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DAY TWO OF HONG KONG INVESTOR SUMMIT TACKLES MEGATRENDS IMPACTING THE PLANET’S EIGHT BILLION CITIZENS
HONG KONG, Dec. 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The Future Investment Initiative PRIORITY Summit Hong Kong today reconvened leaders from finance and government for a second day to address global matters of concern to humanity.
One thousand global investors, policy makers, innovators and business leaders were joined by counterparts from across Asia to discuss ‘megatrends’ including the unstoppable rise of Asia as an economic power, the impact of technology on lifestyles and jobs, and the deployment of capital between diverse markets and economies.
The day began with a presentation by FII Institute CEO Richard Attias and COO Rakan Tarabzoni of the Priority Compass Report, a global survey of 53,000 people across 23 countries. The survey revealed a sharp drop of 20% worldwide in people’s overall satisfaction with their lives, with respondents reporting concerns over cost of living, loneliness, technology, and climate concerns. 65% of people in countries polled are worried about day-to-day living costs. Loneliness has leaped up the list of concerns, with 41% of Asia’s population reporting frequent feelings of loneliness. 55% of people worldwide are worried about access to affordable and accessible healthcare and climate concerns continue to deepen as 78% of people across the Global South are worried about pollution.
Laurence Moroney, Lead AI Advocate at Google addressed concerns about AI and the risk of biases emerging because of reliance on narrow English language datasets. Moroney pointed out that 60% of information on Web 2.0 is generated by bots.
He also argued that innovators in AI need to account for distinctive local cultural identities in the development of AI models and explained that Google’s Gemini is working to condense and preserve cultures into small models, allowing people to interact with, learn about, and preserve individual distinctive cultures.
A panel discussion on cost of living heard Jerry Li, Founder and Managing Partner eWTP Arabia Capital describe data as the new oil, a resource driving innovation and progress. The 120 zettabytes (120, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes) generated in 2023 is expected to increase by over 150% in 2025, to 181 zettabytes.
During a panel discussion on the future of work Edith Yeung of Race Capital suggested that AI will free people from doing the things that they do not want to do, freeing them for more meaningful activities. The average person will spend 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime.
Raymond Yuan, CEO & Chairman CTH Group pointed out synergies between blockchain and AI starting to emerge in healthcare, life sciences, as well as financial services. The global Blockchain Market size was estimated to be approximately $7.4 billion in 2022 and the global artificial intelligence market $428 billion.
A panel of leading Asian venture capitalists debated ways in which Asia can grow vibrant and successful startup ecosystems, with $22.3 billion invested in Asian startups between July and September 2023.
Discussing the impact of investment on longevity and ageing Joshua Fink, Founder Luma Group, explained that revolutionary regenerative medicine, inspired by Nobel Prize-winning research, can reverse cells to a pre-disease state, offering hope against genetic diseases.
His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan, Chairman, Saudi Esports Federation described the spectacular growth of gaming over the last 20 years at 12% per year. By the end of 2023 it is projected there will be 3.75 billion gamers in the world.
In a ‘titan of industry’ fireside chat with Sir Martin Sorrell, Richard Attias and Sorrell surveyed the global media sector, worth $950 billion, with digital projected to comprise 70% by 2025. On the future of platforms such as TikTok Sorrell explained that with young people’s views being shaped by new forms of social media, issues surrounding data safety and privacy will continue. Discussing ‘hyper personalization’ he pointed out that Coca Cola is thinking about the potential for AI to target individual messages to consumers.
Rakan Tarabzoni, COO, FII Institute presented the summit with FII’s inclusive ESG tool, launched to help companies in emerging markets improve sustainability and help investment capital find current and future performance leaders. The tool, which has been made publicly available will address biases inbuilt in other ESG methods and may unlock a $5.4 trillion funding gap of investments into emerging markets.
In the final session HE Kjell Magne Bondevik former Prime Minister of Norway and President, Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Right declared himself convinced that businesses that take more seriously the concerns of common people will be the businesses that will thrive in the future.
The FII Institute has worked with HKEX and consulting firm Deloitte to offset the carbon emissions generated by the summit, by purchasing credits on the HKEX Core Climate exchange, exemplifying a shared conviction that purposeful markets and business can serve humanity as a force for good.
During the summit BOC International signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with SPIC International Finance (Hong Kong) Company Ltd. on green finance, bond investment and issuance, and global capital management. The signing was witnessed by Mr. Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of Hong Kong SAR.
The summit, held in partnership with Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), took place at HKEX Connect Hall.
The FII PRIORITY Summit Hong Kong continues conversations held in Riyadh last month. It is part of an ongoing global programme of summits, to be held next year in Miami (February) Brazil (June) and Africa (September))
Richard Attias, CEO of the Future Investment Initiative Institute said:
“I should like to thank Hong Kong Government, the Hong Kong Exchange and the people of this fabulous city for the welcome they have shown us this week. As the world charts its forward course we must be mindful at every turn of the issues that matter. Whether it’s cost of living, developing new modes of payment, new social media platforms, or poverty, it is investment and innovation that can make the difference. The investors and innovators here this week have taken these issues seriously and the conversations and hard work will continue as we strive for a better tomorrow.”
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Email: Media@fii-institute.org
About FII Institute
The Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute is a global non-profit foundation driven by data with an investment arm and one agenda: Impact on Humanity. Global and inclusive, we foster great minds from around the world and turn ideas into real-world solutions in four critical areas: Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Robotics, Education, Healthcare and Sustainability.
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