Movement restrictions designed to help the spread of the virus has forced almost everyone online for work, education, health and commerce. With this transition, cybercrime has surged to more than PHP1 billion this year alone as more individuals turn to digital financial transactions. The figure from frauds and unauthorised withdrawals is estimated on BAP members’ reports alone, according to the vice-chair of the Bankers Association of the Philippines’ (BAP) cybersecurity committee at a virtual briefing.
The Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) recently launched its Anti-Scam Campaign, a multi-partner information campaign aimed at promoting cybersecurity, cyber-safety, and awareness among Filipino banking customers. The launch coincides with the International Fraud Awareness Week, which emphasises the importance of cybersecurity and cyber education in individuals’ lives all around the world.
In its efforts to raise cybersecurity awareness in the Philippines, the BAP is collaborating with a variety of stakeholders, including social media influencers, government organisations, and the media.
“Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility. With this partnership with KBP, we can keep the public informed and educated on the latest trends and scenarios on cybercrime, considering the growing threats of cybercriminals. They have stepped up their game as they try to take advantage of the rapid online migration of essential activities amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” said BAP President, Wick Veloso.
The BAP and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to help promote awareness on cybersecurity and data protection. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be formed with the Department of Justice (DOJ), with the goal of training cybercrime enforcers and prosecutors in making cybercriminals accountable for their acts. “We believe that this collaboration project will result in a more intensive consumer awareness and education as a strong first line of defence against cyber threats”, the KBP Chairman said.
The Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines (BMAP) will also serve as an official partner in coordinating the execution of the Anti-Scam campaign on social media by BAP’s member banks. In addition, on November 14, the BAP launched the BAP #Cybersafe Facebook page, which aims to improve cybersecurity awareness by encouraging the public to be attentive against all sorts of cyberattacks.
“The Philippines is currently a cybercrime hotspot, underscoring the need to increase awareness and vigilance against the increasing prevalence of cybercrime in the country. The BAP, together with its partners, will work towards equipping Filipinos with the necessary information and tools they need to stop cybercriminals from harming the public and stealing their hard-earned money,” BAP president Wick Veloso said.
OpenGov Asia reported, the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) Cybersecurity Bureau had recently announced a National Cyber Drill Exercise that will be taking place, aimed at raising public awareness about cybersecurity and measuring the public’s ability to protect themselves from cyber threats and cyberattacks.
The two-day exercise will involve several activities aimed at assessing and improving the incident response skills of participating organisations and individuals to mitigate cybersecurity threats.
The rapid advancement of information and communication technology (ICT) has affected every way of life dramatically. Critical functions of industries and industrial control systems are becoming increasingly reliant on these technologies. The National Cybersecurity Strategy Framework, developed by the Department of Information and Communications Technology and its affiliated agency, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center (CICC), adapts to the new paradigm.
The Framework’s implementation will enable the adoption and implementation of Information Security Governance and Risk Management methodologies to be institutionalised. These internationally acknowledged standards will offer the government a rigorous and systematic approach to safeguarding the security of our mission-critical and non-critical information infrastructure. The government will form the National Computer Emergency Reaction Team to improve its capability and capacity for swift response and recovery (NCERT).
A world-first real-time bushfire hazard detection and warning system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) is under development thanks to a new partnership between the University of Queensland and the philanthropic arm of an American multinational technology company. Led by UQ’s Professor Hamish McGowan, from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the project plans to use AI to trace the movement of embers and deliver real-time nowcasts of extreme bushfire hazards.
The goal of the team’s work is ultimately to save lives, property and the environment by providing increased accuracy in forecasting bushfire movements and alerting community members and emergency responders before they spread, he said.
The $1.374 million grant from the charitable arm of the tech giant will enable UQ researchers to work on a new and robust capability to identify and forewarn locations up to 30 kilometres downwind from the fire front that may come under attack from embers – sometimes in areas previously perceived as safe.
In addition to funding the company’s philanthropic arm, the firm’s employees will have the opportunity to volunteer their time to help with this project. The Australian branch of the company’s Engineering Site Lead said UQ was charting new territory in bushfire detection.
The project will benefit Australia by identifying new AI solutions to detect bushfire activity – early on and in real-time –to safeguard at-risk communities, flora and fauna. Initiatives like this will help build a strong and more resilient digital future for Australia.
It has been just over two years since Australia’s Black Summer bushfires burnt an estimated 186,000 square kilometres of land. The impacts were devastating, with at least 33 people losing their lives, and fires destroying more than 6000 buildings, as well as killing or displacing an estimated three billion animals.
“We know that the effects of climate change are causing more extreme weather events including bushfires across the world and we are committed to helping find solutions that can lessen the impact,” Professor McGowan said.
The fallout of the 2019-20 bushfire season also saw smoke-related health costs climb to $1.95 billion. There were 429 smoke-related premature deaths in addition to 3230 hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory disorders and 1523 emergency attendances for asthma.
In similar news, a Griffith University-led three-year project to develop an early warning system in homes during extreme heat events has received more than $2 million in funding. The EtHOs project was awarded $2.35 million by a global charitable foundation to help limit the thousands of lives lost each year to heat stress.
Led by Dr Shannon Rutherford, from the School of Medicine and Dentistry, EtHOs is a multidisciplinary research team within the Climate Action research group that includes experts in aged-care nursing, IT, human physiology, engineering, climate science, health economics and environmental epidemiology.
The team recognised that climate change would lead to more extreme and frequent heat episodes and said action must be taken to reduce the risk to older populations who were more vulnerable to heat stress.
They aim is to develop an individualised early warning system for older people living at home specific to their home environment and to take into consideration that different people may be vulnerable to heat for different reasons and everyone has different needs for and levels of access to cooling options.
The team would like older people living at home and in the community to have access to a system that helps them, their families and care systems feel safe and confident in their homes as the world experiences more frequent and more intense heat events.
The heat stress early warning system’s appearance and how users interacted with it would depend on the perspectives of the project’s users and project partners.
Dr Sebastian Binnewies, from the Institute for Integrated and Intelligent Systems, will oversee the software development, testing and integration process. Dr Aaron Bach, from Cities Research Institute, will lead the development of the in-home monitoring system and the heat-health algorithm used to identify risk profiles.
When people need a vacation package to be delivered, there is a tricky math problem that must be solved earlier than the supply truck pulls up to your door, and MIT researchers have a method that might speed up the answer.
The strategy applies to vehicle routing issues akin to last-mile supply, the place the purpose is to ship items from a central depot to several cities whereas maintaining journey prices down. While there are algorithms designed to resolve this downside for a couple of hundred cities, these options develop into too gradual when utilised in a bigger set of cities.
Researchers have come up with a machine-learning strategy that accelerates some of the strongest algorithmic solvers by 10 to 100 times. The solver algorithms work by breaking up the issue of supply into smaller subproblems to resolve – say, 200 subproblems for routing autos between 2,000 cities.
The researchers increase this course with a brand new machine-learning algorithm that identifies probably the most helpful subproblems to resolve, as a substitute for fixing all of the subproblems, to extend the standard of the answer whereas utilising orders of magnitude much less compute.
Their strategy, which they name “learning-to-delegate,” can be utilised throughout quite a lot of solvers and quite a lot of comparable issues, together with scheduling and pathfinding for warehouse robots, the researchers say. The work pushes the boundaries on quickly fixing large-scale vehicle routing issues, a sensible logistics platform for optimising supply routes.
Most of the academic body of research tends to focus on specialised algorithms for small problems, trying to find better solutions at the cost of processing times. But in the real world, businesses do not care about finding better solutions, especially if they take too long to compute. In the world of last-mile logistics, time is money, and people cannot have your entire warehouse operations wait for a slow algorithm to return the routes. An algorithm needs to be hyper-fast for it to be practical.
Vehicle routing issues are a category of combinatorial issues, which contain utilising heuristic algorithms to search out “good-enough solutions” to the issue. It’s usually not potential to come back up with the one “best” answer to those issues, as a result of the variety of potential options is way too large.
The name of the game for these types of problems is to design efficient algorithms that are optimal within some factor. But the goal is not to find optimal solutions. Rather, the researchers want to find as good of solutions as possible. Even a 0.5% improvement in solutions can translate to a huge revenue increase for a company.
Over the previous several many years, researchers have developed quite a lot of heuristics to yield fast options to combinatorial issues. They often do that by beginning with a poor however legitimate preliminary resolution after which steadily bettering the answer—by attempting small tweaks to enhance the routing between close by cities, for instance. For a big downside like a 2,000-plus metropolis routing problem, nevertheless, this strategy simply takes an excessive amount of time.
For vehicle routing and similar problems, users often must design very specialised algorithms to solve their specific problems. Some of these heuristics have been in development for decades. The learning-to-delegate method offers an automatic way to accelerate these heuristics for large problems, no matter what the heuristic or — potentially — what the problem is.
Since the method can work with a variety of solvers, it may be useful for a variety of resource allocation problems. The researchers may unlock new applications that now will be possible because the cost of solving the problem is 10 to 100 times less.
To enhance the standard of living for people through digital technology, 15 areas have been earmarked for the government to implement the development of smart cities. A meeting was held of the National Smart City Steering subcommittee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister recently.
The meeting was attended by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, Smart City Thailand Office, and Digital Economy Promotion Agency, among other related representatives and agencies. During the meeting, the group certified 15 locations to be implementation areas for smart cities. The logo for smart cities was designated for each of these 15 areas that will receive support from the Thailand Board of Investment including promotion and financial aid. In addition to those 15 cities, 50 more smart cities across Thailand will be designated as promotion areas.
The idea of using digital technology in smart cities to improve people’s quality of life is part of the 13th National Economic and Social Development Plan, which was mentioned as a component of the 5 points that the PM pushed for Thailand to focus on.
The PM urged those gathered at the meeting to cooperate in developing the smart cities and the meeting further discussed work plans related to smart cities and aimed at local administrations, relevant agencies, and city budgets.
Some of the cities across Thailand that are among the 15 that were tapped to be implementation areas and receive the smart city logo:
The 5-item strategy that the Minister highlighted to address growing and enhancing the economy are as follows:
The plan looks towards future trends and the increasingly ubiquitous digital economy and aims to get Thailand in line for growing the economy now and in new sectors.
The goals would be part of the next national economic and social development plan, the 13th plan set to launch from 2023 to 2027. The current 12th plan was enacted for 2017 to 2022 but the secretary-general of the NESDC warns it will most likely miss all its targets due to the widespread negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic that has flattened much of the economy, especially the tourism sector that accounts for about one-fifth of Thailand’s economy.
China is stepping up research of agricultural technologies to safeguard food supply in the world’s most populated country. Sweeping new scientific achievements, from new rice varieties to a technology that improves soil fertility, are also helping to solve the global food crisis.
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) released a plan for promoting key subjects during the country’s 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) to enhance its agricultural sci-tech innovation. By 2020, the rate of agricultural technological development’s contribution to China’s economic growth rate had reached over 60%, and the coverage rate of improved varieties of crops had reached over 96%.
Scientists are also looking at the sky. They used space-bred lotus to help farmers in Jiangxi Province improve output. Some research is also set to benefit people around the world. Chinese scientists are using genome design technology to improve the plant’s breeding speed and reproduction efficiency. Initial research has shown excellent performance.
Thanks to a succession of bumper harvests in recent years, China has enjoyed an ample supply of major agricultural products and ensured basic self-sufficiency in cereal grains and absolute grain security. The government has pledged to reinforce the underpinning role of science and technology in agricultural production.
In light of the national conditions and people’s needs, science-based and result-oriented efforts will be made to shore up the areas of weakness. The development of farming machinery and equipment will also get government support as the country strives to use technological innovation to improve quality and efficiency in the agricultural sector.
According to Statista around 25% of China´s workforce are in agriculture, but the sector is based largely on small, family-owned farms, and it is in many cases still quite old fashioned. In part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global food shortage is growing, and China has for years known that there will be a battle of resources in the future to feed the world´s largest nation. One of the answers that is also backed by the national government is using tech to optimise output.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the top of the national agenda, however mostly applied in sectors such as finance, healthcare and smart city solutions. A report made it clear that farming was one of the industries left furthest behind in smart technologies, but also one of the areas with the biggest potential to upgrade.
China will improve efforts to create higher yields and higher quality production of major food crop varieties, and self-sufficiency in major livestock and poultry varieties by 2030 by deploying technology, as reported by OpenGov Asia. China released an action plan to promote the national seed industry late last month in Sanya, South China’s Hainan province, where the Nanfan Scientific and Research Breeding Base is located.
The plan lays out the necessary theoretical, scientific and technological developments for the industry to improve seed varieties and grain yields, and ensure the protection of national germplasm resources. Since the beginning of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), China’s ability to innovate in breeding technology has continued to rise. However, China is still in the process of developing breeding theories and key technologies.
China will introduce 50 major tasks focused on key crop and livestock varieties, and three specific actions involving innovative research, seed enterprises and the creation of a science and technology platform. China will strive to achieve high-yield, high-quality self-sufficiency in food crop varieties by 2030, and ensure the absolute security of the country’s rice and wheat.
By 2030, the self-sufficiency rate of vegetable varieties, such as broccoli, carrots and spinach, will rise from the current 10% to more than 50%. Moreover, a platform will be built to boost seed industry technology, integrating basic research, technological innovation, variety creation, big data, and industry incubation.
By replicating a computer-generated bushfire using virtual reality, University of South Australia researchers studied the responses of 400 people in an Australian-first experiment, with some interesting results.
Prior to the exercise, 55% said they would ‘wait and see’ on a severe fire day rather than committing to evacuate early or ‘stay and defend’, and more than two-thirds of people (68%) incorrectly believed the bathroom was the safest place to shelter.
In the wake of the VR exercise, which immersed respondents in every element of a fire crisis minus the heat, many of the non-committal group changed their minds, saying they were more likely to evacuate early after virtually experiencing the hellish conditions of a bushfire. When followed up three months later, 75% of participants remembered a salient lesson: shelter in a room with multiple exits as far away as possible from the fire front. The same percentage said the exercise had ‘greatly informed’ their understanding of a bushfire and the need for a survival plan.
UniSA Professor of Environmental Science, Delene Weber, who oversaw the study with PhD candidate Safa Molan, says the results show how valuable virtual reality can be as a training and educational tool for people living in high-risk fire zones. She noted that many of these people have never experienced a life-threatening bushfire before and have no understanding of how they would react or what decisions they would make under extreme pressure. However, a lack of preparation is not a new phenomenon. Records of the number of bushfire fatalities in the past 200 years show that almost a third of deaths have occurred because of late evacuation and poor decisions, she added.
The VR exercise with at-risk residents living in the Adelaide Hills, Gawler and Murraylands targeted the behavioural weaknesses and knowledge gaps that lead to injuries and fatalities. A total of 17 scenes of a bushfire were experienced through the 3D headset, including early warning signs, changeable weather conditions, the sights and sounds of the fire ripping through a property and threatening lives, and after the fire front had passed.
Two versions of the VR scenario were prepared: one for residents who planned to ‘stay and defend’ and a second one for residents who intended to ‘wait and see’. The latter group were virtually prevented from leaving their property by a tree blocking their access route, reinforcing the need for a contingency plan. Prior to the exercise, 25% of the ‘wait and see’ group had a written survival plan, compared to 52% of the ‘stay and defend’ – still alarmingly low, considering many were CFS members.
In the VR scenario, receiving the CFS ‘watch and act’ message acted as a first trigger for 37% of the ‘wait and see’ cohort to leave and another 20 per cent in that group elected to leave once their neighbours evacuated. Just 145 of that group decided they would stay and fight the fire after experiencing it virtually. The ‘stay and defend’ cohort were more consistent and less erratic in their responses, the study shows.
Many respondents realised they were not ready to deal with a fire, both practically and emotionally. What was clear from this virtual reality scenario is that we need fundamentally different approaches to educate people about bushfire plans, and VR is a very effective one. “The beauty of VR is that we can adapt and customise scenarios to target different groups of people, including women and those who are more vulnerable,” Prof Weber said.
Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan’s largest and one of the world’s leading high-tech applied research institutions highlight advanced technologies including the RGB-D AI Robot. The robot is the first collaborative robot that integrates a smart 3D vision module as a built-in standard for high-precision object recognition and pick-and-place operation.
The 3D camera and MEMS laser scanning projector, along with AI training data auto-labelling technology, allows the robot to quickly learn through visually acquired data and perform hand-eye coordination skills. This innovation can be applied to human-robot collaboration in both the manufacturing and service sectors.
In AI, robotics, and ICT technologies category, ITRI will also present the Autonomous Selfie Drone. Combined with AI algorithms, the drone analyses posture and surrounding background to compose pictures. It flies itself to take the best picture based on common photography techniques. Users can set up different close-up angles, photography body ratios and compositions and the drone uses smart framing technology to create a natural and unobtrusive match between the subject and the surroundings.
Another ICT technology is the Interactive Time Machine that creates a unique 3D interactive avatar and experience combining a user’s motion, 3D model, and display in real-time. The machine forms a metaverse for avatars to interact with players in real-time. 3D/2D image sensors detect the facial features and body movements of the player to create a younger-looking 3D avatar based on an AI architecture.
In 5G technology, the technology is the 5G O-RAN RIC, a 5G network management system consisting of an open radio access network (O-RAN) based 5G RAN intelligent controller (RIC) and an element management system (EMS). The RIC includes both non-real-time (non-RT) and near-real-time (near-RT) RICs.
The non-RT RIC collects the RAN information and predicts network behaviour through machine learning. The near-RT RIC automatically adjusts the radio resource management (RRM) to the RAN and prevents the quality of experience (QoE) from being reduced by the predicted results of the non-RT RIC. The EMS orchestrates managed elements.
ITRI’s health technologies include muscular functional screening mirror features advanced visual recognition technology measuring muscular strength, flexibility, and imbalances beyond traditional posture or body composition analysis. For elders, it examines functional health and early signs of frailty. The screening involves the user performing simple poses. The system provides clear and friendly audiovisual instructions and a printed personalized exercise plan based on the results.
Another innovation is an innovative wearable device using ITRI’s low-power radar sensing technology to detect multiple physiological parameters for non-contact and long-term pet health monitoring. It tracks a pet’s health data including heart rate, respiration, and activity, alerting the pet guardian of abnormalities via a mobile app, and is usable both indoors and outdoors.
As reported by OpenGov Asia, ITRI and a Taiwan-based tech company jointly announced that they will collaborate on a next-generation integrated electrosurgery system and co-develop a hybrid energy system for minimally invasive surgery.
This collaborative project, supported by the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT), Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), combines ITRI’s software-hardware integration ability and Catcher Technology’s expertise in material manufacturing to jointly develop advanced medical device applications. The aim is to foster an ecosystem of med-tech industrial clusters in Taiwan, increase the value of medical devices, and seize the smart and precision medicine markets.
ITRI and the tech company on the next-generation integrated electrosurgery system can fulfil clinical needs by providing one instrument with multiple functions, and thus bring more benefits to clinicians and patients alike. As Taiwan has a complete ICT industrial cluster and high-quality medical system conducive to the development of personalised medicine, mHealth and telemedicine, industries can explore the new value and market opportunities from multidisciplinary cooperation and integration.
Tapping on technology to accelerate business transformation has given many enterprises a competitive advantage, particularly those who have focused on data and talent as the primary drivers. As with other business operations, an organisation’s Human Resource (HR) functions can also be digitalised and transformed for improved productivity and enhanced employee experience, and it is therefore critical for HR professionals to have the knowledge and tools to make that transformation.
Workforce Singapore (WSG) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) have introduced an HR Tech Transformation Programme (HRTTP), as well as an HR Job Redesign toolkit. These two initiatives are part of the recommendations under Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower’s HR industry transformation manpower plan and HR Jobs Transformation Map (JTM).
HRTTP targets to benefit 50 enterprises and over 250 local HR professionals from SMEs and non-SMEs. The programme aims to support enterprises in implementing HR technology through HR process re-engineering, redesigning of impacted HR job(s) and managing HR job transitions arising from the HR technology adoption. Participating enterprises have up to one year to complete their job redesign project.
The stakeholders believe with strengthened HR processes and redesigned HR roles, HR professionals at their respective organisations can then allocate more time addressing strategic HR issues to meet the organisation’s business objectives, while leveraging HR technology to enable a positive employee experience and enhance connectivity through online delivery of HR services.
Technology has been a critical enabler in business transformation as it raises work efficiency and creates a more agile workforce. WSG is pleased to support the transformation of the HR workforce by harnessing HR technology to redesign jobs to more strategic HR roles, thereby transforming HR from a cost-centre to a business-enabler.”
– Tan Choon Shian, Chief Executive, WSG
The HRTTP was piloted in March 2020, where 10 enterprises, of which five were SMEs, participated and implemented HR tech solutions. The programme had enabled HR to implement various technology solutions such as mobile learning, digitised employee data collection, and robotic process automation.
Further, according to WSG and SNEF, it had resulted in higher productivity and time and cost savings, and allowed close to 70 local HR professionals, of which 25% were mature workers, to take on higher-value job roles, such as data analytics and designing employee experience strategies. Participants were from diverse backgrounds, including those who did not hold formal HR qualifications or individuals who have been working in the HR field for many years.
Under the programme, the appointed consultant will support enterprises in job redesign and deliver programme outcomes which include enhancing job value and attractiveness through job enrichment and enlargement. Work processes will also be reviewed to streamline administrative or transactional tasks to improve productivity. Enterprises will receive support on their implementation of new HR technology solutions.
Launched in conjunction with the HRTTP, the HR Job Redesign Toolkit looks to enable enterprises to self-help at scale for HR job roles to enable digital transformation, and job redesign at their workplace. This toolkit is a broad-based interactive tool to support HR in job redesign methodology and change management with downloadable templates and will help HR professionals apply HR technology to different HR practices, and understand its benefits and potential.
As reported by OpenGov Asia, WSG also launched the Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) for i4.0 professionals, executives, and associates earlier this year to help manufacturing companies grow and reskill their workforce. The programme aims to provide new hires and existing employees with i4.0 knowledge and skills, allowing them to either switch careers into the manufacturing industry or be reskilled to take on higher-value jobs in their current companies. By 2023, the PCP is expected to benefit over 200 trainees.
