Messimania in the US sends ticket prices soaring: The arrival of Lionel Messi in the US has sparked a frenzy among soccer fans, with ticket prices for Inter Miami games increasing by over 1700% on the resale market since the Argentinian superstar joined the club last month, CNBC reports. The average ticket price for an upcoming Inter Miami CF game against the New York Red Bulls is at a whopping USD 1.7k, up from last year’s average price of USD 90, according to TicketIQ data cited by CNBC. Meanwhile, the average ticket price for a game against rival Orlando City SC has also increased to USD 1.6k, a 1709% y-o-y increase.

BACKGROUND: Lionel Messi signed a lucrative contract with the club in July worth USD 50-60 mn annually, CNN reported. The contract includes an equity stake in the team, as well as undisclosed revenue-sharing agreements with Apple TV and Adidas. The Argentinian football superstar’s planned move came after he turned down a EUR 400 mn per year offer from Saudi’s Al Hilal, and after negotiations over his return to FC Barcelona fell through over the club’s financial restrictions.

Oman is getting on the s mart city bandwagon: Oman has announced plans to develop a 100k person smart city, Sultan Haitham City, in Al Seeb outside of Muscat by 2045, reports CNN. The city, which will include 20k homes, a university, schools, health facilities and mosques will be built by US architecture-engineering fusion firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill(SOM), the brains behind the engineering of the Burj Khalifa and the urban master plans of London’s Canary Wharf.

Are smart cities invasive or efficient? Smart cities rely on the “internet of things” to gather and use data from the built environment — sensors, cameras and internet-enabled devices — arguably at the cost of personal privacy. Nevertheless, it allows more efficient and effective public services such as traffic flow management and environmental monitoring. SOM has put forward a plan for an ecological city fit with solar energy facilities, wastewater recycling, electric vehicle infrastructure, waste-to-energy plants. Working with the environment is central to SOM’s plan, which also includes a 7.5 km park stretched along a dry river to promote the containment and capture of floodwater in an area often hit by seasonal flooding.

The move towards smart cities makes sense for Oman — and Egypt: Design that responds to its climate is essential for Oman, which is working towards its Vision 2040, part of which includes reducing the state’s dependence on oil, and its target to produce 30% of the country’s electricity from green sources by 2030. The Egyptian government has also been working to introduce as many as 38 new smart cities across the country as part of our sustainable development strategy, Egypt Vision 2030, with an eye on efficiently integrating these cities with the rest of the country.

AI skills are changing from being an asset to a workplace necessity: Globally, nearly 44% of existing jobs will require employees to learn new skills to keep up with AI developments, according to a study published by IBM based on surveys of workers and executives reported by Techspot. Executives believe that 4 out of 10 people — which is equivalent to 1.4 bn — have to acquire new skills. This is particularly apparent for entry-level jobs that will be more affected than the mid and senior management roles, where only 22% of them will need to get back into the training room.

The age of augmented workforce where machines and humans can cooperate to increase productivity and enhance problem solving will “disrupt 85 mn jobs globally between 2020 and 2025 — and create 97 mn new job roles,” according to the WEF. People’s performance will get better and it will not be replaced by AI and automation, the report claims. It also adds that employees and companies who zone in on AI will “see a 36% higher revenue growth rate than their peers.”

Tags: