Moving forward with the times and your investments

The oncology market is dominated by biopharmaceutical companies. Continuing innovation and advances in biotechnology are accelerating the fight against cancer.

Non-alcoholic beverages are on the rise. And the trend continues. Thanks to non-alcoholic beverages, a new wind is blowing through the industry.

Strategic independence requires innovation and diversification. If we are to meet the challenges of a multipolar world, countries and industries will have to partially reinvent themselves. As an investor, you would do well to anticipate the implications of re-globalisation for your portfolio.

'AI is transforming entire strategies, increasing productivity and has the potential to boost the global economy. This can also benefit investors.', explain Joris Franck, Equity Analyst at KBC Asset Management en Tom Simonts, Senior Financial Economist at KBC Group

AI is pushing the boundaries of quantitative investing. 'We get endless new opportunities to explore unique data and gain new insights,' said Sofie Reyners, quantitative investing expert and Jürgen Verschaeve, chief investment officer at KBC Asset Management.

The games industry has grown spectacularly over the last few years. Gaming companies therefore offer opportunities for investors. With their live services, game developers are deriving more profitable business models.

Lab-grown meat is a possible sustainable alternative to traditional meat production, even if the innovative cell culture cannot yet disrupt the food industry.

While AI does not have the soul to grasp and replace the emotional connection that fans make with artists on the meadow, there is no doubt that it is changing the face of the industry.

Family businesses have a distinct entrepreneurial mindset, recognising innovation as a possible solution to major social and environmental issues.

‘A lot of companies in the paying segment of the sharing economy are the catalysts that are enabling new sustainability concepts to develop. That will lead to new business developments,’ says Tom Simonts, Senior Economist at KBC Group.

AI makes drug development more efficient and thus faster, reduces the price tag and provides a watershed in the development of new, innovative drugs for hitherto untreatable conditions.

The more data available, the more can be stolen. Cybersecurity offers a solution to this threat.

Sustainability, even more than productivity, will drive the adoption of AI in agriculture.

It’s hard to predict what the world will look like a hundred years from now. However, it is possible to identify a number of megatrends that are radically and structurally changing our society. It’s here that the interesting investment opportunities lie, according to Jürgen Verschaeve, Chief Investment Officer at KBC Asset Management, and Karin Van Hoecke, Director of Transformation and Data at KBC Group.

The issues that affect society are also reflected in developments on the stock market. The race to develop the coronavirus vaccines has given a substantial boost to the growing focus on healthcare. And if we talk about coronavirus vaccines, we are talking about biopharma. And more specifically Belgian biopharma, because these companies are in the top flight. As an investor, you can benefit from the opportunities biopharma has to offer.

The search for trends that are worth investing in can be an overwhelming task. Anyone googling ‘trends’ will get more than 2 billion results. The search term ‘megatrends’ turns up 21 million hits, ‘investing in trends’ 652 000 hits and ‘investing in megatrends’ another 14 800 hits. ‘Unless you’ve lots of time on your hands and the inclination, you simply don’t take it on yourself to identify the interesting trends to invest in,’ says Philippe Delfosse, Equity Strategist at KBC Asset Management.