Tag Archives: In Conversation With

Published: Monday January 09 2017The development of deep learning AI programmes allows robots to emulate back-up staff in financial institutions, says leading computer scientist Qiang Yang – but they will not completely replace human decision-making.In many financial institutions, expert advisors rely on trading data, company reports and news stories to detect minute market signals and provide clients with investment recommendations. Their work is often supported by teams of interns who...

Published: Friday January 06 2017Antoine Blondeau, co-founder of a pioneering artificial intelligence company, believes that there are no limits on what can be achieved by scaling up and distributing AI on a truly vast scale.When Antoine Blondeau and three collaborators co-founded Sentient Technology in 2007, they had an ambitious vision. They wanted to help solve some of the world’s most complex problems by harnessing the world’s computer capacity to develop artificial intelligence on a...

Published: Tuesday January 03 2017Edgar van Tuyll van  Serooskerken, head of Quantitative Strategies at Pictet Wealth Management, explains how Pictet uses machine learning for two purposes: first, to hunt for profitable investment opportunities; and second, to search for patterns in big data that are similar to those of past periods.For the first use, machine learning can sift through the mass of data we now have on the past prices of assets in various classes, on company performance and on...

Published: Saturday December 31 2016Robots used to be separated from people because of safety concerns, but Professor Antonio Bicchi of the Italian Institute of Technology and Pisa University believes that a new generation of lightweight, soft robots will safely interact with humans in everyday life.The robots that play an essential role in many industries today are rigid and heavy, their mechanical and electronic components programmed by humans to be very accurate in what they do. But as...

Published: Thursday December 29 2016The MIT scientist, co-author of the bestselling book on The Second Machine Age, discusses the impact of digital technologies on work, the economy and society, and how human beings should adapt as the pace of change accelerates.What led you to set up the Initiative on the Digital Economy at MIT’s business school?My colleague Erik Brynjolfsson and I co-founded the Initiative because we felt that there was a need to study how technological progress was...

Published: Thursday October 06 2016Born in Brescia in 1963, Piero Gandini looked to be an unlikely candidate to succeed his father as head of Flos, Italy’s leading designer lighting producer. He describes his teenage years as a wild time, in which his school attendance was irregular and he devoted his life to socialising with his friends. Today, however, he is CEO of the family company, working with many of the world’s greatest designers to create innovative lamps sold across the globe. ‘My...

Published: Tuesday September 06 2016Read full article from Pictet Report hereCaroline Reyl, head of Pictet Premium Brand Fund, on megatrends in premium brandsPremium brands have proved to be profitable long-term investments, offering strong revenue growth, superior operating margins and robust balance sheets over the long term. There are four fundamental megatrends behind their success in driving returns, whether it be in food, drinks, cosmetics, hotels or autos.The polarisation of demand....

Published: Tuesday September 06 2016PDF version of this article available hereWith almost 300 years of history, Rémy Martin is one of the world’s leading cognacs, selling 24 million bottles a year to consumers in Europe, North America and Asia. In 1990–91, it joined forces with a much younger premium spirit — the orange-flavoured liqueur first sold by the Cointreau brothers in 1875. The merged Rémy Cointreau group also owns a range of other spirits, including Mount Gay rum, Metaxa brandy and...

Published: Tuesday August 30 2016When Ermenegildo Zegna founded a wool mill in 1910, he had just four looms which he had bought from his father. He located his business in Trivero in the Alpine foothills of Piedmont where the mountain water has only faint mineral traces and makes cloth that is soft and easy to work. Aged just 18, his aim was to make the most beautiful fabrics in the world – and local people saw him as either a dreamer or a madman. But Zegna fabrics quickly became one of...

Published: Thursday August 25 2016According to Olivier Creed, Créateur Parfumeur of The House of Creed, becoming a perfume-maker is not something that can be learnt or invented. You have to have it in your blood, he says – and as the sixth- generation descendant of the founder of the Paris-based perfume house, he should know. He worked with his father James Henry Creed to learn the trade, and his 36-year-old son Erwin has already contributed to the creation of new fragrances in preparation...