She Loves Tech, Monaco loves her

A Singaporean who promotes equal access and opportunities for women in technology has been recognised with the Monte Carlo Woman of the Year special award in Monaco.

Leanne Robers, the founder of ‘She Loves Tech’, was presented with the award by Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco in honour of her career dedicated to supporting women-led and women-impact tech start-ups.

This year’s event was themed ‘The Global and Transversal Impact of Digitalisation and Technology in Society’, sponsored by the Wallgreens Boots Alliance, and supported by Visit Monaco, the Monaco Government Tourist and Convention Authority.

The award ceremony honoured three remarkable women entrepreneurs who have made a significant contribution in their industries through their innovative use of technology.

Leanne Robers with her Woman of the Year Special Award statuette, alongside Princess Charlene and Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Along with Leanne Robers, other winners were associate professor Zimi Zawacha from Italy, who was awarded the Monte-Carlo ‘Woman of the Year’ 2023, and Manila Di Giovanni from Monaco, the world’s youngest female tech CEO, who received the Prix Monte-Carlo ‘Woman of the Year’.

“It was an incredible opportunity to speak at the Monaco Women Forum and share the ‘She Loves Tech’ story with everyone,” Robers said.

‘She Loves Tech’ has been on a mission to create a supportive ecosystem for female innovators by organising the world’s largest start-up competition and accelerator programme dedicated to women-led and women-impact tech start-ups.

More than US$300 million has been raised in funding since inception in 2015.

Monaco women’s forum keeps the spotlight on green economy

Alongside the Monte-Carlo Woman of the Year awards, the Monaco Women’s Forum brought together experts to discuss how digitalisation and technology can accelerate the transition to a green economy and a near-zero cost society.

With a focus on cyber security, health technology, finance and digital assets, and a virtual economy for smart city development, the event provided key insights into the impact of digitalisation.

The panel discussion was moderated by Maria Betti, head of the IAEA Marine Environment Laboratories, and included speakers such as Singapore’s Leanne Robers, the founder of ‘She Loves Tech’, who highlighted the difficulties women face when entering the technology industry.

Robers also shared her dedication to promoting equal access and opportunities for women in technology.

Other panellists speaking at the forum included:

• Domitilla Benigni, CEO & COO Elettronica, president of Cy4Gate (cyber-security), president of Women 4cyber
• Maria-Teresa Minotti, director of PayPal, Italy
• Dr. Veronica Iacovacci, bio-robotics Institute Sant’Anna, Italy
• Manila di Giovanni, founder and director of DWorld, Monaco
• Laurent Marochini, head of innovation, Société́ Générale, Luxembourg

Journalists be alarmed: AI wants your job

Artificial intelligence (AI) could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs, a report by investment bank Goldman Sachs says.

But don’t despair that you could soon be out of work –journalists and taxi drivers excepted – because A1 but may also mean new jobs and a productivity boom.

And it could eventually increase the total annual value of goods and services produced globally by 7%, the BBC reports.

Generative AI, able to create content indistinguishable from human work, is “a major advancement”, the Goldman Sachs report says.

The report notes AI’s impact will vary across different sectors – 46% of tasks in administrative and 44% in legal professions could be automated but only 6% in construction 4% in maintenance, it says.

“The only thing I am sure of is that there is no way of knowing how many jobs will be replaced by generative AI,” Carl Benedikt Frey, future-of-work director at the Oxford Martin School, Oxford University, told BBC News.

“What ChatGPT does, for example, is allow more people with average writing skills to produce essays and articles.

“Journalists will therefore face more competition, which would drive down wages, unless we see a very significant increase in the demand for such work.

“Consider the introduction of GPS technology and platforms like Uber. Suddenly, knowing all the streets in London had much less value – and so incumbent drivers experienced large wage cuts in response, of around 10% according to our research.

“The result was lower wages, not fewer drivers.”

Chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank Torsten Bell told BBC News, “all firm predictions should be taken with a very large pinch of salt”.

“We do not know how the technology will evolve or how firms will integrate it into how they work,” he said.

“That’s not to say that AI won’t disrupt the way we work – but we should focus too on the potential living-standards gains from higher-productivity work and cheaper-to-run services, as well as the risk of falling behind if other firms and economies better adapt to technological change.”

Capital A needs “luck of a leprechaun”

A new report from IdeaWorks and Car Trawler, the B2B technology provider of car rental and mobility services, suggests that Capital A, the new name of AirAsia Group, will need a big slice of luck if it is to achieve its lofty goals of becoming an
Asian conglomerate.

The report – Airline Revenue Innovations, a’ Global Sample of the Coolest Products and Services’, – authored by Jay Sorensen, an expert on airline ancillary revenues, says AirAsia’s SuperApp, focussed on a wide variety of retail and media activities, “is definitely a work-in-progress in which the company has bet its future on the ambition to be the top online travel agent in Asean”.

The report takes a close look at Capital A, the new name of AirAsia Group, which is “undertaking a significant change by becoming an Asian conglomerate”.

Sorensen says Capital A’s initiative to go beyond a loose-knit affiliation of companies in finance, logistics, air travel, catering, airport operations, online grocery, and venture capital, to a customer-facing powerhouse is “a huge goal”.

Sorensen says Capital A represents a level of innovation on a scale the airline industry rarely sees.

“There may be a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow and the company will likely need the luck of an Irish leprechaun to reach it,” he adds.

That’s rich: American links with Sabre agents for NDC content

Starting 3 April, Sabre-connected travel buyers, agencies and developer partners will be able to shop, book, and service American’s NDC content, including paid seats, through Sabre’s Offer and Order APIs, the agency point-of-sale tool, Sabre Red 360, and the online booking tool, GetThere.

Thomas Rajan, vice president, global sales at American Airlines said AA’s enhanced, rich NDC content will open new business opportunities to American as well as AA’s travel retail partners, “and deliver a better, more tailored experience to the customers we all serve”.

Travel buyers connected to the Sabre GDS will be able to choose offers from American such as the Main Select and Flagship Business Plus fares, ancillary products and the lowest fares available in those channels.

They will also have access to more descriptive information on American’s flight offers as well as seat selection enabled in the booking path.

Kathy Morgan, vice president, NDC and airline supply, Sabre Travel Solution, said while it was still early days for NDC bookings, “making this rich NDC content from the world’s largest airline available in Sabre channels is an important step towards the maturing and scaling of NDC distribution”.

Hotel sustainability boost from BEONx and Bioscore

BEONx has become the first revenue management system (RMS) to incorporate a sustainability index for each hotel on its platform in collaboration with Bioscore.

BEONx’s new feature enables hotels to obtain an official sustainability certification that measures their performance across five fields: water consumption, waste, energy, Km 0, and carbon footprint.

Once the hotels are certified, they will be able to display their sustainability score on their BEONx platform profile, which will be visible to potential guests.