• 2019 was lackluster year for IPO activity with deals and proceeds down overall
• Technology sector dominates with 263 IPOs raising US$62.8b in 2019
• 2020 expected to see more robust IPO activity, particularly in the first half of the year

Geopolitical uncertainty and trade tensions heavily impacted the 2019 IPO landscape, pushing overall IPO activity down in terms of deals and proceeds. 2019 has registered 1,115 IPOs with proceeds of US$198b – a 19% fall in deal volume and a 4% decrease in proceeds compared with 2018. However, as US-China-EU trade tensions, concerns about economic growth and other geopolitical issues – including Brexit and social unrest in Hong Kong – subside, a healthy increase in IPO activity is expected in 2020, particularly in the first half of the year, as markets are expected to become more volatile leading up to the US Presidential elections.

• 69% of telco leaders say 5G and IoT will lead digital transformation drive
• Only 44% see network performance as a critical use case for AI and automation
• 67% believe talent is the biggest obstacle to analytics and AI deployment

Telco leaders are optimistic about the promise of digital transformation, but there is a lack of synergy in the application of emerging technologies at the network layer. That is according to a global EY report, Accelerating the intelligent enterprise, which includes analysis of 27 leading telcos about their digital transformation journey.

On December 9, the Amcham held a discussion on affordable housing, featuring Prague City Hall Council member and Deputy Mayor for Prague 7 (Praha Sobě) Lenka Burgerová, IPR SDM Section Director Jaromír Hainc, co-Executive Director of The John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Support Center and Fair Housing Legal Clinic professor Michael Seng and Head of Housing Policy Department at the Ministry of Regional Development Marie Mohylová, Deputy Minister for Coordination of EU funds and international relations Section Daniela Grabmüllerová, PasserInvest Business Development Director Eduard Forejt, and Senior Associate at Squire Patton Boggs Lenka Nová.

We discussed how the public administration on both national and regional levels plans to deal with a lack of housing in Prague and rapidly growing prices.

More than 70 million on-device edge artificial intelligence (AI) chips will be sold next year. A new generation of chips will appear in a wider array of devices, from robots to smartphones. Companies will start using fifth generation networks. According to the new predictions, more than 100 will test private 5G networks. Autonomous service robots will generate more than USD 16 billion in revenue. These are some of the conclusions of Deloitte’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions 2020.