From the further advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to the increased reliance on data analytics and data science, this past year has been significant for all things tech as it relates to business needs. As executives and finance departments look to strategize for 2019, here's a look at some of my core tech hiring predictions for 2019 -- based on my observations as the CEO of a digital media and tech staffing firm for short- and long-term talent -- to help ensure your business remains informed and capable of attracting (and retaining) the most in-demand talent. According to Gartner's April 2018 forecast, worldwide IT spending is projected to reach about $3.85 trillion in 2019, up 2.8% from 2018. Despite the various pieces of negative press big tech has received, the business advancements and benefits provided through the adoption of AI, ML, cloud technologies and tools in the workplace have led to a continued investment in IT departments. Almost half of the respondents to the 2018 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey reported an IT budget increase, and 48% expected a budget increase within the next year.

Artificial Intelligence talent is this generation's atomic weapon . There is huge economic power in data; Artificial Intelligence is the key to unlocking it and this is driving an AI arms race to amass talent and become the next superpower. The AI community is so enthralled by the science in this age of discovery that it hasn't properly stopped to examine the risks from who controls the power and what they do with it. It is easy to write off the dangers as the dystopian delusions of a science-fiction obsessed Skynet or WestWorld fanatic, and while those may be far-fetched, there are more likely scenarios where the absence of clear ethics and regulations in Artificial Intelligence can create tiered societies, powerful monopolies, unaccountable governments and abuses of power. The biggest multinational companies and governments are realising long-term strategies to control more AI talent than their competitors.

Plans have been revealed to start mining the moon in the coming years. Paris-based ArianeGroup says it hopes to send a scientific mission to our neighbour before 2025, with the hope of kickstarting an attempt to bring parts of its surface down to Earth. The company will work with the European Space Agency as part of a one-year contract to explore the possibility of preparing a mission to the surface. Rocket-maker ArianeGroup will partner with a range of different organisations as well as ESA to work out how an entire lunar mission ould be possible. They hope once there they will be able to mine regolith.

Governments across the world came together in Marrakesh this past December to ratify a pact to improve cooperation on international migration. Among other objectives, the Global Compact for Migration seeks to use "accurate and disaggregated data as a basis for evidence-based policies." How can machine learning technologies help with deeply polarizing societal issues like migration? In early 2018, with support from IBM Corporate Citizenship and the Danish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, IBM and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) embarked on a partnership aimed squarely at the need to better understand migration drivers and evidence-based policy guidance for a range of stakeholders. At the recent THINK Copenhagen keynote, the Secretary General of the DRC, Christian Friis Bach, presented the first results of this effort.

"We don't have enough people to keep up." "We have to go through miles of case law on this one." "The paperwork is killing our productivity." "We don't know because we can't track events like that." Spend enough time in or around government agencies, and these are the kinds of pressures you're likely to hear about.

Comprehensive clinical documentation can significantly improve the quality and ROI of patient care initiatives. Some of the impact areas include case-mix index (CMI), revenue, physician and hospital admission risk profiling, medical necessity and supply, and recovery audit contractor and compliance. Regulations like Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are impelling the shift from quantity-based to value-based clinical documentation improvement (CDI). That being said, despite the intensive focus on CDI, many medical institutions are still largely dependent on manual systems and processes. A 2017 ACDIS CDI Week Surveyrevealed that more than 48% of the respondents do not use computer assisted technologies like computer-assisted coding (CAC) and Natural Learning Processing (NLP).

When a class in Mandarin Chinese starts next summer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, students will be practicing their spoken dialogues with a different sort of teaching assistant: an artificial intelligence chatbot. Capable of conversing with students in simulated settings -- a restaurant, garden or even a Tai Chi class -- the bot is part of a future where artificial intelligence (AI) will perform more of the tasks, and potentially the jobs, now done by humans. Part of a so-called "situations room" at RPI, the chatbot is an example of what are called "cognitive and immersive systems," in which the burgeoning field of AI is melded with rapidly growing torrents of financial, health and education information as well as so-called "unstructured data" like social media posts spreading across an expanding constellation of networked computers, smartphones and other electronic devices. RPI is developing the room under a partnership with the technology giant IBM and its supercomputer Watson, which first gained worldwide attention in 2011 when it beat humans in the TV game show "Jeopardy." It's too early to predict how much impact AI will have on how New Yorkers work, but a recent report by the Albany-based Rockefeller Institute of Government projects that large numbers of jobs being replaced or changed -- particularly in jobs that involve basic, repetitive actions.

I welcome the Communications made by the Commission on the 25th of April 2018 and on the 7th of December 2018. In my opinion, a proposal of hard law would have been more efficient to send the message the EU is practically creating a common legislative framework on AI and to prevent from a fragmentation of the market. Such legislative proposal could have ensured the defense of European values. The goal of a Trustworthy AI through ethical purpose and technical robustness requirements promoted by this working document is a good thing. However, I would like to do some comments.

We've all seen it coming: disruptions everywhere, from radical technology innovations to trade policies, taxation, Brexit, and supply chain risk. In 2018, the realities hit home as the ground beneath us began to shift – for good. How will the finance community adjust to deal with uncertainty, manage risk, and help their organizations stay ahead? How will finance stay relevant in the age of artificial intelligence? How will CFOs need to rethink and reinvent their roles?

Geopolitical and market events promise to make 2019 a challenging year for supply chain and procurement teams, one full of both increased risks and opportunity. Forward-thinking professionals are looking to new technologies to help them make the most of it. Managing geopolitical risk has always been a part of procurement and supply management's job, but as new sources of supply volatility emerge and the threat of tariff escalations increase, managing these risks has become critical. In addition to the standard sources of risk - typhoons, hurricanes, factory fires and labor disputes, world events have created new sources of risk that were unforeseeable a few short years ago. Traditionally a stabilizing influence, U.S trade policy has become less predictable.