Weekly Snapshot - Jul 28, 2025

Welcome to the latest edition of the Weekly Snapshot! Get ready to dive into this week’s highlights and insights. Don’t forget to share with anyone who might find it interesting!

Let's dive in!

👉 From water to bits: China builds a mega-dam to power AI

↳ Why it matters

This past week, China has officially begun building what will be the world’s largest hydropower dam, deep in the Tibetan plateau, on the Yarlung Tsangpo river. The project—expected to cost $167 billion—would surpass the Three Gorges Dam and generate three times more energy. But it’s not just about electricity. The river flows into India and Bangladesh, meaning China’s control over it raises geopolitical, environmental, and humanitarian alarms. India fears the dam could become a “water bomb,” while Bangladesh has requested transparency. For Beijing, this is a strategic energy move. For its neighbors, it’s an existential threat.

↳ My thoughts on it

Vladimir Putin once said that “whoever controls AI will control the world." This case adds a regional layer—with potential global consequences—to the equation: whoever controls the flow of water from the Tibetan plateau holds immense geopolitical power. China and its neighbors know it. With this project, the long-contested Tibetan territory gains highlighted relevance—regionally and globally. Water is becoming the new oil in Asia, and this megadam may set a dangerous precedent. In a world already shaped by energy and AI disputes, competition (and wars…) over water may also be on the rise.

↳ Read more here

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👉 Money Dries Up for Biotech in California — A Great Time to Invest (Wisely)

↳ Why it matters

Biotech in the San Francisco Bay Area is undergoing a downturn: widespread layoffs, company closures and tanking valuations are now commonplace. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index has tumbled nearly 30% in 2025, and nearly 60% of biotech firms reportedly have less than two years of funding runway. Combined with cuts to NIH support and tightening venture capital, this downturn may delay key drug developments and reshape the innovation ecosystem. But… this is also a great opportunity to invest! Pay attention!

↳ My thoughts on it

Biotech is a high-risk, high-return, high-volatility industry—where else do you find a stock jumping almost 4,000% in a single day? It’s also deeply connected to science investment. Promising pipelines now risk death by financial attrition… and here is a big opportunity for those who are cashed in and have the capabilities to assess teams and their portfolios.

This reality also underscores how policy shifts around public research funding can ripple through the innovation chain and impact the entire sector. But look—a HSBC report released about two weeks ago highlights that “the number of funding deals involving drug candidates from China continued to climb, meanwhile…” Wow! What does this mean? Here’s one hypothesis: biotech has a really loaded cost structure in the US—high salaries, fancy offices, long and expensive clinical trials, huge compliance costs. Startups coming from other markets can look more attractive to investors right now. It doesn’t have to be China. Think Australia—with amazing talent and an integrated regulatory environment with the US—or Brazil, which has world-class science talent eager for opportunities to create global value. It may be time to think differently and globally.

↳ Read more here

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👉 Don't See Them? Look again.

↳ Why it matters

A wave of government initiatives, robotics deals and product launches around the world this past week signaled a shift: robots are here to stay. Japan deployed robotic trainers for Olympic athletes. Germany launched new public-private robotics coalitions. And in the U.S., autonomous warehouse systems powered by AI secured massive expansion deals. Robotics is moving beyond labs into the real economy—across sectors, industries and application areas. Interoperability standards are also emerging and being adopted by major players. The question is no longer if automation will reshape work—it’s how fast, and who controls it.

↳ My thoughts on it

We’re crossing from robotics as spectacle to robotics as critical, daily-life infrastructure. For all the buzz around AI models and digital platforms, physical automation—robots that sense, move and adapt—is where most of the progress is happening now. Governments (not all…) are taking notice, embedding robotics into industrial policy and workforce planning. Not many countries have both the research capabilities and business structures needed to create the global robotics business of the future. Those that do should not waste time. Just like with energy or AI, the geopolitics of robotics will be shaped by who builds, who supplies and who governs. Tech rules.

↳ Read more here

https://tinyurl.com/3vwudkur

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👉 To Keep An Eye On

China–U.S. Trade Talks in Stockholm – July 27–30, 2025, Stockholm, Sweden -Will Beijing and Washington agree to extend the August 12 tariff truce—or is the pause already fraying at the edges?

High-Level Conference on Palestinian Statehood – July 28–29, 2025, New York City, USA (UN HQ) - Can diplomacy reinvigorate the two‑state solution—or will it merely paper over irreconcilable realities?