Geneva – Switzerland has once again topped the Global Innovation Index for this year. In so doing, the World Intellectual Property Organization has determined that no coronavirus-related slump has been observed in relation to financing innovation. Switzerland has successfully defended top spot in the Global Innovation Index, further details of which can be found in a press release issued by Wipo, the World Intellectual Property Organization. As was the case in the previous year, the places immediately behind Switzerland are again occupied by Sweden,...

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In this News Update special on FinTech, we discuss the most recent developments in this area, including publications of the European Supervisory Authorities ("ESAs") and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ("BCBS") on digitalisation and financial technology. We also highlight some other Financial Regulatory publications issued last month. Legislators and supervisors have regulated several new FinTech sectors after an initial relatively laid-back approach of referring to the overall existing framework and its application (e.g. to cloud services). These sectors include...

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Key insights Many organizations are shifting toward a permanent hybrid model for their workforce. Some jobs are better suited to the hybrid model than others. A variety of tools and efforts can help keep remote and in-office workers connected and cohesive. When COVID-19 descended upon the world, organizations were forced to adapt on the fly and find ways for employees to remain productive while working from home. The assumption was once the pandemic ended, things would go back to the...

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Supply chains are becoming increasingly more digital and geographically dispersed. Everything from raw material procurement to finished product delivery is potentially exposed to physical and virtual risk, including single points of failure or vulnerability through manipulation. Any such disruption to supply chains can quickly lead to significant impact on revenues while also risking the loss of sensitive data or intellectual property. The nature of the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry is such that there is a wide spectrum of threat...

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This article is part of Portolano Cavallo’s “INFORM@Digital & IP” Newsletter. Click here to subscribe On July 12, 2021, the European Commission published a Staff Working Document (“SWD”) summarizing the result of the public consultation launched by the Commission on the revision of the 1997 Market Definition Notice (“Notice”). The public consultation was designed to assess whether the Market Definition Notice still serves its purpose in the modern European Union market and how the Notice has performed since its adoption. The consultation...

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On October 4, 2021, USTR Katherine Tai spoke to the Center for Strategic and International Studies on the future of the U.S. trade relationship with China.  Highlights of Ambassador Tai’s comments follow: The U.S. will restart a targeted China 301 tariff exclusion process to mitigate the effects of certain Section 301 tariffs that have not generated any strategic benefits and raised costs on Americans. Such an exclusion process (a time frame for which has not yet been announced) would...

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From out-of-touch U.S. ports, to trans-Atlantic bottlenecks, to guarding against supply chain cyberattacks, to power outages in China, to added air cargo capacity, we’re here to deliver the latest news in international shipping.  We’d be the first to say that data and information kept in silos is one of the biggest problems for supply chains. And, although the industry has made big improvements in this regard in the past few years, there’s still a lot of work to be done....

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The US dollar was driven higher in September by two main factors. The first was the anticipation of the Federal Reserve continuing to move toward tapering before the end of the year.  Investors have discounted one hike and part of a second one next year.  To be sure, the US is not leading the move away from maximum monetary stimulus.  Norway hiked rates last month, and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will likely do so this month.     Not...

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On Wednesday, top EU and US officials attended the first meeting of the US-EU Trade and Technology Council, an effort designed to ensure that the West’s influence in technology and trade are maintained. The Representatives in attendance laid out plans to coordinate more closely on their response to emerging technologies and pressing trade threats. High-level commitments were made during the Council meeting to co-tackling burgeoning economic and security challenges. Challenges that include the regulation of artificial intelligence, easing of the semiconductor shortage...

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