EXPERT OBSERVER (TERRY RYDER)

I believe real estate markets are driven more by local factors than national ones. While many commentators are placing great significance on interest rate reductions as a prime driver of real estate markets, I’m much more interested in what’s going on the coalface of local economies. 

And, in those terms, I put a high rating on the Sunshine Coast as a market that investors of all kinds should be considering. I regard the Sunshine Coast as the strongest market in Queensland at the moment and indeed one of the strongest in Australia.

When someone mentions Hamilton, one of their first thoughts is the Steel City. There's no question that the success of companies like Stelco and Dofasco helped define Hamilton as a steel town for more than a century. Jobs in manufacturing were abundant, and in many cases generational, as the city heavily relied on steel and manufacturing as its main source of employment.

Over the past 20 years however, we've seen a tremendous shift in Hamilton's economy. In fact, the Conference Board of Canada now ranks Hamilton's economy as the most diversified economy in the nation. This means that as a city, Hamilton's economic growth is coming from a broad spectrum of key industry sectors. Steve Jobs once said, "try to do a very few things well," so in addition to the advanced manufacturing we continue to be known for, the City of Hamilton concentrates on a few key sectors to leverage the resources we have to grow Hamilton's economy.

Finnish company Uros and Thundercomm Technology, a provider of smart device hardware and software, have announced that they will open a joint innovation centre at Uros headquarters in Oulu. It will use products and services from Qualcomm Technologies to develop IoT and 5G systems for smart cities, wearables, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, drones, industrial IoT, financial technology and automotive applications.

From its launch on Hamilton Harbour in 2005, Biox quietly became one of the world's fastest growing biofuel players with a refinery that turns animal fat and old cooking oil into a clean-burning diesel fuel alternative.

It was founded by an ex-military officer who grew frustrated by the effort to defend petroleum-rich regions of the world.

"I was very disappointed that we were making huge oil-based policy decisions and sending people off to war," said Oakville's Tim Haig. After a battle with leukemia that kept him from returning to the British Army, he got an MBA in London and pursued the renewables market

The Sunshine Coast Council has announced the completion of its AU$7.2 million cable landing station at Maroochydore that will house the connection of the AU$35 million Japan-Guam-Australia subsea system.  

The landing station, which was built by Vertiv, is located adjacent to the new Maroochydore city centre, a 60-hectare area that is being developed into a commercial, retail, medium and high density residential development area with new road transport, public open spaces, community facilities, and infrastructure.

Have you been to Toronto yet? If you’re looking for a vibrant city that applauds itself on having diversity as its strength, you have to visit Canada and see what Toronto has in store. Toronto has been recognized as one of the most multicultural cities in the world, boasting over 200 ethnic groups with over 140 languages spoken. It’s now the fourth-largest city in the world and continues to attract people who are seeking a community where they can fit in while standing out. Black entrepreneurs and professionals will find a rich, welcoming culture that will expose you to life beyond the space you currently occupy.

Earlier this week (July 30), Drake and Boi-1da called on Pickering, Ontario, mayor David Ryan to look into faster internet access for the area after a slow connection threw a wrench into their creative plans. Now, the producer will get to make his case to Ryan in a face-to-face meeting.

The Canadian Press reports that the beatsmith born Matthew Samuels will meet with the mayor at his Pickering studio next week in hopes of hashing out a solution the slow connection speeds.

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Aug. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- DENSO, the world's second largest mobility supplier, announced today it is investing $1.42 million to launch a Smart Mobility Ecosystem in Dublin, Ohio, designed to enhance transportation. In the project, DENSO is working with a coalition of municipal, state, business and academic partners to test and implement infrastructure technologies, create value-added mobility services, and gather previously untapped data that are vital to increasing road and pedestrian safety and reducing travel times. This initiative supports DENSO's long-term policy to create new value for advanced mobility, and boosts its expansion into software-based solutions as it explores new business domains and new customers.

5G has been promoted for years as being the communications game changer for Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things. If you’re not up to speed on 5G yet, it’s essentially the next generation of cellular communications that is reportedly 10x faster than current 4G speeds. While this increase in speed is critical to the expansion of things like autonomous cars and remote robotic surgery (see this CNN video for a brief explanation of 5G from a consumer point of view), it’s more of a process optimization factor for industry.