BusinessToday Previous Editions

2 NEWS 25.11.2021 OVER the last decade, IoT has evolved from an emerging technology to one of the world's most in demand tech verti- cals. IoT as a technology has been ma- turing over the past few years and seems poised for continued growth in Malta. is growth is expected to be driven by specific sectors such as transportation and logistics, telecommunications, and gaming. However, other sectors such as retail, security, finance, and manufac- turing are also responding positively to this increased growth. e 2021 landmark study commis- sioned by Tech.mt suggests that locally, advancements have already been made with more than half of the surveyed businesses adopting such technologies. With the expected growth of IoT de- mand, the emergence of artificial intelli- gence (AI), and the imminent roll-out of fifth generation (5G) wireless, the sub- ject matter of the report is critical for change and innovation within the local business community. e report aims to shed light on how IoT is paving the way for businesses to redefine the way they manufacture or design products, optimise processes, and enable enhanced sales, while at the same time increase awareness of its adoption among Maltese businesses. As part of Tech.mt's mission in forming Malta's national objectives for the adop- tion of emerging technologies such as IoT, the report aims to provide further insight from local businesses on the di- verse application of IoT across multiple sectors of the economy. More particularly, the report investi- gates areas such as sectoral relevance, willingness to invest, barriers or chal- lenges, effectiveness on business oper- ations, and insights to actual industry applications. Key findings of the report include: • 60% of surveyed companies that use IoT experienced the benefits in less than a year. • 83% of surveyed companies who use IoT integrate it with other technologies such as data analyt- ics, AI, and cloud. • 21% of surveyed companies that do not use IoT are planning to de- ploy within 6 to 24 months. • 26% of the surveyed companies that use IoT deployed this tech- nology in 2020. e report highlights multiple ben- efits to the deployment of IoT but also identifies key roadblocks for IoT. In fact, barriers related to lack of knowledge, costs, security issues, and uncertain returns on investment need to be ad- dressed to capture the true value of IoT. As evidently highlighted in the report, approximately two thirds of companies who do not use IoT said that they need more awareness and funding on such technologies. While there is anecdotal evidence that Malta has also enjoyed steady growth and industry adoption throughout the years, more work is needed to foster further industry adoption in this sphere. "By addressing such issues and entic- ing more investment in IoT, Malta can continue to foster even greater growth and adoption in IoT in the years to come," Dana Farrugia, CEO of Tech.mt, said. "is can potentially help in bolster- ing Malta's economy and cementing the technology sector as one of the strong- est pillars of the Maltese economy." Half of Maltese businesses quick to adopt IoT, Tech.mt survey shows NICOLE MEILAK ROBERTA Metsola will be the EPP's candidate for European Parliament pres- ident after clinching the nomination on Wednesday evening. Metsola won with 64% of the vote, re- ceiving 112 of the 174 votes cast. e nomination was contested by Dutch MEP Esther de Lange and Austri- an MEP Othmar Karas, who received 44 and 18 votes respectively. With an election for the European Par- liament president slated to happen in January 2022 – for half of the five-year legislature that started in 2019 – the EPP is expecting to take over the role for the post currently held by the Italian so- cial-democrat David Sassoli. To have a Maltese become the first woman president of the European Parlia- ment since 1999, in a female one-two on the Union's podium of power with Von der Leyen, would be momentous in itself. For Malta, the opportunity of so much soft power captured by having a Mal- tese woman as head of the EP, brings yet again a chance of showcasing it reputa- tion as an honest broker – a reputation held in various international fora, as re- cently as its 2017 presidency of the Euro- pean Council. But Europe's socialist MEPs will not give up the presidency to the Europe- an Parliament without any concessions from the European People's Party, as a mid-term rotational deal approaches. S&D president Iratxe Gaarcia Perez said the socialists would be demanding political balance inside the European in- stitutions. "No group is entitled to the presidency of the parliament as such. We don't have to yield the presidency, because it does not belong to any political party – rather, it's a decision taken by the parliament as a whole, and that's the basis on which we will operate. Clearly, we'll be demanding political balance." Sassoli was elected to the House presi- dency in 2019 as part of a 'rotational' deal to have socialists take the presidency for the first half of the legislature. "According to the agreement with which we stated, we had then balance across the European institutitons," Gar- cia Perez said, referring to a German from the EPP family – Ursula von Der Leyen as Commission president – and Charles Michel, a Belgian from the Re- new group appointed as Council presi- dent. "e situation has not changed over the last two years, and the S&D has sig- nificant clout and force across Europe in national governments as well as in this parliament," the Spanish MEP said. Roberta Metsola could become first woman EP president since 1999 Roberta Metsola with outgoing EP President David Sassoli

• Cover