I was invited as Keynote speaker in GCC Blockchain event in Dubai on 22 and 23 November 2017. I advocated for my area on AI and its subfield for FinTech. Also gave me lot of insight on how Blockchain can equally disrupt FinTech of rather doing it along with AI. In line with a Dubai goal towards making it the first Blockchain-powered government in the world by 2020, various service areas in Public and private organizations can benefit from Blockchain technologies. Blockchain and distributed ledger technology have potential to make ledgers more transparent, trustworthy and efficient which can revolutionize various business sectors.

With a wave of investment, a raft of new products, and a rising tide of enterprise deployments, artificial intelligence is making a splash in the Internet of Things (IoT). Companies crafting an IoT strategy, evaluating a potential new IoT project, or seeking to get more value from an existing IoT deployment may want to explore a role for AI. Artificial intelligence is playing a growing role in IoT applications and deployments,12 a shift apparent in the behavior of companies operating in this area. Venture capital investments in IoT start-ups that are using AI are up sharply. Companies have acquired dozens of firms working at the intersection of AI and IoT in the last two years.

The transaction will make Geely the biggest single shareholder in Volvo and the second biggest holder of voting rights. Christer Gardell, the co-founder of Cevian Capital, said Geely would be able to provide Volvo with valuable access to the Chinese market and know-how in the field of electric and self-driving vehicles.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time." Winston Churchill once said, "If you're going through hell, keep going." And, "Never, never, never give up." As we look back at top cyber stories and security trends in 2017, these wise words from fearless leaders who have gone before us certainly apply to cybersecurity and the new 21st-century challenges confronting our world in 2018. Last year we started with, "You ain't seen nothing yet!"

LogRhythm says AI lets organisations minimise false positives and be more productive. Software inefficiencies play a major role in slowing an organisation's ability to detect and respond to cyberthreats, says security intelligence company LogRhythm. One in three IT decision-makers say their teams spend at least three hours a day on tasks that could be handled by software. Most of them think that the average cybersecurity professional wastes close to 10 hours a week because of inadequate software. The study, commissioned by LogRhythm and conducted by Widmeyer, surveyed 751 IT decision-makers in the US, Britain and Asia-Pacific and found that an overwhelming majority (88%) of respondents view insider threats as a dangerous and growing concern in defending their organisations.

Smart machines, businesses as platforms, and the gig economy figure into Tom Friedman's riff on where the future of work could take global companies. Tom Friedman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times and author of seven best-selling books. His work covers a broad range of topics, including globalization, the Middle East, and environmental challenges. Friedman is intrigued by the connections among people, businesses, technology, and institutions that shape the evolution of an increasingly complex world. His newest book, "Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations," explores the future of work, a topic also being examined by Deloitte U.S. and Deloitte LLP's Center for the Edge.

At this year's BlockShow Asia, Yangdong Deng, chief AI scientist of Blockchain startup Matrix, explained how inserting Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the Blockchain ecosystem would make it possible to use Bitcoin mining computational power for scientific innovation. According to Deng, the current computing power being used in Bitcoin mining operations is 8.23x10²² floating point operations per second (FLOPS for short), while the total computing power in the world is 1.2x10²³ FLOPS. According to these calculations, Bitcoin mining is consuming 17 percent of total global computing power, justifying the frequent accusations that Bitcoin mining is wasteful. Matrix is seeking to reinvent mining algorithms by including AI into the equation through a Bayesian mining system that utilizes a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm (MCMC). Because these computations function similarly to traditional mining functions, they work well for Bitcoin mining.

Manufacturing with digital platforms for competitiveness, high employment and wealth generation advanced manufacturing is a wide spectrum multi- and inter-disciplinary domain where learning from experiences, simulation and modelling, materials, sensors with Internet of Things (IoT), supply-chain robustness, life cycle management, innovations through imaginations and commercialisation should work in synergy with right expertise of human resources, facilities, infrastructure and polices. Current day manufacturing covers a wide spectrum of industries -- crafts, processed food, textiles, pharma, medical devices etc. The emphasis is on software, design, manufacturing, validation of the products and capturing the imagination of customers for needs and delight through larger and more effective use of digital technologies. Manufacturing remains an engaging frontier of all emerging and advanced nations. High value and high-end customers choose products based on differentiating qualities of the products.

These are some of the quandaries you may be faced with in 2018, according to the experts who appeared on SAP Game-Changers Radio 2018 Predictions, presented by SAP. The first installment of a five-part series, the show aired live December 6, 2017. Host/moderator Bonnie D. Graham asked 15 leading experts, academics, and business influencers what they see in their crystal ball for 2018. Each person was given just two minutes to share their predictions for what the next year holds for their industry, business, the world, and technology. The market is interested and the technology has matured.