure’s 500 Startups recently poured investment into a Singaporean real estate portal.

Moreover, global venture capital firms like Sequoia and DFJ are stirring up the movement. In 2014 the government announced a new batch of participants in the EVSF program, including Walden International and Monk’s Hill Ventures.

A significant number of these investors see Singapore as a launching pad to emerging markets like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Of the 156 software companies founded since 2003 that are currently worth more than $1 billion, more than a third are based in Asia.

If the coming decade is anything close to the developing we’ve seen since 2010, we expect Singapore could be the next Silicon Valley.

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ITUNES & GOOGLE PLAY ARE THE POLITICAL FRONTIER Facebook in ‘Election’ Deeds Winnie Marcel, a Liberal Arts student living in New York finds her Facebook feed highly appealing nowadays. Thanks to presidential campaigns. She says, amid family pictures, it is quite refreshing to watch a menacing video clip of Trump talking about “How his view are different than if he lived in Iowa”. From Cruz’s social media savvy team, a sponsored ad pops up ‘LIKE ON ABORTION’. She wonders how by paying Facebook, this campaign managed to differentiate between “OURS” and Donald Trump’s “New York Values”.

Mark Zuckerberg happens to be quite excited about the target marketing, although he does not let individual candidates tracked by presidential candidates, but surely he does allow election campaigns 2016 to upload their voter files and vast email lists, which consists of real names,

phone numbers, political habits, and home addresses for the advertising network of Facebook.

Zuckerberg’s team will then verify Facebook accounts of real-life voters.

The data is highly encrypted and Facebook holds no power once the ad starts streaming. A massive data broker, Acxiom based in Arkansas, helps election campaigns uphold the information of voters. Texas senator stands a level higher as he has been using Zuckerberg’ social media company’s ad services to raise finance, among other things. As the first vote is arriving closer, donors affiliated with Cruz are spending US $10,000 per day on ad services offered by Facebook.

Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, and current campaign advisors to former digital gurus and political scientists agree advertising on Facebook is perhaps the best way to spend financial resources on what could be an approx US $10 billion election. 2016 has INDUSTRY LEADERS MAGAZINE [MARCH 2016]

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turned into the time when ultragenus Facebook learned profit making strategies from how we vote.

The top digital strategist from 2012 campaign of Romney, Zac Moffatt, whose firm has collaborated with most of the Republican National Committee and the Republican presidential candidates during current election cycle says, “Facebook is the most effective and easiest platform, the platform rests on a huge worth than what it was 8 years ago.”

The endeavor of Facebook profiles transformed into campaign currency indicates a major blow where America’s political system is getting highly influenced by Silicon Valley. In recent years, Zuckerberg-led enterprise has elevated its Washington-

based lobbying efforts to patent policy, surveillance, and press immigration, while increasing the size of its political size twice, and adding various features to turn it easier for election campaigns to reach certain voting groups on Facebook in what Sheryl Sandburg, Facebook executive, dubs as ‘the new town hall’.

Modeling Perspicacity, Making Millions For the first time, almost every candidate for presidential elections 2016 is flanked by digital platforms available across the global web, accepting support and unlimited donations from corporations and individuals.

As Republicans employ heaps to catch up on the advantage of

The endeavor of Facebook profiles transformed into campaign currency indicates a major blow where America’s political system is getting highly influenced by Silicon Valley.

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Democrat parties’ tech-driven campaigns, this time, Zuckerberg has unveiled yet another brand new feature in order to help campaigns aim politically active Facebook users, who might continuously post about latest insults of Trump or share Bernie Sander’s expanding poll leads.

For instance, when American real estate magnate, Donald Trump opted out of recent Republican debate for promoting Fox News’ boycott, the digital team of Cruz deftly grabbed the opportunity transforming the issue in a quick meme titled as ‘Ducking Donald’.

The meme instantly went viral and most significantly provided Cruz’s team with fresh email lists, which in return could result in further donations and Facebook targeted advertisements.

Facebook is involved in election

campaigns since 2008 to communicate with voters. It all started when the first bid of Barack Obama for US presidential elections used the Facebook platform to fetch supporters to compel their digital friends to aid the nouveau-riche senator.

Facebook, in 2012, started cosponsoring Republican primaries’ presidential debates.

President Obama, when elected as the US President for two consecutive bids in 2008 and 2012, had 21M Twitter followers and 32M Facebook followers respectively, making him the first ever president to have taken into account the world of digital media.

Former deputy digital director for ‘Obama for America’ 2012 campaign, Marie Danzig quotes, “Facebook is playing a pivotal role in modeling the public

It all started when the first bid of Barack Obama for US presidential elections used the Facebook platform to fetch supporters to compel their digital friends to aid the nouveau-riche senator.

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perception of a presidential candidate unequivocally more so as compared to the past election campaigns.”

The Cash Flow “There is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system,” says Mr. Bernie Sanders. “It is an undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country.”

Despite all the conversation on the shadowy donors, wealthy oligarchs purchasing elections, and ‘dark money’, Mr. Sanders loves to talk about the United States being subservient to a handful of super-rich contributors of presidential campaigns and

their PACs, which means the Republican candidates and their associates who spent the minimum, yet did best as an outcome at the polls. Trump, Cruz, and Kasich being the top winners, in New Hampshire, Trump invested $40 per vote, Cruz $18, Christie $852, and Bush with $1,200.

Ah yes, finance and revenue. The year 2016 will surely surpass all expense records, US $5 billion or more, now which in the aspect of free speech, a ruling by Supreme Court has removed every constraint virtually. Absolutely true, as of now, there is a body known as Federal Election Commission, which is supposed to manage the cash flow during presidential elections. But, this doesn’t transform the fact that the commission is a permanently

The commission is a permanently deadlocked tiger without teeth, maybe dysfunctional like Washington sandwiched in between 3 Democratic and 3 Republican candidates.

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deadlocked tiger without teeth, maybe dysfunctional like Washington sandwiched in between 3 Democratic and 3 Republican candidates.

War on Facebook The Cruz campaign in Iowa uses the social media giant to target voters based on a wide range of issues, for instance, immigration controls to specific niche cause like nullifying state laws against firework sales. His campaign has established specifically targeted model for this group of voters, which remains relatively small. The model may be quite responsive to ads by Cruz against high the government, and in few cases is planning to walk out to search for them individually.

On the other hand, in various ways, Donald Trump, is hauling the

baton from remarkably successful election campaign of Obama in 2008, which is famously referred to as the ultimate ‘Facebook Election’. The highly fruitful campaign witnessed Obama intelligently implement a strong digital team including Facebook co-founder, the 24-year-old Chris Hughes. Ever since, Obama has made quite handful digital appointments, which includes Pfeiffer, a former executive of Twitter Jason Goldman, and Matthew McGregor.

Donald Trump, for his part, apparently sends the bulk of his own tweets and posts, especially when his staff members have left for home in the evening.

McConney, the man behind the editing of a majority of videos explains, “The two most significant aspects of a personality on

On the other hand, in various ways, Donald Trump, is hauling the baton from remarkably successful election campaign of Obama in 2008, which is famously referred to as the ultimate ‘Facebook Election’.

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social media are to provide their followers what they want and to stay authentic.”

The Biggest Influencer The US Presidential Election Campaigns 2016 has reportedly attracted the largest amount of financial resources and biggest political donation in the entire course of the US political history.

Jeb Bush ranks first with the largest number of donors with 77% of total contributions. Marco Rubio occupies the second rank with 59%, closely followed

by Ted Cruz with 58%. Hillary Clinton occupies 32% of political contributions, followed by Martin O’Malley with 17%, Ben Carson with 12%, Donald Trump with 2.9%, and Bernie Sanders with 0.1%.

Talking about donations, Bush occupies the highest concentration of donors with 58%, followed by Rubio with 47%, Cruz with 45%, Clinton with 28%, and Martin O’Malley with 4.3%. Sander’s presidential campaign occupies concentration by a handful of individual donation while Trump has to dig his own pockets in order to fund much of his campaign.

Marketing ‘Politics’ As for now, presidential candidates are targeting users via phone and email, Facebook being the primary tool. With the revenues of the US online expense for political campaigns expected to outstrip the mark of US $1 billion this year, digital expansion could stay within TV’s 30% by 2020.

Chris Wilson, director of analytics and research of the

Sander’s presidential campaign occupies concentration by a handful of individual donation while Trump has to dig his own pockets in order to fund much of his campaign.

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Texas Senator, says mobile and email marketing has been found as a successful strategy for targeting voters as it spreads the message rapidly as compared to various other kinds of advertising.

Politicians belonging to various levels are absolutely in love with taking benefit from this latest form of targeting.

“A certain segment of the shift,” says Marie Danzig, currently serving as the head of creative and digital, Blue State Digital, “arrives from Facebook, the platform where politicians request for ‘Likes’ and cranky relatives participate in a full-fledged debate on politics.”

In general, Americans are used to spending a large of amount of time on mobiles. Facebook, since the last US election, has started volunteering video ads on

mobile. Last year, in the earnings call, executives of Zuckerberg’s company mentioned- Americans spend 1 out of every 5 minutes for Facebook on smartphones.

Future of Politics Census Department’s survey states, in the US presidential election 2012, the percentage of voters between the ages of 4564 were 63%, and for the voters of 65 and above age group, the percentage was 70%. The voters between 18-24 years of age group, by comparison, remained 38% only. Since the active user base on the monthly basis of Facebook has crossed 1.4 billion, it has become highly significant for the candidates to start campaigning over Facebook to drive the huge base of audience.

A certain segment of the shift, arrives from Facebook, the platform where politicians request for ‘Likes’ and cranky relatives participate in a full-fledged debate on politics.

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According to Borrell Associates’ research, political expenditure on digital advertising in 2016 is foreseen to outrun US $1 billion up from 2012’s US $159M on the election. This fall, Citigroup analysts estimated total expenditure by campaigns during the election cycle 2016 to value almost US $607M, which brilliantly surpasses 2012’s US $145M on election. Furthermore, they expect Zuckerberg-led parent company to edge-out Sundar

Pichai-controlled YouTube as the largest recipient of digital advertising spending.

The eyes of voters are progressively glued to social media platforms based on the smartphone, and very clearly Facebook receives profits from it. Candidates are well aware that social media footprints are important. More than half of political ad spending on online platforms this year is expected to direct toward social media.

The eyes of voters are progressively glued to social media platforms based on the smartphone, and very clearly Facebook receives profits from it.

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Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit Date: 14 – 15 March 2016 The Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit is organized on 14th and 15th March at London, UK. You can get all the information you need to craft your IAM vision and strategy for digital-age security. You can refine your IAM program on the basis of research that covers cloud, mobile, IAM as a service, privileged identity strategies, and Internet of Things. It will also address on how to implement digital business practices by using a simplified IAM approach, IAM for solving business-relevant problems, and how to leverage identity and access intelligence for improving compliance reporting. This IAM summit is specifically designed for security and risk leaders, IT leaders, Architects and IAM leaders.

Venue: Park Plaza Westminster | London, UK

CeBIT 2016

Date: 14 – 18 March 2016

The CeBIT will be held from March 14 to 18, 2016 in Hannover. CeBIT is a perfect business platform for IT providers. It uniquely links trade shows and conventions, global corporations, SMEs and start-ups so that more ideas can be explored. It concentrates on topics related to IT digitalization and economy such as big data and analytics, cloud computing, mobile business, IT security, and the most talked-about Internet of Things.

CeBIT is the world’s leading trade show for the digitalization of private-sector companies and industries and public-sector administration and society.

Venue: Hanover | Germany

Ecommerce Show USA 2016

Date: 30 – 31 March 2016

The Ecommerce Show USA 2016 will be held in Atlanta on 30th and 31st March, which gives you an opportunity to stay updated with the latest online business trends. The primary attraction of this show is the expo that involves stands of its sponsors and exhibitors. Most of the sponsors and exhibitors are industry leaders in ecommerce platforms, Shopify Plus, ThoughtWorks, DHL ecommerce, Worldpay and Visiture are

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some of them. The symposium includes various seminars on several business factors that affect ecommerce and how innovation could be a part of it.

Venue: Atlanta Convention Center at Americas Mart, Atlanta, GA | USA

The Art of Leadership for Women - Vancouver

Date: 1 April 2016

The Art of Leadership for Women will be held at Vancouver, Canada on 1st April 2016 from 8:30am to 5:00pm. It will include various presentations from speakers including: Dr. Seonaid Charlesworth on leadership assessment & succession planning, Amy Cuddy on body language and communication, Danielle Laporte on goal setting & creativity, Diana Nyad on peak performance, and Geena Davis on leadership & empowerment.

It also provides an opportunity to have a candid conversation with Canada’s most influential organizations and also a Q&A session with the audience.

Venue: Vancouver Convention Centre | Vancouver, Canada

30th Annual Leadership Conference

Date: 9 April 2016

The Women’s Center 30th Annual Leadership Conference will be on 9th April from 7:30am to 4:30pm. It is a gathering of most influential leaders and emerging leaders, providing a great opportunity for leadership development, marketing and corporate responsibility goals. Leaders will be discussing topics ranging from leadership to mindfulness to effective communication to life balance and much more. Along with keynotes from amazing speakers, it will also provide you the opportunity for networking.

Venue: McLean Hilton-Tyson’s Corner, VA | USA

Leadership and Legislative Summit

Date: 9 – 13 April 2016

The Leadership and Legislative Summit will be organized by the Institute of Real Estate Management from 9th to 13th April at Washington DC. This gathering will target the real estate management industry and will help that profession to move forward and make a meaningful difference. It discusses: the legislation that impacts the world, developing skills in advocacy to influence policy issues, and networking with experts.

Also Ann Compton will be presenting a keynote in the symposium.

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2016 Executive Summit

Date: 18 – 20 April 2016

Executive Summit of 2016 is organized by Investment Program Association from 18th to 20th April at Washington DC. It will be comprise of investment landscape discussion, trends in shifting a landscape, political keynote, regulatory outlook and impact session, economic outlook from a leading economist and time for networking with executive peers.

Venue: Willard InterContinental Hotel | Washington DC

uLead 2016 - The Summit of Educational Leadership

Date: 24 – 27 April 2016

This year’s uLead conference will be held at Alberta, Canada from 24th to 27th April 2016. This conference will be Part 2 of 3 year Trilogy of uLead Summit events. This year’s uLead will explore new narratives for education and school leadership. These narratives are emerging through the world and the summit will discuss about how to make those narratives live within our schools and provinces. Some of the keynote presenters include Simon Breakspear (Sydney), Pak Tee Ng (Singapore), Pasi Sahlberg (Harvard), William Rankin (California), Hon. Adrian Piccoli (Minister of Education, NSW, Sydney), Reshan Richards (Columbia University, NY), Gillian Hamilton (SCEL, Glasgow), Avnita Bir (Mumbai, India) and other talented educational leaders of the world.

Venue: Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta | Canada

InnoFrugal 2016

Date: 25 – 26 April 2016

InnoFrugal 2016 will be held at Helsinki, Finland on 25th and 26th of April. It is a non-profit event organised by The Nordic Frugal Innovation Society which comprises of speaker sessions, panel discussions, product demo/showcasing, workshops, investor meetings, networking/match making sessions. It is a forum that focuses on best practices and

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policy analysis in frugal innovation. It gathers world class experts from various domains like technology, healthcare, education, energy, food, water and environment.

Venue: Heureka – The Finnish Science Centre | Helsinki, Finland

EMC World 2016

Date: 2 – 5 May 2016

The EMC World 2016 will be held at the Venetian, Las Vegas from 2nd to 5th May. This event will focus on future of business and the latest innovations in the technology.

It includes more than 50 sessions that cover industry direction, business cases and future state implications which are categorized into big data storage and analytics, converged infrastructure, Hybrid cloud and data protection and availability. It also incorporates over 300 technical sessions on most recent EMC innovations such as backup & archiving, business continuity & disaster avoidance, ITaaS (People, Process, Technology), mainframe environments, mission critical applications & databases, security &compliance and many more.

Venue: The Venetian | Las Vegas, USA

2016 CXO Leaders Singapore Summit

Date: 4 – 5 May 2016

This year’s CXO Leaders Singapore Summit will be conducted on two days – 4th and 5th May at Resorts World, Sentosa. Leading marketing executives will be on hand to discuss cutting-edge business challenges currently facing the industry which include topics such as delivering customer centric marketing, redefining your customer engagement strategy for the mobile user, strategies for unifying metrics to effectively manage the customer experience and increasing consumer relevance in today’s multi-platform digital age to name a few. The Summit is invitation only and intended for Singapore’s most senior marketing leaders to gather for a strategic two day event in order to exchange knowledge and interact as one over a range of important issues facing the industry. The one-to-one meetings with leading supplier companies will also provide a wealth of knowledge and offer opportunities for all attending delegates, while the informal networking sessions promise to create a unique interactive forum.

Venue: Resorts World, Sentosa | Singapore

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600Minutes CFO

Date: 10 May 2016

The 600Minutes CFO will be organized by the Management Events on 10th May 2016 at Copenhagen, Denmark. The conference will provide unique opportunity to exchange ideas with peers, therefore expanding your network. It will also include presentations that will inspire you and provide you an opportunity to meet the leading solution providers in your field.

Venue: Tivoli Hotel & Congress Center | Copenhagen, Denmark

RE•WORK Deep Learning Summit Boston

Date: 12 – 13 May 2016

The RE•WORK Deep Learning Summit will take place on 12th and 13th May in Boston.

It will cover a range of topics like big data, neural networks, machine learning, deep learning algorithms, pattern recognitions, image retrieval, computing systems and speech recognition. More than 50 extraordinary speakers will be a part of this conference, so that you can learn directly from the expert of the associated field. It will help you discover emerging trends in deep learning and its impact on business. You can take this conference as a networking opportunity that will allow you to interact with business leaders, data scientists and influential technologists. This conference is intended for data engineers, data scientists, machine learning scientists, developers, entrepreneurs, director of engineering, and big data experts.

Venue: Boston, USA

Incite Summit: West 2016

Date: 17 – 18 May 2016

The Incite Summit will take place at San Francisco on 17th and 18th May 2016. Some of the prominent speakers will be a part of this summit including: Elisabeth Charles from Athleta, Robin Matlock from VMware, Clay Stobaugh from Wiley, Nancy Bhagat from TE Connectivity, Jessica Jensen from Facebook, Karen Martell from Square, Maria Surricchio from Nvidia, Gary Class from Wells Fargo, Penny Baldwin from Intel, Nancy Lee from Intuit, Rob Wait from HP, Lori Pantel from Mattel, and 30+ more brand leaders.

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It will provide you the insight on the most critical marketing issues of 2016, real-world case studies, and networking with the senior marketing executives from huge brands.

Venue: San Francisco, CA | USA

2016 Compliance Week Conference

Date: 23 – 25 May 2016

The Compliance Week Conference will be held on 23rd to 25th May in Washington DC. This three-day conference is designed for compliance, risk, and audit executives.

It includes several keynotes, concurrent panel discussions, presentations, and some small room conversation sessions. The conference will discuss: Keynote on the era of judgment in financial reporting, operationalizing your compliance program, crafting useful compliance testing programs, applications of behavioral research, benchmarking your E&C program, Workshop on the art and science of measuring program effectiveness, incorporating data analytics into your monitoring program and much more.

Venue: Mayflower Hotel | Washington DC

TNW Conference 2016

Date: 26 – 27 May 2016

On May 26 & 27 2016, the city of Amsterdam plays host to the 11th annual TNW Conference, a festival of immense scale that brings together 20,000 of the world’s top technology leaders, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs. Powerful keynote talks and endless networking opportunities are tied together by more than 7 stages, 300 exhibitor pavilions and 100+ satellite events about the future of technology, innovation, marketing, communication and imagination.

Venue: Amsterdam | The Netherlands

ASCL Conference for Business Leaders 2016

DATE: 9 June 2016

ASCL Conference for Business Leaders 2016 will be held at Birmingham, UK on 9th of June. This event mainly focuses on the role of School Business Leaders and School Business Managers. With a decreasing budget, and the increasing need to deliver better, some will face challenges to sustain their school/college/academy provision. It will provide a range of information from some national sources to make sure that delegates INDUSTRY LEADERS MAGAZINE [MARCH 2016]

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are as updated as possible. This event will also involve a workshop that will engage the most experienced as well as the newly appointed ones within the profession.

Venue: Birmingham, UK

ASCL Conference for Business Leaders 2016

DATE: 9 June 2016

ASCL Conference for Business Leaders 2016 will be held at Birmingham, UK on 9th of June. This event mainly focuses on the role of School Business Leaders and School Business Managers. With a decreasing budget, and the increasing need to deliver better, some will face challenges to sustain their school/college/academy provision. It will provide a range of information from some national sources to make sure that delegates are as updated as possible. This event will also involve a workshop that will engage the most experienced as well as the newly appointed ones within the profession.

Venue: Birmingham, UK

Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit

DATE: 13 – 14 June 2016

The fifth Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit will be held at London, UK on 13th and 14th June 2016, gathering all the most influential women leaders from around the globe along with the selected media, arts, philanthropy, and government leaders. The format of the 2016 summit is one-on-one interviews, panel discussions and interactive sessions, along with the gala dinner and networking.

Venue: Rosewood London | London, United Kingdom

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NuScale Power has created a new kind of nuclear power plant: one that is safe, reliable, and economical. The innovative design incorporates all of the components for steam generation and heat exchange into a single integrated unit, the NuScale Power Module™ (NPM). Using up to 12 of these 50MWe (gross) NPMs, a NuScale nuclear power plant can provide 600 MWe (gross) of safe, carbon-free, electrical generation.

The compact design of the NPM allows it to be built and assembled in a U.S. factory, then shipped to a prepared site for easy deployment. The design eliminates many costly, complex systems while cutting-edge manufacturing cuts time and cost of production. The result: a power source that is simultaneously safe, reliable, scalable, carbon-free, and economical. Innovation: the Element of Nu™.

NuScale Power @NuScale_Power © 2015 NuScale Power, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

nuscalepower.com

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