Edit №055 — An Uncertain Future — Weekly Newsletter on Corporate Innovation & Venture
The Recap
Nov 1, 2020
An Uncertain Future
Right now, it’s hard enough to think a few days ahead (assuming you even know what day it is), let alone to look off into the considerable distance.
A fascinating report put out last week by the World Economic Forum focused on one huge aspect weighing on many — the future of jobs. Some big takeaways in there, many of which focused on the dual forces of change evinced by the pandemic — both disruption and acceleration.
As we’ve all seen first hand, pushes into cloud computing, big data, and e-commerce are symptoms of the rapid digitization that has been forced on businesses as some orthodoxies (e.g. retail) were obliterated nearly over night. This acceleration has arrived in its fullest for white-collar workers. According to the report, “84% of employers are set to rapidly digitalize working processes, including a significant expansion of remote work — with the potential to move 44% of their workforce to operate remotely.”
Another duality wrought by the pandemic, the pace of job creation is slowing while job destruction speeds up. Further, the report points out that “automation, in tandem with the COVID-19 recession, is creating a ‘double-disruption’ scenario for workers. In addition to the current disruption from the pandemic-induced lockdowns and economic contraction, technological adoption by companies will transform tasks, jobs, and skills.”
It has been widely expected that the pandemic would accelerate the adoption of automation, but the deeply-felt economic damage means that this shift has yet to be seen in the workforce. That doesn’t mean the forces at play have been paused however. Via Axios, a report from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) showed the yearly total of AI-related patents filed more than doubled between 2002 and 2018.
But it’s not so simple as some jobs will be blown up, and new ones will rise up out of the ashes. As Axios reported, “While the forces of automation and AI will eliminate some jobs and create some new ones, the vast majority will remain but be dramatically changed. The challenge for employers will be ensuring workforces are ready for the effects of technology.”
As Erik Brynjolfsson, the director of the Digital Economy Lab at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI), put it: “We’ve seen more changes in how we work over the past 20 weeks than we have over the past 20 years.” So how will we adapt to so much change in such a short amount of time?
This is a key question. Erik goes on to say quite poignantly: “An essential fact about robots and AI is this: they’re always improving. If workers don’t learn new skills, they’ll face some tough times ahead.”
To this point, worryingly, the WEF report points out that, “In the absence of proactive efforts, inequality is likely to be exacerbated by the dual impact of technology and the pandemic recession. Jobs held by lower wage workers, women, and younger workers were more deeply impacted in the first phase of the economic contraction. Comparing the impact of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 on individuals with lower education levels to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, the impact today is far more significant and more likely to deepen existing inequalities.”
The learning curve will be steeper, the amount of change required will be greater, and we’ll be expected to do it all faster. And the burden won’t be evenly distributed. So, how do we get ahead of this quickly, together?
Quick Links — Interesting reads from the rest of the market
🏦 JPMorgan sets up blockchain unit as JPM Coin gets commercial outing.
🍎 How Apple is organized for innovation.
🐶 Chewy announces pet telehealth service.
🧪 Kroger is rolling out 15-minute COVID-19 tests.
💵 UBS plans to invest $200 million in fintech startups.
🚲 Harley-Davidson is getting into the electric bicycle business.
🕺 TikTok & Shopify announce new partnership.
🎮 Facebook moves into cloud gaming.
🚗 Waymo and Daimler are partnering for self driving trucks.
The Water Cooler — Conversation starters for around the (virtual) office
Dutch flying car is now approved for road usage. The Los Angeles Dodgers win their first World Series since 1988. KFC chicken-scented fireplace logs hit Walmart shelves. NASA confirms that water exists on sunny parts of the Moon. After more than 100 years unseen, a chameleon species in Madagascar has reappeared.
The Corporate Card — Corporate Venture Deals
Capital One Growth Ventures joined the $125m Series D of AI recruitment startup Eightfold.
ABN AMRO Ventures & London Stock Exchange Group joined the $50m Series A of retail investing platform PrimaryBid.
Salesforce Ventures & TELUS Ventures joined the $30m Series C of intelligent visual assistance platform TechSee.
Salesforce Ventures co-led the $27m Series A of business app configuration startup Salto.
Salesforce Ventures joined the $25m Series B of cloud security startup Odaseva.
Dell Technologies Capital joined the $25m Series B of government cybersecurity startup Toka.
Citi Ventures joined the $18m Series B of AI enabled water quality monitoring startup KETOS.
Salesforce Ventures joined the $13.5m Series B of Africa’s ‘pay-as-you-go’ for solar startup Angaza.
Cisco Investments joined the $12.7m Series A of conference security and compliance startup Theta Lake.
Toyota AI Ventures joined the €10.5m Series B of car subscription startup Bipi.
Koch Disruptive Technologies led the $10m Series A of economic espionage protection startup Strider.
Sapphire Ventures led the $10m Series A of cybersecurity & maintenance startup StackHawk.
Intel Capital joined the $10m Series B of cloud data platform Panoply.
Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley led the $6.5m Series A of predictive analytics startup Canvass Analytics.
Gradient Ventures joined the $4.5m Seed Round of cybersecurity startup Stairwell.
The Bulletin Board — Job openings and opportunities
VP of Product Development & Innovation, Food & Treats at Bark. Reporting to BARK’s SVP of Creative, and a member of the Creative Leadership Team, the VP of Product Development and Innovation, Food and Treats will work with business leads to build and develop BARK’s point of view and strategy, drive the development and launch of new products and oversee the innovation roadmap in the category. As a leader, you will drive our overall ambition level and technical expertise in food and treats, and build a process and team that supports and is accountable for delivering projects on time, within budget and of high quality.
Managing Director of Wholesale Payments, Head of FinTech & Innovation at JP Morgan. This role is responsible for managing an industry-leading team of global innovators focused on developing unique solutions for our customers both in-house and in partnership with Emerging Technology players in this space.
