Ben T. Smith IV, a longtime Silicon Valley executive and currently head of the Communications, Media and Technology practice at Kearney, speaks to Global Finance about the post-SVB venture capital industry and the pace of innovation.
Many of the world's richest countries are also the world's smallest: the pandemic and the global economic slowdown barely made a dent in their huge wealth.
Global Finance editor Andrea Fiano interviews Ásgeir Jónsson, Central Bank Governor of Iceland during Global Finance's World's Best Bank Awards at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on October 15th.
Companies thrive through innovation. It is an engine for growth and survival. Over time it distinguishes winners and losers, and it constantly redefines competition.
Sometimes it takes massive investment to make a good idea useful, but the right idea can also create fertile ground for new companies with little money.
The idea to dedicate a special issue to innovation arose after a few stories about innovators in transaction services and FX inspired us to take a wider view of innovation in finance. We looked at more sectors, including trade finance and corporate finance. We added Islamic finance, too, an area of much recent interest. We elected not to attempt to rank innovations, but simply to recognize a range of the most interesting innovators.
Although we maintained the same selection criteria in all sectors, once we started looking, it became clear there were a lot of variables. This issue is more than just the result of internal team work. Our writers took submissions from some of the companies and banks mentioned in the following pages, selecting some and leaving out others. They sought out innovators that did not apply for consideration but seemed worth mentioning. We also studied endorsements of corporate innovators sent to us by financial institutions.
It was a complicated process that involved many people on our end, many cross-Atlantic phone calls and regular discussions about key criteria. Throughout the process we felt the vibrancy of innovation in all areas of the financial world. Many companies are mentioned here, but we have a strong feeling that we’ve just scratched the surface.
We also saw a thirst for recognition of these efforts. The CEO of a company that had been honored in a previous innovators feature, for example, reached out to understand what they had “done wrong” to not make this year’s list. The answer is simply, nothing. They have and use a leading technology, but that was last year’s innovation. In truth, it would be difficult to make the list several years running. Innovation, by definition, must reinvent itself without end—else it is no longer innovation.
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