Technology And Innovation Investments: Opportunities For The Future
Technology and innovation investments continue to be a trend for the future. On the other hand, the number of startups related to technology and innovation around the world has continued to increase.
In 2024, more than 44,000 startups received investments worldwide. The majority of these companies were founded on technology initiatives and innovative projects.
In addition, more than 195 Unicorn companies received investments and started operating in the world in 2024. The majority of these companies operate in the technology and internet sectors.
The situation is similar for scaleups. Although the exact number is not known, tens of thousands of scale-up companies have received investments and started operating worldwide as of 2024. These companies generally aim to offer innovative solutions by digitizing the ways of doing business in traditional sectors and using technology.
What Is Technology Investment And How Is It Done?
R&D and innovation have become indispensable elements of competition today. Countries whose industries are supported with effective R&D incentives are at the top of the World Competitiveness Rankings. In recent years, serious R&D expenditures have been made to support innovative ideas in R&D and innovation projects, both through the public and other sources.
Defense expenditures in Europe will increase by 7% per year until 2030. Until now, most of this expenditure went to companies older than 50 years, such as Lockheed, Raytheon, and Boeing.
For years, the contracts of the American government in the projects these companies entered were made with the “cost + profit margin” system. However, Elon Musk changed this. SpaceX said, “I will give a fixed price in new contracts and then increase efficiency and make a profit.”
Thus, it developed rockets that can be reused in the space business. Space and defense technologies are intertwined. Therefore, the same entrepreneurial revolution is spreading to the defense field. For example, a startup called Helsing, whose main investor is Spotify founder Daniel Ek, has reached a valuation of $1.7 billion.
This company models battlefields with artificial intelligence through the products it develops. It is now about to become one of the main suppliers of Europe’s fighter jet project, the Eurofighter program.
What Are Innovation And R&D Investments?
The purpose of R&D investments is to ensure that the country’s economy is competitive at an international level, to commercialize new products and products resulting from R&D and innovation activities in priority technology areas, to create added value for the country’s economy, to take part in international markets and to pioneer technological product exports, and to organize the work and processes related to the implementation of R&D investments in order to support the investments to be made by established businesses.
With globalization, the fact that similar production technologies can be used by manufacturers in very different parts of the world has provided consumers with the opportunity to access products with similar features at more affordable prices. This situation has made the competition all over the world more intense.
The increasing intensity of competition between micro-scale businesses and macro-scale countries and the desire to gain competitive advantage directs manufacturers towards activities that will create differences in their products and processes.
It can be said that one of the most important tools to reveal this difference that will provide a competitive advantage to businesses and countries is R&D, and the other is innovation.
The fact that the innovative products and services that emerge as a result of innovation and R&D investments are different from the products of competitors ensures that the products are preferred in local and international markets.
What Are Technology Stocks And How To Invest In Them?
If you research the markets, you will see that there are many lesser-known but equally promising companies working to develop innovative and forward-thinking products/services using technology.
The most common technology stocks are usually those of the following companies: Apple, Google, Facebook, Cisco, Amazon, Microsoft, Baidu, Intel, Samsung, Nvidia, Alibaba, Tencent, Tesla, Netflix, IBM, Salesforce, Qualcomm, Taiwan Semiconductors, SAP, PayPal.
When you want to invest in these popular technology stocks, the first step is to open an investment account. Opening an account with a well-established brokerage firm is the first step in this process. You can easily complete the account opening process by downloading the mobile applications offered by many platforms.
After opening your account, you can start trading on the American Stock Exchange with UP Trader by loading the amount you intend to invest into your account. There may be a lower limit determined by the brokerage firm where you open your investment account; this acts as collateral for the transactions you will make on the stock exchange. After transferring the required lower limit and your investment amount to your account, you can take action to buy these technology stocks.
What Are AI And Blockchain Investments?
In today’s shrinking financial environment, the most prominent areas in investment preferences are artificial intelligence and blockchain investments. The rising popularity of artificial intelligence has shown itself with the increasing demand for shares of artificial intelligence companies on the stock exchange.
There are different reasons for this interest, which continues today, for each stock. While some are preferred for their stable feature that provides big profits, others are more speculative but attract attention as high-yield stocks. Financially solid and increasing its value with buybacks, Nvidia is one of the best-performing shares of the last 10 years among artificial intelligence stocks.
Blockchain technology, which is a digital currency, is known as one of the most profitable investment models today and is a technology that millions of people invest in. After the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved applications for spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), which are considered critical for the cryptocurrency ecosystem, all eyes are now focused on what kind of transactions investors can make with these funds. The approval of 11 different spot Bitcoin ETF applications by the US regulatory body SEC has brought the cryptocurrency market back to the top of the agenda.
What Are The Risks In Technology Investments?
Many small, medium, and large-scale businesses conduct R&D studies in order to invest in technology and ensure the emergence of innovation. However, businesses in the technological investment phase required for these studies to take place face many obstacles.
The most common risks include businesses not having sufficient funds, the innovation they plan to create carrying a high risk, the lack of know-how in the technologies they have, businesses obtaining the technologies they need only by enduring high costs, and difficulties in finding qualified employees who can use technology and conduct R&D studies.
Reasons such as businesses not allocating enough time for innovation and not feeling the need to innovate, not being able to sufficiently promote the innovation they obtain in the market or having difficulties in marketing, and businesses not being informed about people’s needs are obstacles to making technological investments.
See you in the next post,
Anil UZUN