The Knowledge to Decide

Over the past decade, Ethiopia has experienced an average economic growth rate of about 10%. Ethiopia is expected to grow by 8.5% in 2018, topping China’s projected growth of 6.5%. In recent times, the Ethiopian government has abandoned its 1970’s Communist ideology and put in place some basic reforms. They went on to build sturdy infrastructure and launch a successful industrial policy, calling to mind China’s own development pathway. The Chinese have contributed significantly to the building of Ethiopian infrastructure, with rail systems, buildings and dams. Will Ethiopia succeed in copying China’s development model? Read here more:  https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/ethiopias-strategic-cooperation-with-china/

Spire Singapore hosted its second Client Entertainment Night of the year. Our business associates and partners joined us for a dinner reception followed by the movie screening of Walt Disney Studios’ Christmas classic “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” – inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann’s tale. The movie’s main plot revolves around a key that the story’s protagonist Clara (Mackenzie Foy) needs to unlock a box with that holds a gift from her late mother leading her to the mysterious parallel world of Four Realms. She must retrieve the key and return harmony to the unstable world – travelling through the ominous Fourth Realm – home to the tyrant Mother Ginger – with the help of Philip (Jayden Fowora-Knight), a soldier she meets on the way. The highly anticipated movie, the sumptuous food and even better company made for a welcome break from the office. Read here more:  https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/events/spire-client-entertainment-night-november-2018/

The share of mobile games in China rose from 12% in 2011 to 63% in 2017. Will China become a global leader in mobile gaming? Lin Tianran, Senior Consultant at Spire Research and Consulting, shared her viewpoint in China Daily – Asia Weekly section on 3 September 2018. China established its presence on the global gaming stage by winning the first Esports championship in Jakarta at the 18th Asian Games. Esports is set to go further at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, where it will be acknowledged as an official medal sport. The growth potential in the gaming market is vast. There are approximately 500 million players in China. This community is seeing a shift to mobile games from PCs. A mobile device now makes everyone a potential gamer. Chinese tech giant Tencent is the top-earning publisher for mobile games, with 147 mobile games under its portfolio. Its famous title Arena of Valor raked in approximately USD2 billion in revenues in 2017. However, challeng...

The Indian government’s recent tweaking of the licensing policy for Electric Vehicles (EV) promises to address the infrastructure obstacle holding back the sector. The setting up of EV charging stations by the government would no longer require a license from the Ministry, paving the way for the faster construction of these stations. Earlier this year, Ola – the cab firm – initiated ‘Mission: Electric’ with plans to put 10,000 electric auto-rickshaws and e-rickshaws on Indian roads by 2019, a figure which is planned to mushroom to a million by 2021. Will government policies put India’s EV market on the global map? Read here more:  https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/india-pushes-electric-vehicles/

Computer games have traditionally been developed with men in mind. Sadia Bashir from Pakistan is breaking with this tradition. She is the owner of PixelArt Games Academy and a member of Forbes’ 30 under 30 for Asia 2018. Working towards bridging the gap between industry demand and education by providing training in video game development, Sadia has been in the field since she was 13 years old. Intel is also working towards the same goal as Sadia, having recently invested USD300 million towards gender diversity in the gaming sector. Will the gaming industry embrace gender diversity? Read here more:https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/breaking-gender-rules-through-video-gaming/