Brain Trauma Driving Innovation

The Problem

Alone in a pick-up truck parked in an abandoned lot, a flash of light is seen, the zap of a stun gun is heard, and a body falls unconscious. Superglue holding his rotting teeth within his skull and using a stun gun to sleep, what sounds fictional is all too real for the retired hall of fame, 4x super bowl champion, Mike Webster. Plagued by dementia, depression, and destitution, “Iron Mike” Webster’s deteriorated mental capacity is commonplace for retired NFL players. He was diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy* (CTE) after repeated blows to the head; a phenomenon that has recently captured the sporting industry’s attention.

Real Time Translation

Industry Overview

Traditionally, communication has been impaired by language barriers, especially in face-to-face interactions. Existing translation methods such as online translators, multilingual dictionaries and interpreters have attempted to surmount this obstacle. However, the options in the market hinder many vital aspects of communication, specifically, body-language, non-verbal cues and tone. Reduction in many key components of communication makes it very difficult to have meaningful face-to-face interaction with people who speak other languages. In the past few years, there have been new technological developments designed to help remove these language barriers. These developments focus on real time language processing, and aim to eliminate the barriers that currently exist with the market options.

Domo Arigato Mr. Robo-Advisor

Introduction

Robo-advisors were first introduced to retail investors during the 2008 financial crisis; however, the technology behind it has been used by financial planners since the mid-2000s. The initial intention of the technology was to re-balance the investments of clients, specifically within target-date funds after the 2008 crash. However, it was not until early 2012 that robo-investing really took off within the consumer customer-base. Today, there are approximately 100 robo-advisors in operation in over 15 countries (Deloitte, 2016). Due to this incredible growth, we’ve seen the rise of start-ups such as Betterment, Wealthsimple, and Personal Capital.

The process for investing with robo-advisors is a relatively simple one:
1. The investor completes an online survey, where software determines the investor’s risk tolerance
2. The investor will invest an amount that meets the minimum amount of capital
3. The robo-advisor will generate a portfolio based on the investor’s risk-tolerance; most of the time, a large part of your portfolio will be dedicated to safer investments such as short-term government bond funds