Category Archives: Technology

Why banks differ in the pace of adoption of new technology: The legacy of the past

Do all organisations in a sector adopt a new technology or business practice at a uniform rate? Or do we see different rates of adoption across organisation types in a sector, even if adoption seems generally worthwhile? What determines whether a certain organization adopts the new technology?

Questions such as these are important because they shed light on economic growth. As Mundlak (1961) and, more recently, Hsieh and Klenow (2009) note, economies operate below potential because some firms are less productive than others, and the productivity gaps persist. What explains these gaps? Over the last decade, the failure to adopt modern business practices has been identified as a key culprit (Bloom and van Reenen 2010).

It thus seems valuable to understand why some firms do not adopt new practices even if it seems useful to do so. In a new paper (Mishra et al. 2021), we examine this very question with microdata on lending, using as our setting the introduction of credit-scoring technology in retail lending.

Credit bureaus obtained legal certitude in India only around 2007 after legislation requiring banks to submit data to bureaus was passed. The act of incorporating bureau credit information into loan decisions is a clear marker of technology adoption. We examine the pace of adoption by the two dominant types of banks operating in India: state-owned public sector banks (PSBs); and new private banks (NPBs), which are modern banks licensed after India's 1991 liberalisation.

The process for checking credit is straightforward consisting of submitting an electronic request and paying a fee of between $0.15 and $0.30, about 0.04% of the average loan amount.Since the cost of requesting a score is negligible, and at worst the score can simply be ignored, it seems worthwhile for all banks to adopt scoring technology if at all useful.

Figure 1 illustrates the gap in adopting the new scoring technology across banks. Several years after the introduction of credit bureaus, the state-owned PSBs make a large number of loans without bureau credit checks. At the end of our sample period in March 2015, PSBs check credit scores for only 27% of all applications compared to 85% for NPBs.

Figure 1 Sharp difference in bureau usage across bank types

Far more interesting and stark relative to the baseline patterns is the variation in adoption across new and prior clients of banks (see Figure 2). For new applicants, PSBs inquired about 99%, that is, virtually all applications, just like NPBs in fact, the lines for the two are indistinguishable.Thus, PSBs are not incapable of, or averse to, using new technology. However, PSBs seem to be far less willing to check scores for loan applicants with whom they have a prior lending relationship. PSBs check scores for only 48.3% of these applicants compared to 90.3% for NPBs. Figure 2 illustrates this gap in adoption, which persists eight years after credit bureaus open.

Figure 2 Difference in bureau usage primarily for prior relationship applicants

Perhaps PSBs do not check credit scores because credit scores are not related to ex-post delinquencies. Figure 3 rules out this possibility. Credit scores are reliably related to delinquencies for both PSBs and NPBs, perhaps even more for PSBs. In a related test, we obtain the (unused) scores for a special sample of loans that PSBs made without checking scores. For a range of plausible policy functions on how the scores would have been used, we find that checking scores would more than halve portfolio delinquencies, a significant improvement in credit quality.

Figure 3 Credit scores and predict delinquency for PSBs and NPBs

What could possibly explain the aversion of PSBs to adopt scoring for their prior clients even though it is a clearly beneficial practice? Interestingly, the reason does not seem to necessarily reflect their state ownership: there is a class of privately-owned institutions, old private banks (OPBs), which are of similar vintage and thus operated in similar economic environments as PSBs.

Figure 4 shows that the pattern of technology adoption by OPBs is similar to that of PSBs they check scores for virtually all new borrowers but are reluctant to do so for prior borrowers. Whatever prompts this behaviour for PSBs, therefore, it is not just state ownership.

Figure 4Old private banks (OPBs) are similar to public-sector banks (PSBs)

To explain these patterns, we focus on the legacies shared by PSBs and OPBs, which are quite different from those of NPBs.

We conjecture that PSBs and OPBs may have traditionally given their loan officers more discretion because of the nature of their branching structure in the pre-1990s liberalisation era.In the 1970s, India required all banks to focus on branching in underserved areas away from the bustling metros. In this era, ICT was also underdeveloped.

Given the relative paucity of formal records and data, that is, hard information on potential borrowers in underserved rural areas (a lacuna which we show exists even today), banks may have optimally given more discretion to their loan officers in those areas. As Stein (2002) argues, this would incentivise loan officers to generate and use soft information, informal data, and subjective judgements about potential borrowers. If it is hard to fine-tune policies on discretion to specific branches, a bank may have optimally adopted a bank-wide policy of allowing loan officers more discretion if the banks business was more focused on semi-urban and rural branches.

With regulatory liberalisation in the 1990s, including the licensing of new private banks, the branching requirements were steadily done away with. Newly licensed NPBs could focus on metros, which they did, and with advancements in ICT and data availability, NPBs had much less need to offer loan officers discretion. So, the first leg of our explanation is that the older PSBs and OPBs had branch structures and policies on discretion that responded to historical regulations, which did not apply to NPBs.

The second leg of our argument is that legacy structures and practices acquired staying power. PSBs and OPBs have had to continue to maintain their legacy branch networks even today, the Reserve Bank does not permit banks to close branches in underserved areas. So PSBs and OPBs, with more of rural network than NPBs, would have had more reason to maintain their historical lending policies that relied on loan officer discretion. This would have been fortified, no doubt, by loan officer resistance in giving up discretion for new and unfamiliar credit scoring processes relying on hard information with unproven value. Loan officers would have more reason to use their discretion in the case of prior borrowers because they would have more soft information on them gleaned from the prior relationship. Moreover, they could use familiar processes for managing the bank-specific information flows. Finally, the social payoff would be greater to helping their old customers, shielding them from the possibly harsh pronouncements of a distant, albeit informed, credit bureau.

We present empirical evidence to supports the hysteresis hypothesis. We classify banks based on their non-urban lending focus based on a variable "NON-URB-SHR-LNS" or the percentage of a bank's business coming from non-urban areas. Figure 5 shows that banks with a greater non-urban focus inquire even their urban applicants relatively less while banks with a greater urban focus inquire their non-urban applicants relatively more. Interestingly, this effect is seen even in NPBs although it is, of course, stronger for PSBs and OPBs. The effect survives controls for other organizational characteristics of banks. The evidence suggests that the policy most suited to the predominant source of the banks business influences bank-wide policy. This policy has staying power, changing slowly even as the environment it is adapted to changes.

Figure 5 More urban-facing PSBs inquire more even in rural areas

To the extent that the greater non-urban focus of a bank drives its policy of allowing its loan officers discretion, and leads to lower inquiry, this should be associated with higher delinquency rates. This is indeed what we find. Figure 6 illustrates this relationship. The regression evidence is supportive. The variable NON-URB-SHR-LNS remains significant in regression that include full sets of controls with a number of interaction effects, and in reduced form as well as instrumental variables regressions. The policy of continuing to allow discretion is costly. Indeed, this realisation and the steady process of taking away discretion from empowered loan officers may explain why even PSBs and OPBs are moving to inquire more.

Figure 6 Delinquency rates versus non-urban orientation

In sum, we show that there are differences in technology adoption across banks. Interestingly, the variation is also within banks. Thus, slow adoption may not emanate from unfamiliarity with technology use but hysteresis due to legacy management practices set in earlier years. These practices change relatively slowly even when technological possibilities change. The status quo bias created by relationships is eventually replaced with greater use of modern retail lending practices that permeate banks around the world. Technology dominates eventually.

Authors' note:The views expressed in this columnare the sole responsibility of the authors and not of the institutions that the authors were are or associated with. The views should not be attributed to the International Monetary Fund, its Executive Board, or its management.

Bloom, N and J van Reenen (2010), Why do management practices differ across firms and countries? Journal of Economic Perspectives 24(1): 203-224.

Hsieh, C and P Klenow (2009), Misallocation and manufacturing TFP in China and India, Quarterly Journal of Economics 124(4): 1403-1448.

Mishra, P and P Nagpurnanand, and R G Raghuram (2021), The relationship dilemma: Why do banks differ in the pace at which they adopt new technology? University of Chicago, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics Working Paper No. 2019-54.

Mundlak, Y (1961), Empirical production function free of management bias, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 43(1): 44-56.

Stein, J C (2002), Information production and capital allocation: Decentralized versus hierarchical firms, Journal of Finance 57(5): 1891-1921.

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Why banks differ in the pace of adoption of new technology | VOX, CEPR Policy Portal - voxeu.org

The Space Force, the newly minted service branch and the first to be born in the age of the internet, is charged with securing the heavens above. It now has a digital strategy to match that lofty mission.

Earlier this month, the nations sixth military branch issued a document called Vision for a Digital Service,which outlines the forces technology goals and the strategy. The Space Force aims to become the militarys first truly digital service branch, and take advantage of a lack of a legacy architecture and bureaucracy to be more agile than other branches.

Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond says in the introduction to the document that the nature of the threats in space, which cover a wide spectrum and are rapidly evolving, mean that the fore needs to be an innovative, interconnected and digitally dominant force.

We must act far more swiftly and decisively across all aspects of leadership, acquisition, engineering, intelligence, and operations in order to take up permanent residence inside the adversarys observe, orient, decide, act (OODA) loop, Raymond writes. In addition, given the relatively small size of the USSF, accomplishing this goal will require us to amass a technologically adept, digitally fluent space cadre more proficient, efficient, and agile than any other force in history.

MORE FROM FEDTECH:Learn how to use analytics to discover workers with hidden IT talents.

To be interconnected, the force envisions treating its digital infrastructure as a critical asset and having high-bandwidth networks that support the rapid sharing of data. The document notes that Space Force wants its shared data repositories visible and accessible to those who need it and secured against those who dont.

The Space Force also wants its guardians, as force members are known, to be able to operate in a way that is tied to a physical location.

This can give the USSF the flexibility to have Guardians operate virtually as digital nomads, seamlessly supporting a variety of missions from a range of locations as part of an intrinsically mobile force, the vision document states. We must pursue site-agnostic solutions, enabling service-based, distributed functionality regardless of the mission supported or the protection requirements of the data involved. All of these elements must also be fully linked and interoperable.

In terms of innovation, to adaptively respond to threats, the Space Force says it will position itself as an aggressive early adopter of cutting-edge, user-driven technologies, which represent the best capabilities industry has to offer. Guardians will also be empowered to act on their ideas, the document states.

RELATED: How will 5G help the military modernize?

USSF members must be granted the psychological safety and professional incentives to be assertive and take risks when appropriate, the document notes. To support this paradigm shift, we will modify our performance evaluation frameworks to recognize and value these traits.

Every Space Force member must be a change agent, able to contribute bold and imaginative solutions to hard problems, the document notes, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and personal growth.

It will be incumbent upon all personnel to constantly expand their digital fluency and hone their skillsets to keep pace in this highly dynamic digital environment, the document notes.

Being digitally dominant will require an empowered and digitally fluent workforce, the Space Force document notes. Having a digital-first mindset and being digitally dominant will require an extensive network of innovative, digitally fluent Space Force professionals who instinctively prioritize actionable knowledge over static products, it notes. Instead, guardians will be expected to be data-centric.

This approach will allow us to rapidly capture and exchange needed information and knowledge within the data space, to include generating streamlined, dynamic, synchronized outputs tied to mission-related actions and outcomes, the document notes. Ultimately, our Digital Space Force will make data-driven decisions to field and operate groundbreaking, space capabilities at velocities that seem inconceivable today.

The Space Force also wants to have a different approach to its workforce that incentivizes them to collaborate, empowers them to act and builds upon their strengths, the document notes. The Space Force will tap into and build upon each persons unique strengths to power interconnected high-performing teams. We will capitalize on the inherently selective nature of our small Service to attract and recruit technically proficient talent from all corners of the nation, and we will manage this talent within a fully integrated Digital Workforce.

The document also calls for the creation of a Digital Headquarters, and means that in terms of a function as opposed to an alternative to a physical office.

To make effective decisions, we will regard data as a strategic asset, harnessing it for digitally enabled management of uncertainty and to power agile, data-driven decision-making, the document states.

Instead of focusing on traditional, document-based communications, the Space Force will emphasize unvarnished collaboration to and among decision-makers directly in the data space. The force envisions using immersive visualizations and customizable dashboards that are current and accessible anytime and anywhere to help guardians sift through a deluge of data.

This is where were really zeroing in on how we can we leverage data and analysis tools to streamline the processes by which we make decisions, use automation to ensure that our processes can move faster, and eliminate manual steps in our processes, Maj. Gen. Kim Crider, the Space Forces chief technology innovation officer,tells Federal News Network.

How can we use collaboration tools to bring people together across multiple levels the organization in one single setting? By bringing people together, this is how were breaking the bureaucracy, Crider adds. Were not waiting for a problem to happen were being more proactive and were coordinating much more effectively and much more efficiently.

U.S. Space Force photo by Airman 1st Class Thomas Sjoberg

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What Is the Space Force's Technology Vision? - FedTech Magazine

RYE BROOK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Xylem (NYSE:XYL), a leading global water technology company, is helping its customers re-use more than one trillion gallons (4.3 billion cubic meters) of water, according to its 2020 Sustainability Report, Solving Water for a Resilient World, released today. The companys technology also prevented 369 billion gallons (1.4 billion cubic meters) of polluted water from potentially flooding communities and entering local waterways. Water re-use and pollution prevention are two of Xylems signature sustainability goals, targeted for achievement by 2025.

Deployment of advanced water technologies is driving the dramatic sustainability gains, around the world. The City of South Bend, Indiana, optimized its existing wastewater network with artificial intelligence systems to deliver an 80% reduction in sewer overflows. A treatment plant in Cuxhaven, Germany, cut aeration energy use by 30% using Xylem technology. And a water utility in Malaysia identified more than 300 leaks in its network using sophisticated in-pipe sensors, helping dramatically reduce the loss of treated water.

Bringing access to sustainable, clean and affordable water to more people around the world while protecting the environment is both our purpose and our business, said Patrick Decker, Xylems president and CEO. The achievements detailed in this report show how, together, our colleagues and our customers are making a big difference in our communities. Technology can do a lot to make the world more sustainable and more resilient, but these results come from the commitment, dedication, and even heroism of the people were so privileged to serve and work with, every day. Its within our power to solve urgent challenges like water scarcity and affordability, now, and create a more water-secure world for future generations.

In 2020, Xylem made significant progress toward its sector-leading 2025 signature sustainability goals, despite the additional challenges of COVID-19. Through its advanced products and technologies, the Company helped customers reduce their carbon footprint by 0.7 million metric tons of CO2, equivalent to keeping 150,000 passenger cars off the road for a year. Xylem is now running almost half its major facilities on 100% renewable electricity, and has committed to transition its global vehicle fleet to electric and hybrid, targeting an initial 45% reduction in fleet CO2 emissions by 2023.

In addition to advancing its existing sustainability goals in 2020, Xylem made new commitments to address the pandemics impact, around the world. The Company doubled philanthropic investments and extended new support to employees, business partners and the communities they serve. It also expanded relationships with its global NGO partners, like Americares and UNICEF, supporting 4.1 million people in underserved communities to get access to water and sanitation and providing 3.6 million people with water education to raise awareness and improve their quality of life.

As a company, we recognize the opportunity we have to lead, given the breadth of our technologies and our global reach, said Claudia Toussaint, Xylems Chief Sustainability Officer. We navigate difficult times in ways that make us stronger and more resilient and support our customers and communities to do the same. With that mindset, we pulled together across our organization, and with our partners around the globe, to help mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 while continuing to deliver on our sustainability commitments.

If anything, the pandemic has made the economic and social value of water networks and other critical infrastructure more apparent than ever, continued Toussaint. We know they are always essential, but we all learned how critical they are in times of crisis. Theyre also a potential driver of economic recovery, and a pre-requisite for broad-based prosperity. The shocks of the last year have heightened everyones awareness of the need for greater resilience and equity, and the imperative of a sustainable future.

Among the actions and achievements from 2020 detailed in the GRI-compliant report, additional highlights include:

To learn more about Xylems sustainability progress, download Solving Water for a Resilient World.

About Xylem

Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology company committed to solving critical water and infrastructure challenges with innovation. Our more than 16,000 diverse employees delivered revenue of $4.88 billion in 2020. We are creating a more sustainable world by enabling our customers to optimize water and resource management, and helping communities in more than 150 countries become water-secure. Join us at http://www.xylem.com.

Link:

1 Trillion Gallons of Water Being Recycled Using Xylem Technology - Business Wire

How to protect your money, privacy, children and peace of mind when using online technology

Wednesday, June 2, 2021 6:30 8:30 PM

Faith Baptist Church (with spread seating masks are expected)

5750 N Highway 101, Lincoln City, Oregon

The purpose of this session is to help people understand and effectively protect themselves from the kinds of privacy, security and safety challenges when using technology online. This class has been offered previously and was well received.

Do you have a computer, tablet or cellphone that connects to the Internet? Do/Will your children have that kind of access? Do you get calls/texts/emails from people or companies you dont know, or that you do know and dont understand why they are asking for personal information? Would you like to avoid being scammed or extorted out of thousands of dollars? Would you like to know how to protect yourself from these and other types of online threats to your personal information and privacy? Would you like to know how to protect your children or grandchildren from the very real dangers and the bullying that online access can involve?

If interested please call Faith Baptist Church at (541) 994-9106 to ensure we have enough seating and handouts available.

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Staying safe with technology | News | thenewsguard.com - The News Guard

CINCINNATI New technology is aiding law enforcement in catching wrong-way drivers faster in hopes of preventing dangerous head-on crashes.

Just after 9 a.m. on Monday, May 31, 25-year-old Kelsey Peterson was driving south in the northbound lanes of I-71 dodging and weaving between cars for several miles before she was eventually stopped.

Sgt. Matthew Allard with the Ohio State Highway Patrol said a trooper on a different traffic stop heard the all-call on his radio.

It appeared to him that it was going to cause a head-on crash, Allard said. What this trooper did was put himself in danger (by) getting in front of oncoming traffic. Activating his lights to slow everyone down.

It was enough to slow Peterson down, turning what could have been a head-on collision into a minor accident.

This allowed us to put a plan in place actively, as it was happening versus being reactive to it, Allard said.

He said its a case of technology being used in the right way to save a life. Sensors installed on I-71, starting at the Lytle Tunnel and stretching north for 18 miles all the way to Fields Ertel Road, trigger wrong-way signs on exit ramps to alert drivers that theyre making a mistake on the road.

The signs are installed at three feet and seven feet high because studies have shown impaired drivers tend to look down more often. The signs are meant to attract the drivers attention before ever getting on the highway.

Once a car traveling the wrong direction passes the last sigh, a camera turns on and the transportation management system out of Columbus is notified. From there, an all-call is put out.

The cameras will notify the transportation management center which allows ODOT to position the cameras on the oncoming car, Allard said. Which allows us to view live where the vehicle is at.

The system is has been in place for two years, according to Ohio Department of Transportation press secretary Matt Bruning, prevented more than a dozen drivers from entering the highway in the wrong direction. Monday is the first time ODOT know of that it didnt deter a wrong-way driver. Before the updated technology, 911 calls were the only alert to emergency crews on the road.

It helps us by getting us real-time information on where that vehicle is, Allard said. A lot of times if it is a caller, and theyre going the opposite direction, we lost that real-time data. This allows us to attempt to intercept the vehicle prior to it crashing with another individual.

Currently, the I-71 corridor through Cincinnati is the only stretch of road using the sensor system.

Excerpt from:

New technology put in place to stop wrong-way drivers is showing results - WCPO

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 2, 2021) Researchers at the University of Kentucky are working with NASA to advance key technologies for exploring the moon, Mars and beyond.

Every few years, NASA creates Space Technology Research Institutes (STRI) in areas that are considered strategic for future technology and space exploration.

The new STRI called Advanced Computational Center for Entry System Simulation (ACCESS) will also beled out of the University of Colorado and will include the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Minnesota and the University of New Mexico, along with international collaborators from England, Italy and Portugal.

Alexandre Martin, professor of mechanical engineering, will lead the UK part of the work, which will focus on the thermal protection systems (heat shield) modeling one of the four axes of research covered by the institute.

The idea is to bring everybody together and have one cohesive group. The project involves researchers who have known each other very well for the last 10, 15 years, he said. It just makes sense scientifically.

ACCESS will focus on the creation of thermal protection systems. These systems protect a payload whether astronauts, equipment or scientific instruments during the harsh flight of a space capsule into the atmosphere of a distant planet or on its return to Earth.

The institute will advance the analysis and design of NASA entry systems by developing a fully integrated, interdisciplinary simulation capability, which is critical to future plans for exploration of nearby planets that require safe placement of large payloads on their surfaces.

Entry, descentand landing technologies must continue to improve to meet the challenges of placing large payloads on other worlds, such as Mars, Martin explained. Accurate modeling and simulation of atmospheric entry systems are critical for the design and planning of these missions.

To ensure safety, NASA has incredibly demanding entry system reliability requirements that cannot be fully met with today's approaches. Meeting those goals will require interdisciplinary work in the fields of aerospace engineering, chemistry, radiation, materials, structures and reliability.

Together, we will develop game-changing capabilities through the use of high-fidelity, validated physics models, Martin said. This advancement will be enabled by innovative numerical algorithms, high-performance computing and uncertainty quantification methods, with the goal of enabling computational entry system reliability assessments.

Additionally, the project will allow UK to contribute to forming the next generation of aerospace engineers at NASA.

We will also be able to fund students, and they will be doing the main part of the research. And they will interact with NASA, Martin said. Just like in everything we do; the students will be at the core of this project.

Matthew Beck, in theDepartment of Chemical and Materials Engineering, and Hailong Chen, John Maddox and Savio Poovathingal, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, are also an integral part of UKs team.

ACCESS, which builds upon past NASA and NASA Kentucky funding, will receive approximately $15 million over five years, and roughly one-fourth of the amount will be awarded to UK. The university will also be contributing an additional $1.4 million to the project.

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UK Partners With NASA to Help Launch $15 Million Space Technology Research Institute - UKNow

Vancouver, BC June 1, 2021 Molecular You, the Vancouver-based data-driven health intelligence company, today announced the signing of a Master Services Agreement with Hoffmann-La Roche Limited (Roche Canada). This agreement enables Roche to use Molecular Yous comprehensive molecular profiling technology.

We are very proud of this agreement with Roche, said Molecular You President, CEO and co-founder Rob Fraser, as Roche shares our vision to provide patient-centred and evidence-based care. Together, our world-leading teams and technologies will enable a data-driven care model thattreats not just the disease but also the patient suffering from that disease.

Current medical care often employs a one-size-fits-all approach that ignores the fact that we are all very different from one another notes Molecular You co-founder and Board Chair Professor Pieter Cullis. The detailed molecular-level profiles prepared by Molecular You provide the insight needed to individualize patient care and practice effective preventive medicine. Dr. Cullis, author ofThe Personalized Medicine Revolution,adds that the agreement with Roche provides an important validation of the potential of Molecular Yous technology to improve healthcare.

Both Molecular You and Hoffmann-La Roche Limited (Roche Canada) among many other partners are involved with the Government of Canadas Digital Technology Supercluster and are working together on two already announced projects including: Personal Health Wallet using blockchain tech to unlock the ability to securely share private health info, (https://www.digitalsupercluster.ca/programs/precision-health/personal-health-wallet/); and "Reduce Risk: Post-COVID Analytics Platform for Returning to Work (https://www.digitalsupercluster.ca/covid-19-program-page/reduce-risk-post-covid-analytics-platform-for-returning-to-work/).

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About Molecular You

Molecular You is a Health Intelligence company, founded in Vancouver Canada by a team of world leading scientists and clinicians with a unified passion to make personalized healthcare a reality. Molecular You analyzes an individuals current health status using multi-omic, molecular profiling. Assisted by AI, these profiles are compared to the Molecular You global database of scientific and clinical literature to discern trends towards disease and other health risks. Individuals receive a personalized action plan that provides guidance on how to take charge of current and future health risks. This level of personalization is unprecedented and fosters greater engagement in an individuals health. By aggregating the real-world data, Molecular You generates a continuous stream of insights to accelerate the evolution of holistic careand development of more effective therapies.

Recently recognized by the worlds leading research and advisory company as a 2019 Gartner Cool Vendor in Healthcare Artificial Intelligence (AI). http://www.molecularyou.com

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FOR MEDIA INFORMATION CONTACT:

Daniel Paquette, dpPR for Molecular You

(647) 874-2176

dppr@rogers.com; http://www.dppr.ca

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MOLECULAR YOU SIGNS AGREEMENT FOR ROCHE TO USE ITS MOLECULAR PROFILING TECHNOLOGY - BioSpace

The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is pictured at its headquarters, in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Jan. 19, 2021. REUTERS/Ann Wang

About 20 Japanese companies, including electronic component maker Ibiden Co (4062.T), will work with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (2330.TW) to develop chip manufacturing technology in Japan, the Nikkei newspaper reported.

Japan's government will pay half of the 37 billion yen ($337 million) cost of a research facility, The Nikkei said, without disclosing its sources.

TSMC in February said it will spend about $178 million to open a material research subsidiary near Tokyo.

In a statement to Reuters, TSMC said that facility "aims to leverage more expertise in the field of materials to bring value to the industry".

"We appreciate the support from Japan's government for us to drive semiconductor technology advancement together with TSMC's partners in Japan," it added, without elaborating.

Japan wants to cooperate with the Taiwanese company to help its semiconductor manufacturers to stay competitive as chip demand grows with the expansion of 5G infrastructure, autonomous driving technology, data centres and artificial intelligence (AI).

Ibiden did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

($1 = 109.7000 yen)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Japanese companies to develop chipmaking technology with TSMC -Nikkei - Reuters

Microsoft shows off more of the elements that will bring real-time low-latency collaboration from the web into desktop and mobile apps.

Image: Microsoft

Thefuture of hybrid workthat Microsoft sees as people start to return to offices and workplaces -- at least some of the time -- still includes remote collaboration, some of it asynchronous and some of it real time.

"During the pandemic, what's really come to the fore is team productivity: enabling a group of people to work together," Microsoft executive vice president for experiences and devicesRhajesh Jhasaid at the recent Build conference. "We think this is the era of collaborative apps where collaboration is at this centre, whether it be synchronous in the context of a video meeting, whether it be asynchronous with documents and chat."

"Collaboration is going to have to be the core of new applications," Jha added.

The technology Microsoft is pinning its hopes on to deliver this new group productivity is open-source frameworkFluid.

Interactive Fluid components will bring real-time, low-latency web editing into Teams and other Office apps, but they can also let people collaborate asynchronously. Fluid will make co-editing a document faster because everyone's changes show up quicker for everyone else, but a list, table or set of action items can also be Fluid components that everyone can co-author and edit in their own time.

Teams is the logical place to do that, because you can use it as a launcher for other apps, including running them inside meetings. Fluid components are now in private preview for Microsoft 365 (currently by invitation only, with broader access coming in the next few months).

SEE:50 time-saving tips to speed your work in Microsoft Office (free PDF)(TechRepublic)

A Fluid component can be pinned to a specific chat where you're collaborating, or you can copy and paste a Fluid component from one Teams chat to another to get more people involved. You can also copy them into an email message (or eventually, a Word document) and the data that makes up the Fluid 'chunk' of collaboration will stay live and editable and carry on syncing to everyone.

Because it doesn't need a cache on the server or a real-time hub on the client, Fluid real-time collaboration is actually a simpler back-end architecture, according to a session Fluid software engineerSam Bronergave at Build. "Teams have found that Fluid can replace key pieces of their architecture, but with improved performance and lower engineering cost," Broner noted.

Fluid components inside a Teams chat.

Image: Microsoft

You can pin a Fluid component or add it to an Outlook email from Teams.

Image: Microsoft

Because it's a web app underneath, a Fluid component works on mobile with responsive design.

Image: Microsoft

The open-sourceFluid Frameworkmeans Fluid components can also be built into third-party apps, which can use SharePoint in Microsoft 365 (which Teams uses), or the new Azure Fluid Relay Service (a managed service that will scale to hundreds of users per session) or any other Fluid service as the backend for syncing changes between co-workers. A Fluid component built to run with one Fluid backend will work with another Fluid backend, so organisations can use their own instance of the Azure Fluid Relay Service or local Fluid service (although everyone collaborating would need to be using the same Fluid service to work together).

The Azure Fluid Relay Service.

Image: Microsoft

Developers building Fluid components can also create their own different kinds of Fluid data, like sticky notes or exploded 3D diagrams based on CAD files.

As well as demos of Fluid in Teams and Outlook, Microsoft showed prototype apps built by Autodesk, Officeatwork and Monday Coffee that use Fluid for different kinds of real-time collaboration. Autodesk showed a CAD viewer where two people could look at the same 3D object and see what view the other person was looking at (which would simplify a discussion, because you can point to things the way you would if you were both in front of the same screen). Their 3D viewer (and an inspector that shows the state of your Fluid data) are now part of the open-source Fluid Framework.

The Autodesk protoype collaborative 3D viewer built in Fluid.

Image: Microsoft

"All of our customers expect to be able to collaborate across teams, tools, and industries," Autodesk chief platform architect Arno Zinke said. "In the future, the architect of a building will collaborate more directly with another architect or with designers and manufacturers or even with suppliers of parts like windows and HVACs. And all of this [collaboration] will happen based on the same data, the most recent data, in real time."

Fluid allows collaborative editing of Officeatwork dynamic placeholders inside Office.

Image: Microsoft

Officeatwork showed a prototype of Fluid in their Office add-in for dynamic placeholders that put the correct logo, company information, official signature files and other data that you want to have be consistent in all your documents, which can be stored in SharePoint or collected through a Power Automate flow, Logic Apps or other line-of-business data stores. Using the Azure Fluid Relay Service, two people working in the Officeatwork admin centre will be able to collaborate on a signature that will be used by multiple people, making edits to the same placeholder, which will dynamically update for users too.

Developers who want to build apps for Teams using Fluid components can package those apps using the standard Teams SDK and use the Fluid Library for Microsoft 365, which will be built into Microsoft 365 tenants, rather than expecting organisations to spin up their own Azure Fluid Relay Service. That means those apps can use Office single-sign on and get data from the Microsoft Graph, and store data in Fluid files that live in OneDrive and SharePoint (using the SharePoint Fluid Service), so it stays inside the Microsoft 365 tenant. Installing the app into Teams and adding it to a Teams meeting sets the permissions so that everyone in the meeting has access to the Fluid file and can collaborate in it.

"Teams meetings extension points provide the ideal place to include Fluid-powered collaboration," Fluid program manager Dan Roney said.

The MondayCoffee Fluid prototype Teams app for shared meeting notes in a Teams meeting.

Image: Microsoft

MondayCoffee showed a prototype meeting notes tool built for teams with the Fluid Framework Libraries, where everyone can take their notes about the meeting in a structured, shared document. Information is written to a database so it's easy to keep track of all the decisions taken for a specific project, or action items that are automatically converted into Planner tasks.

That prototype will be added to theMondayCoffee Teams appsoon, along with extra features like shared sticky notes.

Developers and organizations wanting to use Azure Fluid Relay or Fluid Library for Microsoft 365 can apply for theprivate preview. Fluid components are just web apps; Fluid works with any Vue framework like React, Angular or Vue, with the collaborative features wrapped in a web library. And if you just want to try out the Fluid collaboration in share documents, the originalFluid Office previewis still available. Or you can play around with a Fluid image gallery, brainstorming app and even a shared Sudoku game in the Fluid Framework playground, and developers can copy the Fluid projects to start building their own apps.

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For an industry where detail, timeliness and accurate metrics mean so much, the investment world still relies too heavily on manual spreadsheet entry and snail mail paper checks. Entering data in multiple spreadsheets and relying on disparate systems is inefficient and can be error-prone, especially when sharing information between investment, investor and accounting software. However, technology is a driving factor behind the growth of automated investment management.

Investors now expect on-demand service and self-service access to key metrics, capital transactions, important documents and reports. Yardis Investment Suite creates better value for investors, which leads to increased investor confidence. The Investment Manager product specifically improves communication between you and your investors, automates the subscription agreement process and provides easy access to performance metrics. The system is available wherever, whenever access is required.

Managing the relationships with existing and prospective investors is a vital part of growing any investment business and raising capital. Yardi Investment Manager provides a platform that makes communicating with current and prospective investors more efficient, easier and error-free.

Cohen Asset Managements investor relations staff can log into Yardi Investment Manager and see the online tools their investors are using, deals they are involved in, contact information, returns, distributions and other information. Scott McGinness, principal and chief financial officer, shared: By being able to deliver information when its needed, we dont have to follow up with the investor later, which is easier on both parties.

For MG Properties Group, a single spreadsheet reported contained as many as 450 tabs. Having the right technology gives you the ability to produce better net operating income, which in turn creates better value for the property and for your investors, as well, said Joe Anfuso, CFO. With Yardis solutions, they are now delivering statements, capital calls, distribution notices and other information online and via mobile device.

You increase investor confidence by giving them information they can be confident is correct, Anfuso said.

Organizations benefit from a single connected tool that helps:

Yardi Investment Manager is a single source of truth for investor and investment information. Provide access to portfolio and property metrics directly to investors. Improve fundraising for new investment opportunities with existing or prospective investors. With an integrated solution, you eliminate the need for disparate systems and manual transfer of data. This allows you to provide timely access to information to your investors. Onboarding is also streamlined to provide a quick and easy transition for investors into your platform.

To be able to log in to Investment Manager and see what trusts or entities a client has invested with, what actual investments those are in, and the returns theyre receiving has been incredible. I cant put a price on it, said McGinness.

By easily compiling and communicating accurate information, Yardi Investment Manager strengthens investor relationships with superior service, as it did for Cohen Asset Management, allowing the company to maintain a lean organization. We get a lot of compliments from investors about our service, and Investment Manager is a major reason for that, McGinness added.

In addition to investment and property metrics, Yardi Investment Manager makes it easy to publish reports, tax documents, subscription agreements and more to investors through an online branded portal. This allows your investors self-service access to information. Since the portal can take on your companys personalized branding, it will offer a customized, highly professional experience for investors. They receive automatic alerts and notifications when new documents have been published and secure access to new investment opportunities in a virtual data room setting.

Yardi Investment Manager provides access to investor and investment information on any device. It makes it easy to find and review every piece of information you need so you can have informed discussions with your team and your investors on:

Yardi Investment Manager is a complete solution that brings investing partners together and instills investor confidence. Provide access to reports and detailed documentation so your investors feel an increased sense of connection and value with their partnership. Yardi Investment Manager can be implemented as a standalone solution or connected with powerful property management software, Yardi Voyager or Breeze Premier. Adapt the system alongside your growing accounting needs with Yardi Investment Accounting.

Overall, youll improve efficiency and boost visibility into investor activity and investment metrics, making portfolio oversight simpler than ever.

Download a Yardi Investment Manager brochure, or click here for more information.

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Using Technology to Increase Investor Confidence - The Real Deal