1st Lisbon
Forget London or Stockholm – everyone is upping sticks to the new capital of cool. Lisbon, once regarded as a second class city, promotes an enviable can-do entrepreneurial spirit and lays claim to the most exciting creative scene in mainland Europe right now. Undervalue Western Europe’s oldest city at your peril. All this regeneration is great news for the economy, but comes at what cost?
Henry Martin interviews Michael Sturm, Managing Director at Invest in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern GmbH (Invest in MV)
Henry Martin spoke to Rolf Strittmatter, managing director of the HWF Hamburg Business Development Corporation.
The UK’s decision to leave the European Union has led to insecurity and relocation considerations in the corporate world. It is widely anticipated that companies that generate their revenue mainly within the European Union will consider relocating their business operations. Established locations such as Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt and Paris have come forward with offers to London’s financial players, and a number of countries in Central and Eastern Europe are hoping for service components e.g. in the commercial sector to be migrated. At the same time, there is one city that continues to emerge in this locational competition: a city that stands out for its long-established economic relations with the UK like no other city – Hamburg. It is often said that Hamburg is the most Anglophile city in Germany, and business relations between Hamburg and Britain boast a particularly long tradition. Hamburg values its century-long friendship with the United Kingdom and regrets the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. In the eyes of Hamburg, it is vital to ensure the UK’s greatest possible integration into the European single market also in future.
Traditionally, the association between individuals and buildings was solely a functional one, where a house was built with four walls and a roof and, hey presto, job done. A new generation of architects have a different image of buildings that go way beyond just providing a roof over our heads. They aim to not only produce a practical structure, but also to create housing that will nurture and encourage community living.
Welcome Büro Ole Scheeren, an international design studio that practices architecture, urbanism and research, And they have certainly packed a lot of thought-provoking architecture into those five years with some exciting, global projects and German Ole Scheeren, founder of Büro OS, has become a huge success with his experimental architecture.
We speak with Mikael Spuhl, CEO at 3D Interactive Sthlm AB
James Brown: Could you give us a brief introduction to AR and its benefits?
The usual technical description of augmented reality (AR) is “a technology that layers computer generated enhancements on top of an existing reality”. I would introduce AR as way of bringing the real and digital worlds together. With AR, you can make printed material or objects come to life by adding 3D content, animation and video on top of those objects. We see AR as a communication platform that allows you to connect with your clients/customers in a completely new way. To describe the benefits of AR, I think it´s best to give concrete examples of how some of our customers have integrated AR into their businesses:
Whether out of thriftiness or ethics, more and more consumers are opting for synthetic, man-made diamonds over the real thing.
While the establishment maintains that man-made stones are nothing more than low-grade fakes that won’t ever be serious contenders, industry observers aren’t so sure. It’s starting to look like man’s genius has finally matched nature’s brilliance.
With the international investment space currently rife with uncertainty, volatility, and what seem to be constantly shifting sands, it’s no surprise that British investors have retreated back into the relative safe haven of UK property. Instead of pouring cash into actual bricks and mortar, though, more and more are looking to homebuilders and construction firms. Despite a recent blip, the numbers indicate it’s a good bet.
Few other entrepreneurs have risked so much and taken such gambles as Elon Musk. And few have had such incredible successes. Even more amazing, the real impact of his entrepreneurship – whether in the area of space travel, electric vehicles or solar energy – has yet to be felt by humanity. The best, it could be said, is yet to come from Elon Musk.
