Author: Bernadette Versfeld

South Africa’s tough economic climate is once again pushing businesses toward rescue or liquidation. Yet one of their most valuable assets – intellectual property (IP) – is routinely overlooked in both processes. This is a theme we first explored in a 2020 article, “Business rescue and liquidation have consequences for intellectual property.” Six years on, the question is more pressing than ever. The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence is seeing an increase in IP development, making it all the more important that businesses, practitioners and liquidators turn their minds to IP before it is too late. First, the basics. Every business…

In May earlier this year, we explored opportunities and challenges artificial intelligence (AI) is creating in the hospitality sector. These opportunities included customer experience and ESG, while the challenges ranged from data privacy to where liability begins and ends. AI’s far-reaching influence on global economies necessitates an examination of its effects on various sectors, including agriculture. The next sector deserving our focus concerning AI and the hope it creates in addition to its unavoidable risks is agriculture. From a distance, agriculture may seem far removed from AI as a concept and its real-world consequences. However, the opposite is deductively true.…

One of the challenges facing fast-growing African economies is to provide more comprehensive transport networks without huge carbon emissions consequences. Between 1990 and 2022, CO₂ emissions from the global transport sector rose by 1.7% a year, faster than any other sector except industry, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). To achieve net zero emissions by 2050, emissions from the transport sector must fall by more than 3% a year to 2030, says the IEA. It said strong regulations, fiscal incentives, and considerable investment in infrastructure to enable low- and zero-emission vehicle operations will be needed to achieve these emissions…