In this Global Platform video, Suliman Al Khliwi, Managing Director, Saudi Tabreed, discusses how district cooling can offer numerous advantages over conventional cooling in the GCC. District cooling is more cost efficient than conventional cooling, with the ability to serve major projects under development in the region. It is also more energy efficient and has fewer negative environmental impacts,
On attracting foreign direct investment to the country How do you expect international investor confidence and foreign direct investment (FDI) levels to evolve in the economic recovery phase following the Covid-19 pandemic? KHALIL: International investor confidence in Kuwait appears to be positive, as evidenced by the increase in new FDI approved by the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion…
Alongside significant political efforts to speed up the energy transition, 2021 was a record-breaking year for green finance, as governments, international institutions and lenders alike sought to support the shift towards renewables. This mirrored developments in generation: new renewable energy capacity reached an all-time high of 290 GW in 2021. Meanwhile, the issuance of green bonds – financial…
Kuwait has taken steps to align financial flows with environmental and socio-economic targets under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), although the country’s pledge to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 7.4% by 2035 falls short of the reduction target of 45% set in the Paris Agreement. Boursa Kuwait, which self-listed in September 2020 and had a market capitalisation of approximately…
Insurance companies worldwide have been preparing for the most significant change in global accounting standards in almost two decades. On January 1, 2023 the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 17 came into effect. Replacing the previous standard, IFRS 4, which was issued in 2004, IFRS 17 aims to standardise insurance accounting globally through a uniform approach in order to improve…
After a surge in uptake during the Covid-19 pandemic, the telehealth industry is courting new investment to further innovation and increase access to care in emerging markets. Digital health companies raised a record $57.2bn in global venture capital funding in 2021, a 79% jump from the $32bn raised in 2020, with 30% of the total directed towards telehealth. An estimated $140bn in private sector finance…
In terms of the filing of international patents, 2021 was a record-breaking year, with higher education playinga significant role in driving innovation and expanding intellectual property (IP). According to the UNWorld Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), 277,500 international patents were filed in 2021, a 0.9% increase from 2020 andrepresenting the 12th consecutive year of…
In a bid to expand access and widen their reach, educational institutions are exploring the possibilities of the metaverse and associated extended-reality (XR) approaches. The metaverse comprises a range of technologies that immerse users in a virtual environment. It denotes a 3D medium that combines virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) into a new digital realm, sometimes known as XR. These…
