Economy

As we had all hoped, Covid-related conditions are generally improving, and quite rapidly in fact as infections and fatalities worldwide continue to decline with the arrival of Covid-19 vaccines.

As a leading internet technology company based in China, NetEase is dedicated to providing premium online services centred around innovative and diverse content, community, communication and commerce. NetEase develops and operates some of China’s most popular mobile and PC-client games. As of March 31, NetEase had over 100 mobile games offered in China and mobile games contributed 55% of its total revenues. In more recent years, NetEase has expanded into international markets including Japan and North America. Overseas games revenue presently accounts for approximately 10% of total online games revenue. In addition to its self-developed game content, NetEase partners with other leading game developers, such as Blizzard Entertainment and Mojang AB (a Microsoft subsidiary), to operate globally renowned games in China. Thanks to its digital activities, the company is more or less protected against the coronavirus crisis, and can even thrive on it as more people are obliged to stay at home.

MediaTek is the world’s 4th largest global fabless semiconductor company and powers more than 1.5 billion devices a year. It is a market leader in chipset technology for Smart TVs, Voice Assistant Devices (VAD), Android tablets, feature phones, Optical and Blu-ray DVD players. It’s the number two globally in mobile phones. The company’s products can be found in 20 % of homes globally and nearly 1 of every 3 mobile phones is powered by MediaTek.

Julius Baer recently published its first “Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report” that looks at the trends behind consumption patterns. Driven by a booming number of wealthy residents who are reshaping the global high-end market, Asia is now home to the three most expensive cities in the world. But as consumers worldwide begin to put sustainability in focus, the high-end market is set to undergo further transformation in the coming years.

At the end of 2018, Jair Bolsonaro was elected as the new president of Brazil. The election of Bolsonaro, sometimes called the “Trump of Brazil”, was seen as a shift to the far right and in fact one of the most radical political changes in decades. He certainly is a very controversial figure who exalted the country’s military dictatorship, advocated torture and threatened to destroy, jail or drive his political opponents into exile. Still, he managed to win the presidential elections by tapping into a deep well of resentment at the status quo in Brazil: a country whiplashed by rising crime and two years of political and economic turmoil. His promise was that he would change all of that and bring much needed change.

We recently came across data from the US National Science Board, highlighting what is called Science & Engineering Indicators 2020. It deals with the science & engineering articles that have been published around the world. Its latest data are for 2018 and these are the main takeaways...