What's cooking in our kitchen for 2007-2008!
Over the coming weeks and months we will be publishing mini articles on what we believe will be important themes driving growth over the coming year – before you start thinking this is just another Top 10 Property Hotspots list compiled on a whim of where Easyjet might be opening a route to, think again, whilst we are bullish on property our list is primarily focusing on Technology trends that have a chance of hitting the mainstream within two years and will thus present start-up and investment opportunities for investors in the near-term. In our first article we look at Algorithms...
An algorithm can be classified as a 'device' used to analyse large amounts of data in either a structured or unstructured format, for the purposes of classification, segmentation, prediction, simulation, and optimization. In its simplest form an Algorithm takes inputs, performs actions on them and generates a valuable piece of output to a human-user or drives an automated action:
INPUT - ACTION - OUTPUT
Algorithms developed as far back as the 18th century have been now given a new lease of life to solve practical business problems: Procter & Gamble, for example has restructured its supply chain using complex "expressive bidding" algorithms—based on linear programming equations developed over 40 years ago —that allow suppliers to bid online with bundled offerings of products and service levels rather than with standardized lots. Google, at its very core, is an internet search engine that delivers very relevant results to your search queries based on complex search algorithm developed (and constantly being tweaked!) by its founders. So why are Algorithms more relevant important and useful now? Three key factors can help answer this:
- Growth in content and information – inputs are up and everywhere.
- Need for rapid decision making – e.g. by algorithmically driven, black-boxed, trading platforms.
- Growth in cheap computation processing power and sharp reduction in storage costs – it’s now more cost effective than ever before for companies to store, process and analyse transactions made by its customers to predict future trends.
So the future it seems is bright for quantitative driven entrepreneurs who are able to identify, tweak and even secure IPR on algorithms that can solve real business problems, however identifying and realizing something that fits this mould it by means no easy feat - if you think you might be on to something don’t hesitate to get in touch with us we are pretty quick at realising if something has potential value or not and not afraid to tell you the truth.
In our next article we look at RIA (Rich Internet Applications) and explore the overused term of the decade – 'Web 2.0'.
Feedback welcomed on info@rdcapital.co.uk