Avanci has signed a patent license agreement with Volvo Cars. Avanci is an online marketplace that connects wireless technology patent owners with companies developing products and systems based on the Internet of Things (IoT) that are looking for new wireless technologies.

Volvo Cars become the 14th auto brand to sign with Avanci. This agreement gives Volvo Cars a license to use all the 2G, 3G, and 4G essential patents put up on the Avanci marketplace by 36 patent owners, as well as the patents of new patent owners who join Avanci in the future.

Commenting on the development, Kasim Alfalahi, founder and CEO of Avanci, said, “We are very pleased to have Volvo Cars, one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world and a leader in connectivity, as a licensee.” He also mentioned that over-all participation in Avanci had doubled in 2019, and the simplicity, efficiency, and predictability of Avanci allowed licensees and patent owners to both share technology as well as work on developing new technology.

Traditionally auto firms would have to spend money on R&D to develop new technology. If they wanted a patented technology, they would have to approach the patent owner and buy it from him. Avanci acts as a bridge between patent owners and companies. Thus, companies can access a range of innovations, and patent owners can access a range of companies. Companies can give real-world feedback to patent owners who can work further on their innovations to make it more compatible with real-life situations. The problems faced by saying a car maker may be different from those faced by a truck maker; thus, patent owners will get a chance to tailor their innovations for particular types of automobiles, which in turn will open up new industries for their innovations.

Pirelli has unveiled a smart tire called the Cyber Tyre, which can communicate with a 5G network, and pass on real-time information about the road conditions to both the car driver as well as the network. The car driver can take remedial action as per the data received. The 5G network will pass on the data to other car drivers in its vicinity. Thus, if there are big potholes on the road, water clogging, or snow-covered road, and even in pitch darkness, car drivers can get prior information about such risks before-hand and take corrective action. The smart tire can also transmit information about speed breakers so that speeding motorists can slow down their cars and prevent accidents.

The Cyber Tyre will be a boon for motorists who are clueless about the condition of roads they routinely use, after rains or snow. While corrective action can be taken for fog as the driver will not be able to see and hence, will naturally drive slowly, snow and rain are much trickier. Thus, prior real-time data can be very helpful in preventing accidents due to skidding and slipping of cars in rain and snow.

Pirelli collaborated on the Cyber Tyre project with Ericsson, Audi, Tim, Italdesign, and KTH. The team behind the Cyber Tyre recently gave a real-life demonstration of how a car equipped with the Cyber Tyre and connected to a 5G network passed on information about the water-filled street to the car behind it whose driver took corrective action to avoid the water.

Pirelli has claimed that the Cyber Tyre is the world’s first 5G enhanced ADAS service enabled tire.

The Cyber Tyre’s sensor will be upgraded to record several parameters like kilometers clocked, dynamic load, and to suggest corrective actions to avoid potential dangers like water-clogging or potholes.

In the future, the input from the Cyber Tyre will be processed by the car itself, which will recommend necessary changes in speed, etc. to the driver. It will greatly improve comfort and safety.

It is a well-known fact that banks in India are in trouble but it seems that they could be saved by e-commerce behemoths like Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart. The credit has dried up from banks all across the country and in such a situation; it is hard for any bank to survive for long. At the end of the day, credit is the lifeblood of a bank and also of a thriving economy. That being said, the small loans meant for online shopping for Indian customers located in villages, towns and even in large cities, are chugging along at a decent pace. The money disbursed by the banks for online purchases are small but the volumes could eventually be huge due to the rapidly growing appetite for online shopping in the country.

The Indian economy is currently week but the big festive season sales conducted by Amazon India and Walmart-owned Flipkart saw both companies report record sales. Despite not being at the level of China, the two companies recorded combined sales of $3 billion according to a leading consulting firm. In addition to that, another market research firm has estimated that the spending could actually hit $5 billion by October end. However, the most important thing to mention in this regard is the fact that as much as 70% of the transactions that took place during these discount periods were done through credit methods.

That is a key statistic and goes to show that the appetite for online shopping could eventually lead to a revival in banks. On the other hand, a large percentage of the purchases made on both Amazon and Flipkart were from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in the country. Moreover, the fact that these loans are often paid off within a short turnaround time makes it an excellent debt asset for the bank. Internet penetration is growing in India at a breakneck pace and that will further help in developing the customer base all across the nation. Notably, extending its operation further, Amazon has come up with a fulfillment center in Rugby, Warwickshire for which, it will soon be hiring locally.

One of the most important developments over the past half a decade or so has been the breakneck speed at which financial technology or Fintech has developed into one of the world’s most important industries. The scope of the industry is immense, and now many of the world’s biggest banks are taking notice of the sector, after being largely aloof to the transformational potential of Fintech for years. In a new development, British banking giant Standard Chartered has stated that its subsidiary SG Ventures is currently exploring options regarding Fintech investments in startups in the financial sector.

The bank is also looking for partners and co-investors in Africa and the Middle East, in order to invest $100 million in at least three such startups. The chief of SC Ventures, Alex Manson, stated that the fund does not want to invest a large chunk of money in one company and are instead looking to help three startups scale their businesses up steadily. As far as partners and co-investors are concerned, Standard Chartered is aware that the Fintech sector is ready for an explosion in the years to come and for a bank of its size, it is only natural for it to invest heavily in the sector. SG Venture has already met with potential clients and co-investors regarding the project, and Manson stated that the potential for growth in the Fintech space is substantial in the UAE.

SG Ventures was established by Standard Chartered with a view to gathering minority stakes in upcoming Fintech companies. The investments are made through the innovation investment fund, which has a corpus of $100 million, and Manson has stated that the entire amount is going to be invested by the end of next year. Nowadays, banks are looking to have a dominant presence in the digital services space, and the investments in the Fintech space is only going to rise in the years to come. In this regard, Standard Chartered is moving aggressively. Manson added,

I anticipate that at any point in time we will have 10 to 15 ventures in our portfolio [in different stages of growth]. But we are at an early stage of building that portfolio.