Australian business strategies - disruptive digital technology

The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) completed its annual Directors Update series in the last quarter of 2016 providing an opportunity to hear what strategic priorities, challenges and forward focus, company directors should monitor in the year ahead. Of particular importance was the high level of attention paid to disruptive digital technology and what is termed the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution'  (best described as the increasing and rapid convergence of digital, biological and physical technologies).

Examples of the new technologies include:

• sensor technology and the internet of things: such as drones, satellites and home objects,
• big data and real-time mobile access to information: such as online advice and rating of health providers, wearable in health insurance,
• platform businesses which directly link providers and consumers such as Airbnb and Uber,
• cognitive computing and artificial intelligence (IA),
• automation and robotics: driverless trucks and cars,
• virtual reality (VR) technologies which use interactive computer graphics to create user perceptions of virtual worlds. A corresponding development is augmented reality (AR) technologies which can be applied through a smartphone,
• advanced machine learning (AML) which enables computers to discover insights and patterns from data using sophisticated algorithms,
• industrial analytics which use sensor data across a range of applications to improve efficiency and responsiveness.
• blockchain distributed database technology which creates the capability to record transactions between parties without third party involvement.

All of these changes however are moving faster than adjustments to the governance and oversight functions necessary to provide confidence to the wider community that sufficient safeguards exist. For example, privacy concerns and protection of personal information remains vulnerable with the new data sharing. Risk management systems currently used are poorly equipped to measure and mitigate business risks where the systems themselves are not fully understood. Related to this aspect, the level of expertise required to understand the functionality and operational impacts of the new technologies is not widely held by a large number of people. In short, these are but a few of the main concerns yet available solutions remain limited. The reliance to date, on proof-of-concept appraisals prior to adoption of a new technology is an insufficient process and Australian businesses would do well to devise strategies which encompass a greater risk evaluation framework.  

Mission to Mars - an unreachable goal for the forseeable future

Mars composite image - (c) Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars, the planet which has conjured many a science fiction movie and not a few novels. Seemingly close, the nearest planetary neighbour to Earth is nonetheless very distant to this planet and travel over such a large distance poses both technical challenges and extreme health risks for humans attempting the voyage.

In terms of orbit around the Sun, Mars is always 48.3 million or more kilometres away from the Earth which equates to around 140 times further than the moon. In terms of transit time, this distance would mean around 210 days to travel from the Earth to Mars depending on the best available launch window and capability in velocity based on the existing propulsion systems or those in the design stages. Once at Mars, a mission team would need to wait around 496 or so days before being able to commence a return flight to Earth.

What sort of space vehicle would be able to both propel the pay load safely to Mars and be able to sustain a flight crew during transit to the planet ? It would need to have sufficient speed to cover the distance with a size and scale to include the necessary life support functions including air and water to sustain the crew. Existing fuel burning engines would not suffice due to the amount of fuel which would need to be carried and a solar powered vehicle would be slow moving indeed. Mounting a nuclear engine on a manned space vehicle carries its own multi-level high risks.

The technology to reach Mars is not insurmountable however the physical health ramifications for astronauts may yet pose an almost impassable barrier. Existing data from Moon missions, Skylab and the International Space Station have demonstrated the punishing effect of long term exposure to weightlessness  on the human body - bones waste away at a rate of one percent of bone mass per month; fluid can collect behind eyeballs and cause blurred vision; radiation from solar flares and cosmic rays (which are high energy particles travelling at close to light speed) pose a direct threat to DNA and human brain cells. These are only the known factors as already identified with potentially many more.

So Mars travel remains a dream at the moment. NASA and private companies such as SpaceX have the intention to reach the red planet but for the now the only visitors will remain remote mobile robotic devices scanning the landscape for, as yet, undetected discoveries.

Strata at the base of Mount Sharp, Mars: (c) NASA Mars curiosity rover

                                                     

2017 - A new year but continuing and increasing challenges

2017 beckons as the end of 2016 draws near. Many of the challenging issues of 2016 will carry through into the new year in areas such as the economy, foreign affairs, terrorism, national identity and disillusionment with traditional politics. The ongoing baseline issue of the environment, climate change and energy needs will continue to pose an extraordinary and existential threat to all of the planet as it has for the past two decades.

In economic terms, the world's overall GDP movement remains patchy with small but incremental growth in the United States, continued slowing expansion in China and a flat line in Europe and Japan. South America continues to experience hard economic conditions and the glut of oil has led to falling revenues for producers in the Gulf. There is little insight into the impact of the United Kingdom exiting the European Union (Brexit) or the influence of Donald Trump in the United States until he takes office from January 2017 onwards. In many respects, it is a watching game.

In terms of foreign affairs and terrorism, the war in Syria and Iraq will progress until one side is finally victorious. The only certainty is the eventual defeat of the Islamic State/Daesh group. All other scenarios are impossible to predict as most professional military and foreign relations commentators have reported.

Traditional political parties will continue to lose support if they operate on a business-as-usual basis. Across the long standing democracies, large segments of society are dissatisfied with the responsiveness and conduct with many of the ruling elites and the political class in general. Elections in 2017 will show whether this is now an established situation or merely a short-lived transit protest. It will also be a watching game.

Wherever you are, all the best for 2017.

Christmas 2016

Christmas - a time when religious and national leaders express their good wishes and desire for a better world, often couched in terms of peace, health and hope for the coming year. The choice of December 25 is associated with the birth of Jesus, the central figure in the Christian faith and part of the Holy Trinity of  Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  The actual date of birth of Jesus is unknown and hence the choice of 25 December originates from the 4th Century AD through the Western Christian Church and recorded in the Gregorian calendar. The Easter Christian Church uses the Julian calendar which would place the date at January 7, however there is little actual disagreement on the date itself. Through the mechanism of the 12 days of Epiphany both the Eastern and Western Churches are, in any case, linked.  The origin of the the use of the 25th December may also be more an influence of the pagan Romans who used this date to acknowledge the start of the Winter solstice. During the early period of the Christian Church, there was various attempts at over-running existing Roman festivals which occured at year-end thus creating an early form of spin doctoring and brand message creation.

Wherever you may be, happy holidays.

Exhibition review - Nude: art from the Tate Collection - Art Gallery of NSW

Pablo Picasso
Nude woman in a red armchair

(Femme nue dans un fauteuil rouge) 1932
oil paint on canvas

For this year's major Summer exhibition, the Art Gallery of NSW has partnered with the Tate Gallery in London to bring a selection of over 100 works representing the nude image over two centuries of art. The exhibition is titled, not surprisingly, Nude: art from the Tate collection.

The exhibition’s main highlight, placed centre-stage is Auguste Rodin’s sculpture The kiss 1901-04 which is being displayed for the first time outside of Europe. Other works of note include Pierre Bonnard’s The bath 1925, Picasso’s Nude woman in a red armchair 1932 (very standard abstractive Picasso), Sylvia Sleigh’s Paul Rosano reclining 1974, Ron Mueck’s Wild man 2005 (as with most Mueck works it's an enormous semi life-like sculpture) and Rineke Dijkstra’s Julie, Den Haag, Netherlands, February 29 1994.

The exhibition is themed in nine rooms in the Gallery with titles such as The Historical Nude, The Private Nude, The Modern Nude, Real and Surreal Bodies, Paint as Flesh and so on. The titles of each segment predominantly correspond to periods of time demonstrating the evolution of the nude through different art interpretations and representations. Given the scale and depth of the Tate collection, this is a relatively small, thin veneer selection of works of major artists worldwide who have used the nude human form.  Although much lauded, Rodin's sculpture, the kiss, is quite underwhelming, as quietly whispered by many members of the Art Gallery of NSW Foundation at a private viewing. Its more representative of the general physical movement of a man and woman kissing whilst in the thralls of an embrace but an awe inspiring sculpture it is not.

The exhibition runs from 5 November 2016 to 5 February 2017.

Donald J Trump's America - 10 reasons why Americans should think about moving to..... Australia

Donald J Trump  - President-elect of the United States

With the election of Donald Trump to be the 45th President of the United States, its understandable that many Americans may be considering where they may wish to spend the next few years. The Canadian immigration website crashed in the first few hours of the election result, but there is another option available and that is - Australia. There are ten good reasons to think about moving to Australia if you're an American of good heart and sound mind -

1.  Australia's political system is understandable to Americans. We have two Houses of Parliament for our National Government - the House of Representatives and the Senate. In fact, this was based on the US system and Congress which we copied. Our national capital, Canberra, was designed by an American, Walter Burley Griffin. We have States and State Governments, just like the US, only smaller and less crazy. 
2. Our voting system is compulsory and if you don't vote, you get a fine. None of this voter registration stuff and the need to get people out to vote. We have a very high turn-out and the silent majority can vote, all the time, so absolute surprises are rare. 
3. You can own a gun here but we have gun control laws - there is no Constitutional Right-to-Bear Arms and assault rifles are banned. You can have a firearm but you're on a register and the police can find you.
4. We have a public health care system called Medicare which is the envy of many people in the US. If you work here and pay taxes, you also pay a contribution called a levy to fund Medicare but everyone is covered. The Democrats in the US wanted the Australian system and even used it as an example in Congress but were unable to get Republican support.
5. We use the metric system like most of the rest of the World. The US does not, so you would need to learn how to measure things differently.
6. We have Australian Dollars which are similar to the US Greenback currency.
7. We have our own football codes and occasionally watch American football but it's not as big here. Our national summer sport is cricket which also uses a bat and a ball similar to baseball - except our bat has a flat surface and the batters don't have to run around a diamond shaped field.
8. We have public transport systems of rail, light rail and buses. Many US cities have similar services but many cut back on this public spending but we think its essential to have it.
9. We have national parks just like the US. In fact, Australia was the second country after the US to establish national parks and protect our flora and fauna.
10. Our official language is English, not so different to American English but its our own version with its own local words. Not too hard to learn

So there it is..... ten reasons why Australia is a good option if a Trump America does not appeal. Our politicians can be a bit silly but nothing compared to the parties with an elephant and a donkey as their logos.

Film Review - Sully

Chesley Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) and  Jeffrey Skiles (Aaron Eckhart)

The circumstances of the landing of US Airways Flight 1549 onto the surface of the Hudson River in New York City following the loss of both engines captured public imagination and created aircraft piloting history. This film directed by Clint Eastwood with Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart in the roles as the Captain, Chesley Sullenberger (Sully) and the First Officer, Jeffrey Skiles provides the step-by-step events as they unfolded in the air, the actions taken by the flight crew to save the passengers on the failing aircraft and the consequent inquiry  by the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB).

On 15 January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 left LaGuardia Airport on route to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. 3 minutes into the flight, the aircraft collided with a flock of Canadian geese disabling both jet engines. With no engine power, limited altitude and no airports in safe distance, Sully decides the glide the aircraft and execute a controlled ditch into the Hudson River. The aircraft design and Sully's expert piloting achieve the almost impossible with an on-water landing without the loss of any crew and passengers. During the following NTSB investigation, multiple computer simulations with experienced pilots reacting under the same circumstances, all crashed when attempting to land at any airport thus confirming Sully's decision to risk ditching into the Hudson River as the only viable option. Successful water landings are, in fact, virtually unknown in aviation history.

Tom Hanks convincingly portrays the quiet, experienced Captain Sullenberger with Aaron Eckhart as the younger but equally professional First Officer Jeff Skiles. The calmness of the flight crew and focus on landing the aircraft successfully was confirmed by cockpit voice recordings which were presented at the NTSB investigation hearing. The live action sequences are augmented  by actual footage of the aircraft itself taken by security cameras on the shoreline and witnesses along the Hudson River as the event occured. Eastwood makes good use of this historical footage merged with the recreated version.

The film has been an exceptional success for Clint Eastwood having the biggest cinema and box office debut in North America and second largest debut world-wide in Eastwood's long career. For Tom Hanks, the film marked the third most successful live-action role he has had career wise. In terms of production costs and investment return, the total cost of $60 million has been more than surpassed by the box office takings which exceed $177.4 million - much to the pleasure of Warner Bros and Village Roadshow.  The film was shot using IMAX cameras and released in both IMAX and standard cinema screen versions.

Sculpture by the Sea 2016 - Exhibition Review

Travelling Bag - Yumin Jing

Sydney's annual sculpture exhibition, Sculpture by the Sea has made is Spring appearance inviting the public to appreciate the dimensional aspects and conveyance of meaning through this art form.

Adaptation - Nihariki Hukku

2016 is its 20th year and perhaps fittingly this year was the first time which the natural elements posed a risk to the exhibition. Unexpected King tides swept onto Tamarama beach and inundated those works located on the beach damaging three and dislodging others from their location. The result was three sculptures were so badly damaged that they had to be withdrawn with  only images on signage remaining where they had once stood. These were not the only ones however which were damaged and other works located on rock platforms close to the seaside also had to be removed.

27 countries are represented this year with entries from India, Germany, Sweden, China, Norway, Italy, Denmark, Brazil, Japan, England, the USA, South Korea, Netherlands, Slovakia, Serbia to name a few. Australia was well represented with roughly half of the entries sourced from this country.  Notably two entries were from sculptors who have passed away. The exhibition is comfortable, predictable and the forms well-executed, however it was safe territory all up. As a free exhibition it is always worth the trip to walk along the coastal path between Tamarama and Bondi Beach.

Manifesto - video installation with Cate Blanchett - Art Gallery of NSW

German artist Julian Rosefeldt has created a series of video installations with Australian actor Cate Blanchett to give visual and audio meaning to a number of the most famous and provocative writings by artists of the modern era. Through a series of monologues edited and reassembled by Rosefeldt, the videos draw on a collage of artists’ manifestos, including declarations by futurists, dadaists and situationists, collected writings by individual artists, architects, dancers and filmmakers such as Sol LeWitt, Yvonne Rainer and Jim Jarmusch.

Blanchett performs in all of these video installations through appearing as 13 different personas including a school teacher, a newsreader, a factory worker, a socialite and a homeless man  exploring the power and urgency of these historical words in the modern world. The monologues are delivered in different settings and locations linked to the identity of each character - from a power plant,  a school room, a manufacturing plant, a television newsroom, a cocktail party lounge room and a family dining room. In one video Blanchett's actual husband, playwright Andrew Upton, features together with their children. Whether intentional or not, Rosefeldt has created a series of parodies of varying strengths and relevance creating an almost bleak and one dimensional of images accentuated only by the absurdity of some of Blanchett's portrayals.  

Manifesto has been  commissioned by the Art Gallery of NSW, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin the Sprengel Museum, Hannover, and Ruhrtriennale – Festival of the Arts.

The exhibition will be screening until January 2017.

Cirque du Soleil - Kooza - Sydney 2016 - Review

acrobatic performers from Cirque du Soliel - Kooza - Sydney 2016

Kooza from Canada's Cirque du Soleil, currently on tour in Sydney, is one of the performing company's more intimate and old-school style circus acrobatic shows. The Big Top (often referred to as the Grande Chapiteau) is smaller with the seating brought forward around the 260 degree circular stage, the performers extending their activities to aisles closest to and around the audience. The clowns, often used a diversions around set, scene and act changes, are half the show, bringing a stronger interaction with the audience. This is intentional as Kooza's creators are seeking to 'create a scenographic environment that offers true proximity to the audience and where danger is palpable' combined with the two circus traditions of acrobatic performance and the art of clowning.

Initially created in 2007 by David Shiner, Kooza is a strong performance and visual show offering intensity and skill in smaller format than many of Cirque du Soleil's conceptually massive spectacles. The clown characters - The Innocent, the King, the Trickster, the Heimloss, the Obnoxious Tourist and his Bad Dog appear throughout with earthy, sometimes rude but genuine humour (The Bad Dog even managing to lift up his canine leg and do a fake urination on unsuspecting audience members).  The acrobatic acts are superb with many highlights including the lithe Mongolian contortionists in duet; the double decker hire wire act (they ride bicycles along the hire wire and have a fencing match); the jaw-dropping Wheel of Death, the solo chair balance act and the blurred hoola hoop routine to name a few. 

As with all Cirque du Soleil Shows, the custom created sounds are provided by a live 8 piece band with perfectly matched music to each moment of the show.  The set design for Kooza, includes a travelling tower called the Bataclan which moves artists in and out of the spotlight, serves as the bandstand and has two flanking curved staircases. A giant fabric structure call the Void with painted motifs of leaves compliments  the Bataclan with additional fabric sails which opena nd close around the tower. This is a clever and inspired set design of a high order which enables the audience to focus easily on the 50 odd performers on stage.

Cirque du Soleil have produced a masterful show which will be in Sydney until November 2016.

Ethics - the professions and business - who do people trust ?

Extract Table from Governance Institute Ethics Index 2016

The release of research commissioned by the Governance Institute of Australia confirms the distrust which the wider community have with a number of key sectors of society. Overall, according to the survey sample, 84% rate ethics as important to a well functioning society however Australian society was rated as being only 'somewhat ethical' showing that there is an perceived ethical deficit.

The survey had a number of key findings of note -

• The ethical score by broad sector is shown in the extract Table (above) demonstrating a high level of confidence in health and education while at the opposite end of the measurement, a very low confidence in the ethical behaviour of large corporations and the media.
• Within the key business sectors, real estate agents have the lowest ethical score with 1 in every 2 people stating that they are unethical. In contrast farmers and agricultural businesses are perceived as being the most ethical.
• Australians rate the ABC as the most ethical media platform.
• The banking, finance and insurance sector has the lowest ethics score amongst all sectors with a particular focus on executive salaries and bonuses, followed by bribery/corruption and poor treatment of customers.
• The top 5 ethical issues in business were rated as: corruption (69%), company tax avoidance (61%), misleading and deceptive advertising (59%), workplace bullying (50%) and discrimination and executive pay (both at 49%).

How was this sample constructed ? 

• n= 1,001
• Gender: 50% male and 50% female
• Work status: 15% were students, 59% working, 9% home duties, 9% retired, 6% not employed
• Location:  21% from Sydney, 19% from Melbourne, 10% from Brisbane, 8% from Perth, 6% from Adelaide with the rest from around Australia
• Age: mainly 22-35yrs: 22%, 36-45 yrs: 22%, 46-55 yrs: 22%, 56-65 yrs: 18%,
• Education: mainly trade certificate: 28%, Bachelor degree: 23% and Post graduate: 11% 
• Household status: mainly single 35% couple with children: 25%  couple without children: 25%  

This survey dovetails with similar research by the Lowy Institute which rates public perception about the professions - on a consistent annual basis it shows an almost identical set of results. The fact that there is a continuing trend of distrust with the same sectors year-by-year should send a clear message that change is needed. Yet, none appears to occur.

An executive summary of the Governance Institute's research can be found at this link:

Governance Institute of NSW - Ethics Index

Blockchain - coming to a database near you

Blockchain is the latest development in secure database and transaction systems, operating on the principle that the recording and storage of every transaction only occurs through a consensus mechanism across the connected computer network. Blockchain is best described as a distributed database system in contrast to the conventional, centralised systems with which we, the consumers, are generally aware.  In simple terms blockchain operates as follows -

• data, for example a single transaction, is encrypted as it is stored,
• access to that data is also encrypted,
• each block within the system is only generated once multiple parties (best described as nodes) reach a consensus and validate the data, 
• as a distributed database, multiple copies of data exist across multiple computer systems which together create the peer-to-peer network,
• the loss of one node means that Blockchain can survive as the master copy is shared via its distributed design,
• it is impossible to alter historical records meaning the data points are immutable. This is one of the strengths of the system as its means that in order to attack the ledger, simultaneous attacks would need to be launched on all copies.

Blockchain's development has been centred on a consortium called R3 which comprises 45 banks including J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Other major non-banking corporations now involved include, not surprisingly, Microsoft, American Express, Visa, Mastercard, NASDAQ, NYSE. At the moment blockchain is used for making international financial transfers however the intention is to use it for online transactions. Apps are already being trialled for music distribution, sports betting and a new type of financial auditing. Proposed expansion of the platform will include services such as smart contracts, crowdfunding and auctions.

So what are the weaknesses of this system ? There are quite a few, for example in the legal and regulatory sphere, data privacy (being a foremost one), cyber security (albeit the possibility of breaching the network if not able to corrupt it) and cost-benefits are not fully established. The very fact that large banks like the system, is perhaps reason enough for the wider community to be wary.

Antibiotic resistance - the continuing threat to human health remains potent

Research from The Economist rates the most common biological threats

The 20th Century was a period of considerable advancement in medical science, not the least due to the development of effective treatment regimes of antibiotics to both treat disease and to provide a range of protective measures as a almost routine part of surgical procedures. In the 21st Century, this appears to be progressively unravelling.

Increasingly multi-drug resistant and extensively drug resistant  strains of  bacteria are materialising outside of the hospital systems where they already pose a direct threat to patient health and safety. In the United States, the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) produced a list of 18 of the drug-resistant microbes which threaten human health three years ago (as displayed above). Yet progress with new forms of drugs to counteract this threat is painfully slow.  Commonly referred to as 'superbugs', these new generation bacteria pose a threat for surgical procedures such as hip replacements and increasingly for patients with suppressed immune systems due to cancer chemotherapies or organ transplants. The risk is also tangible for Caesarean sections in childbirth. 

The impact of drug resistant bacteria is measurably high. Cases of sepsis in the United States almost doubled from 2000 to 2008  due to the emergence of MRSA, a variety of  Staphyloccus aureas. It cannot be killed by methicillin, one of the most potent current versions of penicillin. MRSA is a major  problem in Australian hospitals and can be just as lethal. Neisseria gonorrhoeae is another bacteria which has now developed resistance to penicillin, tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones, cephalosporins. The only treatment option necessitates the use of a combination of ceftriaxone, a cephalospoorin and an azaline to have any effect.

So what are the causes of superbugs ? The primary reasons are twofold: overprescription or inappropriate prescription of drugs for patients who have a condition which either does not require this level of intervention or will not respond to it (poor use of the drugs by not following the required regime is a related problem); and misuse of antibiotics by farmers for animal husbandry which eventually leads to the drugs entering watercourses and into the soil.

The solutions are simple involving predominantly changes in practice and behaviour both in the health sector (clinicians and patients) and in primary industries for the animal husbandry methods used by farmers. Old habits remain hard to break but without resolute action at this point and the time taken to find new therapies, the medium to long future is looking much bleaker.

Australia has made considerable progress with managing the use of antibiotics in animals than elsewhere in the world. A report from Adelaide University in June 2016 found that  Australian pets and livestock had low rates of resistance to critically important drugs compared with higher rates around the world. This particularly refers to drugs used to treat serious or complicated infections. The Adelaide University study was based on isolettes obtained from veterinary diagnostic laboratories from across Australia providing a very solid base of evidence.

The link to the article is below:

The Economist - When the drugs don't work