The world of video games is an economic and creative reality. Its possibilities are not limited to its recreational aspects; it is an industry that employees a multitude of people. According to the latest report by Newzoo, gaming generated more than €100 billion in 2018. And in an article that cites the Newzoo report, CNBC points out that this represents an increase of more than 13 percent compared to the previous year. The gaming industry encompasses video games, games for mobile devices, and eSports.

The trends described below will be the major disruptors that continue to shape the future of the new year in the age of digital transformation.

Putting a machine at the wheel is an old automotive dream. Now self-driving cars are a closer goal, but it all began with small steps starting in the middle of the twentieth century.

If December is the month with the highest sales for traditional shopping, for the last two years November has become the star of Internet shopping. The recent phenomenon of Black Friday brings forward by one month the arrival of Christmas to online shopping, according to a study by BBVA Data & Analytics and BBVA Research.

More and more initiatives allow SMEs to use artificial intelligence without the need for programmers. Giants like Baidu and Google, as well as smaller companies like Lobe, are presenting their products.

Already a leader in housing loans and cards, Garanti Bank became Turkey’s largest private bank in 2018 in all individual product groups by rising to the leading position in individual loans and time deposits. According to the results of the third quarter of the year, Garanti ranked top as the preferred private bank in terms of time deposits after individual loans. The efforts in the retail banking sector have contributed significantly to the successful performance of Garanti Bank in the third quarter.

BBVA Compass Head of New Business Development Pepe Olalla says in 2019 early stage technologies will mature – for example more use cases for blockchain – but it’s AI-related technology that will take center stage.

Space Apps Challenge is an annual global contest where scientists and innovators from across the world compete to solve challenges facing the aerospace industry proposed by NASA. In 2016, I was one of the scientists that won this prize thanks to an algorithm capable of detecting and classifying Near Earth Objects, or NEOs. Today, I work as a data scientist at BBVA, where I develop fraud detection models. This is my story.

A group of prominent innovation leaders and experts gathered recently in Paris to attend the Innovation Leaders Summit, organized by the MIT Technology Review. BBVA’s was the only major bank to take part as speaker at the event. Here, it debated on current topics, such as the role of blockchain in the emerging tokenized economy and the security challenges posed by quantum computing.

Part of the Financial Times group, the publication also recognized BBVA’s franchises in Peru and Paraguay with the ‘Bank of the Year’ award.

Friday November 30 is International Computer Security Day (ICSD), a day that aims to raise awareness and remind society about the importance of protecting both company and personal computer resources in order to prevent the misuse of financial and personal data, and even identity theft.

The problem of data integrity verification is a classic topic that has been well-studied in the last decades. Many database or log systems run on untrusted servers or are subject to malicious attacks from insiders and, therefore, vulnerable to tampering. With the advent of cloud computing and the possibility of dealing with outsourced data, such situation has been aggravated. This problem is an essential challenge for financial institutions where preserving the correctness of customer data and transactions is crucial in terms of legal compliance and reputation.

Today is Cyber Monday, which means many people will be spending time online to find the perfect gift for a loved one, or maybe themselves. When paying for those gifts, in many cases credit cards will be front and center. If you’re shopping on Cyber Monday and using a credit card, you can worry a little less about things like reaching your credit limit or potential fraud with BBVA Compass Mobile Banking alerts.

BBVA is a leader in digital transformation yet again. On this occasion, The Financial Times, Google and European regulatory authorities have included the bank in the group of digital pioneers in Europe. The presentation of the list took place at an event in Brussels that also analyzed the latest trends and different companies’ success stories. Paloma Tejada, Head of Talent & Culture, Client Solutions at BBVA, participated in one of the panels, explaining BBVA’s experience in the digital transformation. She focused on the cultural change underway at the bank, and the evolution of work methods.

The market for influencers is in full expansion mode. This trend has proven to be an opportunity not only for the influencers themselves – or those who aspire to become one – but also for companies that see an opportunity to promote their products or services.

The digital revolution has social consequences that must be understood and managed. Nobel Laureate in Economics Joseph Stiglitz says the key is to ensure that inequality does not increase.