- China tech giants are betting US$19bn on electric car frenzy
- Pride month: What LGBTQ+ communities can learn from Japan
- NC Team picks: effective 1:1s and how to negotiate job offers
- We’re hiring; join the NewCampus team
#TRENDS
⚡ China races ahead in electric car sector
- Global Electric vehicle (EV) sales are surging - While global car sales took a pandemic-related hit last year, electric vehicles (EVs) bucked the trend. Experts have predicted that global sales of EVs in 2021 will jump 36% and top 3 million vehicles for the first time ever, especially in Europe and China. [CNBC, WEF]
- China tech giants betting on e-car frenzy - Tech titans in China, from Huawei to Baidu, are plowing almost $19 billion into EVs and forging joint ventures to challenge established players. [Bloomberg]
- How to get people to buy EVs - Barriers for mass adoption include high costs for EVs, and scarcity of reliable charging stations, of which the fastest way to get more people to go electric is to fix infrastructure to meet the increased demands of EV usage. [Vox]
- Environmental cost - Going electric comes with environmental trade-offs: mining the raw materials (like cobalt and lithium) to make the rechargeable batteries is very polluting. Yet only about 5% of batteries are recycled. [NYT]
- Opportunities for startups - Emerging trends such as CaaS (car-as-a-service) or MaaS (mobility-as-a-service) along with innovations in electric vehicles and smart cars present a plethora of opportunities for automotive startups. [YourStory]
🏳️🌈 Celebrating Pride Month: LGBTQ+ movements in Asia
- A gradual approach to rights and family values - Japan is the only G7 state without laws to prohibit discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, let alone laws to permit same-sex marriage. Here’s what Asia’s LGBTQ+ movement can learn from Japan.
- Connecting LGBTQ communities - LGBTQ zines, containing content from singles ads to poems, were distributed across the Indonesian archipelago in the 1980s and 1990s, which allowed the Indonesian LGBTQ community to find love and friendship.
- Tolerated but not yet accepted - The Filipino LGBTQ community says there is a lack of protections for them in schools and workplaces, and stereotypes against them persist. Activists urge fellow Filipinos to eliminate stereotypes against the LGBTQ community and to help ensure their rights and protections.
