Business Arena magazine nr. 105 - october 2021

Enjoy the Quality * * * * * * * Admire the Value

2021 No. 105 29lei

magazine

www.businessarena.ro

CONSTANTIN DULUŢE,

"

Passion for excellence and perseverance are essential in business"

Owner, Domeniile Averești pages 10 - 12

special section inside

LUXURY & LIFESTYLE

TOP BRAND

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We at Business Arena Publishing Group keep an eye on the latest trends in the business media and put our readers' wishes first, as we constantly aim to extend our readership potential and gain greater coverage and circulation. In this context, after a successful first issue last year, we are happy to introduce The Book of Excellence 2021. Widely acclaimed for its prestigious annual awards dedicated business, culture, civil society, and sport personalities, Business Arena Magazine has heard its business partners and readers alike, who have been asking for a new platform that could put under the spotlight all the Business Arena award winners, with their success stories, challenges, expectations and hopes.

BOOK OF EXCELLENCE 2021, A COMPREHENSIVE AND EXQUISITELY PRINTED COLLECTION OF SUCCESS STORIES, INTERVIEWS AND FEATURES FOCUSING ON BUSINESS ARENA'S AWARD GALAS AND AWARD WINNERS

Business Arena is committed to providing the business community with useful insights and tools to manage their operations, and with platforms where business leaders and leading professionals can express their views and ideas.

We have decided to build the new publication around our dynamic award events, and showcase their winners: Most Admired Business Women Awards, Financial Leaders' Hall of Fame, Business Arena Awards for Excellence. Our readers deserve to know more about these successful people Overall, this new magazine is and organizations, so more than 30 business designed to include a wide variety of exciting leaders, entrepreneurs, highly-regarded topics and promote business excellence. We plan professionals, companies, and banks will to publish the magazine annually and jam-pack the be included in our first edition, with pages full of success stories to inspire you. Our aim is to interviews, biographical details inspire readers with new ways of thinking; promote greater and company profiles. awareness of issues affecting their business opportunities; and expand our audience to a new generation of business people, entrepreneurs, and professionals. The Book of Excellence will cover the most dynamic business sectors in this country, including banking, car manufacturing, IT&C, real estate, agribusiness, hospitality, retail, pharmaceuticals and so on. It will have a company profile section, lists of top companies in multiple categories and of course exclusive interviews. cosmin.stangaciu@business-arena.ro or paul.madrio@business-arena.ro or abonamente@business-arena.ro

E D I T O R I A L by

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Cristian Cojanu

MIXED FEELINGS Facing a strong fourth wave of the pandemic, soaring energy prices, rising inflation and a political crisis to boot, Romania presents a worrying picture. However, there has been some good news too.

Looking at the broad picture, international rating agecies Standard & Poor's and Moody's have both had positive takes on Romania's economic and macroeconomic prospects. On this note, Standard & Poor's maintained Romania's rating at BBB-/A-3, with a stable outlook, citing expected improvements of the country's fiscal imbalances over the next years and reforms under the recovery and resilience plan. "We expect Romanian output to expand by 7% in 2021 and remain steady in 2022-2023 on a recovery in private consumption and uptick in investment, in particular within the public sphere. The latter will be boosted by the government's investment agenda, itself supported by financing from plentiful EU funds that are designated for Bucharest," Standard & Poor's said in a press release. In turn, Moody's said it had changed the outlook on Romania to stable from negative and affirmed the Baa3 foreign and domestic long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings.

Investors have also confirmed their confidence in the local business environment, as the Foreign Investors Council (FIC) published positive Business Sentiment Index (BSI) results for September 2021. FIC notes that 80% of the respondents believe "businesses continue to expect growth for their revenues and for their activity on the domestic market." "From an investment perspective, we notice that companies' confidence in business opportunities is maintained, because for the next 12

months more than 53% of companies have investment plans. These results remain at high levels for BSI, marking a new peak," an FIC press release pointed out.

Also, companies are looking to expand their workforce: "60% of companies are looking to hire staff next year and only 11% will put them on hold. Intentions for workforce plans for the next 12 months represent a new peak since the launch of BSI," FIC said. However, only 39% of respondents consider the available workforce to be competitive.

As for the fourth wave of the pandemic, most companies (60%) do not expect major effects on their operations. In turn, many employees will continue to work from home. The FIC release mentions that "38% of companies estimate that between a quarter and a half of their employees will continue to work from home, while 29% expect more than half of employees to continue similarly."

While Romania is seen in a favorable position to access available reform and resilience program funding, the respondents cite "infrastructure, transparency and policy coherence, reducing bureaucracy and regulatory burden," as the main hurdles of doing business in Romania.

Find more opinions and predictions about domestic and global economic and geopolitical trends in this edition of Business Arena. As always, we will continue to keep an eye on all the issues affecting the business community.

FROM ALL OF US HERE AT BUSINESS ARENA, ENJOY THE QUALITY, ADMIRE THE VALUE!

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OPINION

THE GIFT GAZPROM RECEIVED The gas market crisis in Romania, despite the existing reserves in the Black Sea, makes us wonder if the situation was avoidable and how quickly it will be resolved. In order to shed light on these issues, I invited this week Mr. Dumitru Chisalita, university professor, president of the Smart Energy Association, oil and gas expert witness.

BY RADU CR|CIUN

RADU CR|CIUN

RC: Professor, is there a gas reserve in the Black Sea? DC: There are gas reserves in the Black Sea and they have been tracked by various means.

At the moment, there is talk of a reserve of about 200 billion cubic meters that spans several perimeters. The largest perimeter is currently held by the joint venture between Exxon and OMVPetrom.

RC: So the 200-billion cubic meter field is a confirmed reserve ...

DC: Yes, this is public information, circulated by the National Agency for Mines and Petroleum (the Regulator).

RC: Is 200 billion cubic meters a considerable amount?

DC: If we compare it to the largest field in Europe, at Groningen, which has 2,000 billion cubic meters, our reservoir is small. But

relative to the reserves Romania currently holds put by the Regulator at 100 billion cubic meters of onshore gas, the Black Sea field is enormous.

RC: And if we considered Romania’s energy consumption?

DC: At a 12-billion cubic meter yearly consumption, the Black Sea reserve would ensure the supply for 17 years. If we take into account the onshore reserves, then it’s rather 25-30 years, under current consumption patterns. Please note, however, that Romania’s energy policy foresees an increase in consumption over the next ten years.

RC: As part of the clean energy transition?

DC: When they were drawn up, the policies did not take into account the transition to renewable energy. They were written with the social perspective in mind, protecting forests and, to some extent, protecting the environment.

RC: I understand, but now, with the advent of the Green Deal, increasing consumption would make even more sense, right?

DC: Yes, it would make more sense.

Whether we like it or not, natural gas will be extremely important to Romania in the next 10, 15, 30 years, on account of the Green

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Deal and of the fact that natural gas is one of the few less polluting resources available. Oil resources are very scarce and depleting, coal use is restricted for environmental reasons, so of all the non-renewable resources, gas remains the only one still available and ready for use. Of course, given that it is drilled out of the seabed and not left there...

RC: Do you find the “this gas reserve is not for export, but for Romanian use alone” approach viable?

DC: In my view, gas, like any commodity, does have value. The important thing is to maximize this value both in the short and long term. For this reason, it would be preferable to have the longest portion of the value chain here in Romania. Ideally, we should not export it as fuel, but in the form of finished products, petrochemicals, chemicals, because, in this way, the added value would be much higher. All the more so that natural gas will survive the Green Deal, because chemical and petrochemical products will be needed for a long time to come.

RC: Under normal circumstances, would Romania have been able to extract its own gas from the Black Sea? DC: Under all the scenarios advanced, production should have started somewhere between 2022- 2023, and peak around 20252026.

RC: So we were supposed to get the first natural gas extracted in about 1 year.

DC: Based on studies carried out in 20132018, if the investment decision had been made in 2018, as normal, production would have peaked somewhere in 2025-2026.

RC: What happened? Why have the Black Sea projects been put on hold?

DC: There are many reasons stemming mainly from two important factors. Firstly, repeated gas market interventions and administrative changes that have distorted

the market.

RC: What do you mean? Price capping?

DC: Ordinance no. 114 that was passed, various other interventions, the 2% tax, the “pole tax” (property tax levied on special types of buildings), which, cumulatively, contributed to the deterioration of the free market. In a face-to-face discussion I had 7 years ago with the then CEO of Exxon, he told me very clearly that the legislation may not be very favorable, the [political] climate may not be stable, but nothing is as disruptive for Exxon as a situation where someone plays with prices all day long. For them this is a great concern.

RC: Everything becomes unpredictable.

DC: Furthermore, it upends any business plan to sell the gas. For a public company, such as Exxon, all of these elements impact

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the financial results, the company’s value, the way shareholders look at investments. A major problem has been that Romania has intervened in the gas market on too many occasions and has not allowed it to function.

The changes to the legislation were the second major problem, especially following certain events. I mean, you know that when you make a business plan you always look at legislation first, at existing risks. Once you have built your facility, you have brought in the equipment and start production, the last thing you want to see is a change in the legislation governing the way you operate.

Unfortunately, this is what happened, there were all those changes in the offshore petroleum exploitation law, with all those additional taxes to be paid, the royalties that were linked to the price in Vienna and not to the price on the Romanian market, the issues with how exploitation was to be performed offshore. So all these changes that occurred in 2018 were the second major cause for which the company took the decision not to continue with the Black Sea investment and to put the company mandated to deal with the exploitation on the market.

RC: I have noticed that you refer mainly to Exxon.

DC: Yes, because the perimeter owned jointly by OMV-Petrom and Exxon is the largest and represents the bulk of the Black Sea reservoir.

RC: But why BlackSea Oil and Gas have not been deterred by these adverse conditions that you mentioned and are preparing to soon extract the first cubic meter?

DC: Their operations were in the most advanced stage and were planning to bring the gas to the shore as of Q4 2021. In the end, from the information I have, they will not start production this year. Indirectly, they were also affected by this 2018 change in the offshore petroleum exploitation law, which

featured an unbalanced approach against offshore site developers.

RC: But how do you see the reasoning underpinning these legislative changes that I think had catastrophic consequences for the Romanian energy market?

DC: It was a populist approach along the lines of “we are not selling our country”, “foreigners must pay us as much as possible”.

In my opinion, there was not a balanced approach, an approach that weighs the gains and losses of offshore gas explotation. That law came in 2018 as a result. Sadder still is that three years have gone by and nothing has changed.

RC: That’s exactly what I want to ask you.

In the meantime the political scene has changed. I expected the populist mindset you mention to follow the same trend and, consequently, the offshore petroleum exploitation law to be amended.

DC: I don’t have an answer. We may not change the legislation based on the idea that somehow a bad law will force Exxon to sell at a lower price in the event that it will sell to a Romanian buyer. The law might change later.

But it’s a speculative approach...

RC: The bad thing is that Exxon also knows this...

DC: Yes, that’s why I say, it’s a metaphor circulating in the market. No one has clearly stated that this was the reason and, as you say, at the end of the day, the agenda should be as clear as daylight to all those who pay attention. I cannot find another explanation.

RC: This means that we don’t have a clear idea on when the legislation might be amended.

DC: We don’t have a clear idea on when this law might be amended, we don’t have a clear idea on when these natural gas reserves might be exploited, we don’t have a clear idea if the gas will stay in Romania, will be processed in Romania or, simpler still, whether

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the surplus is going to be exported to neighboring countries. Beware, though, this opportunity is slowly drawing to a close. Last week for example, Hungary signed a long-term contract with Gazprom.

RC: Is it fair to say that the way the legislation in Romania has been changed has benefited Gazprom the most?

DC: Yes, this is a fair statement, but I think Gazprom was simply on the receiving end of a gift. I don’t suspect it of having played dirty games. The gas that is not extracted is now supplied by Gazprom exports.

RC: The French have an expression for those who make themselves “useful” by giving gifts out of ignorance to the wrong people...

DC: Yes, my belief is that we did it to ourselves, without any outside intervention.

RC: Assuming the legislation is passed tomorrow, how many years would it take for the first cubic meters of gas to be extracted from the sea?

DC: If we are talking about small amounts, it would probably take 2-3 years. If we’re talking about significant amounts that would make a difference to Romania’s energy balance, then it would take 5-7 years or more.

RC: How long would it take for the window of opportunity to put the gas onto the energy market to close?

DC: I would talk about two things here. If we take solely the Green Deal projections, the answer would be 2050. By then, not a single molecule of gas should be used for energy production, but only as raw material for the chemical industry. But if we take into account the offshore and onshore sources, and current energy policies, we should run out of natural gas completely after 25-30 years. This does not consider unconventional reserves.

RC: Let’s suppose that a Romanian company buys the perimeter sold by Exxon.

What experience do Romanian companies have in exploiting underwater gas? Wouldn’t

that delay commissioning even further?

DC: Indeed, Romanian companies are not experienced in deep water exploitation. The Romanians started with shallow water drilling in the 7os. But lack of the expertise that Exxon had is not of particular concern. There is the possibility to pay an experienced operator, perhaps even Exxon, who would act as a service provider.

RC: Given the current context that we just described, will Romania be able to exploit all the gas reserves in the Black Sea? DC: I half believe and half hope that it will happen, even if it will take a few years before exploitation starts. And the main pressure in this direction will be put by the major crisis we are going to face. We will reach the end of our tether and that will be the point when certain people will come to their senses and start to exploit the natural gas reserves. The crisis that has already started will become worse and will lead to radical measures being taken by Romania.

RC: So we can say that the increase in gas prices is good news for the commissioning of offshore gas exploitation?

DC: I wouldn’t say that the crisis triggered by higher bills will be the cause of that, but rather the crisis that we will find ourselves into over the coming months starting with this winter when effectively no natural gas will be available in Romania.

RC: And how will this crisis manifest itself?

DC: I think we will end up rationing the supply of natural gas. We will have to choose between entities that use it and those that don’t. We will probably have to ask households to consume less on certain days at certain times. Unfortunately, there is a good chance that we will see all this unfolding as early as this winter. And I think this prospect will put more pressure on us than price increases.

RC: Professor, thank you for these clarifications.

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MAGICAL THINKING IN ECONOMY. HOW MAJOR CENTRAL BANKS GAVE UP THEIR INDEPENDENCE The following article describes the changes occurring at the junction between political and economic thinking in developed countries in recent years. These changes have massively affected the independence of the world's major central banks (US Fed, European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, etc.) and are about to influence the behavior of the central banks in emerging countries.

BY VALENTIN LAZEA

The political perspective The lower the interest rate compared to the economic growth rate (r < g), the better it is from a political perspective, because: 1) an interest rate r as low as possible (possibly zero or negative) allows savings on budget expenditures, which can be redirected to other uses (increases in pensions and salaries, increases in investments, etc.); 2) a rate of economic growth g as high as possible (possibly over five percent per year) allows an increase in budget revenues without an increase in taxes (which attracts the sympathy of the business environment) and a sine die postponement of structural reforms; 3) as the interest rate r is considered a proxy for capital remuneration, a relation r < g leads to a redistribution of wealth from the capital factor to the labor factor, correcting a centuries-old trend noticed by Thomas Piketty, by which capital remuneration has exceeded the remuneration of labor in recent decades; 4) even if ultra-relaxed fiscal and monetary policies lead to an increase in public and private debt, this is not a problem as long as interest rates remain low.

VALENTIN LAZEA

The economic perspective Until 10-15 years ago, economists could have objected to the political perspective described above, using mainly two reasons: 1) the interest rate cannot fall below zero (then the public would massively convert their savings into cash), nor can it remain at low levels for long, without the risk of re-igniting inflation. However, in the last 10-15 years inflation has stubbornly remained very low, despite the zero interest rates and unprecedented quantitative easing of liquidity.

Thus, the main economic argument against excessively low, “low for long” (L4L) interest rates has disappeared.

2) the economic growth rate has objective limits, given primarily by the development level of the economy (for the EU the potential

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growth is probably around 1.5 percent, for the US it is around 2 percent), because the closer a state is to the Production Possibility Frontier, the harder it is for it to reach high rates of growth. Secondly, the growth rate must be correlated with the phase of the economic cycle. Thus, when the economy is in recession, the neo-Keynesian theory recommends forcing economic growth above potential, but the same theory recommends growth below potential when the economy is booming. However, after the great financial crisis of 2008, there have always been grounds for ignoring the phases of the economic cycle (the Greek crisis in Europe, the political competition between Republicans and Democrats in the USA, etc.), so that virtually no economist makes that distinction anymore these days.

In addition, the embryos of the economic thinking stating that the monetary stimulus can decrease r and, at the same time, can increase g - making the payment of the resulting debt bearable - have emerged since the 1970s (Nicholas Kaldor, Roy Harrod). Level-headed commentators such as Harold James (of Princeton University) call these approaches “magical thinking,” because they give the illusion of easy, cost-effective gains. However, we know that everything is paid for in the economy, sooner or later.

Specific factors causing the political mainstream to embrace magical thinking Politicians around the world are united in their reluctance towards structural reforms, which do not bring in votes and only show results in the long run, by which time the public will have most likely forgotten who initiated the reforms. Also, fiscal-monetary easing is much more popular with voters than structural reforms. But beyond these general similarities, there have been specific circumstances

encouraging politicians in various countries to embrace magical thinking: a) while the European Union does not have a common fiscal policy, it was much easier for the ECB to be promoted as the Union’s savior during the Greek crisis or during the other crises affecting the southern flank, even if this was done with the institution operating at the limit of its mandate; b) in the US, seeking to win white workers’ votes, both the Republican and the Democratic parties raised the stakes, significantly increasing the budget deficit, and putting the Fed in a position where any interest rate hikes could have dramatic consequences; c) in Japan, the massive level of public and private debt (the highest in the world) leaves the Bank of Japan virtually unable to raise the interest rate. Thus, even a BoJ policy critic like Kunio Okina acknowledged that it has no other role than to “help finance Japan’s fiscal policy.”

Thus, partly unwillingly, the world’s major central banks have become involved in unsustainable macroeconomic policies, ceding much of their independence to their governments. However, this was partly done with their consent and for an unexpected reason.

Why has mainstream economics accepted magical thinking The main central banks in the world have remained faithful to an inflation target of about

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two percent per year, even though experience has shown that the inflation measured by the consumer price index tends to be lower, hovering at 1.5 percent or even one percent per year: - technological progress has allowed the creation of cheaper products and services; - aging of the population has led to an overall increase in savings, pushing down inflation; - globalization has offered access to cheap labor.

Stubbornly aiming for an inflation rate of two percent (valid perhaps for the 1990s, but not for the present), central banks have pushed the pedal to lower interest rates to the floor, with no results in terms of achieving the inflation target. This only made them ambitious in continuing this policy sine die, doubling it with experiments such as Quantitative Relaxation and forward guidance. None of this would have been necessary if the inflation target for the developed countries had been redefined around the one percent level, more appropriate in current conditions. In turn, interests should not have been kept so low for so long, and markets would not have been flooded with liquidity. Of course, the big central banks have a good excuse: they have pursued inflation targeting and have done so regardless of the changing circumstances. Thus, the political magical thinking has met the economic magical thinking.

However, all that will have negative consequences in the medium and long term: a) even if it is not a short- and medium-term danger, inflation can explode in the long run due to excessively relaxed policies; b) with close to zero interest rates, measuring investment efficiency is no longer possible (even an investment with a profitability of one percent seems efficient), which leads to an enormous waste of resources;

c) keeping r < g for a long period of time, the purpose of higher remuneration of labor in relation to capital is not fulfilled, because the capital is going to migrate towards stock market and non-stock market speculative gains; d) if the ultra relaxed monetary policy does not allow the stock markets to adjust, they are no longer going to fulfill their role of signaling macroeconomic and microeconomic imbalances; e) economic growth cannot be stimulated indefinitely, especially due to the paradigm shift imposed by the climate crisis. We do not agree with the theory that the transition to new technologies will automatically lead to higher economic growth. On the contrary, changing production processes will mean temporarily sacrificing economic growth; f) expanding public and private debts, which at low interest rates seem sustainable, can lead to massive insolvencies as soon as the interest rates increase, even marginally; g) central banks completely lose their independence, becoming mere executors of government priorities.

Instead of conclusion There is no need for us to rewrite economic theory and practice textbooks and there is no need for us to look for new models (such as Modern Monetary Theory - MMT). The economic theory that was valid 30-40 years ago is just as valid now. We’d better admit that those unorthodox monetary and fiscal measures have been inspired by political entities that pursued extra-economic purposes (even if they meant well): keeping the European Union united; reassuring white American workers who felt their jobs were under threat, etc. We can understand - and accept - such measures, but we must not distort the economic science.

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INTERVIEW

WINEMAKING AS A PASSION Constantin Dulu!e is considered one of the strongest Romanian entrepreneurs in agriculture, and a constant presence on the list of richest Romanians.

A former sole shareholder of Agricost, the largest Romanian producer of cereals and oil producing plants, he perseveres and continues to bet on Romanian business opportunities, investing in real estate, farm land and wineries.

In 2018, you were involved in what was the largest transaction in agriculture and the third largest transaction in Romania that year.

With 240 million euro, you did not retire on an island, but continued to invest. Can you provide some details about your new businesses?

Business is a fundamental part of life, when you become involved in it you cannot stop. In fact, the opposite is true, especially if you like to build, to see how things change around you. To achieve something, in any field, you need to work hard, you need plans, perseverance and a team of specialists to support the operations.

Apart from my business in agriculture and wind energy, I have been part of a real estate project in Bucharest since last year.

However, my biggest and dearest investment is in the wine industry. Not everyone can do good viticulture and make good wine.

Whoever invests thinking that they will cash

in on it tomorrow should just give up. In vineyards and winemaking you have to wait.

In this industry, you have to make long-term investments, think today about the future, have patience and enjoy it.

In 2020, when few investors had the courage to invest, you signed the contract for the acquisition of the Hu[i winery (about two million euro).

What is your connection with the wine industry, when was your first contact with this business sector and what is your objective?

In business you have to plan for the future all the time, to bring added value to the industry and gather the necessary expertise to achieve that.

When I decided to enter the Avere[ti business, it was a nostalgic move, but I believe in its potential to benefit the entire area and the Hu[i Vineyard. Passion and business go together, you do what you like,

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CONSTANTIN DULUŢE,

OWNER, DOMENIILE AVEREȘTI

"Making good wine and sustainable viticulture is not for everybody."

but with profitability in mind. Initially, after the revolution, we set up 100 hectares of vineyards, then, in 2005, we acquired the company in Avere[ti, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. After I bought the land, in 2010, I started the investments on an area of 650 hectares.

In the beginning, the vineyards were replanted in keeping with the European standards, and because the vineyard requires patience and dedication, the replanting process continued for the next 11 years. In addition to the vineyard, investments were needed for the development of its logistic structure, for the production and distribution of the Avere[ti wine. Over the years, the funds invested here have reached over 30 million euro.

Every year our feelings of trepidation intertwine with the difficulties of the wine business. We take care of the vineyards with

great attention, we look forward to the rain and we hope for good weather when the time comes to work in the vineyard. Everything is changing all the time, and our people’s dedication is the only constant. In a vineyard (Hu[i Vineyard) with a tradition of over 3,000 years, the Domeniile Avere[ti brand is relatively new, but we have managed to reach the sixth place among the largest vineyards in Romania in a short time. At the same time, we are number 1 in terms of areas cultivated with local varieties: Busuioac\ de Bohotin and Zghihar\ de Hu[i.

At the end of September 2021, we officially opened one of the most modern and impressive grape and must processing units.

Taking a different approach from the rest of the wineries, Domeniile Avere[ti is now one of the most ambitious winemaking projects in Romania, with its gravitational processing component and the size of the grape mace-

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“To achieve something, in any field, you need to work hard, you need plans, perseverance and a team of specialists to support the operations.”

CONSTANTIN DULUŢE

ration presses. I worked on this project with Mr. Yves Grassa, an extremely gifted person with extensive experience in this sector, who developed similar projects at the winery he owns in France (Domaine Du Tariquet). We made 10 project variants, we modified and personally checked each technical aspect, and we chose the one that would ensure us an excellent ratio between efficiency and uniqueness of the grape varieties. Everything was done so that we can obtain unmistakable and sustainable wines, which respect the resources of the land, the grapes and the particularity of the area.

What will consumers find in a glass of Domeniile Avere[ti wine?

There is a note of passion, spiced up with new challenges and new discoveries, a beautiful love story for wine and passion for performance in every glass of wine from Domenerii Avere[ti.

All our investments so far and those that

are going to follow have a purpose and a story behind them. Our goal is to put the Hu[i Vineyard back on the map of trusted wine regions in Romania, and to become the main supplier of quality wines from DOC Hu[i at national and international level. These efforts are supported with passion and involvement by the entire family, dedicated to increasing the prestige and quality of the Domeniile Avere[ti products. Our modern investments and resources focus on the same goals.

What is the next step that you are considering in this business sector?

Obviously, the story of the Hu[i wine does not end there! It is a long-term investment. We are a well-capitalized business, with a constantly growing turnover, with good prospects and know-how.

We want to contribute to the development of the Avere[ti - Hu[i area, of the brand we are building, and of the Romanian wine’s potential.

INVESTMENT

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ROCA X BACKS UP XVISION’S INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION XVision, the MedTech company behind the software solution that enables radiologists to analyze X-Rays and CT scans using AI, has announced the opening of a new fundraising round to fuel their CEE expansion. ROCA X, part of Impetum Group and one of the early investors in the company, follows-up through a bridge round meant to provide the company with more flexibility in structuring their future round.

“When a project develops fast, the reaction speed of those involved in it becomes the decisive factor in its development and it is the duty of the investors to be prepared to react as fast as needed to maintain the growth pace. Through ROCA X, we want to provide founders with the flexibility they need to scale their businesses, without having their company’s growth threaten by long fundraising periods,” said Alexandru Bogdan, ROCA X CEO. During the last year alone, XVision has implemented their automatic X-Ray analysis solution in over 30 public and private hospitals across Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland, and are now processing over 70% of the medical images that go through these medical institutions. The COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to the solution’s adoption. As doctors’ time becomes increasingly precious, they rely more and more on digital solutions. Using XVision’s algorithms, medical institutions have managed to analyze more images faster, as XVision is also able to detect, among other thoracic pathologies found on X-Rays and CT scans, signs of SARSCoV2 infection.

“The problem we want to solve with XVision, that of the radiologists’ heavy workload, has been existing long before the pandemic. COVID19 further exacerbated it, and we realized that we needed to move faster than we’ve anticipa-

ted. Consequently, we focused on deploying XVision in as many hospitals as possible in Romania to validate that our product provides real value to the doctors. The international expansion followed naturally to the point where we are already present in hospitals across the CEE. ROCA X investment is essential for us because it allows us to meet the demand we have in these foreign markets, and it is also a step forward towards raising a more complex round,” said {tefan Iarca, co-founder and CEO XVision.

AI-based X-Ray analysis is currently a niche worth about 400 billion USD annually and grows consistently by over 20% each year - this niche alone is forecasted to grow larger than the current size of the radiology market by 2031.

“XVision is one of the few companies we have chosen to back up even though their product wasn’t launched when we first met because the efficiency they could bring to medical imaging analysis was hard to ignore - in the last 15 years alone, the number of X-Rays analyzed by a doctor on a daily basis quadrupled and tiredness slowly became the main reason behind interpretation errors. Almost every country in Europe is currently facing a shortage of radiologists, and medical imaging is one of the domains where AI can have a large impact for both doctors and society. But the opportunities grow far beyond radiology - in the following years every medical process will be augmented by technology in one way or another. Given Romania’s large number of proficient software developers, coupled with the emergence of a new generation of tech-savvy doctors, Romania could become an important MedTech hub within a short time,” said Bogdan Pa[ca, ROCA X Junior Investment Manager.

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FINANCIAL LEADERS' HALL OF FAME 2021

BANKING INDUSTRY ENJOYS SUCCESSFUL YEAR

Operating in a highly competitive environment, banks and financial institutions have made outstanding progress in introducing new and innovative products and cutting-edge technologies. And even though the industry has had to deal with the challenges posed by the ongoing Covid-19 situation, Romania's banking and financial sector is looking back proudly on its success stories.

In this context, Business Arena held its annual Financial Leaders’ Hall of Fame awards gala in the presence of banking and financial leaders, professionals and entrepreneurs, proudly recognizing the efforts and achievements of successful banks, companies and leaders in this industry.

Speaking in the beginning of the event, Cristian Sporis, Head of Corporate Banking Division, Raiffeisen Bank Romania, emphasized that 2021 has been a suc-

cessful year for the banking industry. "We are about to end one of the best years that the banking system has seen in the last 20 years," he said and added: "Banks and business models have been tested in a pandemic scenario, and despite lockdowns the banking system continued to serve its customers. What should have been a test scenario happened in real life, and I, as a banker, am very proud of the stability and performance showed by this infrastructure that some call critical."

Looking ahead, the Raiffeisen Bank official identified two major trends developing worldwide. "On the one hand, we have the ESG, Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance, and, on the other, we have the digitalization trend. Each of them brings along smaller trends, as it were. In the area of ESG, we can talk about waste management, decarbonization, water manage-

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WINNERS 2021 BEST FINANCIAL ADVISER

RETAIL BANK OF THE YEAR

KIWI FINANCE

FIRST BANK

Recognizing strong operating results and overall

Recognizing its outstanding success in

strategy reflected in its outstanding contribution

employing cutting-edge digital banking

to the development of the local lending market.

solutions to provide innovative products and

BEST BANK FOR LIBERAL PROFESSIONS

LIBRA INTERNET BANK

Recognizing superior planning and strategy reflected in its successful development of innovative products and services dedicated to liberal

services and unconventional customer communication channels.

CORPORATE BANK OF THE YEAR

RAIFFEISEN BANK ROMANIA

professions.

For achieving a high level of recognition and

DIGITAL BANKING CHAMPION OF THE YEAR

corporate customers’ needs and

CEC BANK

Recognizing its successful digital transformation efforts, leadership and culture committed to providing the best user experience to individuals and companies.

MOST INNOVATIVE BANKING PRODUCTS

UNICREDIT BANK

Recognizing its outstanding role in stimulating the use of modern banking instruments and procedures in Romania, providing innovative, cutting-edge products and services for corporate and individual customers.

BEST BANKING STRATEGY

responding better than any other bank to expectations, providing innovative products and services and taking important steps in the area of sustainable financing in a highly competitive market segment.

BANK OF THE YEAR

BANCA TRANSILVANIA Recognizing superior planning and outstanding growth strategy reflected in successful expansion of operations, with cutting-edge products and services for a widening customer base.

BANKER OF THE YEAR

OMER TETIK CEO – BANCA TRANSILVANIA

GARANTI BBVA

For achieving a high level of recognition and

market as a financial trusted partner, based on

community for outstanding results and qualities

For achieving a high level of recognition in the healthy growth, diversifying its product portfolio

admiration from the general business of creative leadership, reflected in his essential

and digital channels, and keeping pace with

contribution to Banca Transilvania's successful

customer needs.

expansion strategy.

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FINANCIAL LEADERS' HALL OF FAME 2021

ment and many other things that will change and put pressure on banks' business models," Sporis said. He mentioned concepts such as Product-asa-Service and the circular economy, which in his view are expected to have an impact on the way banks finance the economy sooner rather than later.

In terms of digitalization, Sporis believes that Romania's banks are on a par with their European Union peers, but the competition is strong and can take many forms. "There are other players in the market who are creating certain trends and accelerating this transformation," he said, mentioning fintechs such as Revolut and Klarna as well as marketplace platforms for small producers, offering commercial credit and even free transport services. "These things are possible due to digitalization, and they are going to put pressure on the banking system. We need to find a way and reinvent ourselves so that we can remain an integral part of this value chain, financing production from end to end," Sporis added.

The awards gala included live music performances by Gatiela Marineata, and it was moderated by Andy Alexandru Antemia. The event was organized in partnership with Raiffeisen Bank, CEC Bank, First Bank,Garanti BBVA, EximBank, Apulum Porcelain Factory, World Class Romania, Domeniile Averesti, Kanal D, Borsec, Trends By Adina Buzatu, The Brandoers, Ramada Bucharest Parc Hotel.

Business Arena would like to congratulate all the winners on their success.

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Best Financial Adviser

Best Bank for Liberal Professions

Anca Bidian, CEO, Kiwi Finance It has been a very good year for the banking industry and its partners, the best in a long time. I hope that next year we can meet again in the traditional format, without restrictions and without intrusive political developments.

Oana Hagiu Iftode, Professionals and Retail Banking Division Director, Libra Internet Bank We have been working with the liberal professions segment for over 17 years. We believe that we have succeeded in finding viable solutions for these professional categories, whose social roles are extremely important whether we are talking about doctors, notaries or lawyers. We have a dedicated team creating and consolidating successful partnerships with this market segment.

Digital Banking Champion of the Year Cristina Andreea Totu, Director, SME Department, CEC Bank Digitization has been a fundamental vector for our bank’s strategic development in recent years. Last year, we launched the first digital products for individuals, while, this year, we introduced a first-of-its-kind product for the corporate segment in Romania.

Companies whose shareholding structure includes other companies as well as individuals, and even European Union residents can now enroll online. At the same time, we continue to be an omnichannel bank and develop our operations through traditional channels, using our 1,000 territorial units, the largest banking network in Romania. We are very happy that the market and our customers have noticed our achievements and transformations. They are are the result of teamwork, so, we would like to thank all our colleagues at CEC Bank.

Most Innovative Banking Products Diana Suster, Head of Private Individual Clients, UniCredit Bank I am honored to receive this award on behalf of UniCredit Bank, as it recognizes its constant investment in innovation and digitalization. Behind these projects and ideas are teams of people who are trying to find innovative solutions and cope with the rapid evolution of technology and customer

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FINANCIAL LEADERS' HALL OF FAME 2021

needs every day. It has been a challenging time for all of us, but this award gives us joy and encouragement.

Best Banking Strategy

Virginia Otel, Deputy General Manager, Garanti BBVA Leasing and Communication Leader Tonight, my gratitude goes to our colleagues who support the implementation of our startegies and make all our achievements possible.

Retail Bank of the Year

Cristina Barbu, Head of Segments and Campaign Management Division, First Bank We are very pleased to see that all our transformation efforts are beginning to show results. We have had good initiatives placing the customer at the center, including the video advisory service, which is the only video banking service in the market, a top mobile banking application, end-to-end mortgage services. There is more to come and we hope to be back on this stage again next year.

Corporate Bank of the Year

Cristian Sporis, Head of Corporate Banking Division, Raiffeisen Bank This award belongs to our customers and to our colleagues at Raiffeisen Bank. And I’m really proud to accept the award, because all the other nominees are formidable competitors, and I’m glad that we are the winners this time.

Bank of the Year Anca Craciun, Private Banking Director, Banca Transilvania I would like to thank my colleagues and I would also like to say that I am very pleased to see that our efforts have been appreciated by our customers. The entrie banking commuity has done something good for them, and that gives me great satisfaction.

Banker of the Year

Omer Tetik, CEO, Banca Transilvania Anca Craciun, I would like to thank you on Omer’s behalf. This award is going to give him a new impetus for next year.

MACORECONOMIC POLICY

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BNR FACES AN UNPRECEDENTED SITUATION The National Bank of Romania's (BNR) recent decision to increase the policy interest rate from 1.25% to 1.5% took the markets by surprise somewhat. It shouldn't have, because BNR is already facing an unprecedented situation, which is illustrated by the chart below.

BY RADU CR|CIUN

years.

It's a record. A policy interest rate that is below the inflation rate could possibly be justified in a non-inflationary context, with stable, low inflation. Such an interest rate would be adequate for supporting the economy and

On the one hand, the black line on the graph shows the evolution of BNR's policy interest rate since January 2003, reflecting its continuous downward trend as the inflation has decreased.

It is worth noting the 2008-2009 Evolution of policy interest rate in nominal "hump" meant to defend the and real terms (%) 2003-2021 exchange rate in times of crisis.

But the most interesting element on that graph is the second, yellow line, which captures the evolution of the real policy interest rate. In other words, the difference between the policy interest and inflation. The graph shows that, while decreasing almost constantly, the policy interest rate remained above inflation most of the time until September 2017. For this reason, the real policy interest Nominal policy interest rate Real policy interest rate remained generally positive. But since September 2017, the policy interest rate has never exceeded inflation, the state budget, allowing both to benefit from as the slight increases announced by BNR ever cheap money. But, for several months now, since have not been enough to tip the scale.

Romania has entered a completely different But, as the graph shows, the situation has inflationary stage, generated by both external deteriorated rapidly in recent months, and BNR and internal factors. Energy, raw material and was forced to take measures. Basically, never transport price hikes have joined the inflationary has the policy interest rate been so low pressures resulting from the post-pandemic compared to the inflation rate in the last 18 consumption explosion. On this note, BNR

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MACORECONOMIC POLICY

pointed out in a statement that the "total" inflation was increasing and bound to continue to do so for a while, and so was the "core" inflation, which does not include volatile and administered prices. BNR could not watch with indifference such a severe decoupling between interest rates and inflation, and the prospect of an even deeper rift between the two. The reasons are many. First of all, real negative interest rates get to be reflected in bank interest rates, risking to change the behavior of the population, accelerating consumption and encouraging foreign currency purchases. This course of action would only increase inflationary and exchange rate pressures. Secondly, interest rate hikes by other central banks in the region have eliminated fears about a comparative appreciation of the leu against other currencies, which would have fueled a growing external deficit. Once the others started raising interest rates, BNR joined in. Thirdly, BNR's statement and the BNR Governor himself expressed their

disappointment with the far too modest budget deficit fiscal adjustment this year. A year with a remarkable economic growth and implicitly with budgetary revenues over the forecasted values would have offered an excellent opportunity for the gap between revenues and expenditures to be substantially reduced.

It would have been enough for the expenditures to be kept at their initially planned values, and the higher revenues would have reduced the deficit. This did not happen, the temptation to increase spending was too great. In other words, in a context generating revenues above expectations, we targeted the deficit, instead of keeping spending under control. This will keep pressures on the external deficit, and make the budgetary adjustment more difficult and painful for the economy in the coming years. In this context, even if the interest rates increase, the moment when savings are no longer penalized with real negative interest rates is not coming any time soon.

BNR RELEASES BALANCE OF PAYMENT AND EXTERNAL DEBT FIGURES Central bank's (BNR) provisional data has shown that the January - August 2021 balanceof-payments current account posted a deficit of 10,149 million euro, compared with 6,549 million euro in the same year-ago period. The breakdown shows that the deficits on trade in goods and on primary income widened by 2,389 million euro and 587 million euro, respectively.

In turn, the surplus on secondary income and that on services decreased by 315 million euro and 309 million euro, respectively.

Non-residents’ direct investments in Romania totaled 4,394 million euro (compared with 1,481 million euro in January - August 2020), of which equity (including the estimated net reinvestment of earnings) and intercompany lending recorded net values of 3,803 million euro and 591 million euro, respectively. BNR also

indicated that the total external debt increased by 8,404 million euro, over January - August 2021. The country's end-August 2021 long-term external debt totaled 99,049 million euro (73.3 percent of total external debt), up 5.9 percent against end-2020. At the same time, the shortterm external debt amounted to 36,162 million euro (26.7 percent of total external debt), up 8.7 percent from end-2020. Long-term external debt service ratio ran at 16.4 percent in January - August 2021 against 20.7 percent in 2020. At end-August 2021, goods and services import cover stood at 5.3 months, as compared to 5.6 months at end-2020.

At end-August 2021, the ratio of BNR’s foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 89.4 percent, against 90.3 percent at end-2020.

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M&A

DELOITTE ADVISES DURAZIV’S SALE TO SAINT-GOBAIN Deloitte’s Corporate Finance practice has advised the shareholders of construction materials manufacturer Duraziv in the successful sale of the integral share package to global leader Saint-Gobain. The transaction was completed at the end of September, after receiving necessary approvals from authorities.

Deloitte Romania has structured and coordinated the sale process and advised the founders, Daniel Guzu and Irina Guzu, throughout the transaction. Duraziv is one of the main construction finishing solutions providers in Romania, with an integrated portfolio of adhesives and dry mortars, decorative paints and metals. Founded in 2003, Duraziv quickly became an established player in the construction materials sector.

Saint-Gobain is a French multinational corporation with EUR 38 billion in revenues as of 2020 and vast experience and innovation capabilities. This transaction will accelerate the company’s market penetration and enrich its offer to customers in the construction sector.

“Over the last several years, we have had a few unsuccessful attempts to sell the company. Only after our collaboration with Iulia Bratu and the Deloitte team, whom I thank and congratulate, did I understand how to professionally approach a transaction and how far from our objective we would have been without their support. I am thankful that the factory we created is now under the management of a global leader, which can turn it into an important player on the European market, and the people I worked with have the possibility of reaching professional heights,” said Daniel Guzu, founder of Duraziv Group.

Irina Guzu, founder of Duraziv Group, added: “Beyond the success of our business,

IULIA BRATU this transaction would not have been closed in these very good conditions without the contribution of Iulia Bratu and the Deloitte team. It has been a privilege to work with true professionals and meet wonderful people.”

The transaction process was coordinated

by Iulia Bratu, Director Corporate Finance, Deloitte Romania, and the project team was formed of Marina Nicola, Deputy Director, Cristina Ifrim, Senior Associate, Razvan Cebuc, Associate, and Sabina Preda, Associate.

“We are honoured to have been entrusted by our clients with this landmark transaction, which marks the second sale of a market champion developed by the sellers to a global leader in construction materials. This achievement was supported by a complex process, managed by a dedicated and experienced team”, said Iulia Bratu, Director Corporate Finance, Deloitte Romania.

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IPOS

GLOBAL IPO ACTIVITY EXCEEDS FULL YEAR 2020 DEALS AND PROCEEDS The global IPO market continued to boom through Q3 2021, resulting in the most active third quarter by deal numbers and proceeds in the last 20 years, according to EY IPO Q3 2021 report.

Q3 2021 saw 18% more deals than the previous third quarter record set in 2007, and 11% higher proceeds than the last record-setting third quarter in 2020. In Q3 2021 alone there have been 547 IPOs raising 106.3 billion USD. Year-to-date (YTD) there have been a total of 1,635 IPOs raising 330.7 billion USD, an 87% and 99% increase year-on-year, respectively.

Overall, Q3 totals YTD have already surpassed 2020 by both deal numbers and proceeds.

Acoording to the EY report, the key driver of activity in the third quarter was the rebound of IPO markets in Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA), particularly Europe, India and Tel Aviv exchanges, as well as IPO candidates racing to raise capital before expected tapering begins. With the exception of the Europe market, the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) pause seen in Q2 has extended to Q3. In the Americas, the traditional IPO market has continued at an accelerated pace, with 409 IPOs raising 133.6 billion USD. In the AsiaPacific region, while there are some signs of a market slowdown, the region continues to be active, producing 750 IPOs raising 123.4 billion USD YTD. Meanwhile, the EMEIA region is experiencing a steady stream of activities with 476 IPOs raising 73.7 billion USD. From a sector perspective, technology, health care and industrials once again rose to the top of the pack retaining their firm grasp on investor attention. For the fifth consecutive quarter since Q3 2020, technology generated the highest year-to-date number of deals (419), raising the highest amount in proceeds for the sixth consecutive quarter, from Q2 2020 (116.4 billion USD). Health care followed with 287 IPOs raising 49.2 billion USD by proceeds, and industrials came in third with 204 IPOs raising 35.3 billion USD by proceeds.

“In Romania, new all-time highs reached at the end of September 2021 for all listed companies. The market capitalization stood at 51 billion USD, while BET index reached a new record with a YTD increase of 29%. The investment activity on Bucharest stock exchange continued to witness an upward trend in Q3’21 with corporate bonds predominating the listings,” said Andrei Eftimie, Associate Partner, Capital Debt Advisory, Strategy and Transactions, EY Romania. He added: “There were eight issues of bonds for a total amount of 315.5 million USD, Raiffeisen Bank being the largest issuance (289.8 million USD). The Ministry of Public Finance continued with another round of sales of government bonds for the population, attracting a total amount of 217.1 million USD.” The EY official also pointed out that “the interest in listing on the alternative segment, AeRO, remained high with seven new launches that totaled 76.8 million USD from sectors like technology (Arctic Stream and Connections Consult), professional firms and services (Air Claim and Appraisal and Valuation), real estate (One United Properties), consumer products and retail (Visual Fan) and diversified industrial products (Adiss). At 9M’21, the total number of listed companies stood at 19 with a total value of 170.3 million USD, while for bonds there were 27 issues for a total amount of 1.3 billion USD (including government bonds).”

AMERICAS IPO ACTIVITY MAINTAINS HOT STREAK

IPO activities in the Americas are not slowing down. 2021 continues to beat the most active 20-year record by deal numbers and proceeds.

YTD, the Americas has seen 409 IPOs raise 133.6 billion USD by proceeds, a 118% and 113% respective increase year-on-year. The health care sector saw the most deals with 143

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sentiment in part due to the successful hosting of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, despite a lack of stimulus funds from the government and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

IPOs raising 29.0 billion USD, and technology saw the highest proceeds raised (60.2 billion USD) by 122 IPOs. While SPAC activity in the US remains elevated, it is not quite at the same breakneck speed seen at the end of 2020 and in Q1 of this year. Transactions continue to be announced daily, but the SPAC market is facing some headwinds: an oversupply of SPACs has created bidding wars, tepid trading performance, lower trading liquidity and the private investments in public equity (PIPE) market has softened while facing increased regulatory and congressional scrutiny. The SPAC market will continue to be an attractive option for the public market, though closing deals may become harder for SPAC sponsors.

The US continues to see strong growth YTD with 323 IPOs, a 117% increase year-on-year, which raised 117.3 billion USD by proceeds – up 110% year-on-year. Meanwhile, Brazil’s B3 exchange also performed strongly, with 44 IPOs raising 11.4 billion USD, a 144% and 157% respective increase year-on-year.

The significant growth in the region compared to Asia-Pacific and the Americas shows that the EMEIA markets are not immediately reactive to activity experienced by the rest of the world. When it comes to the sectors in the region, technology far outpaced the rest with 143 IPOs raising 21.9 billion USD by proceeds.

The UK is experiencing a swell with 66 IPOs (a 633% increase) raising 15.9 billion USD by proceeds which increased 124% year-on-year.

India is also seeing great momentum with 72 IPOs raising 9.7 billion USD, reflecting a 200% and 331% respective increase. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions, in particular, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, also saw notable gains with 88 IPOs raising 5.3 billion USD, an increase of 340% by deals and 242% increase by proceeds.

While the Asia-Pacific region maintained steady momentum through Q3, the region may soon experience a slow down due to geopolitical tensions and ongoing volatility that is expected to continue. YTD, the region has recorded 750 IPOs, an increase of 35% year-on-year, which raised 123.4 billion USD by proceeds – a 44% year-on-year bump. Technology is the most active sector in the region by both deal numbers (154 IPOs) and proceeds (34.3 billion USD).

Greater China continued to see gains YTD, with 444 IPOs raising 94.1 billion USD by proceeds, a 13% and 20% respective increase.

While activity continues to increase, the market experienced a complete halt of cross-border IPOs from China into the US market during this quarter, impacting both the Asia-Pacific region and the Americas.

Japan experienced a 50% increase in IPOs (81) and a 195% increase by proceeds (4.0 billion USD) through the third quarter. This acceleration is owed to high liquidity, strong local stock market performance and improving

The EY report notes that a few uncertainties lie ahead that could increase market volatility and challenges for a successful IPO. In the meantime, while expecting a steady pipeline of deals to continue, companies should be looking to make the most of the favorable market conditions and go public. However, a host of uncertainties remain: geopolitical tensions, regulatory changes in flux, inflation risks and tapering by the US Federal Reserve. At the same time, new variants of COVID-19 are disrupting a full global economic recovery, and a majority of the sectors are affected.

According to EY, serious IPO candidates should look to prepare themselves as early as possible and be ready to launch quickly, if needed. While preparing, they should be realistic about the right path for the company and consider alternatives as needed. Finally, as organizations review their strategic priorities, environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals must be addressed as investors now consider these to be imperative.

ASIA-PACIFIC HOLDS STEADY DESPITE VOLATILITY

EMEIA MAKES A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO GLOBAL ACTIVITIES

Q4 2021 OUTLOOK: STRIKE WHILE THE MARKET REMAINS FAVORABLE

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FINANCE

HOW BORDERLESS PAYMENTS CAN CHANGE EUROPEAN BUSINESS FOREVER The rise of fintechs and their innovative solutions for borderless payments could soon revolutionize the way European businesses operate.

BY DYTRO SPILKA The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on how businesses conduct themselves in increasingly digital ecosystems — particularly when it comes to leveraging transactions across the many borders throughout Europe.

However, the development of fintechs and their innovative solutions for borderless payments could soon change the way European businesses operate forever.

From a significant increase in e-commerce transactions, to the continued growth of mobile banking, the Covid-19 pandemic has sparked widespread disruption in a number of business sectors. For instance, retailers have shifted toward e-commerce models to help safeguard their revenues, while banks have accelerated their digital services to support online banking.

Cross-border payments are rising at a significant rate around the world — not least in Europe as this form of transaction appears set to grow from 5 percent to 7 percent from 2012 to 2022, a rate surpassed only by Asia.

Only by understanding these fundamental changes can businesses look to deliver more innovative financial services in a more digital landscape. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented necessity for both borderless payments and digital platforms like mobile FX and multi-currency wallets as a means of making densely populated, multinational continents like Europe seem more local in a financial sense.

Fortunately, fintechs are helping to deliver a new standard in overseas payments with a level of adaptability that’s befitting of these

new necessities. Let’s take a deeper look at how financial tech is set to change European business forever:

Riding the wave of innovation Covid may have caused significant disruption across Europe, but it’s not the only challenge that’s faced the continent in recent years. The necessity of borderless payments has been central to the ongoing preparations for Brexit, and the UK’s departure from the European Union. This led to widespread calls for innovative solutions to mitigate the impact of the disruption the move was set to cause.

Fintechs have been hailed as the solution to Europe’s international business problems long before the emergence of the pandemic.

New technology-driven financial services firms bring healthy competition by offering hybrid payment solutions on a corporate level, which helps to accelerate the emergence of tech that can create fresh and cost-effective solutions when it comes to digital transformation.

Although Eurozone nations have advantageous payment arrangements in place, for the 17 European nations that aren’t in the EU, the friction generated when dealing with their neighbors can be harsh at a time when many industries are having to tighten purse strings in the wake of the health crisis.

We’ve already seen fintechs arrive with the firm intention of removing the barriers to international transactions across Europe.

SWIFT introduced a paper in 2018 that was solely focused on the European payments landscape. The paper looks to the drivers for change across the European payments sector,

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whilst outlining the challenges and opportunities for its incumbents. The paper highlights that: - Digitization is driving expectations for fast, frictionless and borderless payments embedded in transaction chains and ecosystems at both retail and corporate levels.

- The opportunities offered by technology enables competitors to continually challenge incumbent providers and existing business models to continually innovate and improve.

- Regulators are intervening to foster competition whilst protecting consumer rights and promoting payment efficiency and innovation - such as requiring banks to open customer data to third party providers for account information and payment services.

Finance has changed a lot since SWIFT’s 2018 paper, but the necessity for faster and more efficient borderless payments has become more important than ever for a postCovid and post-Brexit European business landscape. Thankfully, the fintechs that support international payments have also changed in the years since 2018 for the better. Wise, a UK fintech that recently debuted on the London Stock Exchange, is pioneering its FCA-regulated multi-currency wallet — a service that’s already attracted 10 million users. The company bills its service as a ‘7-times cheaper multi-currency account for international people.’

Likewise, emerging fintechs like Connectum are also exploring innovations in the field of 3D-secure, one-click borderless transactions. The company offers multicurrency processing and integration for a wide range of content management systems — showing that startups are becoming considerably more resourceful as they take on their more established counterparts in delivering frictionless transactions.

The case for cryptocurrency The future of European business may

actually not involve traditional finance at all, but instead, rely on cryptocurrency transactions recorded on immutable blockchains.

By trading in cryptocurrencies rather than fiat currencies, border fees are eliminated due to the decentralized nature of the coins, while the distributed nature of blockchain technology means that it’s profoundly difficult for fraudulent activity to take place and modify the records generated surrounding payments and transactions.

Fintechs like BitPay have already worked to accommodate cryptocurrency transactions in more widespread circumstances. The world’s largest provider of Bitcoin and crypto payment services recently announced the rollout of Dogecoin payments for merchants and consumers in the U.S. A sports team for example, the Dallas Mavericks, were quick to snap up the platform to allow fans to purchase tickets to games and merchandise in Dogecoin as well as BTC. Stephen Pair, the CEO of the platform said that “BitPay believes that with continued cryptocurrency adoption, the industry is reaching an inflection point that will forever change consumer confidence, trust and pave the way for blockchain payments to disrupt the way consumers and businesses receive and spend funds.”

As European businesses continue to look to digital transformation in order to thrive in a post-pandemic and Brexit impacted landscape, emerging fintechs are likely to offer solutions to the issue of friction between borders where there seemed to be little that could be done to prevent fees and slower service just a matter of a few years ago.

Whether the future of borderless payments across the continent is cryptocurrencybased or more traditional, it’s certain that the fintechs that are emerging today will play an imperative role in changing European business for the better.

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FAMILY BUSINESSES PROVE ECONOMIC RESILIENCE DESPITE PANDEMIC Despite the turmoil brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, family-owned enterprises have managed to stay resilient. The world’s largest 500 family businesses generated US$7.28 trillion in revenues, employing 24.1 million people across 45 jurisdictions. These and other findings were published in the 2021 EY and University of St. Gallen Family Business Index which reveals how the largest family-owned businesses have responded to the recent turbulence in the global economy.

“Large family businesses have shown incredible resilience during this period, prioritizing employee support and turning to new business solutions. To get through this difficult time, they choose to diversify their boards of directors, promote the new generation in leadership roles and set new standards in addressing environmental, social and governance issues”, said Raluca Popa, Associate Partner, Tax & Law, Strategic Growth Markets leader, EY Romania.

While family businesses, especially those in the hospitality and tourism industries, have felt the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, many took the opportunity to pivot. A number of organizations shifted their manufacturing capabilities to create essential items like face shields and ventilators, while others provided financial support to other businesses, displaying their commitment to innovation and an enduring sense of social responsibility. Consumer family businesses in particular endured, achieving on average US$15.39 billion in revenue. Overall, familyowned enterprises in the consumer sector remained a significant employer, employing on average 56,150 people.

In spite of the tumult of the past year, Europe continues to be a nurturing geographic environment for these organizations. Germany is home to 16% of the companies on the Index, reflecting the strength of the German economy and the historic nature in which family businesses tend to settle in the country – 90% of all businesses in Germany are family-run. One third of featured family businesses are based in the Americas, with the US boasting the highest number of family businesses (119 or 24%). These organizations contribute US$2.48 trillion in revenue in the Americas, employing 6.4 million people. Several

of the biggest private family-owned enterprises by revenue globally are located in the US. Fifty-five of the businesses that hail from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, contribute 87% (US$835 billion) of the combined revenue in Asia-Pacific. Asia is home to three of the top 20 businesses, as well as the oldest family business in the Index – Japan’s 400+ year-old Takenaka Corporation.

As a growing number of organizations make commitments to diversity and inclusion, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, family businesses continue to increasingly focus on these areas. The average family business board member is 61 years-old, and 80% of businesses on the Index do not have family board members under the age of 40. Bringing in the next generation’s expertise, insights, technology and digital capabilities into the evolving customer landscape can help to sustain growth. And as boards continue to seek to diversify, the share of companies with female family members on boards has improved, reaching 31% in 2021. At the same time, only 5% (27) of the family businesses on the Index have female CEOs, similar to the 8% (41) of Fortune Global 500 companies.

Looking more closely at ESG commitments, family-owned enterprises are working to achieve new goals. At least 53% of family businesses on the Index are reporting against formal ESG metrics. Half of those (51%) are from EMEIA, followed by companies in the Americas (30%) and Asia-Pacific (19%). ESG reporting represents an opportunity to demonstrate the positive impact companies are already making, and potentially helps to attract new talent, win customers and grow revenues.

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GOLDILOCKS IS DYING Given today’s high debt ratios, supply-side risks, and ultra-loose monetary and fiscal policies, the rosy scenario that is currently priced into financial markets may turn out to be a pipe dream. Over the medium term, a variety of persistent negative supply shocks could turn today’s mild stagflation into a severe case.

BY NOURIEL ROUBINI How will the global economy and markets evolve over the next year? There are four scenarios that could follow the “mild stagflation” of the last few months.

The recovery in the first half of 2021 has given way recently to sharply slower growth and a surge of inflation well above the 2% target of central banks, owing to the effects of the Delta variant, supply bottlenecks in both goods and labor markets, and shortages of some commodities, intermediate inputs, final goods, and labor. Bond yields have fallen in the last few months and the recent equity-market correction has been modest so far, perhaps reflecting hopes that the mild stagflation will prove temporary.

The four scenarios depend on whether growth accelerates or decelerates, and on whether inflation remains persistently higher or slows down. Wall Street analysts and most policymakers anticipate a “Goldilocks” scenario of stronger growth alongside moderating inflation in line with central banks’ 2% target.

According to this view, the recent stagflationary episode is driven largely by the impact of the Delta variant. Once it fades, so, too, will the supply bottlenecks, provided that new virulent variants do not emerge. Then growth would accelerate while inflation would fall.

For markets, this would represent a resumption of the “reflation trade” outlook from earlier this year, when it was hoped that stronger

growth would support stronger earnings and even higher stock prices. In this rosy scenario, inflation would subside, keeping inflation expectations anchored around 2%, bond yields would gradually rise alongside real interest rates, and central banks would be in a position to taper quantitative easing without rocking stock or bond markets. In equities, there would be a rotation from US to foreign markets (Europe, Japan, and emerging markets) and from growth, technology, and defensive stocks to cyclical and value stocks.

The second scenario involves “overheating.”

Here, growth would accelerate as the supply bottlenecks are cleared, but inflation would remain stubbornly higher, because its causes would turn out not to be temporary. With unspent savings and pent-up demand already high, the continuation of ultra-loose monetary and fiscal policies would boost aggregate demand even further. The resulting growth would be associated with persistent abovetarget inflation, disproving central banks’ belief that price increases are merely temporary.

The market response to such overheating would then depend on how central banks react.

If policymakers remain behind the curve, stock markets may continue to rise for a while as real bond yields remain low. But the ensuing increase in inflation expectations would eventually boost nominal and even real bond yields as inflation risk premia would rise, forcing a correction in equities. Alternatively, if central banks become hawkish and start fighting

NOURIEL ROUBINI

inflation, real rates would rise, sending bond yields higher and, again, forcing a bigger correction in equities. A third scenario is ongoing stagflation, with high inflation and much slower growth over the medium term. In this case, inflation would continue to be fed by loose monetary, credit, and fiscal policies. Central banks, caught in a debt trap by high public and private debt ratios, would struggle to normalize rates without triggering a financial-market crash.

Moreover, a host of medium-term persistent negative supply shocks could curtail growth over time and drive up production costs, adding to the inflationary pressure. As I have noted previously, such shocks could stem from de-globalization and rising protectionism, the balkanization of global supply chains, demographic aging in developing and emerging economies, migration restrictions, the Sino-American “decoupling,” the effects of climate change on commodity prices, pandemics, cyberwarfare, and the backlash against income and wealth inequality.

In this scenario, nominal bond yields would rise much higher as inflation expectations become de-anchored. And real yields, too, would be higher (even if central banks remain behind the curve), because rapid and volatile price growth would boost the risk premia on longer-term bonds. Under these conditions, stock markets would be poised for a sharp correction, potentially into bear-market territory (reflecting at least a 20% drop from their last high). The last scenario would feature a growth slowdown. Weakening aggregate demand would turn out to be not just a transitory scare but a harbinger of the new normal, particularly if

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monetary and fiscal stimulus is withdrawn too soon. In this case, lower aggregate demand and slower growth would lead to lower inflation, stocks would correct to reflect the weaker growth outlook, and bond yields would fall further (because real yields and inflation expectations would be lower).

Which of these four scenarios is most likely?

While most market analysts and policymakers have been pushing the Goldilocks scenario, my fear is that the overheating scenario is more salient. Given today’s loose monetary, fiscal, and credit policies, the fading of the Delta variant and its associated supply bottlenecks will overheat growth and will leave central banks stuck between a rock and a hard place. Faced with a debt trap and persistently above-target inflation, they will almost certainly wimp out and lag behind the curve, even as fiscal policies remain too loose.

But over the medium term, as a variety of persistent negative supply shocks hit the global economy, we may end up with far worse than mild stagflation or overheating: a full stagflation with much lower growth and higher inflation. The temptation to reduce the real value of large nominal fixed-rate debt ratios would lead central banks to accommodate inflation, rather than fight it and risk an economic and market crash.

But today’s debt ratios (both private and public) are substantially higher than they were in the stagflationary 1970s. Public and private agents with too much debt and much lower income will face insolvency once inflation risk premia push real interest rates higher, setting the stage for the stagflationary debt crises that I have warned about.

The Panglossian scenario that is currently priced into financial markets may eventually turn out to be a pipe dream. Rather than fixating on Goldilocks, economic observers should remember Cassandra, whose warnings were ignored until it was too late. (project-syndicate.org)

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND SMART PROCESS AUTOMATION The power of what we call artificial intelligence (AI) in business today – generally machine learning – is its ability to make predictions. We can use those predictions – which might be about where we can make sales, or how we can improve customer experience, or our own internal processes – to make better decisions.

Crucially, it means we can also let machines make decisions. This has enabled a wave of smart process automation which is quickly changing many things about the way we do business. Machines are no longer limited to automating “mindless” repetitive tasks- executing scheduled actions such as importing and exporting, moving things to a pre-assigned destination, or applying the logic of a pre-programmed set of instructions. They can be applied to problems that would previously have required the attention of human experts, to jobs like identifying customers that are in-market, or identifying fraudulent financial transactions, or diagnosing illness from medical imagery.

By applying these processes to routine, everyday challenges faced by any business, human work time – perhaps an organization’s most valuable asset – can be conserved for work where it’s truly required. This is a strategy that’s been enthusiastically adopted by companies. Forester analysts estimate the size of the market providing solutions in the smart process automation space will grow to close to $3 billion this year.

However, working with companies of all

sizes across many industries to improve the way they use data, one thing I have noticed for sure is that not everyone is getting it right.

There are challenges, both technological and cultural, that must be overcome if proof-ofconcept and pilot projects are going to lead to real, repeatable improvements to processes and efficiency.

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One of these is a need for unity between new, smarter processes and existing legacy tools and infrastructure. Many companies have invested heavily in automating their “front-ofhouse” – the processes such as sales and support that sit squarely in front of their customers. At the same time, back-office functionality – production, logistics, quality control – remains mired in inefficient manual processes. For the customer, this can create a jarring disconnect between the streamlined efficiency of their online interactions and the mundane reality of the delivery. Imagine ordering food to be delivered from a flashy app interface that does a great job of helping you choose what to eat and place your order, but

thought as to whether the processes are right in the first place. If a process is simply recreated digitally with AI replacing human decisionmaking – think of a chatbot that routes customer enquires based on the content of emails to customer support – then very often, the result is just automated inefficiency. This frequently happens when businesses decide they want to use a piece of technology and look for a problem that it can solve. Really this is back-to-front thinking – with technology as the first consideration rather than customer experience!

The more sensible approach is to identify a problem, design the process to enable that outcome by orchestrating technology and

when it arrives, it’s cold and stale. This, too often, is a good analogy for the service provided by businesses in the early stages of transformation to an “as-a-service” model, in my experience!

Another problem that frequently occurs is that processes are automated with no real

organizing people to solve it. If you can do this, you’re getting close to what Cognizant’s global head of intelligent automation, Girish Pai, calls “front-to-back” thinking when we spoke recently.

Cognizant’s suite of intelligent automation tools – called Neuro – is designed to help

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businesses tackle this issue, as well as another common problem that arises. Often, automation solutions have been constructed with a “pick and mix” approach, with different tools and platforms that have been chosen for their ability to automate one particular task.

They may have difficulty talking to each other, and insights discovered in one area of the business can remain siloed, even though they have uses and implications across the board.

The philosophy behind Neuro is that it acts as a “fabric” – sitting across existing automation infrastructure in a way that makes it invisible to the end-user. This is done in a noninvasive way – the tools continue to operate as they always have done. But it aims to provide users who aren’t data and automation experts the ability to create, track and evaluate automated processes from a streamlined user interface.

Pai tells me, “We want to offer holistic, endto-end transformation Ö our customers want something that is intuitive, easy-to-scale, and speaks to a layman or end-user in terms of what needs to be done Ö the ability to offer a low-code or no-code interface that lets them embrace technology without having to worry about what technology is doing behind the scenes.”

These solutions not only help workforces get to grips with the technological side of smart process automation, but they can also help adapt to and overcome cultural challenges.

People can sometimes be resistant to technology-driven change if they don’t understand it, or don’t trust it, or perhaps worst of all, if they think that technology is going to take over their role and make them redundant.

It’s a very real fear that, historically, has often led to a hostile attitude towards technology simmering away beneath the surface of an organization.

User-friendly solutions built around strea-

mlined and efficient user experience are, in my experience, the best solutions to this problem.

Employees must see that automation technology can make their lives easier- cutting down their mundane, repetitive workloads through automated decision-making and augmenting their own capabilities, rather than threatening to replace them. When this happens, they become far more accepting and willing to engage or experiment with technology. This shift towards a “democratization” of technology promises to put its transformational abilities into the hands of those who know how to solve business problems but may lack the technical competence to build their own solutions – and that can be a hugely powerful thing.

In the context of the Neuro platform, Pai puts it like this: “While you can be clear on your outcomes, if you’re not clear in terms of how you’re taking people along, you will struggle Ö what I’m particularly proud of is the ability to keep the technology away from people who are not coders or developers – we want to keep it human-centric, so the user experience is visible, but the tech behind it is not.”

Although we are clearly still very close to the start of the journey that AI and automation will take us on as it transforms businesses and society, we’ve already experienced a sea change in how we are tackling the challenges that arise along the way. Rather than a patchwork of discreet, developer-led solutions that are applied as and when technologies emerge, my experience suggests organizations that adopt this holistic, people-first perspective are setting themselves up for success. The best process automations are those that improve the experience for business users or customers and free up humans to do the things that machines still can’t do nearly so well, involving capabilities such as imagination, compassion, and creativity.

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ROMANIAN DOCUMENT PROCESSING STARTUP SENSETASK RAISES €480K SenseTask, the Romanian cloud-based startup that processes documents using AI technologies, has announced raising €480K. The funds will go towards the development of the platform and to increase data extraction accuracy .

The funds include a €400K grant from Innovation Norway. Ciprian Petrini, CEO of SenseTask, explained: “The Innovation Norway grant is a validation of our mission to build an innovative and impactful product, which involves research and development (R&D). We are tackling a big problem, that of the lack of efficiency caused by the manual processing of documents. Worldwide, more than 20% of the daily productivity loss is attributed to document problems. Our mission is to provide a product that allows organizations to be more productive and that significantly reduces the costs associated with manual data entry”.

Using AI technologies, SenseTask (founded in 2019) can extract the desired data from any type of document (financial, medical or legal) and regardless of its form (pdf, scan or even photo). These documents are classified into categories (such as invoices, receipts, forms, etc.), and the relevant data is then extracted and exported in a specific format or software of choice.

This key data is collected from unstructured

documents, streamlining operations and optimizing costs.

According to the startup, the average AP clerk can process only 5 invoices per hour (12 minutes per invoice) and 70% of worldwide invoices are paper based. “In an initial phase, we set out to automatically process invoices observing the need on the international market, but our system can learn and process multiple types of documents. In the coming period we intend to add new types of documents, to further improve detection, and to integrate with various ERP systems”, pointed out Ciprian Petrini, CEO. The use of IDP (Intelligent Document Processing) technology is becoming a priority for more companies, as it brings a number of immediate benefits such as cost reduction, increased accuracy, improved data access and protection, and more. In the context of SenseTask, offering a cloud-based product allows employees to process documents remotely.

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PRESTIGE PAGE

ANADOLU AUTOMOBIL ROM EXPECTS BIGGER ELECTRIC BUS SALES Anadolu Automobil Rom, the largest bus and coach importer in Romania, expects its bumper 2021 electric bus delivery volumes to be repeated next year.

HÜSEYIN AYKOL OWNER ANADOLU AUTOMOBILE ROM

The company's 2020 turnover stood at 120,230,518 lei, and its forecast for end-2021 points towards a bigger turnover figure, based on fresh public transport electrification projects. “This year we recorded important deliveries in the electric bus segment. We have delivered bus fleets to municipalities such as Brasov, Mangalia, Beclean and Sibiu, and we expect to see growing interest for electric transportation in the near future,” said Magda

MAGDA PE{U, GENERAL MANAGER, ANADOLU AUTOMOBIL ROM

Pe[u, General Manager, Anadolu Automobil ROM. The company's main activity is importing and selling commercial vehicles under brands such as the Isuzu, Temsa, Karsan and Sor, with a focus on CNG, Diesel and electric-powered buses. For an improved bus fleet efficiency, Anadolu Automobil Rom offers its customers 24/7 technical assistance and consultancy. At the same time, the company ELECTRIC BUS provides comprehensive SOR EBN 8 / 9.5 / 11 maintenance, mechanical and electrical repair works at its modern, fully-equipped service facility at Ciolpani, Ilfov county. It also provides spare parts for each brand, and has a permanent stock of best-quality spare parts.

TECHNOLOGY

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TECHNOLOGY, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT AND TELECOM RECOVERY RESTS ON INVESTMENT Never has capital investment been more top of mind for technology, media and entertainment and telecommunications (TMT) companies, according to the EY Global Capital Operations and Innovation Study, based on the responses of 500 global TMT executives. Based on the analysis of the maturity level of the respondents in relation to each stage of the capital life cycle, the study divides into two categories: “leaders”, those inclined to the coherent use of advanced tools, techniques and processes at the level of the entire company, and “laggards”, those with a low level of adoption.

87% of respondents identified as “leaders” believe recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic rests on maintaining levels of capital investment.

This is a matter for concern given that 82% of all survey respondents are unclear who is accountable for delivering results relating to capital investment projects, throwing into question governance practices.

Peter Latos, Consulting, Strategy and Transactions Leader, EY Romania, said: “As technology increasingly at the beating heart of many industries it is not unsurprising that the majority of TMT executives see capital investment as critical to the post pandemic recovery. Although worryingly, an almost equal number are unclear who is accountable for delivering results from such investment. With decisions on when, where and how to deploy capital further complicated by the relentless pace of technological disruption, innovation and reinvention, as well as regulatory change, it is imperative businesses have a welldefined approach built around three pillars: advanced data and analytics, talent and governance.”

The survey also finds that TMT companies are struggling to meet capital investment objectives.

Sixty-three percent of all respondents fail to achieve forecast returns, while 66% agree that costs of their capital programs escalate as timeframes lapse. When it comes to measuring success, 70% of “laggard” respondents (58% of “leaders”) struggle to demonstrate the value their capital investments bring to the business – in large part due to data maturity limitations.

Agility is a top priority Eighty-three percent of all respondents say

the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the imperative to establish more agile mechanisms for allocating capital.

Yet, a third (33%) believe they are still unable to flex to changing market conditions – including major events like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Telecoms companies have the biggest opportunity to improve agility, with 42% of telcos admitting that their approach to capital investment planning is too static and rigid (compared to 38% for media and entertainment companies and just 25% of tech companies).

However, at the same time, telcos are the least likely to regularly review and adjust investments (16% compared to 26% of tech and 31% of media and entertainment companies).

Furthermore, 38% of telcos struggle to find sufficient data to add credibility to the decisionmaking process – notably higher than media and entertainment (30%) and tech (28%) respondents.

Spotlight on the ESG agenda As TMT companies look to bolster governance and transparency processes, the survey outlines the importance of including environmental, social and governance (ESG) KPIs to facilitate holistic investments that deliver a more balanced set of objectives.

The findings indicate that this should now be a key area of focus for TMT executives, with 62% of all respondents stating that not enough capital investment projects are assessed based on their contribution to environmental or sustainability goals.

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ENERGY

ARE RADIOACTIVE DIAMOND BATTERIES THE SOLUTION TO NUCLEAR WASTE? Nuclear power is considered a clean energy source because it has zero carbon dioxide emissions; yet, at the same time, it produces massive amounts of hazardous, radioactive waste that pile up as more and more reactors are built around the world.

Experts have proposed different solutions for this issue in order to take better care of the environment and people’s health. With insufficient safe storage space for nuclear waste disposal, the focal point of these ideas is the reutilization of the materials.

Radioactive diamond batteries were first developed in 2016 and were immediately acclaimed because they promised a new, costeffective way of recycling nuclear waste. In this context, it’s unavoidable to deliberate whether they’re the ultimate solution to these toxic, lethal residues.

What Are Radioactive Diamond Batteries?

Radioactive diamond batteries were first developed by a team of physicists and chemists from the Cabot Institute for the Environment of the University of Bristol. The invention was presented as a betavoltaic device, which means that it’s powered by the beta decay of nuclear waste.

Beta decay is a type of radioactive decay that occurs when an atom’s nucleus has an excess of particles and releases some of them to obtain a more stable ratio of protons to neutrons. This produces a kind of ionizing radiation called beta radiation, which involves a lot of high-speed and high-energy electrons or

positrons known as beta particles. Beta particles contain nuclear energy that can be converted into electric energy through a semiconductor.

A typical betavoltaic cell consists of thin layers of radioactive material placed between semiconductors. As the nuclear material decays, it emits beta particles that knock electrons loose in the semiconductor, creating an electric current. However, the power density of the radioactive source is lower the further it is from the semiconductor. On top of this, because beta particles are randomly emitted in all directions, only a small number of them will hit the semiconductor, and only a small number of those will be converted into electricity. This means that nuclear batteries are much less efficient than other types of batteries. This is where the polycrystalline diamond (PCD) comes in.

The radioactive diamond batteries are made using a process called chemical vapor deposition, which is widely used for artificial diamond manufacture. It uses a mixture of hydrogen and methane plasma to grow diamond films at very high temperatures.

Researchers have modified the CVD process to grow radioactive diamonds by using a radioactive methane containing the radioactive isotope Carbon-14, which is found on

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irradiated reactor graphite blocks. Diamond is one of the hardest materials that humanity knows — it’s even harder than silicon carbide.

And it can act as both a radioactive source and a semiconductor. Expose it to beta radiation and you’ll get a long-duration battery that doesn’t need to be recharged. The nuclear waste in its interior fuels it over and over again, allowing it to self-charge for ages.

However, the Bristol team warned that their radioactive diamond batteries wouldn’t be suitable for laptops or smartphones, because they contain only 1g of carbon-14, meaning that they provide very low power —only a few microwatts, which is less than a typical AA battery. Therefore, their application so far is limited to small devices that must stay unattended for a long time, such as sensors and pacemakers.

Nano Diamond Radioactive Batteries The origins of nuclear batteries can be traced back to 1913, when English physicist Henry Moseley found out that particle radiation could generate an electric current. In the 1950s and 1960s, the aerospace industry was very interested in Moseley’s discovery, as it could potentially power spacecraft for longduration missions. The RCA Corporation also researched an application for nuclear batteries in radio receivers and hearing aids.

But other technologies were needed in order to develop and sustain the invention. In this regard, the usage of synthetic diamonds is seen as revolutionary, as it provides safety and conductivity to the radioactive battery. With the addition of nanotechnology, an American company built a high-power nano-diamond battery.

Based in San Francisco, California, NDB Inc. was founded in 2012 with the objective of creating a cleaner and greener alternative to

conventional batteries. The startup introduced its version of diamond-based batteries in 2016 and announced two proof-of-concept tests in 2020. It’s one of the firms that is attempting to commercialize radioactive diamond batteries.

Nano-diamond batteries from NDB are described as alpha, beta, and neutron voltaic batteries and have several new features according to their website.

- Durability. The firm calculates that the batteries could last up to 28,000 years, which means that they could reliably power space vehicles in long-duration missions, space stations, and satellites. Drones, electric cars, and aircraft on Earth would never need to make stops to be recharged.

- Safety. Diamond is not only one of the hardest substances, but also one of the most thermally conductive materials in the world, which helps protect against the heat produced by the radioisotopes that the battery is built with, turning it into electric current very quickly.

- Market-friendliness. Thin-film layers of PCD in these allow the battery to allow for different shapes and forms. This is why nanodiamond batteries can be multipurpose and enter different markets, from the aforementioned space applications to consumer electronics. The consumer version would not last more than a decade, though.

Nano-diamond batteries are scheduled to come onto the market in 2023. Arkenlight, the

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English firm commercializing Bristol’s radioactive diamond battery, plans on releasing their first product, a microbattery, to the market in the latter part of 2023.

The Future of Radioactive Diamond-Based Batteries The portability of modern electronic devices, the increasing popularity of electric vehicles, and the 21st Century race to take humanity on long space missions to Mars have triggered a growing interest in battery technology research in the last few years.

Some types of batteries are more appropriate for certain applications and not as useful for others. But we can say that the conventional lithium-ion batteries that we are familiar with won’t be replaced with radioactive

diamond batteries any time soon.

Conventional batteries last a shorter time, but they are also much cheaper to manufacture. However, at the same time, the fact that they do not last that long (they have a lifespan of about five years) is problematic, because they also produce a great deal of electronic waste, which is not easy to recycle.

Radioactive diamond batteries are more convenient, because they have a much longer lifespan than conventional batteries. If they can be developed into a universal battery, like NDB Inc. proposes, we could end up with

smartphone batteries that last much longer than the life of the smartphone, and we could simply change the battery from one phone to the next, much as we now transfer the SIM card. However, the diamond betavoltaics developed by Arkenlight won’t go that far. The company is working on designs that stack up lots of their carbon-14 betabatteries into cells.

To provide high power discharge, each cell could be accompanied by a small supercapacitor, which could offer an excellent quickdischarge capability.

However, this radioactive material also has a lifespan of more than 5000 years. If that radiation were to leak out of the device in gaseous form, it could be a problem. That’s where the diamonds come in. In the diamond formation, the C-14 is a solid, so it can’t be extracted and absorbed by a living being.

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) calculated that 100 pounds (approximately 45 kg) of carbon-14 could allow the fabrication of millions of long-duration diamond-based batteries. These batteries could also reduce the costs of nuclear waste storage.

University of Bristol researcher Professor Tom Scott told Nuclear Energy Insider that, “By removing the Carbon-14 from irradiated graphite directly from the reactor, this would make the remaining waste products less radioactive and therefore easier to manage and dispose of. Cost estimates for disposing of the graphite waste are 46,000 pounds ($60,000) per cubic meter for Intermediate Level Waste [ILW] and 3,000 pounds ($4,000) per cubic meter for Low-Level Waste [LLW].”

Don’t all these features make them one of the best options for the sustainable future that we need? We’ll have to wait and see if the manufacturers can find a way of dealing with production costs and low energy output, and get their diamond-based batteries onto the market cost-effectively and accessibly.

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TOP BRAND Luxury maintains its trendsetting status and aspirational image with consumers. At the same time, the industry's evolution and rapid growth generates a democratization of luxury.

The democratization of luxury can be seen in two ways: one in which luxury goods feel more attainable to a larger population, and another in which luxury brands have more accessible channels with which to reach new customers.

In spite of recent difficulties, market experts show an enduring optimism about the industry’s resilience. The current hurdles are seen as an opportunity for businesses to re-invent themselves and adapt to a changing world.

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FASHION

THE NEW RULES OF OFFICE ATTIRE This new reality we’re living in, after lockdown experiences with the working from home trend going up, the few of us that still have a going to office routine have to adapt to new styling rules. Speaking of business attire, not even the suit is what it used to be. The dressing-down habit of the people seeking comfort changed the styling ideas we used to have before the pandemic. Now it’s time to think and dress smart, mixing practical garments with tailored pieces in a perfect balance of style and comfort. Here are a few ideas for smart dressing at work this autumn.

OUTFIT: TRENDS BY ADINA BUZATU PHOTOS BY VALI BARBULESCU

Use an oversized suit

Mix and match

Tailors were always obsessed with suits with perfect proportions and about keeping the balance of the whole outfit. Now it’s time to relax a bit and go for an oversized suit, with a doublebreasted jacket spilling over the shoulders and stopping midthigh length. But be careful and don’t size up to catch this trend.

The idea of smart-tailoring, beautifully crafted pieces with attention to cut and seams are the key to a good ensemble.

Keep in mind that the oversize suit is not a plus-size suit, but a perfect loosened-up jacket and pants.

You’ll always find the preoccupation for mixing and matching clothing elements in women, but now it’s time for you to try it, too.

Since we’re stuck in the comforting idea, let’s find a way to go to the office with a relaxed attitude and still look smart. For instance, combine a checked jacket with plain trousers. The key to a perfect look is mixing a tailored jacket with complementary but not matched tailored pants. In order to succeed, you need to go on the simple, classic path. Use classic autumn colors – brown, navy, black with regular prints – checks, pinstripes. Keep the darker shade for the upper body and use the light one on trousers. This way you’ll have a smart business outfit without the stiffness of the traditional suit.

The new approach on classic patterns The classic pinstripes and the Prince of Wales checks have been around for a while. Now they are rescaled and reinvented.

You’ll find huge checks and thick stripes in a new game of graphic proportions. You can use a suit in an all-over motif, or you can mix patterns with plain pieces.

You can even mix prints, but you need to be careful when you choose them. If you use two different prints for a

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suit, make sure they are in matching colors.

Don’t be afraid to wear the shirt over a turtleneck Before the pandemic, you wouldn’t have thought to go to the office without a shirt and tie. Because a suit couldn’t be an office suit without a shirt and tie. Now everything has changed. You can break these rules without being judged. Suits can be worn now with knitwear or turtleneck and shirt. You can even think of mixing a chunky knit with a checked shirt and striped velvet suit in a dark shade.

Since you’re making a not ordinary combination, you should go for a dark or neutral color spectrum, in order to keep the formality of the outfit.

Brown is still a good shade for office Speaking of colors there’s no doubt that brown has always been a good shade for office attire in autumn.

Think of the warmer shades of brown like chestnut or chocolate. If you choose a complete brown suit, break up the simplicity with a classic shirt or a polo shirt in a light, complementary shade like baby blue or charcoal.

Double-breasted all the way The double-breasted suit has always been the most stylish option for the office. And it still is. Now, if you want to align to the new relaxed approach of office attire, you can combine a double-breasted jacket with a pair of jeans or chinos. More than this, the new trends are about double-breasted in lighter fabrics and softer fits. The new jackets are cut close to the shoulders and loosen up through the body, thus showing a relaxed feeling of comfort and confidence.

The new rules for business attire give us space to feel comfortable even when we work and challenge us to use imagination in office combinations. Mix and match patterns, shades, and textures, go for loosenup pieces (not plus size) and feel confident. Find all the mentioned pieces in TRENDS by Adina Buzatu shop, where you can, also, find out how to mix and match them in a stylish way.

We are waiting for you in our TRENDS by Adina Buzatu shop in Baneasa Shopping City, Road Bucharest-Ploiesti no. 42 D, ground floor and on www.adinabuzatu.ro

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CONCEPT CARS

AUDI SKYSPHERE CONCEPT¹: EXECUTIVE-CLASS ROADSTER WITH A TWIN PERSONALITY - Audi transforming the vehicle into platform for captivating experiences - Electric-powered luxury roadster - Redefining progressive luxury

The electric Audi skysphere concept¹ shows that the cars of the future will become a platform for captivating experiences, giving the driver the freedom to choose between two different driving options: a cosy first-class lounge or an agile sports car.

Audi presents the Audi skysphere concept , the first of three concept cars that redefine progressive luxury. The vision is to offer occupants a fascinating high-end experience that goes far beyond the practical reasons for being in a car. The interior becomes an interactive space, making the vehicle what Audi likes to call an “experience device”. All this is made possible by autonomous driving , a revolutionary interior redesign and a 360-degree digital ecosystem.

In addition, the design of the electrically powered, open two-door Audi skysphere is simply breathtaking.

Variable wheelbase for dual driving experiences The Audi skysphere concept¹ completely

redefines freedom of choice when it comes to driving. It was designed to combine two different driving experiences in one vehicle: a grand touring experience and a sports experience. This is made possible thanks to a spectacular technical feature: the variable wheelbase. Electric motors and a sophisticated mechanism with interlocking body and frame components allow both the wheelbase and the exterior length to be varied by 250 millimeters. At the same time, ground clearance can be varied by 10 millimeters.

The 4.94-meter “Sports” mode configuration delivers an agile electric roadster for drivers to steer themselves. Here, the focus is on the vehicle dynamics. Like the steering wheel and pedals, all the controls on

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The Audi skysphere concept¹, here in the 5.19-meter “Grand Touring” mode (just 11 centimeters shorter than the Audi A8L²), is an electric executive-class roadster offering a contemporary, progressive luxury experience.

the dashboard and monitor panel in the centre console are ideally positioned for each driver in the ergonomically perfect cockpit.

If occupants prefer the comfortable, autonomous “Grand Touring” mode, the Audi skysphere concept¹ extends to a length of 5.19 meters and the steering wheel and pedals disappear from view. While the Audi skysphere¹ uses its sensor system to automatically monitor the road and traffic, occupants enjoy not only a sense of space that explores new dimensions in a sporty

cabriolet but also services delivered by a seamlessly integrated digital ecosystem.

Executive-class interior becomes an interactive space The Audi skysphere concept¹ is designed in such a way that the passenger compartment becomes a hub where what occupants experience no longer comes second to the demands of technology.

Instead, the interior becomes an interactive

CONCEPT CARS

space. The Audi skysphere¹ is designed for autonomous driving¹, which means that, in defined road and traffic situations, the driver can delegate full responsibility to the car and no longer has to intervene.

With all the controls out of sight in “Grand Touring” mode, the car’s interior is a light, open space with a design that redefines contemporary luxury. The comfortable seats boast the visual elegance of designer furnishings yet uncompromisingly meet the functions of a car seat in driving mode – lateral support and safety features are part of the package. Thanks to their variable positioning in the passenger compartment,

they offer generous freedom of movement and legroom.

“Grand Touring” mode lets occupants enjoy the freedom of choice that comes with autonomous driving¹: They can relax in the open air; enjoy the scenery and the wind in their hair, or infotainment offerings. Large touch-screen monitors on the dashboard and in the upper area of the centre console are used to operate the vehicle and infotainment systems. This makes it possible to display content from the Internet, video conferences or streamed movies.

The Audi skysphere concept¹ is connected to a digital ecosystem that

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provides the vehicle’s occupants with a broad range of service offerings not limited to any specific journey. With select offerings customised to passengers’ personal tastes, such as gallery openings, digital boutique visits or dinner reservations, the digital service offers additional experiences en route.

The interior becomes an interactive space, making the vehicle what Audi likes to call an “experience device”.

Even in “Grand Touring” mode, when it is 5.19 meters long and 2.00 meters wide, the Audi skysphere concept¹ ducks down to the road at 1.23 meters flat, with an optimised centre of gravity and aerodynamics. With the Four Rings’ signature curved and flared wheel arches, the design accentuates the wide wheelbase. Viewed from the side, the car reveals its impressive proportions that feature a long hood and short overhangs as well as the broad side sill that appears to extend into the rear wheel arch. The doors are hinged at the rear and open wide.

The front is shaped by the brand’s typical

Singleframe and the eye-catching design of the illuminated Four Rings emblem. Daytime running lights in the side front sections lend the lighting units a look that is both resolute and focused. The entire Singleframe and adjacent side surfaces are equipped with white LED elements, which give the Audi skysphere concept¹ its characteristic light signature. Optimised in the wind tunnel, the rear end with its classic streamlining fuses speedster elements with generous glass surfaces. The design of the rear end also features a digitally controlled LED surface

across the vehicle’s entire width for dynamic lighting effects when the lighting units are switched on and off.

When the wheelbase of the Audi skysphere concept¹ is changed, the LEDs at the front and rear of the vehicle display a specially composed dynamic light sequence.

The “Grand Touring” and “Sports” modes each have a distinct light signature, especially in the Singleframe area. This is how the Audi skysphere concept¹ sends a clear message to the outside world: I am two personalities offering two unique experiences—a Gran Turismo and a top-class athlete.

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HYPERCARS

BUGATTI BOLIDE REVEALED WITH 1,825 HP AND 311+ MPH TOP SPEED The track machine has an impressive weight to power ratio of 0.67 kg / hp.

Sport, Pur Sport, Vision Gran Turismo, Centodieci, Divo, Super Sport 300+, and La Voiture Noire – the Bugatti Chiron platform has taken many forms since the W16 hypercar was unveiled back in February 2016. However, none of them have been as

hardcore as the Bolide, a track monster with a mind-boggling specs sheet and a striking design to boot.

Let’s cut to the chase and get down to the juicy numbers. The tried-and-tested 8.0-liter behemoth produces 1,578 horsepower

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(1,177 kilowatts) as seen in the Centodieci or Super Sport 300+. The plot twist here is Bugatti has engineered the engine to feed on 110-octane racing fuel to unlock an astounding 1,825 hp (1,361 kW) at 7,000 rpm and 1,850 Newton-meters (1,365 pound-feet) of torque from 2,000 rpm. The jump in power was also achieved by developing new quad turbochargers.

Through various weight-saving measures, the engineers from Molsheim have managed to reduce the weight of the Bolide to only 1,240 kilograms (2,734 pounds) or about as much as a typical European compact car.

Doing the math, the track-only beast has an impressive weight-to-power ratio of 0.67 kg / hp. However, it’s worth pointing out that’s the dry weight of the car, meaning it’s heavier

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HYPERCARS

once you add all the necessary fluids.

With so much power in a lightweight trackonly hypercar, it’s no wonder the Bolide is an absolute rocket. 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) takes a neck-twisting 2.17 seconds while 0124 mph (0-200 km/h) is done in 4.36 seconds. Mind you, Bugatti hasn’t actually conducted these acceleration tests in real life as these are all simulated performance numbers. The same goes for the 0-186 mph (0-300 km/h) run in 7.37 seconds and 0-249 mph (0-400 km/h) in 12.08 seconds.

Bugatti even provided a theoretical 0 to

311 mph (500 km/h) time of 20.16 seconds while mentioning the Bolide would lap the Nürburgring in 5 minutes and 23.1 seconds.

Top speed? "Well above" 311 mph (500 km/h) and a Le Mans lap time of 3 minutes and 7.1 seconds. Again, these are all simulated numbers.

Then there’s the design. Well, just look at it. If you thought the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo was unworldly, the Bolide is from a galaxy far far away. There’s actually even more than meets the eye as the car boasts what Bugatti describes as a “morphable outer skin” for the roof scoop to improve airflow.

The surface of the scoop remains smooth when the vehicle is driven at a slow speed and a “field of bubbles bulges out” once you press harder on the accelerator pedal.

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A B magazine

AWARDS for

2021

EXCELLENCE Enjoy the Quality ***** Admire the Value in partnership with

With its strong tradition in creating new opportunities for the business community to express fresh views and ideas, and in recognizing business success and outstanding achievements, Business Arena is pleased to announce the upcoming Awards for Excellence, the latest highlight in the business events calendar.

Guests gather to celebrate excellence in business, sports, culture, and community, enjoying the company of friends and industry colleagues.

Innovation, resourcefulness, perseverance and a culture of responsible risk-taking have helped many overcome major challenges. Thus, this edition of our awards gala brings recognition to individuals and organizations that recorded outstanding results and achievements during a challenging year 2021.

FIND MORE DETAILS ON OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.BUSINESS-ARENA.RO. For more information please contact Cosmin Stangaciu at cosmin.stangaciu@business-arena.ro or phone 0755.274.125

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HYPERCARS

UNIQUE OPEN-TOP MODEL WITH V12 ENGINE

LAMBORGHINI SQUADRA CORSE - SC20

Carbon fiber body featuring racing aerodynamics Innovative design by Lamborghini Centro Stile Lamborghini Squadra Corse presents the SC20, a unique specimen of an open-top track car type-approved for road use. The SC20 is the second one-off engineered by the motorsport department and designed by Centro Stile in Sant’Agata Bolognese: the car was created following the customer’s wishes, who was involved in the project from the very first drawings by Lamborghini’s designers.

The common goal was to build a unique vehicle, extreme in its design and performance, and able to combine aerodynamic solutions taken from racing Lamborghinis incorporating unprecedented lines and exclusive details. “Two years after the SC18 Alston, the SC20 was a new, intriguing challenge. The chief sources of inspiration were the Diablo VT Roadster, Aventador J, Veneno Roadster and Concept S, and the result is a dramatic combination of creativity and racing attitude,” commented Mitja Borkert, Head of Design

Lamborghini Centro Stile. The carbon fiber body was polished and slicked down by hand by the Lamborghini aerodynamic engineers to deliver optimal airflow for both performance and the cockpit’s occupants, ensuring comfortable open-air driving even at high speeds.

The pronounced front splitter is framed by two fins and the air intakes on the front hood are inspired by those of the Huracán GT3 EVO, while the sculpted body sides reflect the solutions adopted on the Essenza SCV12. The muscular rear is topped by a large carbon fiber wing that can be set in three different positions: Low, Medium and High Load.

The SC20 features exclusive details starting from the body colors on a Bianco Fu (white) base, created for the customer, on which the Blu Cepheus (blue) livery stands out.

The same shade is found in the interior, alternating with Nero Cosmus (black) and Bianco Leda (white). The most significant element of

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HYPERCARS

the passenger compartment is the visible carbon fiber used for the dashboard cover, rear wall, door panels, center console and steering wheel trim, in addition to the monocoque. Carbon fiber is also used for the shells of the seats upholstered in Alcantara and leather. The door handles on the other hand, are machined from solid aluminum.

Lastly, the air vents are created using 3D printing technology at the Sant’Agata Bolognese factory. Maurizio Reggiani, Chief Technical Officer of Automobili Lamborghini, stated, “The SC20 is a combination of sophisticated engineering, Italian craftsmanship, sportiness and advanced design. It is also an example of applying our V12 engine and carbon fiber to a radical open-top vehicle that unmistakably carries the Lamborghini DNA.” Its engine is based on Lamborghini’s

flagship V12: the 6,498 cm3 aspirated twelvecylinder that delivers 770 CV at 8,500 rpm and develops 720 Nm of torque at 6,750 rpm.

It is managed through the optimized sevenspeed Independent Shifting Rod (ISR) gearbox. The power is discharged to the ground by the four-wheel drive system with central electronic differential, and the Pirelli PZero Corsa tires are mounted on single-nut aluminum rims, 20 inches in front and 21 inches at the rear. Giorgio Sanna, Head of Lamborghini Motorsport, commented, “The SC20 is one more technical and styling exercise that associates Squadra Corse experience with Lamborghini design, masterfully interpreted by our Centro Stile based on the customer’s wishes, which was the focus of the project during the entire vehicle development and construction process.”

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LUXURY CAR

2021 VISION GRAN TURISMO COUPE

JAGUAR’S CRACK DESIGN TEAM HAS REVEALED A NEW TAKE ON ITS VIRTUAL REALITY GT CONCEPT

Outlandish and expressive concept cars might not be getting the exposure they once did thanks to the absence of motor shows for obvious reasons, but the virtual world still offers plenty of space for manufacturers to flex their design muscles. Most recently, Jaguar has done just that, revealing its latest concept designed for Gran Turismo, the Vision Gran Turismo SV Concept.

The new concept is a riff on the Jaguar GT Vision Concept first revealed in 2019, but takes the sleek coupe in a new direction inspired by the brand’s extensive racing heritage. The design team, led by design director Julian Thompson, were guided by endurance racers like the C-type and D-type, building on the standard GT’s sleek coupe design with elements that pay homage to those iconic racers.

The Vision GT SV’s changes are predominantly made up from a selection of new aero devices at the front and rear of the body, highlighted by a huge new extended wing which contributes much of the SV’s

861mm growth in length compared to the previous Vision GT. These elements have been tested by Jag’s in-house aerodynamicists and engineers, going through the same fluid-dynamics software tests that all car companies cycle new roadgoing models through before the physical prototype phase.

The virtual concept is, unsurprisingly, electric, with each wheel having its own electric motor and single-speed transmission.

Total power is rated at 1876bhp, with 3313lb ft of torque, but this being a car of the virtual kind, the numbers are a theoretical construct

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built into a video game’s code rather than representing any physical engineering.

While the Vision GT SV is not indicative of a specific future model, concepts like these do reveal a brand’s thinking and the direction of the vehicles being designed alongside these more expressive exercises. As much as we’d love to see a 1876bhp, 5.5m-long electric coupe, its relevance to the next XJ is probably the most useful aspect of its existence.

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MASERATI MILLEMIGLIA CONCEPT IS A RETRO-INSPIRED HALO CAR Maserati’s roadmap to the future includes new models and electrification throughout its lineup. Strangely, it omits a much-needed – essential – single-seat speedster. We know Maserati will launch an all-new sports car next year, which will feature an electrified variant and usher in a new electrified ear for the brand. It will replace the GranTurismo for a year, though Maserati should go bigger. Competition is fierce as more and more automakers vie for the eyes – and dollars – of EV enthusiasts, and what better way to make a statement than a radically designed halo car like the rendering above?

It’s called the Maserati MilleMiglia and comes from artist Luca Serafini, who used the open-wheeled Maserati 250F and 6CM as inspiration for his creation. The MilleMiglia rendering lacks the open-wheeled design of yesteryear’s race cars – safety regulations be damned – however, the wheels are pushed to the four corners of the low-slung speedster.

The MilleMiglia rendering features a curvaceous body with swooping lines cascading across the car’s sheet metal.

Finished in Italian Avio, the halo car pairs classic Maserati styling with modern design

cues. The LED daytime running lights are stunning, as are the rear taillights and unique third brake light that runs vertically up the rear. Small details like the side mirror stalks look great as do the doors that have a hinge at the rear and open upward.

Inside, the Maserati MilleMiglia is just as detailed with sand beige throughout. There’s exposed carbon fiber, including the pentagonshaped steering wheel, and other high-end materials inside the driver-focused interior.

The driver sits in the middle of the car in a carbon-fiber tub, which has what appear to be

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small infotainment screens embedded in them. A five-point racing harness provides safety.

Maserati has big plans for the next few years with refreshed and new models bolstering the lineup. Would it be nice to see an electrified Maserati halo car? There’s no doubt it would garner plenty of press, but headlines don’t translate into sales, making such a car is unlikely.

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watches

Women’s stained glass, “flower of life” watch, 40 mm case, automatic mechanism GODFATHER hand painted watch, automatic, Swiss-made mechanism.

Chronograph with hand-painted elements. Swiss-made Sellita SW-500 caliber mechanism.

ATLANTIS 43.5 mm case with sapphire crystal.

Dial design with engraving and micro painting techniques, automatic mechanism, Eta 2824-2 caliber.

Handmade iguana strap.

UNIVERSE Handmade watch with silver elements. Swiss-made automatic skeleton watch.

Alligator strap, 43.5 mm case.

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ADAM AND EVE Handmade watch, using micro-painting techniques and transparent elements.

Handmade women’s watch, mother-ofpearl setting, with painted elements and diamonds, and green stingray leather strap.

DALI Hand-painted women’s watch, with silver elements, 40-mm diameter case, Swiss-made Sellita SW-200 caliber, automatic mechanism.

Handmade, hand painted watch, with a 3D planet set on the date ring. 44 mm diameter case.

BRUCKENTHAL Handmade chronograph watch.

HEALTH Created for a pulmonologist, this work of art promotes a healthy lifestyle and exercise. The watch comes with a silver dial and a transparent center, with automatic skeleton mechanism in a 44-mm diameter case, and iguana leather strap.

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THE MB&F & L'EPEE 1839 GRANT MB&F and L’Epée 1839 present Grant, a triple-tracked, Mad-Max-cross-Transformer robot clock on a mission. In today’s fast-paced, always-on, 24/7 world, we are under constant bombardment from time: seconds race by; there is never enough; everyone wants more; and it keeps getting faster and faster.

The nearest hour was once precise enough; now the world’s most accurate clocks are better than a second over the entire age of the universe!

No wonder you are stressed, but relax, help is at hand. Grant is here. Grendizer meets Mad Max meets Transformer.

Grant is a robot with a time display on his shield and a mission to slow things down when time runs too fast. There are no incessantly flashing digital numerals on Grant’s shield, no constantly spinning second hand. Grant transforms frantic chaos into relaxing hours and minutes, and that’s all the time you really need.

While Grant’s time moves relatively slowly, he can travel quickly over rough terrain (or the messiest desk) on his three operational rubber tracks. Grant can also transform into one of three different modes: lying horizontally over his chassis for a low profile; crouching at 45 degrees; and sitting up 90 degrees. Grant’s time shield can always be set to a comfortable and optimal viewing angle.

Whatever the angle, Grant’s highly polished clockwork is on full display, and you can follow every click and turn of the gears. The mainspring barrel click near his ‘belly button’ is particularly mesmerizing in operation. The isochronal oscillations of the regulator keeping time in Grant’s glass-domed ‘brain’ are evidence of the clockwork’s high precision. Grant's 8-day, in-line manufacture movement features the same superlative fine finishing as found on the finest wristwatches: Geneva waves, anglage, polishing, sandblasting, plus circular and vertical satin finishing. Hand finishing a clock movement is significantly more challenging than that of a wristwatch due to the larger surface areas of the clock components.

While he doesn’t look for fights, Grant believes

offense is a great form of defense and packs appropriate weaponry. His left arm holds a “youreally-don’t-want-to-mess-with-me” spinning disk, while his right arm clasps a removable grenade launcher. Grant even has a surprise up his sleeve: his grenade launcher is removable and doubles as the winding and time-setting key for his 8-day clockwork, so he isn’t likely to run out of either firepower or time.

Grant’s timekeeping

L’Epée 1839 developed Grant to MB&F’s design using its 8-day, in-line manufacture movement as a structural base. Grant doesn’t just look like a complicated piece of high-precision micro-engineering, he is an incredibly solid piece of complex highprecision micro-engineering with an impressive 268 components going into the construction of his body and clockwork. That’s more pieces than in many complicated wristwatches.

Under the transparent mineral glass dome on Grant's “head”, the clock movement’s regulator – consisting of the balance and escapement – features an Incabloc shock protection system to minimise the risk of damage when the clock is moved or transported. Shock protection is standard in wristwatch movements; however, it is unusual in clocks, which are generally stationary. But then Grant is no stationary clock; he is a robot on a mission to transform time.

Grant transforms into three positions, each with a practical purpose.

Position 1: Grant’s torso folds flat in his lap with his shield/time display lying horizontal across his back. This flat position enables the time to be easily

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read if Grant is significantly lower than the viewers’ eyes and, in this relatively stable position, the winding key will wind the 8-day mainspring.

Position 2: Grant’s torso locks securely into place at 45 degrees, from which he transforms into a more recognisably robotic shape. In this angled position, if resting on a desk or table, the time display is easily seen whether the viewer is sitting or standing.

Position 3: Grant’s torso sits up straight at 90 degrees to his chassis, with his shield now lying vertically along his back. In this position, Grant looks most like the Mad Max warrior he sometimes longs to be (that’s AI for you) and the key will now set the time.

However (and please keep this to yourself), the real reason Grant transforms into three different modes is that it gives us three different ways to play!

What’s in a name?

The Grant Tank, aka Medium Tank, M3 Medium Tank, M3, was a medium-sized American tank in use during World War II. In Britain, the tank came in two variations with differing turret configurations and crew sizes and each model was naturally given its own name. The Brits nicknamed the American-turreted tank "Lee”, after Confederate general Robert E. Lee; the British-turreted tank was called "Grant", after Union general Ulysses S. Grant.

The M3 tank had significant firepower (like MB&F’s + L’Epée 1839’s Grant) and was well armoured (unlike Grant). The M3’s drawbacks included a high silhouette and poor off-road performance, both issues rectified in the Grant: low profile (when laying flat) and excellent highspeed off-road performance (thanks to the three tracks).

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GRANT IS AVAILABLE IN THREE LIMITED EDITIONS OF 50 PIECES EACH IN NICKEL, BLACK, AND BLUE. General Ulysses Simpson Grant held the highest positions in both the military and the government of the United States. He led the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy with the supervision of Abraham Lincoln. As President of the United States (1869–77) Grant led the Republicans in their efforts to remove the vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery during Reconstruction.

Grant is available in three limited editions of 50 pieces each in Nickel, Black, and Blue.

Truck: 115 mm tall x 212 mm wide x 231 mm long Robot: 166 mm tall x 212 mm wide x 238 mm deep Components total: 268 Weight: 2.34 kg Transformer body with three operational tracks and three positions of clock/body.

Materials: stainless steel, nickelplated brass, palladium-plated brass. Dome/head: mineral glass.

L’Epée in-house designed and manufactured in-line eightday movement Balance frequency: 2.5 Hz / 18,000 bph Power reserve: 8 days Components movement: 155 / Jewels: 11 Incabloc shock protection system Movement finishing: Geneva waves, anglage, polishing, sandblasting, circular and vertical graining, satin finishing.

Winding: key on right hand doubles as weapon and pulls out to reveal a double-depth square socket key that both sets the time and winds the movement (on the back/dial side of the clock).

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RESORTS

FIRST LOOK AT THE ONE&ONLY

PORTONOVI RESORT IN MONTENEGRO The luxe resort is set on the coast of Montenegro, which is open to US travelers.

Head just east of Croatia, along the Adriatic coast, to find a land of dramatic mountains and hidden beaches, medieval villages and historic vineyards, farm-to-table cuisine and yacht-filled marinas—and, now, the first One&Only resort in Europe. While Montenegro has been on the precipice of becoming the “New Riviera” for a while, the arrival of One&Only Portonovi, which officially opens on May 1, is elevating the level of luxury available in the Balkan country. With its Venetian palace-inspired accommodations, private beach, cutting-edge wellness center and Michelin-starred chef, the resort is ready to welcome US travelers craving s bit of sun-fueled glamour this summer.

Located at the entrance to Boka Bay on the Adriatic Sea, about an hour’s drive from the international airport in Dubrovnik, Croatia, the resort is part of the larger Portonovi luxury lifestyle development, which also features a helipad and a 238-berth D-Marin superyacht marina. While other parts of Portonovi have yet to be completed, guests can now check in to the One&Only’s 113 rooms, suites and villas, which—as seen in these first-look images—are set in buildings modeled after the historic Venetian-style palaces of the region, complete with colonnades, red terra-cotta roofs, gardens, and indoor and outdoor pools. Most accommodations feature sleek fireplaces,

expansive bathrooms, furnished terraces and floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing mountain, marina or bay views.

The one-bedroom Suite One comes with an outdoor dining area with seating for 12, indoor and outdoor fireplaces, a separate butler’s entrance and a private wine vault that can be stocked with up to 268 bottles. In keeping with the current desire for residential-style options, the resort also offers two secluded villas: The three-bedroom Villa One and the two-bedroom Villa Two both have private gardens, swimming and hydrotherapy pools, outdoor showers and a dedicated team of butlers, chefs and valets. If you are looking to make your stay more permanent, the resort also has 10 three- and four-bedroom One&Only private homes available for sale, each with a pool, internal courtyard and access to a sandy beach and boat jetty.

The star of the resort’s culinary scene is the main restaurant, Sabia by Giorgio Locatelli, where the noted chef—whose eateries include London’s Michelin-starred Locanda Locatelli— serves Southern Italian-influenced dishes with a focus on fresh seafood. Elsewhere, the poolside Tapasake Club offers pan-Asian, tapas-style eats, a sake bar and regular DJ sets, the Montenegro-focused La Veranda features an open kitchen and live cooking stations, and the

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The buildings are inspired by the historic Venetian palaces found in the region. speedboat, head out on diving and sailing lobby Caminetti Bar serves cocktails, afternoon excursions and discover secluded islands and tea and a pre-dinner caviar menu backed by sea hidden beaches, while on land, you’ll find views.

UNESCO World Heritage sites, historic wineries, Those indulgences are balanced by wellness well-preserved medieval villages (like Perast and programming created through an exclusive Kotor) and pristine national parks all just an easy global partnership with the Switzerland-based car ride away. Rates start at $595. experts from Chenot, who blend modern science with the best of traditional Chinese medicine and other holistic practices. At the Chenot Espace facility, guests can undergo personalized, multi-day retreats focused on such goals as detoxing, fitness, stress-relief and rejuvenation. Each begins with a doctor-led consult and diagnostic tests, and includes a mix of nutritional sessions, healthy menus, spa treatments, workouts The lobby bar serves afternoon and mindfulness activities. The tea and a caviar menu. spa also boasts hydrotherapy and cryotherapy areas, indoor pools, a hammam, a hair salon and a The exclusive Chenot Espace wellness men’s grooming salon. center offers targeted retreats and A tennis club (with floodlight-lit treatments. courts), a state-of-the-art fitness center, kids’ and teens’ clubs and a roster of scheduled activities (like yoga and guided hikes) provide more on-site fun, but given Montenegro’s relatively compact size, the resort is also ideally located for getting out and exploring the region. Water-lovers can cruise the Adriatic via yacht or

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THIS 525-FOOT SUPERYACHT WITH SOLAR SAILS DOESN'T REQUIRE ANY WIND The yacht comes with many impressive amenities including a helipad and an elevator.

We brought you Steven Kozloff's futuristic yacht that housed countless amenities and over 200 guests. Now, we have another impressive yacht to share with you.

Florida-based Norwegian designer Kurt Strand has revealed a 525-foot (160-meter) superyacht concept called "Florida" and it is a beauty! Better yet, it comes with some advanced futuristic sailing technology.

"When we are talking about sails, most people probably think about white sails, made from sail cloth. This Yacht however is different.

It has space-age technology wing masts made from carbon fiber. Three 80 meter tall wing sails are electro-hydraulic telescopic retractable," writes a press release acquired by IE. "If that alone isn’t beyond spectacular, the wing sails are even covered with the latest state of art solar panels. In case of no wind, this superyacht can transform into "solar sail" mode."

You might be wondering: what happens when it's windy and the yacht can sail on its own? During that time, the boat can produce electric power from its solar panels. There's also a built-in system that washes and polishes the wing mast every time it retracts, ensuring it can produce maximum solar power.

Power is stored in the battery bank and can be used for Hydrogen production. The yacht is also equipped with fitted hydro generators, which also produce electric power.

"Compared to a traditional yacht in the same size, the fuel reduction is about 90%, but under ideal weather conditions, this yacht will produce more power than it will be using," reads the press release.

In terms of amenities, the yacht is the very definition of luxury. Florida boasts a superyacht helipad at the fore deck with an elevator that takes you to the hangar below the deck.

It offers a large swimming pool at the aft deck and a beach club complete with a huge selection of tender boats, off-road vehicles, jet skis, and water toys. Talk about fun!

"In the center of the yacht is the circular twostory-high lobby/bar located, with stunning, undisturbed views from both sides of the yacht," writes the press release.

But perhaps more impressive is the 40 feet (12 meters) electric-powered Beach Cruiser, an amphibious and submersible limousine tender that can drive all the way up the beach. Florida also includes a fitness center, a spa, a supercar garage (cause everything about Florida is super), and a cinema.

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THIS SUPERYACHT CAN CRUISE EMISSIONS FREE THANKS TO VIKING AGE-INSPIRED SAILS Norway also has a hospital. Yes, you read that right, a mini-hospital.

It's no lie that we love yacht designer Kurt Strand. Previously we have brought you his impressive Florida yacht that could sail without wind.

Now, the ambitious designer is back with another superyacht design that is bound to blow you away. The new 528-footer (161 m) beauty is aptly named Norway as she was inspired by the longships of the Viking Age. Strand decided to mimic the powerful square sails of this time and create a modern version of them. The end result is that Norway is equipped with “space-age technology” that will allow her to travel to all corners of the world without producing any emissions.

The sails actually capture energy when moving and then store it in a battery bank onboard. This energy can then be converted to hydrogen. Even without wind or sunshine, Norway will forge ahead powered by three multifuel generator engines that can run on either diesel, liquified natural gas, or hydrogen.

In ideal weather conditions, the superyacht will produce more clean energy than it gobbles up, putting that energy aside for strenuous weather days.

The ship is of course large, as all superyachts are. It can house up to 24 guests across 12 luxurious suites, along with 40 crew. It even comes equipped with a beach club, a fitness center, a spa, a swimming pool, a supercar garage, and a cinema.

Not feeling well on board? Not to worry,

Norway also has a hospital. Yes, you read that right a mini-hospital.

At the center of the ship is a circular twostory lobby and bar that allows visitors to marvel at the views the ship has. Finally, for smooth sailing, Norway is equipped with a unique sail handling system for precise maneuvering as well as two side-by-side retractable keels with stabilizers. This allows the ship to navigate deep or shallow waters with smooth sailing.

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HAUTE HORLOGERIE

LOTUS TRIPLE-AXIS TOURBILLON CLOCK The Lotus clock is a new amazing project of an independent watchmaker Anton Suhanov. The idea of a table clock in the form of a metal flower and its implementation is amazing.

The clock is a mechanical flower with a bud on a long thin stem, the petals of the bud open automatically during the day, freeing a glass sphere inside the bud, inside which, like a butterfly or a moth, a three-axis tourbillon rotates.

The familiar structure of the movement here is not just reworked and rebuilt, but turned inside out, and that seems impossible. The main movement is hidden in a round flat stand, on which the world time is displayed, from the center of which a long thin rod protrudes, crowning a bud with silvery petals. Like a living flower, the petals of a mechanical flower bloom during the day and close at night in accordance with the time of the home time zone, which is indicated with a hand on the central disc. Mechanical flower represents a day / night function for the home time zone. Inside the bud there is a glass ball in which a three-axis tourbillon hovers as if by magic and a second indicator as well.

The most important task was to "revive" the flower with the help of mechanical images and characteristic kinematics, and not due to external similarity (which was deliberately done with restraint and practically schematic). The petals close and open slowly and smoothly, like if it was a real flower, obeying the day / night period of the sun on Earth, symbolizing the continuity of the eternal life cycle. The complex vibration motion of the triaxial tourbillon carriages and especially the fluctuations in the balance in space personify the fluttering of a butterfly or moth sitting on a flower. And the use of patented Flaming Balance technology allows the balance wheel to glow in the dark, which combined with sophisticated spatial movement creates amazing glowing patterns. Through the combination of these movements: lightning unpredictable and long viscousinevitable, you can demonstrate the beauty of the diversity of life forms.

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Movement - triaxial tourbillon 1st (inner) cage's cycle: 18 sec 2 nd (middle) cage's cycle: 21 sec 3 rd (outer) cage's cycle: 60 sec Balance Frequency:2.5 Hz (18,000 pc/h) Power reserve: 12 days Movement Details: 351 Jewels: 35 Ball bearings: 21 World time setting: rotation of the ring with the cities The key holes for winding and setting the time are located on the bottom of the watch, so a special stand is used for this to access the bottom Case / Dial Materials: stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, brass Finishing techniques: polishing, satin, sandblasting Case Parts: 175 Limited edition - 7 pieces

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LUXURY WATCHES

ROLEX GEM-SET TIMEPIECES:

EXQUISITE EXPRESSIONS OF DECADENCE Nothing says joie de vivre like diamonds, as Rolex demonstrates with four timepieces of unparalleled resplendence.

For an object of such diminutive stature, the wristwatch often has an outsized presence. The bon vivant will absolutely love these four outstanding Rolex watches — while the captivating shine of their diamonds and precious materials will draw in everyone else.

The Oyster Perpetual Lady-Datejust, Oyster Perpetual Pearlmaster 39, and two Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 36 watches all demonstrate the wondrous pairing of diamonds and precious metals found in the finest of watches

by Rolex.

Precious metals such as gold and platinum come to us from the stars, literally. They were born in the hearts of giant stars that exploded and scattered the particles across the universe. Diamonds, by way of contrast are born in the depths of the Earth over the course of a billion years. Through their unique brilliance and the extreme care taken in their setting, the high-quality precious stones selected by Rolex endow gem-set watches with unbridled prestige.

Using only the highest quality gemstones, Rolex own in-house gemmologists and gemsetters work in perfect harmony to reveal the diamond’s radiance. The process begins by sourcing the most striking stones, and then deciding how best to showcase them. As the

art of gem-setting lies in ensuring that the sparkle and beauty of each stone is fully revealed, the Rolex gem-setter expertly sets each stone, one by one, taking care to ensure symmetry in size and placement — Rolex tolerates variances of no more than 2 hundredths of a millimetre, which is around a quarter of the diameter of a human hair. A final polish makes the tiny metal settings shine, intensifying the watch’s splendour.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Lady-Datejust The classic Rolex feminine watch, the LadyDatejust benefits from all the attributes of the Datejust, the emblematic Rolex watch that has been a byword for style and technical performance ever since its launch in 1945. The feminine version of the iconic chronometer, the Oyster Perpetual Lady-Datejust first appeared in 1957, showcasing the elegance of the Datejust in a small 28 mm size perfectly suited to a slender wrist, and it has retained its iconic size since that time.

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Available in Oystersteel, in 18 ct yellow or Everose gold, or in Rolesor versions that combine both Oystersteel and 18 ct gold, the Lady-Datejust comes in a wealth of versions to perfectly reflect the different personalities of its wearers. The range of materials of the Lady-Datejust is equalled only by a stunning range of bracelets and subtle dials that enhance its style.

A fluted, domed or diamond-set bezel?

Exclusive, shimmering dials paved with diamonds or the fascinating hues of mother-ofpearl? Simple or gem-set hour markers, or even Roman numerals? The many faces of the Lady-Datejust make this model one of the most varied in the Oyster Perpetual collection.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Lady-Datejust in 18 ct yellow gold fitted with a diamond-paved dial and a diamond-set President bracelet A showstopper of a wristwatch unveiled this year, the Lady-Datejust is paved with sparkling diamonds, with its 18 ct yellow gold case and President bracelet just peeking out between the prongs. The case sides and lugs of the new Lady-Datejust are set with 158 brilliant-cut diamonds as well as 44 brilliant-cut diamonds on the bezel. The President bracelet

sparkles with a further 596 brilliant-cut diamonds. Showcasing the captivating shine of the diamonds that adorn every surface, the dial is fully paved with 291 diamonds. For an added touch of splendour, the dial also features 18 ct yellow gold Roman numerals that bear a lustrous black finish.

The function of timekeeping itself is uncompromised in the Lady-Datejust, with the watch carrying the Superlative Chronometer certification. This new version of the Lady-Datejust is equipped with calibre 2236, a movement at the forefront of watchmaking technology, entirely developed and manufactured by Rolex.

It boasts several patents and offers outstanding performance in terms of precision (+/-2 seconds per day), power reserve (approximately 55 hours), resistance to shocks and magnetic fields, convenience and reliability.

Especially notable here is the fact that calibre 2236 uses the Syloxi hairspring, which was patented and produced by Rolex. This silicon hairspring remains up to 10 times more precise than a traditional hairspring in case of shocks, and its patented geometry ensures the calibre’s regularity in any position.

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ELECTRIC AVIATION

ROLLS-ROYCE’S ELECTRIC AIRPLANE COMPLETES MAIDEN FLIGHT Rolls-Royce’s fully electric aircraft the Spirit of Innovation completed its maiden flight at the Ministry of Defense Boscombe Down aircraft testing site in Wiltshire, England. The plane took to the skies propelled by its powerful 400kW (500+hp) electric powertrain with the most power-dense battery pack ever assembled for an aircraft and flew for 15 minutes. According to the company, this is another step towards the plane’s world-record attempt and another milestone on the aviation industry’s journey towards decarbonization.

Warren East, CEO, Rolls-Royce, said: “The first flight of the ‘Spirit of Innovation’ is a great achievement for the ACCEL team and RollsRoyce. We are focused on producing the technology breakthroughs society needs to decarbonise transport across air, land and sea, and capture the economic opportunity of the transition to net zero. This is not only about breaking a world record; the advanced battery and propulsion technology developed for this program has exciting applications for the Urban

Air Mobility market and can help make ‘jet zero’ a reality.”

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “The first flight of Rolls-Royce’s revolutionary Spirit of Innovation aircraft signals a huge step forward in the global transition to cleaner forms of flight. This achievement, and the records we hope will follow, shows the UK remains right at the forefront of aerospace innovation.”

The Boscombe Down site, which is managed by QinetiQ has a long heritage of experi-

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mental flights and the first flight marks the beginning of an intense flight-testing phase in which we will be collecting valuable performance data on the aircraft’s electrical power and propulsion system. The ACCEL program, short for ‘Accelerating the Electrification of Flight’ includes key partners YASA, the electric motor and controller manufacturer, and aviation startup Electroflight.

Half of the project’s funding is provided by the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), in partnership with the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and Innovate UK. “The first flight of the Spirit of Innovation demonstrates how innovative technology can provide solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges,” said Gary Elliott, CEO, Aerospace Technology Institute. “The ATI is funding projects like ACCEL to help UK develop new capabilities and secure a lead in the technologies that will decarbonise aviation. We

congratulate everyone who has worked on the ACCEL project to make the first flight a reality and look forward to the world speed record attempt which will capture the imagination of the public in the year that the UK hosts COP26.”

Rolls-Royce is offering our customers a complete electric propulsion system for their platform, whether that is an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) or commuter aircraft. The company will be using the technology from the ACCEL project and applying it to products for these exciting new markets. The characteristics that ‘air-taxis’ require from batteries are very similar to what is being developed for the ‘Spirit of Innovation’ so that it can reach speeds of 300+ MPH (480+ KMH). In addition, Rolls-Royce and airframer Tecnam are currently working with Widerøe, the largest regional airline in Scandinavia, to deliver an all-electric passenger aircraft for the commuter market, which is planned to be ready for revenue service in 2026.

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Business Arena operates with a combination of permanent and freelance staff and has a wide network of writers, salespeople, conference moderators and digital experts with experience in many different markets which it calls upon when required.

Business Arena Magazine is a monthly English-language business magazine published

by Business Arena Publishing Group SRL. The magazine was launched in October 2009, and, since then, it has gained reputation as a valuable source of information and analyses for business people and professionals, offering a wide range of exclusive interviews, feature stories and reports, market analyses and special columns.

With over 20 years of experience in the business media segment, Business Arena Magazine’s team of dedicated journalists, graphic design artists, sales and marketing professionals count on innovation, responsibility and product quality as long-term strategies for development.

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ISSN 2069 - 1807

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