Monthly Archives: October 2019

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If you can find your husband or wife online, why not your financial advisor?

That's why Andres Garcia-Amaya launched Zoe Financial, an online matchmaking engine that hooks up investors with registered investment advisors.

A recent Stanford University study found that 39% of people surveyed met their spouse through a dating website by far the most common way to find a significant other these days. Garcia-Amaya is betting that consumers want to find their other significant other namely. their financial advisor the same way.

"Online research gives people a lot more options, but often too many options," said Garcia-Amaya. "One of our taglines is "we reject 95% of advisors so you don't have to."

A good client portal used to be a strong value proposition. Now, it's a basic requirement.

Andres Garcia-Amaya

founder, Zoe Financial

It's hard to overstate the impact of technology on the financial advice industry.

For advisors, the software for customer relationship management (CRM), managing investment portfolios and dealing with the back office, has enabled them to serve far more clients and by extension spend much more time with them.

And how is technology changing the client experience with advisors? In a word, profoundly. From how investors find advisors, to how they interact with them, to how they exchange information and content and draft financial plans, the relationship between clients and advisors is evolving rapidly.

Ten years ago, quarterly reports from advisors were still a vital source of information for investors. Today they're a quaint reminder of how things used to be.

People now have the ability, if not always the desire, to monitor their investments in real-time. They demand clear pictures of their portfolios and updated financial plans on a daily basis.

"Younger people want everything aggregated at their fingertips and they want it quickly," said Brandon Hayes, managing director of Atlanta-based RIA oXYGen Financial. "They want a moving balance sheet and a cashflow analysis updated every night."

For many retirees, a face-to-face meeting with their financial advisor is a good opportunity to get out of the house. But for growing numbers of people, a videoconference call via the web does the trick.

"Our client relationships usually start with a face-to-face meeting, but it's amazing how fast most clients want to go digital now," Hayes said. "Whether they live in cities or rural areas, more people want to check-in with virtual meetings."

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Advisors no longer have to worry about setting up cameras and coordinating participants. Remote-conferencing websites such as Zoom and GoTo Meeting handle it simply and inexpensively.

Danielle Fava, director of innovation at TDAmeritrade Institutional, sees videoconferencing growing rapidly among the nearly 7,000 advisors on the TD custodial platform. She recently posed a question on the firm's internal messaging network with advisors about the use of videoconferencing. "I got over 900 responses from advisors and almost 70% said they were doing it," said Fava.

Technology provides more opportunity for touches between advisors and clients. Granted, many of those touches may be machine-hatched messages from customer relationship management software wishing you a happy birthday or reminding you about an upcoming event.

Indeed, advisor Tom Powers, a principal at California Financial Advisors in San Ramon, California, said the greatest challenge on the horizon for the sector is "the growth of automated, formula-driven, less personal advice." (His firm is ranked No. 7 on the CNBC FA 100 list.)

BombBomb, a video email website, enables advisors (and anyone else) to deliver those birthday wishes in a personalized video. "Constant touches are important," said Hayes. "As the landscape becomes more competitive, advisors need to go with the technologies that enable them to reach people and connect."

Fava sees growing numbers of advisors using voice and video technologies to interact with their clients and deliver content on a more regular basis. Flash briefings, personalized videos, podcasts and even YouTube channels are now more common tools for advisors to connect with clients.

Good content can drive customers to make decisions. It's a non-abrasive way to connect with existing and potential clients.

Brandon Hayes

managing director, oXYGen Financial

"If you can stay in the ear of your client, it's a good way to build relationships and to remind them that you're working for them," Fava said.

Podcasts talking about financial planning issues or investing ideas can also be a useful tool for reaching potential new clients. "If I tell a friend to listen to an advisor's podcast, it's kind of like a soft referral," said Fava.

Ted Jenkin, a certified financial planner and founder of oXYGen Financial in Atlanta, has produced thousands of podcasts and videos accessible on the firm's website. Hayes credits the content with raising the firm's profile and driving growth. "Good content can drive customers to make decisions," said Hayes. "It's a non-abrasive way to connect with existing and potential clients."

One caveat? The potential for cybercrime. Cory Robinson, vice president and portfolio manager at CNBC FA 100-ranked firm Tom Johnson Investment Management in Oklahoma City stressed not only "protecting client data from hackers, but also educating clients about the potential phishing scams and the like that seem to get more and more sophisticated every year."

Excerpt from:

Technology is redefining that client-financial advisor relationship - CNBC

APPIX, a revolutionary new audience engagement and lighting effects tool, recently got the chance to prove their expertise at creating memorable moments on The Mixtape Tour with New Kids On The Block, which saw the iconic 80s and 90s act reuniting in large-scale venues throughout North America. The tour included 55 concerts and grossed $53.2 million while selling over 662,000 tickets.

New Kids On The Block founding member Donnie Wahlberg had this to say about APPIX: Night after night, APPIXs innovation and creativity helped bring our Mixtape Tour production to the next level with stunning visuals and a genuinely effective fan engagement experience like no other! APPIX even made the concert more visually exciting and surprising for me and my band mates on stage as well.

Their now launched in-venue smartphone app uses Bluetooth based transmission technology that operates without pairing and requires no cellular data or WiFi. Event organizers can engage audiences like never before with exclusive promotions, weather and emergency alerts, and custom content.

Marketing Technology News: Interview with Joelle Kaufman, CMO and Chief Revenue Officer at Dynamic Signal

Event producers can even light up the phones of attendees throughout the venue to create a colorful and memorable moment that is harmonized with the shows lighting and production. Before the event, fans are instructed to download the app via a ticketing email or on-site promotions at the venue.

They have also partnered with UFC to create a custom version of the APPIX app called UFC In Action. The app is available for fights in North America and provides users with fighter info, real-time stats, and more during the fight using the same Bluetooth broadcast technology that allows APPIX to light up arenas and stadiums. Those who download the app also receive exclusive incentives and benefits.

Marketing Technology News: Why GDPR Changes Everythingfor the Better

Another memorable moment for APPIX was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the LA Phil with a special concert at the Hollywood Bowl. At the show, which featured performances from Katy Perry, John Williams, and Kali Uchis and was hosted by Jaime Camil, attendees became an integral part of the concert when their cell phones lit up the iconic Hollywood Bowl with flashing colored screens.

APPIX is made up of talented producers and event strategists from across North America that have worked on thousands of successful projects. This includes assisting many of the worlds most famous names, brands, events and institutions including U2, Oprah Winfrey, Google, Facebook, NFL, and BMW.

Marketing Technology News: TechBytes with Jeff Meglio, VP of Agency Partnerships at Sovrn

Original post:

APPIX Officially Launches Incredible Broadcast Technology That Creates Immersive Experiences And Audience Engagement At Concerts And Events - MarTech...

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As marketers continue to struggle to understand and reach people that drive their business in todays digital economy, Gathr Lab is changing the script and unmasking the connection between real-world and digital behaviors with todays introduction of Living Audience, its new audience management platform (AMP).

Gathr Lab, the newest business unit of location pioneer Digital Envoy, enters the market as the only tenured location intelligence company that can anonymously reach custom audiences at scale in both the digital and physical world. Gathr Lab is able to leverage two decades of location data expertise to provide clear and actionable insights that empower companiesfrom agencies to brands to publishers and moreto make data-driven decisions on how to best connect with their most valuable audiences.

"Location and audience data have been the Wild West, with a lack of transparency, privacy and a black-box approach," said Aubriana Lopez, chief innovator, Gathr Lab. "The market is ready for a renewed confidence in the ad tech space, where clients can power up untapped, high-quality data to confidently reach very customized audiences across all devices without sacrificing privacy. Born from a company that has worn a white hat in the industry, Gathr Lab is placing consumer privacy and anonymity at the forefront of every solution and product we deliver. Data integrity is the DNA of our company."

Living Audience simplifies complex first- and third-party data tied to billions of devices. Uniquely, marketers can use either Mobile Advertising IDs or IP addresses to provide high-quality, actionable location and audience intelligence that reveals how consumers truly engage with the world around them. Delivered as a self-service or managed-service solution, Living Audience improves engagement by allowing marketers to:

Chalk Digital, a pioneer in the adtech industry with the first instant advertising platform built on a hyper-local mobile display, video and social behavioral search and targeting engine, was one of the first companies to use Living Audience. Chalk Digitals customers include three of the top automotive companies as well as leading real estate brands.

"A common pain point for the industry has been determining a way to consistently reach a specific audience across both mobile and desktop with transparency, especially brands without an unlimited marketing budget," said Chalk Digital CEO Craig Hagopian. "Gathr Lab's Living Audience data solution is easy to incorporate into our targeting platform, allowing our clients to move beyond off-the-shelf personas to identify and reach their most valuable consumers in real-timeempowering our platform to focus on targeting the right user at the right time at Chalk."

Clients can utilize Living Audience to create and activate audiences or to export audiences for use in their own environment for a fixed, flat CPM.

About Gathr Lab

At Gathr Lab, were leveraging two decades of location data expertise to provide anonymous, custom audience insights and segments at scale, across all devices. Our solutions empower clients to understand, reach and amplify their most valuable audiences, revealing how consumers truly engage with both the physical and digital world. The companys innovative Living Audience platform synthesizes and simplifies complex data tied to anonymous global audiences. Uniquely, clients can use either Mobile ad IDs or IP addresses to provide high-quality, clear and actionable location intelligence that reveals how consumers truly engage with the world around them. Visit gathrlab.com to learn how to make location data come to life for your marketing needs. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @gathrlab then like us on Facebook. Headquartered in Atlanta, Gathr Lab is a division of Digital Envoy Inc.

More here:

Gathr Lab Launches New Technology Set to Break the Black-Box Approach and Empower Marketers to Understand, Reach and Grow Their Audiences - Business...

Executive Summary

For well over a century, researchers have labored tirelessly to understand how humans learn and remember. The resulting scientific literature is impressive, both in its scope and its depth. But its often not obvious how to use these findings in educational settings. This is where technology can help, opening up huge opportunities to use the science of learning in new ways. For example, new technologies can be used to track students progress on a very granular level, to personalize their learning at just the right level the so-called Goldilocks Spot, where they are challenged not so much that they get frustrated, and not so little that they are bored. To take advantage of these opportunities, we need to have clear learning outcomes, we need to measure each students progress in achieving those outcomes very granularly, and we need to shift to a focus on active learning. To achieve these ends, faculty and administrators must decide that successful teaching is a crucial goal and be willing to devote the time, energy, and resources necessary to achieve it.

For well over 100 years, researchers have labored tirelessly to understand how humans learn and remember. The resulting scientific literature is impressive, both in its scope and its depth. In fact, so much is now known that I doubt that any human could read and absorb all that has been written on the subject. The sad irony, though, is that its often not obvious how to use the findings of all of this research in educational settings.

Using the science of learning to improve education starts with identifying some general principles. Some of these principles grow out of a property of our brains: The more intensively we process information, the more likely we are to remember it. For example, before you go to sleep at night, do you ever find yourself reflecting on the events of the day? If so, what percentage of what you recall do you think you tried to memorize at the time the event occurred versus how much you just happen to remember later, without having tried to memorize it earlier? When Ive asked large numbers of people this question, they typically report that they intentionally tried to learn at most a tenth of what they recall at the end of the day.

So, where did the rest of what we recall come from? Deep processing. The mere act of paying attention and deeply thinking something through leads you to remember it. Much of what we remember is simply a byproduct of having paid attention and having thought about something.

This general property of our brains implies that if we want people to learn something, we should induce them to focus on it and consider its nature and implications. There are many ways to accomplish this, which grow out of specific principles of learning that reflect particular ways to focus on and process information. For example, one is called the Principle of Desirable Difficulty, which states that people learn best when challenged not so much so that they get frustrated, and not so little that they are bored but rather at just the right level, the so-called Goldilocks Spot. Getting people to the Goldilocks Spot means that we induce them to pay attention and process as much as they can, thereby enhancing the amount of learning.

But heres a problem: What counts as the just right level of challenge differs for different people. Whats too hard for Sam may be too easy for Sally. And its worse than that: What counts as the right level varies for the same person, depending on the subject matter in general, the more you know about something, the more difficult the material can be before you are challenged beyond your capacity to process effectively.

As you can imagine, with so many variables, applying this principle in a traditional classroom setting is challenging. This is where technology can come into play to use the Principle of Desirable Difficulty to enhance the learning of large numbers of students at the same time. First, you need a way to collect data on student performance. For example, students can take a short quiz after each class session, and the individual quiz questions would be coded according to exactly which competencies they are testing. The platform would track each students performance at a granular level.

Second, small breakout groups can be designed to allow students to engage in active learning (such as group problem solving, role playing, and debate) such active learning has been shown repeatedly to be a very effective way to learn, in part because it induces deep processing. Critically, each breakout group activity can be classified according to which competencies are being drawn upon. Thus, the platform can assign students at comparable levels of the relevant (for that activity) ability to the same breakout groups.

Third, each of the activities that students perform in breakout groups can be multilayered it can be approached more or less deeply. For example, in a lesson on figurative language, students might be asked to read a passage and identify all similes and metaphors. In this case, the subtlety of the language can be varied, so that some students may detect only the obvious examples whereas others may detect more subtle ones.

The social interactions during the breakout group could be designed to lead students (who are selected to be at comparable levels for that activity) to adjust how deeply they process the relevant information to keep the activity from being boring, activities can be designed to encourage students to nudge each other to move to their collective Goldilocks spot. This approach would scale very well and incorporates the social component that is so important in learning.

Clearly, technology opens up huge opportunities to use the science of learning in new ways. To take advantage of these opportunities, we need to have clear learning outcomes, we need to measure each students progress in achieving those outcomes very granularly, and we need to shift to a focus on active learning. To achieve these ends, faculty and administrators must decide that successful teaching is a crucial goal and be willing to devote the time, energy, and resources necessary to achieve it.

View original post here:

Integrating the Science of How We Learn into Education Technology - Harvard Business Review

Britain needs to take concerted action to reduce the risk of malicious actors in the UK and abroad from contaminating the results of a looming general election, according to a new study that warns of the risks of public abuse and deception.

A group of experts say government, political parties and social media companies all need to take immediate action, at a time when there is rising concern within Whitehall about the integrity of the democratic process.

Lisa-Maria Neudert, who acted as the secretary to the author of the study, the Oxford Technology and Elections Commission, said there was growing recognition that manipulation and propaganda which was only thought to happen in authoritarian regimes can happen in democracies like the UK.

The research calls for:

All social media companies, including Facebook and Twitter, to warn promptly when they suspect foreign interference or other meddling is taking place.

Concern has been rising in government circles about electoral integrity in the UK. The Cabinet Office is nominally responsible but intelligence agencies have been taking a growing interest in the rise of state disinformation online, principally from Russia and China.

There have been repeated warnings about Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, as well as questions about the impact of microtargeted internet advertising during the EU referendum, and the commissions researchers, at Oxford University, believe the risks remain current.

During the European election campaign of the early summer, they highlighted the sharing of extremist, sensationalist or conspiratorial junk news typically involving anti-immigration and Islamophobic sentiment across the continent.

One example cited was the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, in Paris, in April which while not immediately a political story, was manipulated during the campaign period for what amounted to political purposes by Russian and other social media accounts.

They unearthed a trail of propaganda furthering the false idea that the fire in the Gothic cathedral was started by Islamist terrorists, or that plans for reconstructing the Paris landmark would include a minaret.

We want social media companies to help us understand why such stories are so widely shared by their algorithms, Neudert said. They should be required to release information so we can understand why such disinformation so easily spreads.

Other specific risks highlighted included the use of non-transparent, or dark, advertising where money can be spent on targeting voters by political actors without any visibility unless a record is taken.

Facebook, for example, maintains an archive of political adverts, but not all technology companies do. The reporting is not standardised, meaning that is usually rendered useless for statistical analysis because of inconsistent or incomplete metrics that make it impossible to compare and understand trends.

Ministers have outlined plans to require people to bring photo ID to polling stations in order to vote in a future election, but while the proposal was mentioned in the Queens speech, on Monday, it was not accompanied by a promise for wider reform of election law.

More:

UK vulnerable to malicious meddling in election, warns study - The Guardian

Google has been experimenting with wearable technology for the past couple of years. In 2015, they released a new line of functional clothing that allowed users to interact with their phones through the fabric.

However, due to expensive retail prices, the wearable clothing trend never caught on. Almost five years later, the company is still chasing the same goal with the recent release of Levis Jacquard-enabled jackets.

Back in 2017, Saint Laurent launched a backpack with Jacquard support priced at 1000$. Luxury products like these didnt get much attention from the average tech users due to the high price.

That is why Google is hoping to present a new type of wearable technology that will bring the same benefits at a more affordable price. Read on to learn more about their Levis smart jackets!

The New Smart Jacket Features

The latest collaboration between Google and Levis has brought to us two versions of the smart jackets, including the classic Levis Trucker Jacket at 198$, and the Sherpa Trucker Jacket at 248$.

Jacquard

Each jacket comes with Googles Jacquard dongle that is placed in the jackets cuff. It connects to the conductive fabric inside the jacket and thus makes interaction possible.

Once you connect a smartphone to the dongle, you can control multiple features with simple movements such as a swipe or a tap over the cuff. For instance, taping and holding over the cuff of the jacket will allow you to issue commands to the connected smartphone.

Users can also customize each movement or gesture to activate different features and abilities, including communicating with the voice assistant, controlling music, or controlling the phones camera.

The tech-enabled jackets currently feature 19 abilities that can be customized on the phone. The dongle also sends notifications through vibration to let you know about your messages, emails, and alarms.

Will Wearable Technology Catch On

After it has failed to earn the interest of the masses, wearable technology is making a breakthrough once again. The question is, will it catch on this time?

Experts at Google are hoping that the tech-enabled jackets will become a true thanks to their more affordable price point. Ivan Poupyrev, the head of Jacquard by Google: Since we launched the first product with Levis at the end of 2017, we were focused on trying to understand and working really hard on how we can take the technology from a single product [] to create a real technology platform that can be used by multiple brands and by multiple collaborators.

He also added that the overall goal of creating wearable technology is to give people the opportunity to create new digital touch points to their digital life through things they already have and own and use every day.

Were left to see whether smart jackets are going to become the next big trend. The Jacquard-enabled jackets are currently available in Germany, France, Italy, UK, US, Australia, and Japan.

Read more:

Google And Levis Partner Up To Bring Us Wearable Technology - Forbes

UIC now invites candidates for this position which is expected to be filled in February 2020:

Professor/Associate Professor/Assistant Professor in Food Science and Technology (Ref:DST190902)

Job Description

Candidates with expertise in one or more of the following areas: Food Science, Food Chemistry, Chemistry, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition, and Biological Science. Successful candidates are expected to teach undergraduate and postgraduate courses with English, conduct active and high quality research, serve the academic community at UIC.

Job RequirementCandidates should have a PhD. Post-doctoral experience is highly recommended. Strong English language skill including speaking and writing is mandatory. Preference will be given to candidate who can undertake independent research leading to outstanding outcomes, including publications in high quality international-refereed journals.Academic rank will be determined in accordance with successful candidates experience and accomplishments.

Appointment TermsAppointment to this position will initially be made on a fixed-term contract of two years. Commencing salaries will be commensurate with qualifications and relevant experience. Fringe benefits include housing allowance (applicable to Assistant Professor and above), leave and medical insurance. Continuation of appointment beyond the initial term will be subject to mutual agreement.Application Procedures*Please complete the job application form and upload the requested documents online: https://hrapp.uic.edu.hk/recruit/job/vacancy/JobDetail/223.

*If you failed to submit your application online, please send your application by emailing to recruit@uic.edu.hk. Applications should include a curriculum vitae and a completed "Job Application Form" which can be downloaded from http://web.uic.edu.hk/en/hr/job-opportunities/application-procedure. Please indicate the position being applied for, including the field of expertise, level and reference number.

Review of applicants will begin on November 1, 2019. We will continue to review applications until the positions are filled. The position is expected to start in February 2020. Prospective applicants are encouraged to find more about UIC at http://uic.edu.hk/en and the Department of Food Science and Technology at https://dst.uic.edu.hk/en/fst. For informal inquiries about the position, please e-mail: Prof. Bruce Xu at baojunxu@uic.edu.hk. The College reserves the right not to fill this position, or to extend the search until suitable candidates are identified or to make an appointment by invitation.

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Professor/Associate Professor/Assistant Professor in Food Science and Technology job with BNU-HKBU UNITED INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE | 183631 - Times...

Nations around the world are stumbling zombie-like into a digital welfare dystopia in which artificial intelligence and other technologies are used to target, surveil and punish the poorest people, the United Nations monitor on poverty has warned.

Philip Alston, UN rapporteur on extreme poverty, has produced a devastating account of how new digital technologies are revolutionizing the interaction between governments and the most vulnerable in society. In what he calls the rise of the digital welfare state, billions of dollars of public money is now being invested in automated systems that are radically changing the nature of social protection.

Alstons report on the human rights implications of the shift will be presented to the UN general assembly on Friday. It says that AI has the potential to improve dramatically the lives of disadvantaged communities, but warns that such hope is being lost amid the constant drive for cost cutting and efficiency.

Big tech companies are being allowed to go unregulated in human rights free-zones, welfare budgets are being decimated and new penalties are being imposed for non-compliance on people who may be digitally illiterate or lack access to the internet. In the UK, he notes, 12 million people, or one in five of the population, do not have essential digital skills needed for modern day-to-day life.

Alston writes that crucial decisions to go digital have been taken by government ministers without consultation, or even by departmental officials without any significant policy discussions taking place. As a result of the absence of accountability, digital technologies are employed in the welfare state to surveil, target, harass and punish beneficiaries, especially the poorest and most vulnerable among them.

A New York-based lawyer, Alston has become a piercing critic of inequality and disdain for basic human rights. In June 2018 he caused major ructions with the Trump administration by reporting that it was cruelly forcing millions of people into deprivation with its tax cuts for the rich. He went on to anger the British government with his damning report on austerity in the UK.

Now he is likely to displease several governments who will find his report uncomfortable reading. He says that the normal state of affairs whereby governments are accountable to their citizens has been turned upside down by the introduction of automated decision-making and the removal of human discretion from welfare systems.

In such a world, citizens become ever more visible to their governments, but not the other way around.

Alstons report also tears a strip out of Big Tech companies who he says are acting as forces unto themselves. The advent of the digital revolution has allowed the private sector to appropriate huge swaths of welfare state almost without public comment.

He points to examples from around the globe of companies involved in welfare systems: Net 1s subsidiary Cash Paymaster Services together with MasterCard were initially involved in South Africas social grant distribution system which raised privacy concerns because of its biometric data collection. In Australia, Indue and Visa helped introduce cashless debit card trials, and IBM was central to the multimillion-dollar Sams system in Canada, the US, Germany and New Zealand.

The report states that in many schemes, the role and responsibility of these corporations are opaque, rendering public accountability impossible. A handful of powerful executives are replacing governments and legislators in determining the directions in which societies will move and the values and assumptions which will drive those developments, Alston writes.

Looking to the future, the UN monitor calls for Silicon Valley to be made accountable through regulation. The self-regulation that has been permitted in the big tech sector, uniquely so among major sectors of the economy, must end and technology companies must legally be required to respect applicable human rights standards.

That includes addressing the increasing use of data matching that is used to punish and criminalize low-income people. It also involves bringing under control the evermore refined surveillance options that enable around-the-clock monitoring of beneficiaries.

The UN report was drawn from Alstons country visits to the UK, US and elsewhere as well as 60 submissions from 34 countries. He concludes on a rallying note, saying it is not too late to drop the obsession with fraud and the undeserving poor.

Instead of inflicting misery on millions, digital technology could be used as a force for good. It could ensure a higher standard of living for the vulnerable and disadvantaged, devise new ways of caring for those left behind. That would be the real digital welfare state revolution.

Read more from the original source:

Digital welfare state: big tech allowed to target and surveil the poor, UN is warned - The Guardian

In a country where the biggest companies are still king, Seouls burgeoning startup sector is finding its feet.

Out in the west of the South Korean capital, a nine-storey building dressed in bright colours with a giant red bull outside is home to more than 100 startups. From one-person operations running out of a locker and a laptop on the ground floor, to fully-fledged offices on the upper levels, Seouls startup hub has supported 1,282 operations in various stages of growth in the past two years.

It has all the bells and whistles you come to associate with startup hubs across the world shared dining and working spaces, a rest area with beanbags and egg-shaped couches, a fully decked-out kitchen for food-tech companies, a broadcast studio, a library, a slide between two floors and even a 7-Eleven for those powering through the night.

There were about 467 accelerators, venture capital funds and government organisations supporting startups in Seoul and its surrounding province in 2018, some backed by bigger companies such as Samsung and Naver. There are 85 accelerators in Seoul, and the amount of angel investment increased from about US$170m ($250m) in 2015 to US$250m in 2017.

Since 2015, the South Korean government has provided $4bn to startups, Forbes has reported, the biggest government backing of startups per capita in the world. In April, Seouls mayor, Park Won-soon, said the aim was to make Seoul a global top five startup city by 2022.

Korea is particularly attractive for startups because of its high-speed internet, the fast rollout of the 5G network and the high uptake of technology.

The push towards startups has been driven by slow growth from the traditional larger companies, according to Seoul Startup Hub co-founder Matt Kang.

We have lost the momentum from large companies startups have emerged as a new momentum for Korea, he said.

One startup that moved into the hub just over a month ago is Amuse Travel a social enterprise that provides tours for people living with disabilities to popular destinations around South Korea, as well as giving people living with disabilities the confidence to travel on their own. The company develops maps of tourist destinations based on data collected during the tours, highlighting the areas positive and negative aspects such as steep inclines, stairs and other barriers to access.

The companys founder, Seo-yeon Oh, said it had previously had difficulty raising enough investment, and needed more time to prove its viability of the company. He said Naver had expressed interest in the business.

Moving into the startup hub meant Oh and his staff were able to network with a variety of businesses at various stages of life.

The strength of this hub is there is a wide spectrum of startup companies here from fintech to senior citizens, and also startup companies which once experienced failure in the past, he said.

Koreans seem shy, so they seem to work alone or independently, but they also co-work and work together.

Josh Taylor visited Korea as part of the Walkley Foundation Australia-Korea exchange program, in partnership with the Korea Press Foundation.

More here:

South Korean startups gather momentum - The Guardian