Thematic Reads: June 21, 2021
Thematic Reads
Each week Team Tematica consumes an immense quantity and range of content as we look to stay on top of the latest data and mine it for tailwind and headwind signals for our investment themes and indices.
Cleaner Living
Growing demand for items that claim to be better for you and the planet:
Nearly 60% of consumers said they try to choose foods and beverages with clean ingredients when they grocery shop in person, and 48% said the same for online shopping. Most consumers utilize on-package ingredient information sources to help make purchasing decisions, but a growing number also seek information about specific food ingredients online and from friends and family.
Consumer interest in clean eating ramps up
“With snacking becoming more predominant, people expect it to play a greater part in delivering their daily nutrition,” Powers outlines. “Consumers have been choosing healthier snacks since the start of the pandemic, and they’re turning to plant-based, whole-food ingredients like ancient grains, beans, nuts and seeds, for nutritional benefits and intriguing texture and taste.”
Plant-based preferences are rising, focus on health and better-for-you options
The New York legislature passed a bill last week designed to encourage the use of low-carbon concrete and cement, a major step aimed at tackling the climate impact of the construction industry.
Low-carbon concrete bill advances in New York
Multinational consumer goods giant Unilever has launched a laundry capsule in China created by recycling carbon emissions. It will unveil its first paper-based bottles for laundry detergent in Brazil next year, and it will introduce recyclable toothpaste tubes for its oral care brands Signal, Pepsodent, and Closeup in its largest oral care markets: India and France.
Unilever Embraces Sustainability By Rethinking Both Its Products and Packaging
More than half the cosmetics sold in the United States and Canada are awash with a toxic industrial compound associated with serious health conditions, including cancer and reduced birth weight, according to a new study.
Study: Half of US cosmetics contain toxic chemicals
“Lipstick wearers may inadvertently eat several pounds of lipstick in their lifetimes,” said Graham Peaslee, senior author of the study and professor of physics at the University of Notre Dame. “But unlike food, chemicals in lipstick and other makeup and personal care products are almost entirely unregulated in the U.S. and Canada. As a result, millions of people are unknowingly wearing PFAS and other harmful chemicals on their faces and bodies daily.”… Some PFAS have been associated with a wide range of serious health harms, from cancer to obesity to more severe COVID-19 outcomes, and they contaminate the drinking water of millions.
Unlabeled PFAS chemicals detected in makeup
Cyber Security & Data Privacy
Securing individuals and organizations against cyber threats and privacy violations:
As cyber criminals continue to launch ransomware attacks on businesses, experts warn that the ransom victims are expected to pay could skyrocket, funding the next round of advanced attacks.
Cyberattack Ransoms Could Skyrocket Soon, Financing Tools for Criminal Intelligence
On Jan. 15, a hacker tried to poison a water treatment plant that served parts of the San Francisco Bay Area. It didn’t seem hard.
50,000 security disasters waiting to happen: The problem of America’s water supplies
Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies urged companies to adopt many of the same defensive steps that it has recently required of federal agencies and companies that do business with the government.
White House Warns Companies to Act Now on Ransomware Defenses
VMware says rising volume of cyberattacks unlikely to ease anytime soon
Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity
The Buildout and upgrading of our Networks, Data Storage Facilities, and Equipment:
“Virtual events are here to stay,” Scott Roberts, LinkedIn’s vice president of business development, said in a statement. “We recognize our customers use many platforms, so we want to make it easy for them to extend the reach of their live events onto LinkedIn.”
LinkedIn bets on remote events, investing in $5 billion-plus virtual platform company Hopin
The Department of Defense’s (DOD) 5G-to-Next G Initiative (5GI), overseen by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, successfully demonstrated an advanced 5G network for logistics modernization exclusively designed and built in the United States.
Department of Defense Successfully Demonstrates a 5G Network for Smart Warehouses
Implementation of 5G technology accelerated the demand for various healthcare technologies such as the Internet of Medical Things, AR/VR, artificial intelligence (AI), remote medical learning, remote patient monitoring, etc.
Why 5G Enabled Healthcare Is Important For Patients and Spatial Computing
As 5G begins to enrich customer experiences in several countries across industries, South Korean tech giant Samsung is all set to showcase its continued innovations around 5G and what lies ahead on the 6G cellular technology… Samsung recently released a white paper entitled “The Next Hyper-Connected Experience for All,” saying that 6G will be characterized by provision of advanced services such as truly immersive extended reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile hologram and digital replica… Examples of 6G performance requirements are a peak data rate of 1,000 Gbps (gigabits per second) and air latency less than 100 microseconds, 50 times the peak data rate and one-tenth the latency of 5G.
Samsung set to unleash the power of 5G, bets big on 6G tech
Reflecting the growth in investment, as of April 2021, the report was tracking a global pipeline of large-scale data center projects with a total value of US$161.3 billion, up from US$159.0 billion as of October 2020.
Global Data Center Construction Projects Report 2021
Digital Payments & FinTech
Companies leveraging technology to disrupt and improve the financial services and payments industries:
The volume of digital transactions worldwide is likely to triple over the next decade on the back of rapid innovations in the payments sector coupled with a significant amount of digitization of the economies.
Global Digital Payments Volume to Triple at 3 trillion by 2030: PwC
Germany’s largest lender is setting up a joint venture with U.S. payments giant Fiserv Inc. to offer customers payments-processing services. The joint venture will allow Deutsche Bank’s business clients to accept payments from customers, both in person and digitally, through Fiserv’s platform called Clover, which reads credit cards, debit cards and mobile wallets, and records orders and inventory.
Deutsche Bank Jumps Back Into Payments With Fiserv Deal
Where consumers can already choose from a dizzying array of digital payment channels, from online banking to peer-to-peer networks, digital payments in B2B markets is still in its relative infancy. Only one-third of B2B spend globally is processed electronically (compared with two-thirds of expenditure in B2C) and checks still represent more than half of the $120 trillion of B2B payments made worldwide very year.
Why B2B is the next big market for digital payments
Sustainable Future of Food
Companies addressing the challenge of providing healthy, affordable and nutritious food to a growing global population amid dwindling natural resources:
Oceans contain a diversity of renewable and non-renewable resources – like aquaculture, fisheries, oil, and gas deposits – that provide the intermediate inputs, such as waves and fish stocks, to support various ocean-based industries, including renewable energy and seafood production.
Financing a sustainable ocean economy
Soil is a farmer’s most valuable asset, and it requires care to ensure sustainable and profitable production for the future.
Meeting the Growing World Food Demand with Advanced Crop Nutrition
The global agritech market was valued at $17.4 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $41.1 billion by 2027.
Agritech Market Forecast to 2027
“Precision agriculture and autonomy are critical components of our strategy,” CNH Industrial Chief Executive Scott Wine said of the acquisition of Raven, which also produces high-performance specialty films as well as aerospace and defense solutions.
CNH plows deeper agriculture furrow with $2.1 bln Raven buy
- Foxberry Tematica Research Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Index
- Foxberry Tematica Research Sustainable Future of Food Index
- Tematica BITA Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity Index
- Tematica BITA Cleaner Living Index
- Tematica BITA Cleaner Living Sustainability Screened Index
- Tematica Research Dividend All-Stars Index
