adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Investment

Ontario reveals investment agency in 2020 budget, as economic development ministry sees second year of cuts – BetaKit

Published

 on


Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government delivered its 2020-2021 budget on Thursday, the second budget of Premier Doug Ford’s administration. The fiscal outlook includes approximately $187 billion in total spending this year with a record deficit of $38.5 billion.

The budget placed a heavy emphasis on the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recovery efforts, with some notable spending for the business and tech sector. Here is a breakdown of what Ontario’s budget 2020 means for the province’s innovation sector.

The budget includes $719.2 million in spending for the ministry of economic development, job creation and trade, which oversees tech and innovation in the province.

Among the province’s initiatives is a new investment attraction agency aimed to be a “one-stop-shop” for new businesses and investors. The agency, which will be called Invest Ontario, will initially focus on three sectors: technology, advanced manufacturing, and life sciences. The new agency has yet to officially launch.

300x250x1

The budget, which was initially set to be released in March but was postponed due to the pandemic, includes $719.2 million in spending for the ministry of economic development, job creation and trade, which oversees tech and innovation in the province.

The allocated funding represents a decline from the $782 million budgeted for the ministry in 2019-2020. Notably, however, it is an increase from the $582 million spent in the 2019-2020 fiscal year, according to the budget.

Ben Bergen, executive director of the Canadian Council of Innovators (CCI), expressed the organization is encouraged to see measures in Budget 2020 it says will help innovative, high-growth companies.

He added, however, “we continue to call on the government to invest into strategic programs to increase access to talent, capital, and customers for Ontario’s biggest job and wealth creators: its homegrown companies.”

In the budget, the province said approximately 94 percent of businesses in Ontario will see a reduction in their property taxes, by standardizing the Business Education Tax and offering a permanent exemption from paying the Employer Health Tax.

The budget also included $3.75 million over two years to support work by the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) and the Toronto Business Development Centre to attract more international startups to Ontario. The organizations are tasked with initially focusing on attracting emerging companies in India to expand their operations to Ontario.

While the provincial budget shows some promising signs in spending for the innovation sector, it is unclear what a second year of budget cuts for the ministry of economic development, job creation and trade means for the tech sector.

RELATED: In lieu of 2020 budget, Ontario puts forth fiscal update of $17 billion to fight COVID-19

Ontario’s 2019 budget was considered by many in the province’s tech community a disappointment due to its unfettered cuts to innovation organizations and programs.

The Ford government’s sweeping cuts axed a number of programs, such as the Campus-Linked Accelerator program and all provincial funding to Angel Investors Ontario and Futurpreneur.

Prominent tech hubs were also affected by budget cuts last year. Communitech, MaRS Discovery District, and the OCE all experienced provincial funding cuts, causing them to lay off employees and re-evaluate programming.

Two months after the release of the 2019 budget, Minister of Finance Vic Fedeli was “demoted” to the role of minister of economic development, job creation and trade, after Fedeli reportedly lost face with Premier Ford over the unpopular cuts in the 2019 budget.

With a heavy emphasis on the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recovery efforts, this year’s budget was focused on three pillars: protect, support, and recover. The budget highlighted its actions in ensuring access to virtual healthcare and digital-first tools, noting how it created temporary fee schedule codes that insured physician phone and video patient visits under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.

The budget highlighted the government’s actions in ensuring access to virtual healthcare and digital-first tools.

Prior to the release of the budget, Technation, a tech industry association, recommended the government’s budget make virtual healthcare “the norm,” even post-COVID-19, arguing such a move would improve patient access to healthcare, decrease wait-times, and save the system money. Technation also pushed for the government to work closely with industry to identify gaps in Ontario’s workforce.

In the budget, the government also highlighted its previously-announced $680 million investment to expand and improve broadband internet and cellular access. Technation president and CEO Angela Mondou told BetaKit that investment is critical not only for citizens but also for accelerating the digital transformation of small-to-medium-sized businesses.

Additionally, the budget reveals new investments from the province in a series of research initiatives aimed to help stimulate the economy and support COVID-19 recovery efforts.

The government is investing $2 million for the Ontario Health Data Platform, which it says will explore opportunities to integrate datasets and support research projects related to COVID-19. The Canada Foundation for Innovation will receive an investment of $3.5 million to support the operations and maintenance related to Advanced Research Computing in Ontario. The province is also investing up to $2 million in funding to enhance collaboration across Ontario’s research sector.

Under its “recover” pillar, the government is investing $37 million in employment and training services to help more than 15,000 upgrade their skills to fit the needs of Ontario’s economy. That investment will specifically support 86 projects and provide training in high-demand skills like information technology and advanced manufacturing.

Both the CCI and Technation urged the government to up its procurement efforts to aid the province’s pandemic recovery efforts. CCI said not only should the government procure physical products, but also modern digital offerings like digital health services, online education services, and cybersecurity tools to strengthen Ontario’s supply chain resiliency.

RELATED: CEOs say lack of targeted support will shutter Ontario tech companies in open letter to Premier

According to the budget, the Ontario government is investing $1.5 million towards the Special Implementation Team on Intellectual Property (IP) that was established to support the government’s IP action plan, released over the summer.

Bergen told BetaKit he hoped the government would continue to focus on the generation and commercialization of IP. The government’s IP action plan would see the province work with post-secondary and research organizations to revise the mandates of provincial commercialization entities, such as startup hubs and accelerators.

The province is also proposing to extend reporting deadlines for the Ontario Research and Development Tax Credit to give corporations more time to file a claim. The credit offers a non-refundable tax credit to businesses on eligible scientific research and experimental development expenditures.

The government is also investing $500 million over four years in a new Ontario Onwards Acceleration Fund, including $60 million for 2020-20201, which it says will pilot new technologies that improve how people and businesses experience government services in Ontario.

Image source Pixabay.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Investment

Amazon Adds $2.75 Billion To Anthropic Investment, Sora Goes To Hollywood – Forbes

Published

 on

By


Amazon invests $2.75 billion in Anthropic. This brings Amazon’s investment to $4 billion, as it follows its previous investment of $1.25 billion, which gave the company the option to invest the additional funds. This comes as Anthropic’s new Claude-3 chatbot outperforms ChatGPT- 4 in recent tests. Amazon has unique insight into Anthropic’s performance as it is one of the suite of AI models offered by AWS, which include most of Claude’s competitors.

Sora Goes To Hollywood. Everyone is reacting to a Bloomberg report that OpenAI will soon be meeting with studios and other Hollywood stakeholders to demonstrate the capabilities of the text-to-video generator and explore partnerships. OpenAI says unnamed “A list” directors are already using it.

Based in Toronto, shy kids are a multimedia production company who utilized Sora for the above short film about a man “who is literally filled with hot air.” His head, as you can see, is a yellow balloon. “We now have the ability to expand on stories we once thought impossible,” shares the trio made up of Walter Woodman, Sidney Leeder and Patrick Cederberg. Walter, who directed Air Head, said as great as Sora is at generating things that appear real, what excites us is its ability to make things that are totally surreal.

300x250x1

Neuralink Shows Paralyzed Patient Playing Chess on a PC. Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company shared a video of its first human patient, Noland Arbaugh, playing chess and Civilization VI using their brain implant. Arbaugh, who is paralyzed below the shoulders, described the experience as “just stare somewhere on the screen” to move the cursor. While some experts see this as a promising step, others emphasize that it’s still early days and the technology has limitations. Arbaugh acknowledged that there’s still work to be done, but the implant has already changed his life.

!function(n) if(!window.cnxps) window.cnxps=,window.cnxps.cmd=[]; var t=n.createElement(‘iframe’); t.display=’none’,t.onload=function() var n=t.contentWindow.document,c=n.createElement(‘script’); c.src=’//cd.connatix.com/connatix.playspace.js’,c.setAttribute(‘defer’,’1′),c.setAttribute(‘type’,’text/javascript’),n.body.appendChild(c) ,n.head.appendChild(t) (document);
(function() function createUniqueId() return ‘xxxxxxxx-xxxx-4xxx-yxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx’.replace(/[xy]/g, function(c) var r = Math.random() * 16 ); const randId = createUniqueId(); document.getElementsByClassName(‘fbs-cnx’)[0].setAttribute(‘id’, randId); document.getElementById(randId).removeAttribute(‘class’); (new Image()).src = ‘https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=d1021730-df4b-4127-8be2-fb6a0e4e96e4’; cnxps.cmd.push(function () cnxps( playerId: ‘d1021730-df4b-4127-8be2-fb6a0e4e96e4’).render(randId); ); )();

Illuvium Labs Raises an additional $12 million for NFT Gaming Universe. Following an extensive three-and-a-half-year development journey and $60 million in funding, Illuvium Labs is on the cusp of unveiling its interoperable gaming universe. It will feature three interconnected titles designed to utilize the same NFTs seamlessly across all games, promising a first-of-its-kind experience. The influx of $12 million in Series A funding from esteemed firms like King River Capital, Arrington and Animoca will be allocated to developing new gaming titles within the Illuvium ecosystem.

Databricks’ DBRX claims the crown as best open-source LLM. It’s a list that includes Meta’s Llama 2 and Mistral’s Mixtral. Leading companies like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic sell, or rent, their proprietary private models to enterprises and subscribers. DBRX was produced for just $10 million, orders of magnitude less than its competitors. On Monday, Wired reported that the company showed data proving its AI model’s reading comprehension, answers to general knowledge questions, and coding is superior to other open-source models that can be downloaded from Hugging Face and modified by users.

Shiba-Inu Metaverse leader steps down amid dispute over IP. Marcie Jastrow, the well-regarded Hollywood executive who led Technicolor’s XR efforts, has left the company. This led the company’s legions, known as the Shib Army, to speculate about malfeasance, which is easy to do, because Jastrow is the only person involved who is not anonymous, including Ship’s charismatic leader Shytoshi Kusama.

This live football experience was built by Immersiv.io to showcase how AR can transform the live sports broadcast and fan experience using the Apple Vision Pro. Immersiv.io worked with the Bundesliga (the German Football League) on the production. In a post on X, the company said. “This is a 3D reproduction of the live game integrating TRACAB Gen 6 live skeletal data of all players and the ball, complemented with real-time insights, offering the ultimate live tactical perspective of the game.”

SXSW 2024: XR That Makes You Go Wow. The XR competition was won by an AI experience, The Golden Key. This is the second year in a row that an XR experience did not take the immersive festival’s grand prize.

The second annual AI Film Festival is coming to Los Angeles on May 1, and New York May 9. Seats are limited, request to attend at http://aiff.com

This column, once called “This Week in XR,” is also a podcast hosted by author Charlie Fink, and Ted Schilowitz, former studio executive and co-founder of Red Camera, and Rony Abovitz, founder of Magic Leap. This week our guest is Liz Hyman, CEO of the XR Association. We can be found on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube.

What We’re Reading

Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us? (Jaron Lanier/New Yorker)

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Investment

FP Answers: What is a 'behavioural edge' in investing and how does it affect returns? – Financial Post

Published

 on

By


Temperament is the unsung hero of investing success

Article content

By Julie Cazzin with Felix Narhi

Q: What is a “behavioural edge” in investing? How does it potentially enhance returns? How can an investor develop it? — Giovanni

Article content

FP Answers: Giovanni, the term behavioural edge is just another way of saying “temperament,” which refers to the habitual way a person behaves in each situation. For example, one person may be easygoing and relaxed while another is more likely to be impatient and assertive.

Advertisement 2

Article content

Temperament is the unsung hero of investing success. Gaining insight about our innate emotional temperament and learning how to work with it gives investors an edge.

The common misconception is that you need a high level of intelligence to be a successful investor. No doubt, that can be helpful, but based on many years in the industry, I’ve seen it is not always the most important differentiator.

Article content

Once someone has at least an average level of intelligence, it is temperament that often provides the investing edge in leading to better returns over the long term. “Investing is not a business where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with the 130 IQ,” famed investor Warren Buffett has pointed out.

Having the right temperament can potentially enhance investment returns in several ways. An investor who is very reactive to external events is likely to fare poorly over the long term because, quite simply, the world is full of uncertainty and always will be. Markets are highly reactive, abetted by algorithmic trading and automatic rebalancing by exchange-traded funds. Individual investors should not be.

Article content

Advertisement 3

Article content

Research shows that investors who trade frequently or try to time the market underperform. On the other hand, those investors who can remain calm and patient throughout market cycles do better because markets historically trend upwards. Hands down, being calm, cool and collected is the right temperament for an investor to have.

The concept of “homo economicus” — or economic man — describes a hypothetical person who consistently makes rational decisions. In real life, our decisions are coloured by our formative experiences, moods, external circumstances, what we ate for lunch and a host of other factors. These influences drive our behaviours, but they often operate below conscious awareness (even artificial-intelligence apps “hallucinate”).

Given that behaviour is some combination of cognitive and emotional inputs, an investor can create an edge by developing a disciplined investment process that overrides temperament, especially during highly volatile periods.

The term “active patience” means being clear about your investment principles and what you are looking for, and practicing active patience until the right opportunity arises.

Advertisement 4

Article content

In contrast, regular patience is making an investment decision and sticking with it no matter what, even if it was the wrong decision. The latter approach is unlikely to bring financial success, which is the major goal of investing.

Active patience is what Buffett would call the “fat pitch,” which occurs when the market (occasionally) presents a very attractive opportunity. It is easy to spot a great opportunity and take full advantage of it when an investor has clear principles on what they are looking for.

Can we change our temperament? Recent studies show that personality traits and moods are subject to change, sometimes within the hour, so temperament may not be as fixed as we’ve been led to believe.

Becoming a better investor starts with self-knowledge — and lots of practice. The behavioural traits associated with good investment outcomes are patience, discipline, emotional control and risk awareness. It so happens, these qualities lead to good life outcomes, too. A calm temperament is the bedrock of making sound investment decisions.

Every investor must determine for themselves how to achieve greater equanimity and there is no shortage of books, videos and TikTok tutorials on that evergreen topic. I would also add the importance of staying humble.

Advertisement 5

Article content

Recommended from Editorial

  1. Adding equities risk to a retirement portfolio will increase the holder's uneasiness about his money.

    FP Answers: Is it time to increase risk in my retirement portfolio?

  2. Two of the world's most famous value investors, Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham, right.

    FP Answers: What exactly is value investing? A beginner’s guide

  3. Some parents may include harsh clauses in their wills in an attempt to control their estates and beneficiaries beyond the grave.

    FP Answers: Can beneficiaries override a parent’s wishes in a will?

In investing, as in life, the learning never stops. Staying open to new information and having the courage to challenge our own and others’ beliefs and habitual behaviours are the keys to future success.

Felix Narhi is chief investment officer and portfolio manager at PenderFund Capital Management Ltd.

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the business news you need to know — add financialpost.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

Article content

Comments

Join the Conversation

This Week in Flyers

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Investment

Lenders Rally After India’s Central Bank Eases Investment Curbs – BNN Bloomberg

Published

 on

By


(Bloomberg) — Indian banks and shadow lenders rose Thursday after the country’s central bank eased capital requirements for a unique type of investment, a move that may free up more funds for loans.

The gains came after the Reserve Bank of India issued Wednesday modified rules on lenders’ required provisions for exposure to alternative investment funds, or AIFs, that invest in the lenders’ borrowers. Under the new policy, a lender needs to set aside capital only for the amount the AIF invested in the debtor company, and not the entire investment of the lender in the AIF.

Shares of Piramal Enterprises Ltd., which reported among the biggest provisions for such investments, closed 1% higher after rising as much as 6% during the day. A gauge of financial services firms climbed 1%, the most since March 1.

300x250x1

Lenders led the rally in the broader market, with the NSE Nifty 50 Index registering its best day since beginning of the month.

The RBI’s softening stance came after industry players raised concerns over clarity and uniformity after it announced in December restrictions on lenders’ exposure to AIFs that hold stakes in their borrowers. The latest move will likely help firms including Piramal, HDFC Bank Ltd. and IIFL Finance Ltd. reverse some of their relevant provisions made previously, according to analysts at Citigroup Inc. and Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Read more: India’s Crackdown on Financial Risks Puts Industry on Watch

“Select private banks and NBFCs like Piramal had provided for their entire AIF exposure during 3Q and could see some write-backs in 4Q if they decide to reverse the excess provision,” Jefferies analyst Bhaskar Basu wrote in a note.

Regulators introduced a flurry of new rules last year to prevent a buildup of financial stress at a time when India’s economy remained resilient in the face of rising interest rates, slowing global growth and unabated geopolitical tensions.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending